• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.17 no.11
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• pp.191-198
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• 2000

Laser direct patterning of the coated photoresist (PMER-NSG31B) layer was studied to make halftone dots on gravure printing roll. The selective laser hardening of photoresist by Ar-ion laser(wavelength: 333.6~363.8nm) was controlled by the A/O modulator. The coating thickness in the range of 5~11$\mu m$ could be obtained by using the up-down directional moving device along the vertically located roll. The width, thickness and hardness of the hardened lines formed under the laser power of 200~260㎽ and irradiation time of 4.4~6.6 $\mu$sec/point were investigated after developing. The hardened width increased as the coating thickness increased. Though the hardened thickness was changed due to the effect of the developing solution, the hardened layer showed good resistance to the scratching of 2H pencil. Also, the hardened minimum line widths of 10$\mu m$ could be obtained. The change of line width was also found after etching, and the minimum line widths of 6$\mu m$ could be obtained. The hardened lines showed the good resistance to the etching solution. Finally, the experimental data could be applied to make gravure halftone dots using the developed imaging process, successfully.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.12
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• pp.4514-4521
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• 2022

In this study, the effects of heat and radiation on the degradation behaviour of fluoroelastomer under simulated normal operation and a severe accident environment were investigated using sequential testing of gamma irradiation and thermal degradation. Tensile properties and Shore A hardness were measured, and thermogravimetric analysis was used to evaluate the degradation behaviour of fluoroelastomer. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy were used to characterize the structural changes of the fluoroelastomer. Heat and radiation generated in nuclear power plant break and deform the chemical bonds, and fluoroelastomer exposed to these environments have decreased C-H and functional groups that contain oxygen and double bonds such as C-O, C=O and C=C were generated. These functional groups were formed by auto oxidation by reacting free radicals generated from the cleaved bond with oxygen in the atmosphere. In this auto oxidation reaction, crosslinks were generated where bonded to each other, and the mobility of molecules was decreased, and as a result, the fluoroelastomer was hardened. This hardening behaviour occurred more significantly in the severe accident environment than in the normal operation condition, and it was found that thermal stability decreased with the generation of unstable structures by crosslinking.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.3
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• pp.469-476
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• 2020

Research reactors in-core experimental facilities are designed to provide the highest steady state flux for user's irradiation requirements. However, fuel conversion from highly enriched uranium (HEU) to low enriched uranium (LEU) driven by the ongoing effort to diminish proliferation risk, will impact reactor physics parameters. Preserving the reactor capability to produce the needed flux to perform its intended research functions, determines the conversion feasibility. This study investigates the neutron flux in the central experimental facility of two material test reactors (MTR), the IAEA generic10 MW benchmark reactor and the 22 MW s Egyptian Test and Research Reactor (ETRR-2). A 3D full core model with three uranium enrichment of 93%, 45%, and 20% was constructed utilizing the OpenMC particle transport Monte Carlo code. Neutronics calculations were performed for fresh fuel, the beginning of life cycle (BOL) and end of life cycle (EOL) for each of the three enrichments for both the IAEA 10 MW generic reactor and core 1/98 of the ETRR-2 reactor. Criticality calculations of the effective multiplication factor (K_eff) were executed for each of the twelve cases; results show a reasonable agreement with published benchmark values for both reactors. The thermal, epithermal and fast neutron fluxes were tallied across the core, utilizing the mesh tally capability of the code and are presented here. The axial flux in the central experimental facility was tallied at 1 cm intervals, for each of the cases; results for IAEA 10 MW show a maximum reduction of 14.32% in the thermal flux of LEU to that of the HEU, at EOL. The reduction of the thermal flux for fresh fuel was between 5.81% and 9.62%, with an average drop of 8.1%. At the BOL the thermal flux showed a larger reduction range of 6.92%-13.58% with an average drop of 10.73%. Furthermore, the fission reaction rate was calculated, results showed an increase in the peak fission rate of the LEU case compared to the HEU case. Results for the ETRR-2 reactor show an average increase of 62.31% in the thermal flux of LEU to that of the HEU due to the effect of spectrum hardening. The fission rate density increased with enrichment, resulting in 34% maximum increase in the HEU case compared to the LEU case at the assemblies surrounding the flux trap.

• Journal of Conservation Science
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.301-312
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• 2011

Epoxy resin has superior durability and adhesive strength and proper physical strength so that it is used to diversity materials for multi-purposes. However epoxy resin is hardly removed after hardening specially once it is applied to artefacts, it is difficult to remove them under re-conservation. This paper is an experimental study on removing epoxy resin applied to iron objects using Nd:YAG laser cleaning system. Tests conducted in this study investigated how increasing laser energy and pulses would give effect on samples. The samples were prepared in a way that epoxy resin, itself pure and one which was mixed with pigment and they were applied to iron coupons and corroded iron coupons respectively. As a result of experiment, pure epoxy resin applied to corroded iron coupons was ablated at high laser energy but epoxy resin applied to iron coupons and mixing with pigment were not ablated but discolored and bubbled due to laser-induced heat generation. Results of FT-IR showed no component alteration of shifted resins and no residues on the surfaces ablated by laser irradiation. From SEM-EDS for removed surfaces, the debris from epoxy resin and melting iron was observed. Therefore, this study demonstrated the possibilities and limitations for laser cleaning to remove epoxy resin from iron objects.