Dependence of critical current density on grain morphology in BSCCO ceramic.

Critical current densities in mixed oxide and spray dried samples of BSCCO ceramic are reported. These measurements reveal that a significant increase in critical current density may be associated with the formation of a rod-like grain geometry in low density sintered samples compared with that observed for a flaky grain morphology. Such a geometry may be obtained by the incorporation of slow post-sintering cool rates (lower than 20 K/h) during the processing of fully reacted spray dried powder.