The Effect of Argon Ambient Pressure and Annealing Time on Bulk MgB$_{2}$ Superconductor

The effects of Ar ambient pressure (vacuum, 0B, 10B and 20B) and annealing times (0.5 h and 1 h) on microstructural, superconducting and mechanical properties of bulk superconducting MgB$_{2}$ are investigated. The samples are produced using the solid state reaction method. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) measurements were performed for determination of the crystal structure, and surface morphology of MgB$_{2}$ samples, respectively. The superconducting properties were studied by~AC magnetic susceptibility~and DC resistivity measurements. Increasing the Ar pressure decreased the lattice parameters and hence the average grain size. Increasing the annealing time results in larger lattice parameters and larger grain formation. The susceptibility measurements revealed two step transition which is reminiscent of granular superconductors. The intra-grain transition temperature is determined to be 38.4 K for all samples. The inter-grain transition temperatures of 37.2 K is obtained for samples produced under Ar ambient. The samples produced under Ar ambient have better superconducting properties than the ones produced in vacuum. Increasing the annealing time under vacuum further decreases the superconducting properties probably due to Mg loss.