Grain boundary studies of high-temperature superconducting materials using electron backscatter Kikuchi diffraction

Grain orientation and grain boundary misorientation distributions in high critical current density, high-temperature superconductors were determined using electron backscatter Kikuchi diffraction. It is found that depending on the type of superconductor and the processing method used to fabricate it, there exist different scales of biaxial texture from no biaxial texture, local biaxial texture, to complete biaxial texture. Experimentally obtained grain boundary misorientation distributions (GBMDs) were found to be skewed significantly to low angles in comparison to what is expected on the basis of macroscopic texture alone, suggesting that minimization of energy may be a driving force during the processing of high critical current density materials. In addition, a higher than expected fraction of coincident-site lattice boundaries is observed. Examination of maps of grain boundary misorientations in spatially correlated grains, i.e. the grain boundary mesotexture, suggests the presence of percolative paths of high critical current density. A combination of orientation measurements, theoretical modeling of GBMDs and modeling of percolative current flow through an assemblage of grain boundaries is performed to gain an insight into the important microstructural features dictating the transport properties of high-temperature superconductors. It is found that maximization of low energy, in particular, low-angle boundaries, is essential for higher critical currents. The combination of experimental and analytical techniques employed are applicable to other materials where physical properties are dominated by intergranular characteristics.