Magnetic-field angle dependent critical current densities and flux pinning in commercial YBCO tapes at liquid nitrogen temperatures

The magnetic-field angle dependence of critical current densities J_c(H,θ) in commercial YBCO tapes grown by MOCVD and MOD was examined at liquid nitrogen temperatures. We first measured J_c(H,θ) in MOCVD-YBCO tapes at 70 and 77.3 K in fields up to 2 T using both transport and inductive (the third harmonic voltage) methods and compared the results. It was observed that, in low magnetic fields, the transport measurements gave higher J_c than the inductive ones; however, in high fields they agreed well, which is well explained by the effects of weak links due to low-angle grain boundaries. We then investigated J_c(H,θ) in MOCVD- and MOD-YBCO tapes at 77.3 K in fields up to 2 T. All the tapes exhibited peaks at H//ab in the shape of Mount Fuji, which shows that small random pinning plays a major role. However, an anisotropic scaling analysis showed that the flux pinning mechanisms in those tapes were different, resulting in distinctive angular behaviors of J_c(H,θ). It is suggested that the difference in the flux pinning mechanisms of the two types of tapes came from the different sizes of point defects originating from the growing processes.