• Transactions of Materials Processing
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• v.12 no.5
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• pp.479-486
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• 2003

This paper presents an elastoplastic analysis for spent nuclear fuel disposal container and its 50 cm thick bentonite buffer to predict the collapse of the container while the horizontal asymmetric sudden rock movement of 10 cm is applied on the composite structure. This sudden rock movement is anticipated by the earthquake etc. at a deep underground. Elastoplastic material model is adopted. Drucker-Prager yield criterion is used for the material yield prediction of the bentonite buffer and von-Mises yield criterion is used for the material yield prediction of the container. Analysis results show that even though very large deformations occur beyond the yield point in the bentonite buffer, the container structure still endures elastic small strains and stresses below the yield strength. Hence, the asymmetric 50 cm thick bentonite buffer can protect the container safely against the 10 cm sudden rock movement by earthquake etc.. Analysis results also show that bending deformations occur in the container structure due to the shear deformation of the bentonite buffer. The finite element analysis code, NISA, is used for the analysis.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.139-150
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• 1999

The swelling pressure of a potential buffer material was measured and the effect of dry density, bentonite content and initial water content on the swelling pressure was investigated to provide the information for the selection of buffer material in a high-level waste repository. Swelling tests were carried out according to Box-Behnken's experimental design. Measured swelling pressures were in the wide range of 0.7 Kg/$\textrm{cm}^2$ to 190.2 Kg/$\textrm{cm}^2$ under given experimental conditions. Based upon the experimental data, a 3-factor polynomial swelling model was suggested to analyze the effect of dry density, bentonite content and initial water content on the swelling pressure The swelling pressure increased with an increase in the dry density and bentonite content, while it decreased with increasing the initial water content and, beyond about 12 wt.% of the initial water content, levelled off to nearly constant value.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2001.07a
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• pp.224-227
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• 2001

ZnO buffer layers were used to grow ZnO films on c-plane sapphire substrates. The role of ZnO buffer layers in the growth of ZnO thin films on sapphire substrates was investigated by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and Photolumminescence(PL) measurements. At the optimized ZnO buffer layer thickness of 100 $\AA$, FWHM of $\theta$ -rocking curve of ZnO thin films was minimized to 0.73 degrees and room temperature PL spectra showed that deep level emission was not hardly seen. The optimization of the ZnO buffer layer thickness resulted in improvements of the surface morphology and crystalline quality of ZnO thin films.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.89-102
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• 2012

The buffer and backfill are important components of the engineered barrier system in a high-level waste repository, which should be constructed in a hard rock formation at a depth of several hundred meters below the ground surface. The primary function of the buffer and backfill is to seal the underground excavation as a preferred flow path for radionuclide migration from the deposited high-level waste. This study investigates the hydraulic conductivity and swelling pressure of Kyungju Ca-bentonite, which is the candidate material for the buffer and backfill in the Korean reference high-level waste disposal system. The factors that influence the hydraulic conductivity and swelling pressure of the buffer and backfill are analyzed. The factors considered are the dry density, the temperature, the sand content, the salinity and the organic carbon content. The possibility of deterioration in the sealing performance of the buffer and backfill is also assessed.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2003.04a
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• pp.140-142
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• 2003

ZnO thin films are demanded for device applications, so ZnO buffer layer was used to improve for good properties of ZnO thin film. In this study, the structural, electrical and optical properties of ZnO thin films deposited with various buffer thickness was investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Hall measurements, Photoluminescence(PL). ZnO buffer layer and ZnO thin films on sapphire($Al_{2}O_{3}$) substrate have been deposited $200^{\circ}C$ and $400^{\circ}C$ respectively by pulsed laser deposition. It is observed the variety of lattice constant of ZnO thin film by (101) peak position shift with various buffer thickness. It is founded that ZnO thin film with buffer thickness of 20 nm was larger resistivity of 200 factor and UV/visible of 2.5 factor than that of ZnO thin films without buffer layer. ZnO thin films with buffer thickness of 20 nm have shown the most properties.

