doi:10.1007/s10948-012-2029-8engCosta, F.M.Rasekh, S.Ferreira, N.M.Sotelo, A.Diez, J.C.Madre, M.A.Effect of current polarity on BSCCO/Ag ceramics textured by electrically assisted laser floating zoneART-2013-81723Bi-2212/Ag superconducting ceramics were grown using the electrically assisted laser floating zone (EALFZ) technique. The main goal was improving the superconducting properties by applying an electrical current through the sample during the solidification process. The effect of a 100 mA current intensities in two configurations were studied: (i) direct current (connecting the seed rod to the positive pole and the feed to the negative one) and (ii) reverse current (positive pole connected to the feed rod and negative to the seed one). The resulting textured cylindrical bars were annealed in order to obtain the superconducting phases. A strong correlation between current polarity, grain alignment and superconducting properties was observed. The rods grown under direct current exhibit higher critical current density (∼3000 A/cm2) than the ones grown under conventional method (∼2300 A/cm2) or under reverse current condition (∼35 A/cm2). The superior value obtained for the direct current results from a better grain alignment and fewer amount of second phases.2013http://zaguan.unizar.es/record/16807310.1007/s10948-012-2029-8http://zaguan.unizar.es/record/168073oai:zaguan.unizar.es:168073info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/DGA/T12info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/DGA/T87info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/MICINN/MAT2008-00429info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/MINECO/MAT2011-22719info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/UZ/UZ2011-TEC-03Journal of Superconductivity and Novel Magnetism 26, 4 (2013), 943-946All rights reservedhttp://www.europeana.eu/rights/rr-f/info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess