Mechanical and Electrical Properties of (Cu0.5Tl0.5)-1223 Phase Added with Nano-Fe2O3

Superconducting samples of type (Cu0.5Tl0.5)-1223 added with nano-Fe2O3 (x=0.0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6 and 1.0 wt.%) were prepared by solid-state reaction technique. The prepared samples were characterized using X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) for phase analysis and microstructure examination. The elemental content of the prepared samples was determined using particle induced X-ray emission (PIXE), whereas the Oxygen-content of these samples was obtained using non Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy at 3 MeV proton beam. It was found that the Oxygen-content of (Cu0.5Tl0.5)-1223 phase was not affected with the addition of nano-Fe2O3. The electrical resistivity measurements showed that the superconducting transition temperature (T (c) ) increases up to x=0.2 wt.%, followed by a systematic decrease for x > 0.2 wt.%. In addition, room temperature Vickers microhardness (H (v) ) measurements were carried out at different applied loads (0.49-2.94 N) to study the performance of the mechanical properties of samples. The experimental results of H (v) were analyzed using different models such as elastic, energy dissipation, energy balance and modified energy balance models. It has been found that the energy dissipation model is in a good agreement with the microhardness data.