Orientation of embedded y₂BaCuO₅ particles within the YBa₂Cu₃O_x matrix in melt-textured YBCO superconductors

Automated electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) was employed to study the local orientations of embedded Y₂BaCuO₅ (Y-211) particles within the YBa₂Cu₃O_x (Y-123) superconducting matrix of large grain, melt-textured Y-Ba-Cu-O (YBCO) samples. High-quality Kikuchi patterns were obtained, enabling automated mapping of the individual crystal orientations and a two-phase analysis of the samples. Investigations were performed on a variety of melt-textured YBCO samples, including samples with different element additions. We observe from the maps that the embedded Y-211 particles do not have any preferred orientation in melt-textured YBCO with (0 0 1) orientation, and that the YBCO growth is not altered for certain orientations of the Y-211 particles. In samples with (1 0 0) orientation, on the other hand, we observe only a small misorientation within the YBCO matrix, and the embedded Y-211 particles do not exhibit any texture. We can conclude from the EBSD maps obtained that the formation of small Y-211 particles does not disturb the Y-123 matrix growth, whereas the presence of large Y-211 particles leads, significantly, to the formation of subgrains.