⁵⁷Fe Mössbauer investigations at 300K have been carried out on V,Mn substituted YBa₂Cu₃O_7−δ system. Preliminary studies show that for small concentration of V (4%), Fe occupies preferentially the Cu(1) site whereas for the same concentration of Mn, Fe prefers the Cu(2) site. It is suggested that for low concentrations V has a preference for Cu(2) site whereas Mn prefers Cu(1) site in the 1-2-3 lattice.

Results of the XRD, XPS, XANES, iodometric titration and transport studies on freshly prepared Ce, Zr and Ti substituted 1-2-3 samples are reported here. It is argued that at least 2% of Ce, Zr and Ti ions go into the 1-2-3 lattice. It is found that Zr, Ti ions exist in 4⁺ valence state, Ce is in predominantly 4⁺ (mixed valence) state and valence of Cu remains unaffected on substitution.

Processing studies on varied shape-forming and densification of bulk ceramic superconductor, YBa_1·5Ca_0·5Cu₃O_7\t-\gd, are reported in this paper. Polyvinyl butyral-polyethylene glycol-trichloroethylene has been found to be the best binder-plasticizer-solvent system in plastic shape-forming. The effect of initial particle morphology on final densification has been the most sensitive single parameter as compared to compaction pressure and final sintering durations at ∼930°C. 1-2-3 powders of mean particle size ∼ 1·94 µm have yielded sintered densities ∼92% T.D. albeit with lower oxygen intake O_6·7.

YBa₂Cu₃O_7−x pellets have been found to degrade and lose superconducting properties when exposed to the normal atmosphere for long durations. Hence, coating the superconducting pellets with a polymer to protect it from moisture and CO₂ of the ambient atmosphere is highly desirable. In this paper the criteria of selection of a polymer and some preliminary studies on polymeric encapsulation of 1-2-3 pellets are reported. Fevitite epoxy and stycast have been found to show encouraging results.

Due to a lack of proper understanding about the formation mechanism of oxygen related donors during the transition temperature range (465–540°C) which exhibits the transition of TDs to NDs, an attempt has been made to study their behaviour in the present context. We have found the formation and diffusion of molecule like oxygen at low temperature annealing of silicon and observed that second order kinetics of oxygen diffusion holds good. A relatively low value of 0·6 eV has been estimated to be the activation energy for the diffusion of oxygen in silicon which is supposed to be due to the hydrogen passivation.