• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.65 no.9
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• pp.1518-1523
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• 2016

In this study, in order to understand the degradation characteristics of oil-paper insulation for power transformers and OF cables, tan delta was measured using cable model specimens with long-term accelerated thermal and electrical aging. In addition, to find out the degradation level due to the accelerated aging, tensile strengths of aged papers were measured. As a result, tan ${\delta}$ showed the characteristics of slight decrease at the first stage and then increase with the aging time, which could be analyzed due to the evaporation of remaining moisture and the change of aging rate with time. Also, the trend of tensile strengths with aging temperature and time was appeared to be exponentially decreased and by use of these data equivalent calculated lifetimes and accelerated aging factors were derived for each aging temperatures. After then, tan ${\delta}$ was analyzed with the equivalent operating years. For all different aging temperatures, the aged data were very well fit to the equivalent operating years and it is shown that tan ${\delta}$ was increased with the decrease of tensile strength.

• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.26-34
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• 2001

Most research to date concerning the cryogenic toughness of austenitic stainless steels has concentrated on the base metal and weld metal in weldments. The most severe problem faced on the conventional austenitic stainless steel is the thermal aging degradation such as sensitization and carbide induced embrittlement. In this paper, we investigate the cryogenic toughness degradation which can be occurred for austenitic stainless in welding. The test materials are austenitic stainless JN1, JJ1 and JK2 steels, which are materials recently developed for use in nuclear fusion apparatus at cryogenic temperature. The small punch(SP) test was conducted to detect similar isothermally aging condition with material degradation occurred in service welding. The single-specimen unloading compliance method was used to determine toughness degradation caused by thermal aging for austenitic stainless steels. In addition, we have investigated size effect on fracture toughness by using 20% side-grooved 0.5TCT specimens.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.99-105
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• 2006

This paper is to investigate feasibility on quantitative aging state of epoxy coating on concrete wall in containment structure under operation of nuclear power plants. For evaluating the physical characteristics of the epoxy coating, adhesion strengths of two kinds of degraded epoxy coating systems on both steel surfaces and concrete surfaces were measured via accelerated aging. Comparatively impedance data taken by ultrasonic test were also taken to relate with adhesion data. After aging, in case of concrete, from half of specimens, aging of epoxy coating was developed. As for steel, on $4^{th}$ inspection day, adhesion force was failed. To improve reliability on quality degradation of epoxy, relationship between adhesion and impedance was analyzed. By tracing to co-respond to these data, it was possible to Fig. out physical state of as-built epoxy coating. The possibility to develop new methodology of time - dependent aging state on epoxy coating was found and discussed.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.110-117
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• 2001

Artificial aging was performed to simulate the microstructural degradation in 2.25CrMo steel arising from long time exposure at $540^{\circ}C$. It was found that the carbides became coarser and spheroidized as aging time increased. An attempt was made to evaluate the microstructural degradation in artificially aging heat treated 2.25CrMo steel by the ultrasonic attenuation and velocity measurements. Ultrasonic velocity was found essentially insensitive to the microstructural changes resulting from aging heat treatment. However, the ultrasonic attenuation was observed to increase with increasing aging time. Also, it was noticed that the change of ultrasonic attenuation with aging time was more sensitive at high frequency regions.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.323-329
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• 2001

Artificial aging was performed to simulate the microstructural degradation in 2.25CrMo steel arising from long time exposure at $540^{\circ}C$. The carbide morphologies were classified as acicular, pipe and globular type, and the number of carbides per unit area was measured for each type of carbides. The fine acicular carbides were found to diminish drastically in the initial stage of aging. An attempt was made to evaluate the microstructural degradation in artificially aging heat treated 2.25CrMo steel by the magnetic property measurements such as saturation magnetization, coercivity and remanence. The saturation magnetization showed no distinct trend with aging time. However, the coercivity and remanence were observed to decrease rapidly in initial 920 hours of aging time and then decrease slowly afterwards.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2005.07a
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• pp.99-100
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• 2005

