high rate melt processed SmBa2Cu3O7-x bulk superconductors

Samarium element has been substituted to yttrium in Y123 superconducting melt textured bulk samples in order to make the whole fabrication process much faster. A preliminary comparison between directionally solidified Y1Ba2Cu3O7- and Sm1Ba2Cu3O7-x bulk bars fabricated with the horizontal Bridgman method has been done. The different microstructural and superconducting features are studied by means of X-ray, SEM analysis, ac and dc susceptibility measurements. The quality of Sm123 samples appears comparable with the Y123 one grown using an almost two orders of magnitude lower pulling rate.