• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.521-530
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• 2017

Improving the microstructure of NiO/YSZ is one of several approaches used to enhance the electrical and mechanical properties of an anode support in Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFCs). The aim of the work reported in this paper was to predict the relationship between these microstructural changes and the resulting properties. To this end, modification of the anode microstructure was carried out using different sizes of Poly (Methyl Methacrylate) (PMMA) beads as a pore former. The electrical conductivity and mechanical strength of these samples were measured using four-probe DC, and three-point bend-test methods, respectively. Thermal etching followed by high resolution SEM imaging was performed for sintered samples to distinguish between the three phases (NiO, YSZ, and pores). Recently developed image analysis techniques were modified and used to calculate the porosity and the contiguity of different phases of the anode support. Image analysis results were verified by comparison with the porosity values determined from mercury porosimetry measurements. Contiguity of the three phases was then compared with data from electrical and mechanical measurements. A linear relationship was obtained between the contiguity data determined from image analysis, and the electrical and mechanical properties found experimentally. Based upon these relationships we can predict the electrical and mechanical properties of SOFC support from the SEM images.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2008.04a
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• pp.765-768
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• 2008

Silica fume is a very important gradient in UHPC(Ultra High Performance Concrete) and its amount is normally over 25% of cement(wt.%). But we surely need to comprehend the influence of the amount of silica fume on the UHPC. In this paper, it was investigated how the amount of silica fume influence on the properties such as fluidity, compressive strength, elastic modulus, and flexural strength. Furthermore, it was examined the internal micro structure on UHPC through the test of SEM and MIP. In results, If we properly use silica fume in UHPC, fluidity and strength of UHPC was increased. It can be ascertained through the test of MIP that silica fume effectively increased density of UHPC by posolanic reaction and acting as filler. Especially, In case of Cement to silica fume ratio$0.1{\sim}0.25%$, we can be concluded that UHPC has similar to mechanical property.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.71-88
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• 2016

Metakaolin, a dehydroxylated product of the mineral kaolinite, is one of the most valuable admixtures for high-performance concrete applications, including constructing reinforced concrete bridges and impact- and fire-resistant structures. Concretes produced using metakaolin become more homogeneous and denser compared to normal-strength concrete. Yet, these changes cause a change of volume throughout hardening, and increase the brittleness of hardened concrete significantly. In order to examine how the use of metakaolin affects the fracture and mechanical behavior of high-performance concrete we produced concretes using a range of water to binder ratio (0.42, 0.35 and 0.28) at three different weight fractions of metakaolin replacement (8%, 16% and 24%). The results showed that the rigidity of concretes increased with using 8% and 16% metakaolin, while it decreased in all series with 24% of metakaolin replacement. Similar effect has also been observed for other mechanical properties. While the peak loads in load-displacement curves of concretes decreased significantly with increasing water to binder ratio, this effect have been found to be diminished by using metakaolin. Pore structure analysis through mercury intrusion porosimetry test showed that the addition of metakaolin decreased the critical pore size of paste phases of concrete, and increasing the amount of metakaolin reduced the total porosity for the specimens with low water to binder ratios in particular. To determine the optimal values of water to binder ratio and metakaolin content in producing high-strength and high-performance concrete we applied a multi-objective optimization, where several responses were simultaneously assessed to find the best solution for each parameter.

• Korean Journal of Crystallography
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.64-70
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• 1998

Porous body was prepared from coal fly ash 70 wt%0clay 30 wt% slip using DCC(Direct Coagulated Casting) method. Effect of the specific gravity of the slip on the pore size and distribution of the sintered body was examined by the SEM observation of microstructure and mercury porosimetry measurement of the pore size distribution. Average pore size of the porous sintered body was about 2.5μm for all slips with specific gravity of 1.55, 1.60 and 1.65g/cm3, respectively. Sintered body prepared from the slip of specific gravity of 1.60g/cm3 have the narrowest pore size distribution. slip of specific gravity of 1.55g/cm3 shows broader pore size distribution due to slow gellation process. Slip of specific gravity of 1.65g/cm3 required large amount of deflocculant and showed large variation of the viscosity with addition of coagulant which resulted in very unstable slip properties.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.175-183
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• 2001

Immersion tests with artificial seawater were carried out to investigate the resistance to seawater attack of 5 types of cement matrices. From the results of compressive strength and length change, it was found that blended cement mortars due to mineral admixtures, were superior to portland cement mortars with respect to the resistance to seawater attack. Moreover, XRD analysis indicated that the peak intensity ratio of low heat portland cement(LHC) paste, in portland cement pastes, had better results, and so did that of blended cement Paste. Pore volume of pastes by mercury intrusion porosimetry method demonstrated that total pore volume of ordinary portland cement(OPC) paste had a remarkable increase comparing with that of other pastes. In case of immersion of artificial seawater, the use of ground granulated blast-furnace slag and fly ash, however, showed the beneficial effects of 56% and 32% in reduction of total pore volume, respectively.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.112-119
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• 2022

