• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.43 no.12 s.295
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• pp.768-774
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• 2006

The microstructure of Ni-YSZ cermets was controlled with fine and coarse starting powders (NiO and YSZ) to obtain a optimum strong and conductive tubular anode support for SOFCs. Three types of cermets with different microstructures, i.e., coarse Ni-fine YSZ, fine Ni-coarse YSZ, and fine Ni-fine YSZ, were fabricated to investigate their electrical and mechanical properties. The cermets from fine NiO powder showed high electrical conductivity due to the enhanced percolation of Ni particles. The cermet by foe Ni and coarse YSZ showed excellent electrical conductivity (>1000 S/cm) despite its high porosity $(\sim40%)$ but it showed poor mechanical strength due to the lack of percolation by YSZ particles and due to large pores. Thus fine NiO and YSZ powders were used to make strong and conductive Ni-YSZ support tube by extrusion. The microstructure of the anode tube was modified by the amount of polymeric additives and carbon black, a pore former. Ni-YSZ tube (porosity $\sim34%$) with the finer microstructure showed better performance both in electrical conductivity (>1000 S/cm) and fracture strength $(\sim140\;MPa)$. Either flat or circular NiO-YSZ tubes with the length from 20 to 40cm were successfully fabricated with the optimized composition of materials and polymeric additives.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.485-491
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• 2009

In present work, NiO/YSZ anode functional layer was prepared by nano NiO powder and 8YSZ powder. The nano NiO powders were made by Pulsed wire evaporation (PWE) method. Nano NiO- YSZ functional layer was sintered at the temperature of $900-1400^{\circ}C$. The prepared functional layer was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The nano NiO- YSZ anode functional layer sintered at $1300^{\circ}C$ shows the lowest polarization resistance. Nano NiO- YSZ anode functional layer shows about two times smaller polarization resistance than the anode functional layer made by commercial NiO-YSZ powders. Based on these experimental results, it is concluded that the nano NiO-YSZ cermet is suitable as a anode functional layer operated at $800^{\circ}C$.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.370-378
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• 2018

Cold forging, carried out at room temperature, leads to high dimensional accuracy and excellent surface integrity as compared to other forging methods such as warm and hot forgings. In the cold forging process, WC-Co (Tungsten Carbide-Cobalt) alloy is the mainly used material as a core dies because of its superior hardness and strength as compared to other structural materials. For cold forging, die life is the most significant factor because it is directly related to the manufacturing cost due to periodic die replacement in mass production. To investigate die life of WC-Co alloy for cold forging, mechanical properties such as strength and fatigue are essentially necessary. Generally, uniaxial tensile test and fatigue test are the most efficient and simplest testing method. However, uniaxial tension is not efficiently application to WC-Co alloy because of its sensitivity to alignment of the specimen due to its brittleness and difficulty in thread machining. In this study, shape of specimen, tools, and testing methods, which are appropriate for uniaxial tensile test for WC-Co alloy, are proposed. The test results such as Young's modulus, tensile strength and stress-strain curves are compared to those in previous literature to validate the proposed testing methods. Based on the validation of test results it was concluded that the newly developed testing method is applicable to other cemented carbides like Titanium carbides with high strength and brittleness, and also can be utilized to carry out fatigue tests for further investigation on die life of cold forging.

• KEPCO Journal on Electric Power and Energy
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.161-165
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• 2021

In general, SOFCs mainly use Ni-YSZ cermet, a mixture of Ni and YSZ, as an anode material, which is stable in a high-temperature reducing atmosphere. However, when SOFCs have operated at a high temperature for a long time, the structural change of Ni occurs and it results in the problem of reducing durability and efficiency. Accordingly, a development of a new anode material that can replace existing nickel and exhibits similar performance is in progress. In this study, SrTiO₃, which is a perovskite-based mixed conductor and one of the candidate materials, was used. In order to increase the electrical conduction properties, Y_0.08Sr_0.92Fe_0.3Ti_0.7O₃, doped with 0.08 mol of Y³⁺ in Sr-site and 0.03 mol of transition metal Fe³⁺ in Ti-site, was synthesized and its chemical diffusion coefficient and reaction constant were measured. Its electrical conductivity changes were also observed while changing the oxygen partial pressure at a constant temperature. The performance as a candidate electrode material was verified by predicting the defect area through the electrical conductivity pattern according to the oxygen partial pressure.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.44-50
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• 2022

