• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.50-57
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• 2013

Characterization of microstructures and cryogenic mechanical properties of electro beam (EB) welds between cast and forged Inconel 718 superalloys has been investigated. Optimal EBW condition was found in the beam current range of 36~39 mA with the constant travel speed of 12 mm/s and arc voltage of 120 kV for 10 mm-thick specimens. Electron beam current lower than 25 mA caused to occur the liquation microfissuring in cast-side heat affected zone (HAZ) of EB welds. The HAZ liquation microfissure was found on the liquated grain boundaries with resolidified ${\gamma}/Laves$ and ${\gamma}/NbC$ eutectic constituents. EBW produced welds showing a fine dendritic structure with relatively discrete Laves phase due to fast cooling rate. After post weld aging treatment, blocky Laves phase and formation of ${\gamma}^{\prime}+{\gamma}^{{\prime}{\prime}}$ strengtheners were observed. Presence of primary strengthener and coarse Laves particles in PWHT weld may cause to reduce micro-plastic zone ahead of a crack, leading to a significant decrease in Charpy impact toughness at $-196^{\circ}C$. Fracture initiation and propagation induced by Charpy impact testing were discussed in terms of the dislocation structures ahead of crack arisen from the fractured Laves phase.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.37-43
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• 2009

Silicon dioxide as gate dielectrics was grown at $400^{\circ}C$ on a polycrystalline Si substrate by inductively coupled plasma oxidation using a mixture of $O_2$ and $N_2O$ to improve the performance of polycrystalline Si thin film transistors. In conventional high-temperature $N_2O$ annealing, nitrogen can be supplied to the $Si/SiO_2$ interface because a NO molecule can diffuse through the oxide. However, it was found that nitrogen cannot be supplied to the Si/$SiO_2$ interface by plasma oxidation as the $N_2O$ molecule is broken in the plasma and because a dense Si-N bond is formed at the $SiO_2$ surface, preventing further diffusion of nitrogen into the oxide. Nitrogen was added to the $Si/SiO_2$ interface by the plasma oxidation of mixtures of $O_2/N_2O$ gas, leading to an enhancement of the field effect mobility of polycrystalline Si TFTs due to the reduction in the number of trap densities at the interface and at the Si grain boundaries due to nitrogen passivation.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.32-37
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• 2002

The presence of hydrogen in industrial plants is a source of damage. Hydrogen attack is one such form of degradation and often causing large tube ruptures that necessitate an immediate shutdown. Hydrogen attack may reduce the fracture toughness as well as the strength of steels. This reduction is caused partially by the presence of cavities and microcracks at the grain boundaries. In the past several techniques have been used with limited results. This paper describes the application of an ultrasonic velocity and attenuation in hydrogen damage. Ultrasonic tests showed a decrease in wave velocity and an increase in attenuation. Such results demonstrate the potential for ultrasonic nondestructive testing to quantify damage. Based on this study, reliable recommendation is suggested to detect hydrogen attack.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.151-164
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• 2004

The changes of microstructural and mechanical properties were evaluated for the high burn-up fuel claddings after the neutron irradiation of $1.8{\sim}3.1{\times}10^{20}n/cm^2$ (E>1.0 MEV) in HANARO research reactor. After the irradiation, the spot-type dislocations (a-type dislocations) were easily observed in most claddings, and the density of the dislocations was different depending on the grains and was higher at grain boundaries than within grains. As the final annealing temperature increased, the density of spot-type dislocations increased and the line-type dislocations (c-type dislocations) which was perpendicular to the <0002> direction, appeared sporadically in some claddings. However, the types of precipitates in the fuel claddings after the irradiation were not changed from that in unirradiated claddings. The mechanical properties including the hardness, strength and elongation after the irradiation were changed due to the formation of spot-type dislocations. That is, the increase in hardness and strength as well as the decrease in elongation after the irradiation was occurred simultaneously with increasing the final annealing temperature. Owing to the Nb contribution to the formation of spot-type dislocation during the irradiation, the increase in hardness and strength in higher Nb-contained Zr alloys after the irradiation was higher than that in lower Nb-contained Zr alloys.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.50 no.7
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• pp.477-485
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• 2012

The effect of aging heat treatment on microstructure evolution of the Ti-6Al-4Fe-0.25Si alloy with an initial microstructure of an elongated alpha was investigated. Aging treatments of the samples were carried out at $550^{\circ}C$ for up to 100 hours. The microstructure of the 5 hours heat-treated sample consisted of alpha grains, beta matrix and some TiFe intermetallic compounds that were precipitated from the beta matrix. Increasing the aging time to 10 hours, most of the beta matrix was decomposed to very fine alpha grains (${\sim}0.5{\mu}m$) and TiFe, and thus the volume fraction of the beta matrix was significantly decreased. EBSD analysis revealed that newly formed tertiary-alpha-grains in the vicinity of TiFe had high angle boundaries with respect to the primary and secondary alpha grains. As a result of these phase transformations during aging, the fraction of the alpha/alpha grain boundary was increased while that of the alpha/beta phase boundary was decreased.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.249-255
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• 2019

This study is intended to clarify the main microstructural factors that contribute to an increase of hardness during isothermal aging in Mg-Al alloy. For this work, Mg-9.3%Al alloy specimens were solution-treated at 688 K for 24 h followed by water quenching, and then aged at 473 K for up to 24 h. The aging at 473 K yielded nodular discontinuous precipitates (DPs) with (${\alpha}+{\beta}$) lamellar morphology at the grain boundaries, and the volume fraction of DPs increased from 0% to ~30% with increasing aging time up to 12 h. For the aging times longer than 12 h, further formation of DPs was substantially inhibited owing to the occurrence of significant continuous precipitation within the ${\alpha}-(Mg)$ matrix, and the density of continuous precipitates (CPs) becomes greater with increasing aging time. Hardness of the specimen was steadily increased with aging time up to 24 h. Microstructural examination on the aged specimens revealed that the increased overall hardness at the early stage of aging is associated with the increased volume fraction of DPs, but at the later stage of aging, where the amount of DPs was hardly changed, the increased hardness of the ${\alpha}-(Mg)$ matrix in response to the higher density of CPs within the matrix, plays a key role in increasing the overall hardness value.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.29 no.8
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• pp.469-476
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• 2019