Reliability of the thyristor has a major effects on the high power systems such as HVDC, SVC and FACTs, etc. Therefore, analyzing method for thyristor aging is important to improve the stability of thyristor and high power systems. In this paper, we explain the analyzing method for examine the thyristor aging effect. And also, the thyristor aging experiments were performed to investigate the characteristic degradation due to the aging.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.31-37
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• 2019

This study investigates the effects of long-term artificial-aging on hardness variation in the dissimilar metal weldments for nuclear power plant facilities. These dissimilar welds are inevitably required to join the components in nozzle parts of pressurized vessels, such as austenitic stainless steels and ferritic steels. A artificial thermal aging was conducted in an electrical furnace to simulate material degradation at high temperatures. The test materials were held at the temperature of $600^{\circ}C$ for 10000 hours and interrupted at various levels of degraded specimens. The degradation of hardness is a well-known phenomenon resulting from long-term aging or high-temperature degradation of structural materials. In this study, the variation of hardness at each position was different, and complicated in relation to microstructures such as twins, grains, precipitates, phase transformations, and residual stresses in dissimilar weldments. We discussed the variation of hardness in terms of microstructural changes during long-term aging.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.11
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• pp.4111-4124
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• 2022

The control rod drive system is critical to the reactor's reliable operation. The performance of its control system and mechanical system will gradually deteriorate because of operational and environmental stresses, thus increasing the reactor's operational risk. Currently there are few researches on the aging-related degradation of the entire control rod drive system. Because it is difficult to quantify the effect of various environmental stresses and establish an accurate physical model when multiple mechanisms superimposed in the degradation process. Therefore, this paper investigates the aging-related degradation of a control rod drive system by integrating Dynamic Object-Oriented Bayesian Network and Hidden Markov Model. Uncertainties in the degradation of the control system and mechanical system are addressed by using fuzzy theory and the Hidden Markov Model respectively. A system which consists of eight control rod drive mechanisms divided into two groups is used to demonstrate the method. The aging-related degradation of the control rod drive system is analyzed by the Bayesian inference algorithm based on the accelerated life test data, and the impact of different operating schemes on the system performance is also investigated. Meanwhile, the components or units that have major impact on the system's performance are identified at different operational phases. Finally, several essential safety measures are suggested to mitigate the risk caused by the system degradation.

• KIEAE Journal
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.11-18
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• 2015

Purpose: The current study analyzed trends in thermal insulation performance with aging, and condensation characteristics caused by the former. Method: Thermal insulation and condensation prevention performance of an architecture were assessed using Temperature Difference Ration Inside, or TDRi. Subjects of this quantitative analysis in thermal insulation performance change due to aging included recently constructed apartments and aged apartments older than 40 years. Time series comparison and analysis were conducted to observed changes in the thermal insulation performance and condensation characteristics. Result: Analysis showed that wall insulation performance degraded with aging regardless of fortified insulating material usage or insulating material type, which caused increased danger of condensation. In addition, when fortified insulating material was installed on the connection between the walls, insulation performance degradation was lower compared to cases in which fortified materials were not used. In all cases from 1 to 10, the rate of thermal insulation performance degradation increased after 20 years of aging.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.2
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• pp.709-731
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• 2022

Loss of fracture resistance due to thermal aging degradation is a potential limiting factor affecting the long-term (80+ year) viability of nuclear reactors. To evaluate the effects of decades of aging in a practical time frame, accelerated aging must be employed prior to mechanical characterization. In this study, a variety of chemically and microstructurally diverse austenitic stainless steels were aged between 0 and 30,000 h at 290-400 ℃ to simulate 0-80+ years of operation. Over 600 static fracture tests were carried out between room temperature and 400 ℃. The results presented include selected J-R curves of each material as well as K_0.2mm fracture toughness values mapped against aging condition and ferrite content in order to display any trends related to those variables. Results regarding differences in processing, optimal ferrite content under light aging, and the relationship between test temperature and Mo content were observed. Overall, it was found that both the ferrite volume fraction and molybdenum content had significant effects on thermal degradation susceptibility. It was determined that materials with >25 vol% ferrite are unlikely to be viable for 80 years, particularly if they have high Mo contents (>2 wt%), while materials less than 15 vol% ferrite are viable regardless of Mo content.