• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.67-73
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• 2010

Niobium microalloying is effective in hot-rolled and cold-rolled steels by providing a fine-grained microstructure resulting in increased strength. To optimize the strengthening effect, alloy design and hot-rolling conditions have to be adapted. As a key issue the dissolution and precipitation characteristics of Nb are discussed in particular with regard to the run-out table conditions. It is then considered how the hot-rolled microstructure and the solute state of Nb interact with the hot-dip galvanizing cycle. The adjusted conditions allow controlling the morphology and distribution of phases in the cold-rolled annealed material. Additional precipitation hardening can be achieved as well. The derived options can be readily applied to produce conventional HSLA and IF high strength steels as well as to modern multiphase steels. It will be explained how important application properties such as strength, elongation, bendability, weldability and delayed cracking resistance can be influenced in a controlled and favorable way. Examples of practical relevance and experience are given.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2011.04a
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• pp.291-295
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• 2011

Thermo-structural analysis was performed for a radiation-cooled nozzle extension of thrust chamber. A Niobium alloy that is known to be a high-performance refractory alloy was used. Since area ratio of the nozzle extension is larger than that of nozzle divergence part, its size also becomes larger. For this reason, it is important to minimize the thickness of nozzle extension to reduce its weight. For the purpose of weight minimization, the thickness of nozzle extension was varied from 1.0 mm to 0.4 mm and structural stability was evaluated for each case. Analysis results showed that nozzle extension with thickness of 0.4 mm is structurally stable for the operation condition. The effect of combustion-included vibration will be additionally considered in the future.

• Journal of Technologic Dentistry
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.19-26
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• 2006

The effect of Nb on interfacial bonding characteristics of Ni-Cr alloy for porcelain fused to metal crown (PFM) has been studied in order to investigate oxide layer. A specimens of Ni-Cr alloy, which is 0.8mm in thickness, within the porcelain furnace of 1,000$^{\circ}C$ with four tests such as air, vacuum, air for 5 minutes and vacuum for 5 minutes in order to examine an oxide behavior of alloy surface generated by the adding of Nb to be controlled at a rate of 0, 1, 3 and 5. Oxide film was observed form of the fired specimens with scanning electron microscope (SEM), and at the same time it measured Electron Probe Micro Analyzer (EPMA). The result of this study were as follows: 1. Cr oxide film and Nb oxide film were observed from the surface of specimen to be controlled at a rate of Nb 1%. 2. Nb oxide film was observed from the interface of specimens to be controlled at a rate of Nb 1% and 3%. 3. The stability of oxide films that treated in air were more stable than treated under vacuum.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.50 no.2
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• pp.237-245
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• 2018

Potential air ingress scenarios during accidents in nuclear reactors or spent fuel pools have raised the question of the influence of air, especially of nitrogen, on the oxidation of zirconium alloys, which are used as fuel cladding tubes and other structure materials. In this context, the reaction of zirconium with nitrogen-containing atmospheres and the formation of zirconium nitride play an important role in understanding the oxidation mechanism. This article presents the results of analysis of the interaction of the oxygen-preloaded niobium-bearing alloy $M5^{(R)}$ with nitrogen over a wide range of temperatures ($800-1400^{\circ}C$) and oxygen contents in the metal alloy (1-7 wt.%). A strongly increasing nitriding rate with rising oxygen content in the metal was found. The highest reaction rates were measured for the saturated ${\alpha}-Zr(O)$, as it exists at the metal-oxide interface, at $1300^{\circ}C$. The temperature maximum of the reaction rate was approximately 100 K higher than for Zircaloy-4, already investigated in a previous study. The article presents results of thermogravimetric experiments as well as posttest examinations by optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and microprobe elemental analyses. Furthermore, a comparison with results obtained with Zircaloy-4 will be made.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.188-194
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• 1999

To investigate the effect of niobium and tin on the mechanical properties of zirconium alloys, the tensile test and the microstructural analysis were performed on the Zr-based binary(Zr-xNb, Zr-xSn) and ternary(Zr-0.8Sn-xNb, Zr-0.4Nb-xSn) alloys. As the content of Nb or Sn element increased, the strengths of the Zr-based alloys tended to gradually increase. The increase of mechanical strength was remarkable strength was remarkable in the range more than the solubility of Nb and Sn. The strengthening effects were discussed on the basis of the solid solution hardening, the precipitate hardening, the grain size effect, and the texture effect. The mechanical strength is mainly controlled by the solid solution hardening and additionally by the precipitate hardening in the content more than solubility limit of Nb and Sn. The grain refinement also has a slight effect on the strength of the zirconium alloys with the addition of Nb and Sn. However, the texture effect can be excluded due to the same Kearns number regardless of the content of alloying elements.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.92-98
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• 2008

This paper describes the experiments of the corrosion and the sliding tests of the nickel-based alloys for the gate valve seating materials used at high pressure and temperature. The general corrosion rates and IGC susceptibility are tested in pressurized water at 533 K and 575 K and in Strauss test solution. The sliding tests have been done in pressurized water at 293 k, 473 K and 573 k. The alloys containing above 10% chromium may have the anti-corrosion properties that could be applied to the valve seats for the power plants. The good sliding performance and the good pressure tightness are obtained when the disc specimens that have hardness 500 to 600 Hv combined with the seat specimens that have hardness 250 to 410 Hv containing about 40 percent of iron. The large size gate valves sliding tests have certified the test results. The anti-wear properties of the seat alloy and the anti-IGC susceptibility of the disc alloy could be improved by the addition of silicon and niobium, respectively.

