Publication Date:
2017-02-15
Description:
Study on peritectic reaction is a matter of significant importance in materials science, which generally involves in the solidification of most functional oxide materials, for example, the YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7−δ (Y123) superconductor could be grown via a reaction of Y 2 BaCuO 5 (Y211) + Liquid Y123. Due to its crystallization characteristic, the growth of those materials does not entirely proceed, which severely impedes the development of industrialized process. Thus the realization of a complete peritectic reaction is an interesting issue for both theory and experiment. Here, we report an almost complete peritectic reaction occurring in the growth of YBa 2 (Cu 1− x Fe x ) 3 O 7−δ crystals using modified melt-growth. Our findings remarkably show that Y211 almost fully reacted with liquid to generate Y123, remaining approximately 1 vol%, evidently lower than that in the normal case. The nature of this unconventional phenomenon is clarified that the Fe-doping elevates the nucleation barrier in the peritectic melting of Y123 and causes a massive homogeneous nucleation catastrophe, leading to nanosized and dispersive Y211 particles, which readily and almost fully dissolve in the subsequent peritectic solidification of Y123. Most importantly, the new conception derived from this work is promising for reviving other functional materials, which are disregarded due to their incomplete peritectic reactions.
Print ISSN:
0002-7820
Electronic ISSN:
1551-2916
Topics:
Mechanical Engineering, Materials Science, Production Engineering, Mining and Metallurgy, Traffic Engineering, Precision Mechanics
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