To assess hydraulic connections between sub-components of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) diagnostic port plug, the laser welding and ablation cutting process were investigated in order to be applied the remote handling maintenance. In this study, laser ablation cutting, which vaporizes a small amount of solid material directly into gas by focusing a laser beam of high density energy, is adopted in order to overcome the limitation of the normal laser cutting technology that the head should be placed as close to the work piece as possible to blow out melt metal at a distance. Complete cutting of a work piece is obtained by repetitive multi-passes of the laser beam. The welding and cutting process were tested on the sample work pieces and finally on a prototype of a hydraulic connection module for remote handling. The results showed that this process can be a promising candidate for hydraulic connections by remote handling.

The spacer grid is one of the main structural components in a fuel assembly. It supports fuel rods, guides cooling water and maintains geometry from external impact load and cyclic stress by the vibration of nuclear fuel rod, it is necessary to have sufficient strength against dynamic external load and fatigue strength. In this study, the mechanical properties and fatigue characteristics of laser beam welded zircaloy thin sheet are examined. The material used in this study is a zirconium alloy with 0.66 mm of thickness. The fatigue strength under cyclic load was evaluated at stress ratio R=0.1. S-N curves are presented with statistical testing method recommend by JSME- S002 and compared with S-N curves at R.T. and $315^{\circ}C$. As a result of the experimental approach, the design guide of fatigue strength is proposed and the results obtained from this study are expected to be useful data for spacer gird design.

The characteristics of high heat input (342kJ/cm) EG (Electro Gas Arc) welded joint of EH36-TM steel has been investigated. The weld metal microstructure consisted of fine acicular ferrite (AF), a little volume of polygonal ferrite (PF) and grain boundary ferrite (GBF). Charpy impact test results of the weld metal and heat affected zone (HAZ) met the requirement of classification rule (Min. 34J at $-20^{\circ}C$). In order to evaluate the relationship between the impact toughness property and the grain size of HAZ, the austenite grain size of HAZ was measured. The prior austenite grain size in Fusion line (F.L+0.1 mm) was about $350{\mu}m$. The grain size in F.L+1.5 mm was measured to be less than $30{\mu}m$ and this region was identified as being included in FGHAZ(Fine Grain HAZ). It is seen that as the austenite grain size decreases, the size of GBF, FSP (Ferrite Side Plate) become smaller and the impact toughness of HAZ increases. Therefore, the CGHAZ was considered to be area up to 1.3mm away from the fusion line. Results of TEM replica analysis for a welded joint implied that very small size ($0.8\sim1.2{\mu}m$) oxygen inclusions played a role of forming fine acicular ferrite in the weld metal. A large amount of (Ti, Mn, Al)xOy oxygen inclusions dispersed, and oxides density was measured to be 4,600-5,300 (ea/mm2). During the welding thermal cycle, the area near a fusion line was reheated to temperature exceeding $1400^{\circ}C$. However, the nitrides and carbides were not completely dissolved near the fusion line because of rapid heating and cooling rate. Instead, they might grow during the cooling process. TiC precipitates of about 50 ~ 100nm size dispersed near the fusion line.

Recently, according to the increase of income and development of quality of life, the leisure industry has been developed. In particular, the interest of design and manufacture technology of leisure yacht has significantly increased. However, domestic market of leisure ships is currently in its initiating stage. So research and development for structural strength of leisure yacht need to be investigated. In this study, lug of yacht's mast which is known for a critical damage region is explicitly considered. This paper deals with the estimation of stress concentration factors (SCFs) for lug of yacht's mast depending on dimensions of lug using hot spot stress. Also, SCF formulae is suggested using parametric study.

Due to the inherent dimensional uncertainty, tolerances accumulate in the final assembly. Tolerance accumulation has serious effect on the performance of ECV assembly. This paper proposes a method of tolerance accumulation analysis using Monte Carlo simulation, which includes welding process in assemble process. This method can predict the final tolerance distributions of the completed assembly with the prescribed statistical tolerance distribution of each part to be assembled. With the inclusion of welding, another dimensional uncertainties due to partial melting is to be accounted as well. Partial melting of projection height was included in the tolerance propagation analysis. Verification of the proposed method was performed by making use of Monte Carlo simulation. Monte Carlo simulation results showed promising results in that we can predict the final tolerance distributions in advance before actual assembly process of precision machinery.