A lead-free bulk ceramic having a chemical formula $Ba_{0.8}Ca_{0.2}(Ti_{0.8}Zr_{0.1}Ce_{0.1})O_3$ (further termed as BCTZCO) is synthesized using mixed oxide route. The structural, dielectric, impedance, and conductivity properties, as well as the modulus of the synthesized sample are discussed in the present work. Analysis of X-ray diffraction data obtained at room temperature reveals the existence of some impurity phases. The natural surface morphology shows close packing of grains with few voids. Attempts have been made to study the (a) effect of microstructures containing grains, grain boundaries, and electrodes on impedance and capacitive characteristics, (b) relationship between properties and crystal structure, and (c) nature of the relaxation mechanism of the prepared samples. The relationship between the structure and physical properties is established. The frequency and temperature dependence of the dielectric properties reveal that this complex system has a high dielectric constant and low tangent loss. An analysis of impedance and related parameters illuminates the contributions of grains. The activation energy is determined for only the high temperature region in the temperature dependent AC conductivity graph. Deviation from the Debye behavior is seen in the Nyquist plot at different temperatures. The relaxation mechanism and the electrical transport properties in the sample are investigated with the help of various spectroscopic (i.e., dielectric, modulus, and impedance) techniques. This lead free sample will serve as a base for device engineering.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.74-78
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• 2019

$Zn_2SnO_4$ thin films were deposited on quartzs substrates by using radio-frequency magnetron sputtering system. Thermal treatments at various temperatures were performed to evaluate the effect of annealing temperatures on the properties of $Zn_2SnO_4$ thin films. Surface morphologies were examined by using field emission-scanning electron microscopy and showed that sizes of grains were slightly increased and grain boundaries were clear with increasing annealing temperatures. The deposited $Zn_2SnO_4$ thin films on quartzs substrates were amorphous structures and no distinguishable crystallographic changes were observed with variations of annealing temperatures. The optical transmittance was improved with increasing annealing temperatures and was over 90% in the wavelength region between 350 and 1100 nm at the annealing temperature of $600^{\circ}C$. The optical energy bandgaps, which derived from the absorbance of $Zn_2SnO_4$ thin films, were increased from 3.34 eV to 3.43 eV at the annealing temperatures of $450^{\circ}C$ and $600^{\circ}C$, respectively. As the annealing temperature was increased, the electron concentrations were decreased. The electron mobility was decreased and resistivity was increased with increasing annealing temperatures with exception of $450^{\circ}C$. These results indicate that heat treatments at higher annealing temperatures improve the optical and electrical properties of rf-sputtered $Zn_2SnO_4$ thin films.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.84-95
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• 2021

The power conversion efficiency of Cu₂ZnSnSe₄ (CZTSe) solar cells depends on the absorber layer thickness; however, changes in the characteristics of the cells with varying absorber layer thickness are unclear. In this study, we investigated the changes in the characteristics of CZTSe solar cells for varying absorber layer thickness. Five absorber thicknesses were employed: CZTSe1 2.78 ㎛, CZTSe2 1.01 ㎛, CZTSe3 0.55 ㎛, CZTSe4 0.29 ㎛, and CZTSe5 0.15-0.23 ㎛. The efficiency of the CZTSe solar cells decreased as the absorber thickness decreased, resulting in power conversion efficiencies of 10.45% (CZTSe1), 8.67% (CZTSe2), 7.14% (CZTSe3), 3.44% (CZTSe4), and 1.54% (CZTSe5). As the thickness of the CZTSe absorber layer decreased, the electron-hole recombination at the grain boundaries and the absorber-back-contact interface increased. This caused an increase in the current loss, owing to light loss in the long-wavelength region. In addition, as the thickness of the CZTSe absorber layer decreased, more ZnSe was produced, and the resulting defects and defect clusters led to an open-circuit voltage loss.

• Progress in Superconductivity and Cryogenics
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.1-5
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• 2021

We have investigated the electrical transport properties of polycrystalline tantalum nitride (TaN_x) films. Various compositions of tantalum (nitride) thin films have been deposited on SiO₂ substrates by reactive DC magnetron sputtering while changing the ratio of nitrogen partial pressure. The substrate temperature was maintained at 283 K during deposition. X-ray diffraction analyses indicated the presence of α-Ta and β-Ta phases in the Ta film deposited in pure argon atmosphere, while fcc-TaN_x phases appeared in the sputtering gas mixture of argon and nitrogen. The N/Ta atomic ratio in the film increased ranging from 0.36 to 1.07 for nitrogen partial pressure from 7 to 20.7%. The superconducting transition temperatures of the TaN_x thin films were measured to be greater than 3.86 K with a maximum of 5.34 K. The electrical resistivity of TaN_x thin film was in the range of 177-577 𝜇Ωcm and increased with an increase in nitrogen content. The upper critical filed at zero temperature for a TaN_0.87 thin film was estimated to exceed 11.3 T, while it showed the lowest T_c = 3.86 K among the measured superconducting TaN_x thin films. We try to explain the behavior of the increase of the residual resistivity and the upper critical field for TaN_x thin films with the nitrogen content by using the combined role of the intergrain Coulomb effect and disorder effect by grain boundaries.