Phase formation and texture development in Ag-sheathed Bi,Pb(2223) tapes studied by different in-situ and ex-situ diffraction techniques

In-situ and ex-situ high energy (80+88keV) X-Ray diffraction From a synchrotron radiation source were performed on multifilamentary Bi,Pb(2223)/Ag tapes using a transmission scattering geometry. Several thermo-mechanical procedures were compared, focusing mainly on the texture development of both Bi,Pb(2212) and Bi,Pb(2223) phases. The effect of the periodic pressing on the texture and on the critical current is elucidated. The texture development of the Bi,Pb(2212) phase prior to its transformation into Bi,Pb(2223) was directly observed in-situ at high temperature by using a dedicated high-energy X-ray compatible furnace and a high resolution Image Plate detector. A sharp increase of the Bi,Pb(2212) grain orientation along the [00l] direction was found to occur only above 750 degreesC. Normal state transport measurements are in full agreement with the formation mechanism and with the texture development observed. A comparison of the results with the ones provided by in-situ neutron diffraction and standard low-energy XRD in a reflection geometry is presented.