Production and characterization of MgB2 coatings on various substrates by electrophoretic deposition

The electrophoretic deposition technique was applied for the production of MgB2 coatings on various substrates, such as Ni, Ag, stainless steel plates and Si wafers coated with Pt, by using a suspension of MgB2 powder in an organic solvent. The initial concentration of the suspension, the voltage applied, the kind of the organic solvent and the distance between the electrodes were investigated as these are the main parameters that affect the deposition rate of the processing and the quality of the coating produced. The appropriate subsequent sintering procedure was determined by means of thermal analysis techniques (TG, DTG, DTA). The produced coatings were characterized by several analytical techniques, such as XRD, SEM, RAMAN, DTA. The superconducting properties were measured by magnetic susceptibility measurements (SQUID). It resulted that by the optimized fast electrophoretic deposition technique and subsequent sintering procedure, uniform, dense and well-adhesive coatings on Ni, Ag and stainless steel substrates were obtained.