• Advances in materials Research
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.195-201
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• 2018

High Strength low alloy steels containing various levels of C, Nb and Mn were used and for each of which, a simulated double thermal cycle was applied with the same first peak temperature and different second peak temperatures to produce HAZ microstructure corresponding to multi-pass weld. Effect of double cycle second temperature on the microstructure was observed and compared with single cycle results obtained from previous works, it was found that the percentage of martensite austenite constituent (MA) increases by Nb addition for all steels with the same Mn content and the increase in Mn content at the same Nb content shows an increase in MA area fraction as well. MA area fraction obtained for the double cycle is larger than that obtained for the single cycle for all steels used which imply that MA will have great role in the brittle fracture initiation for double cycle and the inter-pass temperature should be controlled for medium and high-carbon Mn steel to avoid large area fraction of MA. The beneficial effects of Niobium obtained in single pass weld were not observed for the double cycle or multi pass welds.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.91-98
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• 2005

Both commercially pure titanium and Ti-6Al-4V alloy have been widely used as biomaterials because of their excellent biocompatibility, corrosion resistance and mechanical properties. However, in recent years, vanadium has been found to cause cytotoxic effects and adverse tissue reactions, while aluminium has been associated with potential neurological disorders. A newly designed ${\alpha}+{\beta}$ type Ti alloy, Ti-10Ta-10Nb alloy showed superior properties to CP Ti and Ti-6Al-4V alloy in the point of biomaterial, and elucidated the future uses as a biomaterial. Microstructural changes of Ti-10Ta-10Nb alloy after hot-rolling, warm-rolling, solution and aging treatment were investigated. According to TEM results, the microstructures after solution treatment were composed of mostly ${\alpha}$ phase with a trace of ${\beta}$ phase due to adding ${\beta}$-phase stabilizer tantalum and niobium. The microstructures after warm-rolling is coarse and elongated ${\alpha}$ phase and hot rolling resulted in very fine ${\alpha}$ widmanst$\ddot{a}$tten. The highest value of hardness was obtained by aging treatment at $400^{\circ}C$ for 20hr in which microstructure consisted of very fine ${\alpha}$ phase in ${\beta}$ matrix.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.140-145
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• 2024

In modern times, when a change in the energy paradigm is required, hydrogen is an attractive energy source. Among these hydrogen purification technologies, technology using a membrane is attracted attention as a technology that can purify high purity hydrogen at low cost. However, palladium(Pd), which is mostly used because of its excellent hydrogen separation performance, is very expensive, so a replacement material is needed. In this study, a alloy membrane was manufactured from an alloy of niobium (Nb), which has high hydrogen permeability but is weak to hydrogen embrittlement, and nickel (Ni) and zirconium (Zr), which have low hydrogen permeability but are highly durable. Hydrogen permeation characteristics were confirmed under conditions of 350~450 ℃ at 1 to 4 bar. The maximum hydrogen permeation flux was 0.69 ml/cm²/min for the Ni₄₈Nb₃₂Zr₂₀ alloy membrane without Pd coating, and 13.05 ml/cm²/min for the Pd coated alloy membrane.

• Journal of Technologic Dentistry
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.97-104
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• 2005

The effect of Nb on interfacial bonding characteristics of Ni-Cr alloy for porcelain fused to metal crown (PFM) has been studied in order to investigate oxide layer. A specimens, which is 0.8mm in thickness, were fired at 1,000$^{\circ}C$ with four tests such as air, vacuum, air for 5 minutes and vacuum for 5 minutes in order to examine an oxide behavior of alloy surface generated by the adding of Nb to be controlled at a rate of 0, 1, 3 and 5. It observed oxide film form of the fired specimens with optical microscope and scanning electron microscope (SEM), and chemical formation of them with energy disperse X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). The other specimens, which is 2mm in thickness, were fired at 1,000$^{\circ}C$ with air and vacuum in order to analyze the diffusion behaviors of alloy-porcelain interface by X-ray dot mapping. The results of this study were as follows: 1. The observation of microstructure of specimens by SEM showed that the more Nb content is high, the more much intermediate compound of rich Nb is observed. 2. The surface morphology of oxide film is most dense in 3% Nb. The heat treatment in air constitutes denser oxide film than heat treatment under vacuum. 3. The diffusion behavior of oxide layer by X-ray dot mapping showed that Si, Al of porcelain diffuse toward metal.