Electromagnetic Properties of Thick Film REBCO Tapes

RE-Ba-Cu-O (REBCO, RE = rare earth) coated conductors are characterized by an anisotropic pinning behavior in applied magnetic fields. Over the years, incorporation of BaZrO3 nanocolumns has been an effective approach to improve the pinning force and reduce the anisotropy in these materials. In this paper, the magnetic field dependence of critical current density (J
_c
) of 4.7 μm thick films grown by advanced metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (A-MOCVD) with 5% and 15% Zr addition has been studied. At 65 K, 1.5 T, the 5% Zr-added thick films manifest a J
_c
at H||c-axis that surpasses 3 MA/cm
²
. Increasing the Zr content to 15% results in a plateau in J
_c
from 0.4 to 6.5 T and enables higher values of J
_c
at fields above 6 T at 65 K. Tapes with 15% of added Zr exhibit a lift factor in critical current density (J
_c
(Temperature, Applied Magnetic Field) / J
_c
(77 K, 0 T)) exceeding 13 and a J
_c
exceeding 11 MA/cm
²
at 30 K, 3 T.