• Electrical & Electronic Materials
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.117-122
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• 1994

The role of ZnS buffer layer not only suppresses chemical reactions between emission material and insulating material but also alters the luminescence and the crystallinity of the emission layer, if ZnS buffer layer was sandwiched between emission layer and insulating layer of electroluminescent device. In this research, we fabricated ZnS thin film with rf magnetron sputter system by varying rf power 100, 200W, substrate temperature 100, 150, 200, 250.deg. C and post-annealing temperature 200, 300, 400, 500.deg. C and analysed X-ray diffraction pattern, transmission spectra and cross section by SEM photograph for seeking the optimal crystallization condition of ZnS buffer layer. As a result, increasing the rf power, the crystallinity of ZnS thin film was improved. It was found that the ZnS thin film had better properties than anything else when fabricated with the following conditions ; rf power 200W, substrate temperature 150.deg. C, and post-annealing temperature 400.deg. C. ZnS thin film had the transmittance more than 80% in visible range. So it is suitable to use as a buffer layer of electroluminescent devices.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.199-206
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• 2017

A geological repository for the disposal of high-level radioactive waste is generally constructed in host rock at depths of 500~1,000 meters below the ground surface. A geological repository system consists of a disposal canister with packed spent fuel, buffer material, backfill material, and intact rock. The buffer is indispensable to assure the disposal safety of high-level radioactive waste, and it can restrain the release of radionuclides and protect the canister from the inflow of groundwater. Since high temperature in a disposal canister is released to the surrounding buffer material, the thermal properties of the buffer material are very important in determining the entire disposal safety. Even though there have been many studies on thermal conductivity, there have been only few studies that have investigates the specific heat capacity of the bentonite buffer. Therefore, this paper presents a specific heat capacity prediction model for compacted Gyeongju bentonite buffer material, which is a Ca-bentonite produced in Korea. Specific heat capacity of the compacted bentonite buffer was measured using a dual probe method according to various degrees of saturation and dry density. A regression model to predict the specific heat capacity of the compacted bentonite buffer was suggested and fitted using 33 sets of data obtained by the dual probe method.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2002.04b
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• pp.65-68
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• 2002

The effect of low-temperature ZnO buffer layer has been investigated for the optical properties of ZnO thin films. ZnO buffers and thin films have been deposited using the pulsed laser deposition technique. ZnO buffer layers were grown at $200^{\circ}C$ with various thickness of 0 to 60 nm, followed by raising the substrate temperature to $400^{\circ}C$ to grow $2{\mu}m$ ZnO thin films. The buffer layers could relax stresses induced by the lattice mismatch and different thermal expansion coefficients between ZnO thin films and sapphire substrate. In order to identify the optical properties of ZnO thin films, PL measurement was used. From the results of PL measurement, all the fabricated ZnO thin films with buffer layers have shown intensive UV emission with a narrow linewidth. ZnO thin films with buffer layer of 20 nm have shown the strongest UV emission. It was found that the use of ZnO buffer layer plays an important role to improve the intensive UV emission of the ZnO thin films.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.18 no.7
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• pp.656-661
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• 2005

The effects of gas atmosphere and in-situ thermal annealing in buffet layers on the characteristic of the ZnO grown by RF magnetron sputtering have been investigated. It was shown that the introduction of buffer layers grown at the gas atmospheres of the mixed $Ar/O_2$ and the in-situ thermal treatment of the ZnO buffer layer improved the structural and optical properties. In addition, the ZnO films on the buffer layer thermal-annealed at $N_2$ gas ambience showed the strong emission of the near band gap exciton with narrow linewidth by combining the high-temperature growth of the ZnO film.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.497-501
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• 2004

The crystal structure of the GaN film on the AIN buffer layer grown by R. F sputtering with different thickness has been studied using X-ray scattering and transmission electron microscopy(TEM). The interface roughness between the AIN buffer layer and the epitaxial GaN film, due to crossover from planar to island grains, produced edge dislocations. The strain, coming from lattice mismatch between the AIN buffer layer and the epitaxial GaN film, produced screw dislocations. The density of the edge and screw dislocation propagating from the interface between the GaN film and the AIN buffer layer affected the electric resistance of GaN film.