THE EFFECT OF SINTERING TEMPERATURE AND MIXING TREATMENT ON CRYSTAL STRUCTURE AND MAGNETIC PROPERTIES OF Y-358 SUPERCONDUCTORS

ABSTRACT: This study aims to determine the effect of adding sintering temperature to changes in crystal structure and magnetic properties of the Y-358 superconductor. The raw material consisting of Y2O3 (99.9%), BaCO3 (99.9%) and CuO (99.9%) were mixed in 3 days using a magnetic stirrer. Then heated at 100°C until crust. The calcination process was carried out at 600 for 3 hours and sintered at 850, 875, 900 and 925oC for 10 hours each. From the X-Ray diffraction (XRD) result, the peak intensity of Y-358 superconductor increases with the addition of sintering temperature. The lowest peak intensity is 58 cps at 2? of 86.4925 and the highest peak is 2041 cps at 2? of 32.78. The addition of sintering temperature at 850, 875, 900 and 925oC resulted in the addition of volume fraction, respectively 42.3%, 49.7%, 57.7% and 67.9%. The addition of sintering temperature also resulted in larger particle size, respectively 35.31, 47.72, 49.07 and 57.85 nm. The 3-day mixing treatment in the synthesis process resulted in a sample of nanometer size (nm) as seen in the TEM characterization results. The magnetic properties of the sample are known from the vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) characterization results, showing the ferromagnetic properties with a magnetization saturation value of 0.08 emu/gr, the magnetization value of remanent of 0.02 emu/gr and the coercive force value of 684.12 Oe. The Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) characterization results show the absorption of OH groups in wave numbers 2814.14 and 3608.81 for samples calcined at 600°C and their intensity decreases with the addition of sintering temperature. Keywords: wet-mixing, superconductor, XRD, TEM, VSM, FTIR