Recently, as carbon neutrality has been important factor in the construction industry, many studies have been conducted on the high-volume fly ash concrete. High volume fly ash concrete(HVFC) is usually made by replacing more than 50% of cement with fly ash. However, HVFC has a disadvantage of low compressive strength in early age. To overcome this shortcoming of HVFC, improve this, interest in techonolgy using nanomaterials is increasing. Nano silica is expected to improve the early age strength of HVFC as a pozzolanic material. This study investigated the effect of nano silica on the early hydration reaction and microstructure of HVFC. The early hydration reaction of HFVC was analyzed through setting time, isothermal calorimeter, compressive strength and thermal weight analysis. In addition, the microstructure of HVFC was measured by mercury intrusion porosimetry. From the test results, it was confirmed that nano silica increased the early age strength and improve the microstructure of HVFC.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.26 no.5A
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• pp.927-934
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• 2006

According to the high demand of concrete structures with high performance, various studies have examined on the high performance concrete, especially high strength concrete. Various admixtures are required to produce high strength concrete and silica fume has been the most popular admixture. Recently, however, metakaolin, which is similar to silica fume in properties but cheaper, has been introduced to high strength concrete. This study conducted XRD and SEM analyses on a cement paste specimens to clarify metakaolin's performance in pozzolan. Additionally, a concrete specimens were fabricated to analyze its pore structure using Mercury Intrusion Porosimetry and its correlation to the compressive strength. In result, it was found that the average diameter of pore reduced and compressive strength increased as more metakaolin content was added. In addition, a regression analysis of $10nm{\sim}10{\mu}m$ pore and compression strength revealed that these two factors had a high correlation of about 0.93 and 10~15% of metakaolin replacement was most appropriate.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.81-95
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• 2015

The permeability behavior of Ariake clays has been investigated by constant rate of strain (CRS) consolidation tests with vertical or radial drainage. Three types of Ariake clays, namely undisturbed Ariake clay samples from the Saga plain, Japan (aged Ariake clay), clay deposit in shallow seabed of the Ariake Sea (young Ariake clay) and reconstituted Ariake clay samples using the soil sampled from the Saga plain, were tested. The test results indicate that the deduced permeability in the horizontal direction ($k_h$) is generally larger than that in the vertical direction ($k_v$). Under odometer condition, the permeability ratio ($k_h/k_v$) increases with the vertical strain. It is also found that the development of the permeability anisotropy is influenced by the inter-particle bonds and clay content of the sample. The aged Ariake clay has stronger initial inter-particle bonds than the young and reconstituted Ariake clays, resulting in slower increase of $k_h/k_v$ with the vertical strain. The young Ariake clay has higher clay content than the reconstituted Ariake clay, resulting in higher values of $k_h/k_v$. The microstructure of the samples before and after the consolidation test has been examined qualitatively by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) image and semi-quantitatively by mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP) tests. The SEM images indicate that there are more cut edges of platy clay particles on a vertical plane (with respect to the deposition direction) and there are more faces of platy clay particles on a horizontal plane. This tendency increases with the increase of one-dimensional (1D) deformation. MIP test results show that using a sample with a larger vertical surface area has a larger cumulative intruded pore volume, i.e., mercury can be intruded into the sample more easily from the horizontal direction (vertical plane) under the same pressure. Therefore, the permeability anisotropy of Ariake clays is the result of the anisotropic microstructure of the clay samples.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.407-413
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• 2017

The fundamental property of magnesia phosphate cement (MPC) for concrete repair material was investigated in this research. For mechanical properties, setting time, compressive strength and tensile/flexural bond strength were measured, and hydration products were detected by X-ray diffraction. The specimens were manufactured with dead burnt magnesia and potassium dihydrogen phosphate was admixed to activate the hydration of magnesia and a borax was used as a retarder. To observe the pore structure and ionic permeability of MPC mortar, mercury intrusion porosimetry was performed together with rapid chloride penetration test (RCPT). As a result, time to set of Fresh MPC mortar was in range of 16 to 21 min depend on the M/P ratio. Borax helped delaying setting time of MPC to 68 min. The compressive strength of MPC with M/P of 4 was sharply developed to 30 MPa within 12 hours. The compressive strength of MPC mortar was in range of 11.0 to 30.0 MPa depend on the M/P ratio at 12 hours of curing. Both tensile and flexural bond strength of MPC to old substrate (i.e. MPC; New substrate to OPC; Old substrate) were even higher than ordinary Portland cement mortar (i.e. [OPC; New substrate] to [OPC; Old substrate]) does, accounting 19 and 17 MPa, respectively. The total pore volume of MPC mortar was lower than that of OPC mortar. MPC mortar had the entrained air void rather than capillary pore. The RCPT showed that total charge passed of OPC mortar had more than that of MPC mortar, which can be explained by the pore volume and pore distribution.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.469-476
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• 2009

In this study, biodegradable superporous hydrogels(SPHs) with fast swelling and superabsorbent properties were prepared using biodegradable crosslinkers and their physicochemical properties were characterized. A biodegradable crosslinker (PLA-PEG-PLA DA) was synthesized by a ring opening polymerization of D,L-lactide (LA) using hydrophilic poly(ethylene glycol) as a macroinitiator, followed by diacrylation of the end groups for the introduction of polymerizable vinyl groups. Various kinds of hydrogels with different chemical compositions were prepared and characterized in terms of swelling ratio, swelling kinetics, and biodegradation properties. The synthetic results were confirmed by $^1H$-NMR, FT-IR and GPC measurements, and the porous structures of the prepared SPHs and their porosities were identified by a scanning electron microscope and mercury porosimetry, respectively. The physicochemical properties of SPHs could be controlled by varying their chemical compositions and their cytotoxicity were found to be very low by MTT assay.