Characterization of pinning stability of HTS Gd123 bulks by using a pulsed-field magnetization

High-temperature superconductor (HTS) Gd-bulks are used for field-pole magnets of rotating machines. We have conducted a study of pulsed-field magnetization (PFM) for the bulks to be magnetized alternatively on the rotor. Performances of HTS bulks have been qualified on the basis of the field-cooling magnetization (FCM). HTS bulks are a kind of crystals containing lots of tiny crystals boundaries. It is difficult to find comparable data between PFM and FCM results, mainly because of the different pinning stability through both processes. We need to assess an effective method of characterization for the flux pinning stability under PFM. We compared two HTS bulks: one shows a flux flow and relatively small trapped flux while the other is magnetized with a little flux instability and a large integrated trapped flux. These Gd123 bulks are 100 mm in diameter and 20 mm in thickness. After applying PFM at the liquid nitrogen temperature, we measured the trapped field density distribution and introduced a new parameter representing the trapped flux instability at each position on the surface of the bulk. We propose a way of visualization of the flux pinning instability of the HTS bulks.