Quantitative texture analysis of polyphased oxides by diffraction: example of Bi2223 sinter-forged ceramic and Y123 foam superconductors

This paper deals about the texture analysis of sinter-forging (Bi, Pb)2Sr2Ca2Cu3O10+δ (Bi2223) discs and YBa2Cu3O7−x (Y123) foams. Orientation distributions were measured by X-ray and neutron diffraction respectively. In the case of Bi2223 samples, an overview of our results is presented. It reflects clearly the importance to combine physical measurements and texture analysis. Several factors as the size of the precursor powder and the process parameters influence significantly the crystallite orientation and consequently the final properties of the textured discs. In the case of Y123 foams, the only usable non destructive diffraction characterisation is the combined approach, and we show what it can bring on one example. © 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.