Transition metal carbides (TMCs) are used to process difficult-to-cut materials due to the trend of requiring superior wear and corrosion properties compared to those of cemented carbides used in the cutting industry. In this study, TMC (TiC, TaC, Mo₂C, and NbC)-based cermets were consolidated by spark plasma sintering at 1,300 ℃ (60 ℃min) with a pressure of 60 MPa with Co addition. The sintering behavior of TMCs depended exponentially on the function of the sintering exponent. The Mo₂C-6Co cermet was fully densified, with a relative density of 100.0 %. The Co-binder penetrated the hard phase (carbides) by dissolving and re-precipitating, which completely densified the material. The mechanical properties of the TMCs were determined according to their grain size and elastic modulus: TiC-6Co showed the highest hardness of 1,872.9 MPa, while NbC-6Co showed the highest fracture toughness of 10.6 MPa^*m^1/2. The strengthened grain boundaries due to high interfacial energy could cause a high elastic modules; therefore, TiC-6Co showed a value of 452 ± 12 GPa.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.204-211
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• 2020

The high-velocity oxy-fuel (HVOF) thermal spraying coating technique has been considered a promising replacement for traditional electrolytic hard chrome plating (EHC), which caused environmental pollution and lung cancer due to toxic Cr⁶⁺. In this paper, two types of cermet coatings were prepared by HVOF spraying: WC-CoCr and WC-CrC-Ni coatings. The produced coatings were analyzed extensively in terms of the micro-hardness, porosity, crystalline phase and microstructure using a hardness tester, optical microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and scanning electron microscopy (including energy dispersed spectroscopy (EDS)), respectively. The wear and friction behaviors of the coatings were evaluated comparatively by reciprocating sliding wear tests at 25 ℃, 250 ℃, and 450 ℃. The results revealed correlations among the microstructures, metallic binder matrixes, porosities, and wear performance of the coatings. For example, WC-CoCr coatings showed better sliding wear resistance than WC-CrC-Ni coatings, regardless of the test temperature due to the more homogeneous microstructure, Co-rich, Cr-rich metallic binder matrix, and lower porosity.

• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.276-285
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• 2012

The objective of this research is to develop the coating technique by a porous self-fluxing alloy for improving the mechanical properties of run-out table roller surface with the hot rolling. To enhance the durability of run-out table roller with the hot rolling, the high hardness of roller surface should be maintained at high temperatures, and the improvement of wear resistance, corrosion resistance, heat resistance, burn resistance and adhesion resistance should be maintained. In order to be able to transport reliably a hot rolled steel sheet, also, the appropriate friction coefficient on the roller surface should be maintained and the slip between roller and steel should not occur. In this study, the wear resistance of roller increases after the self-fluxing alloy is changed to a cermet by adding the tungsten carbide(WC), and the coefficient of friction increases and the ability of grip is improved because the porosities are made by coating with fine iron powder on the roller surface. As a result, it is found that the ability of grip between the steel and the roller coated by a porous self-fluxing alloy contained to 5 ~ 10 wt% of Fe in the coating layer is improved compared to the roller coated by Ni-Cr. This is because the porosities are made after Fe contained in the roller is partially alloyed by heating with a furnace in the fusing process and the rest is eliminated by oxidation and dissolution.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.1-9
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• 2020

