A. A. Kordyuk, V. V. Nemoshkalenko, A. I. Plyushchay, T. A. Prikhna, and W. Gawalek

Supercond. Sci. Technol. 14, L41 (2001).

We propose an empirical approach to estimate the quality of superconducting joints (welds) between blocks of bulk high temperature superconductors (HTS). As a measuring value, we introduce a quality factor of the joint and show its natural correlation with the joint's critical current density. Being simple and non-destructive, this approach is considered to be quite important to solve the problem of the utilization of HTS in large scale applications. The approach has been applied to characterize the joint's quality of melt-processed Y-123 joined by Tm-123 solder.

[ online preprint: cond-mat/0103288 ]