The mechanical properties of $Al/Al_2O_3$ composites have been investigated in relation with manufacturing factors such as applied pressure of casting and binder amount of preform. It was found that tensile strength increases with an increase of applied pressure, but decreases with binder amount. Increase of tensile strength is attributable to refinement of microstructure, improvement of intefacial bonding between $Al_2O_3$ short fiber and matrix, decrease of porosity in the matrix. Due to the high thermal stability of alumina short fiber, tensile strength of composites at $150^{\circ}C$ was superior to matrix alloy at room temperature. To evaluate the strength of composites, modified Kelly-Tyson's equation was introduced. Manufacturing factor M was obtained calculating from experimental data. M values were increased with applied pressure, but decreased with binder amount. The initiation of microcrack appeared to be at interface and reinforcement colony. Amount of micro-dimple was increased with applied pressure, and interfacial debonding phenomenon was remarkable with an increase of binder amount.

This study was performed to investigate the effect of austempering temperature on the mechanical properties and fracture characteristics of the ductile cast iron with Cu, Mo and Cu, Mo, Ni. The results obtained from this study are summarized as follows; Microstructures of Cu-Mo and Cu-Mo-Ni ductile cast iron by austempering were obtained low bainite with some martensite at $250^{\circ}C$, mixture structure of upper and low bainite obtained at $300^{\circ}C$ and upper bainite obtained at $350^{\circ}C$. Tensile, impact and fracture toughness properties were remarkably controlled by retained austenite. With increasing austempering temperature, tensile and yield strength, hardness decreased, while the elongation and impact absorption energy, fracture toughness increased. With adding Ni, tensile and yield strength increased and elongation, facture toughness and impact absorption energy decreased. Retained austenite increased with increasing austempering temperature and the fracture surface were shown mixture structure of fibrous and dimple.

Solidification of aluminum alloys under moderate pressures has been investigated. Interfacial heat transfer coefficient at the casting/mold interface varies with time after pouring the molten metal into the die cavity, and therefore plays an important role in determining solidification sequence. The heat transfer coefficients were evaluated by using an inverse problem method, based on the measured temperature distribution. The calculated heat transfer coefficients were used for solidification simulation in the squeeze casting process. The effects of applied pressure and positions of insulation in the mold have also been investigated on solidification microstructures and on the formation of macrosegregation of Al-4.5wt.%Cu alloys.

New metallic powder making processes, named "Centrifugal Emulsification Process(CEP)" and "Mixer and Settler(MS)" have been developed to synthesize rapid solidified metallic powders. Through CEP and MS processings, the high temperature metals as well as the low temperature alloys are manufactured. Also, the effects of rapid solidification on the undercooling, solidification rate and crystallization behaviors can be evaluated effectively through the processes. The standard deviations of the synthesized typical Pb-Sn eutectic powders are 1.63 and 1.51 for CEP and MS respectively, and the average size of the MS powders was $18{\mu}m$. The possibility of the customized not only size and shape control but microstructure control was also shown. Both of the new methods can be applied to continuous powder making processes.

It is difficult to remove such interstitial impurities as sulfur, oxygen, hydrogen and carbon in Fe-Ni alloys. Thermodynamic and kinetic studies were carried out on the behavior of hydrogen gas, oxygen gas, Si, Al and slag, and the reaction time by the $Ar/Ar-H_2$ plasma and electron beam melting. After the addition of Al, Si, they were melted by Ar plasma with reaction time changed. 80%Ni-Fe alloys showed a better deoxidation than 36%Ni-Fe alloys. At $Ar-H_2$ plasma melting, the deoxidation was significant. In the case of the electron beam melting, the residual oxygen was higher than in Ar plasma melting because electron beam melting temperature was lower than that of Ar plasma. For the decaburization, it was melted by $Ar-O_2$ plasma melting, which could remove effectively carbon by activated oxygen in plasma. We added slag to Fe-Ni alloys for the desulfurization. As the result of this experiments, the amount of residual sulfur was not changed according to the slag ratio and reaction time.

Effects of process parameters during thixocasting, such as solid volume fraction, mold temperature and extrusion ratio, on the mold filling behaviour and fluidity of Mg alloy(AZ91D) have been investigated. The semi-solid ingot held for 60 minutes at the semi-solid temperature range did not contain the equilibrium volume fraction of solid as expected from the phase diagram. Therefore, in order to obtain the desired solid fractions, and to suppress the exaggerated grain growth during heating, it was required to heat the ingot rapidly up to the temperature $10^{\circ}C$ higher than the semi-solid temperature suggested from the phase diagram for a specific volume fraction of solid. The experimental results show that mold filling behaviour and fluidity can be improved with the use of the higher mold temperature and the lower volume fraction of solid, but remain nearly unaffected by the change of extrusion ratio.

Rapidly Solidified (RS) Al-Zr base splats with various alloy contents were prepared by atomization-splat quenching method to understand the continuous and discontinuous precipitation in the aged alloys. And the RS alloys were consolidated by hot extrusion and swaging to analyze the effect of plastic deformation on the precipitation behavior. Discontinuous precipitation dominated at relatively low temperature in the Al-Zr alloy, whereas both V additions to Al-Zr alloys and hot metal working appeared to suppress the discontinuous precipitation. As continuous precipitation is favored in the grain interiors, the driving force for discontinuous precipitation become to disappear with a further process.