In recent days, fuel cell has received attention from the world as an alternative power source to hydrocarbon used in automobile engines. With the industrial advances of fuel cell, There have been a lot of researches actively conducted to find a way of generating hydrogen. Among many hydrogen production methods, Solid Oxide Electrolysis Cell(SOEC) is not only a basic way but also environment-friendly method to produce hydrogen gas. Solid Oxide Electrolysis Cell has lower electrical energy demands and high thermal efficiency since it is possible to operate under high temperature and high pressure conditions. For these reasons, experimental researches as well as studies on numerical modeling for Solid Oxide Electrolysis Cell have been under way. However, studies on numerical modeling are relatively less enough than experimental accomplishments and have limited performance prediction, which mostly is considered as a result from inadequate effects of electrochemical properties by temperature and pressure. In this study, various experimental studies of commercial Membrane Electrode Assembly (MEA) composed of Ni-YSZ (40wt%, Ni-60 wt% YSZ)/8-YSZ (TOSOH, TZ8Y)/LSM (La_0.9Sr_0.1MnO₃) was utilized for improving effectiveness of SOEC model. After numerically analyzing effects of electrochemical properties according to operating temperature, causing the largest deviation between experiments and simulation are that Charge Transfer Coefficient (CTC), exchange current density, diffusion coefficient, electrical conductivity in SOEC. Analyzing temperature effect on parameter used in overpotential model is conducted for modeling of SOEC. cross-validation method is adopted for application of various MEA and evaluating feasibility of model. As a result, the study confirm that the numerical model of SOEC based on structured process of effectiveness evaluation makes performance prediction better.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.57 no.4
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• pp.525-530
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• 2019

The performance and stability of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) depend on the microstructure of the electrode and electrolyte. In anode, porosity and pore distribution affect the active site and fuel gas transfer. In an electrolyte, density and thickness determine the ohmic resistance. To optimizing these conditions, using costly method cannot be a suitable research plan for aiming at commercialization. To solve these drawbacks, we made high performance unit cells with low cost and highly efficient ceramic processes. We selected the NiO-YSZ cermet that is a commercial anode material and used facile methods like die pressing and dip coating process. The porosity of anode was controlled by the amount of carbon black (CB) pore former from 10 wt% to 20 wt% and final sintering temperature from $1350^{\circ}C$ to $1450^{\circ}C$. To achieve a dense thin film electrolyte, the thickness and microstructure of electrolyte were controlled by changing the YSZ loading (vol%) of the slurry from 1 vol% to 5 vol. From results, we achieved the 40% porosity that is well known as an optimum value in Ni-YSZ anode, by adding 15wt% of CB and sintering at $1350^{\circ}C$. YSZ electrolyte thickness was controllable from $2{\mu}m$ to $28{\mu}m$ and dense microstructure is formed at 3vol% of YSZ loading via dip coating process. Finally, a unit cell composed of Ni-YSZ anode with 40% porosity, YSZ electrolyte with a $22{\mu}m$ thickness and LSM-YSZ cathode had a maximum power density of $1.426Wcm^{-2}$ at $800^{\circ}C$.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.283-287
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• 2007

KIER has been developing the anode-supported flat tubular solid oxide fuel cell unit bundle for the intermediate temperature($700{\sim}800^{\circ}C$) operation. Anode-supported flat tubular cells have Ni/YSZ cermet anode support, 8 moi.% $Y_2O_3$ stabilized $ZrO_2(YSZ)$ thin electrolyte, and cathode multi-layer composed of Sr-doped $LaSrMnO_3(LSM)$, LSM-YSZ composite, and $LaSrCoFeO_3(LSCF)$. The prepared anode-supported flat tubular cell was joined with ferritic stainless steel cap by induction brazing process. Current collection for the cathode was achieved by winding Ag wire and $La_{0.6}Sr_{0.4}CoO_3(LSCo)$ paste, while current collection for the anode was achieved by using Ni wire and felt. For making stack, the prepared anode-supported flat tubular cells with effective electrode area of $90\;cm^2$ connected in series with 12 unit bundles, in which unit bundle consists of two cells connected in parallel. The performance of unit bundle in 3% humidified $H_2$ and air at $800^{\circ}C$ shows maximum power density of $0.39\;W/cm^2$ (@ 0.7V). Through these experiments, we obtained basic technology of the anode-supported flat tubular cell and established the proprietary concept of the anode-supported flat tubular cell unit bundle.