Heat treatment conditions of 88.5% asymmetrically cold rolled oxygen free copper (OFC) sheets have been studied to obtain an equiaxed fine microstructure with a grain size of less than 10 ㎛. The commercial OFC sheets with the thickness of 10 mm were asymmetrically cold rolled by using equal speed asymmetric rolling (ESAR) processes and total rolling reduction. The thickness of the rolled sheets were 88.5% and 1.15 mm, respectively. An equiaxed fine microstructure of OFC sheets with a grain size of 6.0 ㎛ were obtained when the asymmetrically cold rolled OFC sheets were heat treated at 180℃ for 40 minutes. The tensile strength of the asymmetrically cold rolled specimen increased from 217.6 MPa to 396.1 MPa, while the elongation of the specimen asymmetrically cold rolled and heat treated increased from 29.0% to 66.9% along with an 8% increase of the tensile strength.

For microstructural analysis of a friction stir welded (FSWed) joint of advanced high-strength steels, dual phase (DP) and complex phase (CP) steels, are studied. FSWed joints are successfully fabricated in the following four cases: (i) DP/DP; (ii) CP/CP; (iii) DP/CP, where the advancing side is DP and the retreating side is CP; (iv) CP/DP, where the advancing side is CP and the retreating side is DP. The stir zone (SZ) of (i) the DP/DP joint mainly consists of lath martensite, while the stir zone of (ii) the CP/CP joint consists not only of lath martensite but also of bainite. In the case of (iii) DP/CP and (iv) CP/DP, they exhibit a similar microstructure including acicular-shaped phases in the joints; however, cross-sections of the joints show differences in material mixing in each case. In (iv) the CP/DP joint, temperature towards the CP steel is sufficient to cause softening, thus leading to better mixing than that in (iii) DP/CP. The phases of the SZ in each of the four cases are formed by phase transformation during the FSWed process; however, the transformed phase volume fraction of CP steel is lower than that of DP steel, indicating that dynamic recrystallization occurs mainly in CP steel. The hardness values of the SZ are significantly higher than those of the base materials, especially, the SZ of (iii) the DP/CP joint has the highest value due to highest fraction of lath martensite.

In the design of the metal forming processes, various types of ductile fracture criteria are used to predict crack initiation and to fabricate metallic products without any defects. However, the quantitative measurement method for determination of crack initiation is insufficient. It is very difficult to detect crack initiation in ductile metals with excellent deformability because no significant load drop is observed due to crack generation. In this study, the applicability of acoustic emission sensors, which are commonly used in facility diagnostics, to measure crack initiation during the metal forming process was analyzed. Cylindrical notch specimens were designed using the finite element method to induce a premature crack on the surface of pre heat-treated steel (ESW90) material. In addition, specimens with various notch angles and heights were prepared and compression tests were carried out. During the compression tests, acoustic emission signal on the dies and images of the surface of the notch specimen were recorded using an optical camera in real time. The experimental results revealed that the acoustic emission sensor can be used to detect crack initiation in ductile metals due to severe plastic deformation.

The Goss texture component of {110}<001> is well known as one of the best texture components to improve the magnetic properties of electrical steel sheets. The small amount of the Goss texture component is obtained at the surface of the steel sheet by shear deformation due to friction between the steel sheet and the roll during conventional symmetric rolling. This study aims to identify a method to obtain high intensity of the Goss texture component not only at the surface but in the whole layer of the steel sheet by shear deformation of asymmetric rolling. Low carbon steel sheets, which have different initial texture, were asymmetrically rolled by about 50%, 70%, and 80%. The pole figures of the top, center, and bottom layers of the initial and asymmetrically rolled low carbon steel sheets were measured by an X-ray diffractometer. Based on the measured pole figures of these samples, the intensities of the main texture components were analyzed for the initial and asymmetrically rolled low carbon steel sheets. As a result, the initial low carbon steel sheet with the γ-fiber component showed a higher intensity of the Goss texture component in the whole layer than the steel sheet with other texture components after asymmetric rolling.

Increasing the critical current density of superconducting wire is one of the difficult challenges in the field of superconductivity. It is well known that the higher volume fraction of uniformly dispersed α-Ti is able to enhance the critical current density of superconducting material NbTi because α-Ti serves as a flux pinning center. The volume fraction of α-Ti highly depends on the grain size of NbTi because α-Ti precipitates at the grain boundaries or triple points. For this purpose, we investigated the effect of initial microstructures of NbTi obtained from hot rolling in various temperature conditions on the critical current density. In addition, subsequent heat treatment was assigned to precipitate α-Ti and groove rolling/cold drawing was adopted to produce a wire with a diameter of about 1.0 mm. It was observed that the band structure was formed after hot rolling at 500~600℃. It was also found that the volume fraction of α-Ti after hot rolling at 500~600℃ was higher and it led to the highest critical current density.

Aluminum nitride (AlN), as a substrate material in electronic packaging, has attracted considerable attention over the last few decades because of its excellent properties, which include high thermal conductivity, a coefficient of thermal expansion that matches well with that of silicon, and a moderately low dielectric constant. AlN films with c-axis orientation and thermal conductivity characteristics were deposited by using Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD). The epitaxial AlN films were grown on sapphire (c-Al₂O₃) single crystals by PLD with AlN target and Y₂O₃ doped AlN target. A comparison of different targets associated with AlN films deposited by PLD was presented with particular emphasis on thermal conductivity properties. The quality of AlN films was found to strongly depend on the growth temperature that was exerted during deposition. AlN thin films deposited using Y₂O₃-AlN targets doped with sintering additives showed relatively higher thermal conductivity than while using pure AlN targets. AlN thin films deposited at 600℃ were confirmed to have highly c-axis orientation and thermal conductivity of 39.413 W/mK.

The influence of electric current on the joining properties of aluminum and copper was investigated. Various pulsed electric current conditions were set to the joining specimens followed by pressure. The shear strength of the joint area between aluminum and copper was measured by the lab shear test. In addition, the microstructures of the joint area were observed through a field emission scanning electron microscope, energy dispersive X-ray, and electron backscatter diffraction. The mechanical properties of each phase in the joint region were measured by nano-indentation. As a result, it was confirmed that electrically assisted solid state joining of copper and aluminum could be applied in various industrial fields.