Fabrication of textured Ag substrate for YBCO coated conductor

We fabricated textured Ag substrates for YBCO coated conductor and evaluated the effects of annealing temperature on microstructural evolution, texture formation, and surface morphology. A Ag ingot, prepared by melting in plasma arc and quenching, had a fine equiaxed microstructure. A strong {110} 〈110〉 textured Ag substrate was obtained by cold rolling and annealing at 800°C; the full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) value of {110} 〈110〉 poles was as sharp as 10°. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) profiles show that the surface morphology was very smooth and root-mean-square (RMS) roughness of the substrate annealed at 800°C was 39.2 nm. However, it was found that the thermal grooving and faceting became remarkable as annealing temperature increased. The substrate of strong texture and smooth surface, fabricated in our study, is considered to be suitable for use as a substrate for the epitaxial deposition of superconductor films.