On the simultaneous calcination and sintering of YBa₂Cu₃O_7-x in high magnetic fields

YBa₂Cu₃O_7-x was prepared from Y₂O₃, BaCO₃ and CuO by calcination and sintering carried out in one step (without intermediate grinding and pressing) at 900°C and 12 T for 9 h. The resulting superconductor had higher J_c perpendicular to the magnetic field than parallel to the field. J_c perpendicular to the field was slightly larger than that for the case without a magnetic field and all J_c values were low due to the high porosity resulted from having no intermediate grinding and pressing. In contrast to previously published work, no crystallographic alignment was indicated by X-ray diffraction, so the degree of alignment of the c-axis texture parallel to the magnetic field was, if present, very small. We conclude that the method of calcination and sintering in a magnetic field for possible alignment of YBa₂Cu₃O_7-x crystals is not practical.