Characterization of Bulk MgB2 Synthesized by Infiltration and Growth

Superconducting MgB2 has been synthesized successfully by a modified infiltration and growth (IG) technique. The ambient pressure technique is relatively simple and scalable to complex shaped bulks. The extent of MgB2 phase fin-mation has been found to be influenced strongly by the IG process time and/or temperature, and this is found to reflect in the X-ray diffraction patterns, magnetization measurements, and microhardness. Scanning electron microscopy images show a bimodal particle size distribution with 20-50 nm sized fine precipitates in the inter particle region. A critical current density of 400 kA.cm(-2) was measured at 5 K.