• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.45 no.6
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• pp.821-826
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• 2013

In the present study, the effects of various heat treatments on the microstructure and mechanical properties of dual phase ODS steels were investigated to enhance the high strength at elevated temperature. Dual phase ODS steels have been designed by the control of ferrite and austenite formers, i.e., Cr, W and Ni, C in Fe-based alloys. The ODS steels were fabricated by mechanical alloying and a hot isostatic pressing process. Heat treatments, including hot rolling-tempering and normalizing-tempering with air- and furnace-cooling, were carefully carried out. It was revealed that the grain size and oxide distributions of the ODS steels can be changed by heat treatment, which significantly affected the strengths at elevated temperature. Therefore, the high temperature strength of dual phase ODS steel can be enhanced by a proper heat treatment process with a good combination of ferrite grains, nano-oxide particles, and grain boundary sliding.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.456-462
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• 2011

Yttrium oxide is one of the most thermo-dynamically stable materials, so that it is generally used as a dispersoid in many kinds of dispersion strengthed alloys. In this study, a nickel-base superalloy is strengthened by dispersion of yttrium oxide particles. Elemental powders with the composition of Ni-22Cr-18Fe-9Mo were mechanically alloyed(M.A.) with 0.6 wt% $Y_2O_3$. The MA powders were then HIP(hot isotactic press)ed and hot rolled. Most oxide particles in Ni-22Cr-18Fe-9Mo base ODS alloy were found to be Y-Ti-O type. The oxide particles were uniformly dispersed in the matrix and also on the grain boundaries. Tensile test results show that the yield strength and ultimate tensile strength of ODS alloy specimens were 1.2~1.7 times higher than those of the conventional $Hastelloy^{TM}$ X(R), which has the same chemical compositions with ODS alloy specimens except the oxide particles.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.275-279
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• 2013

Fe-based oxide dispersion strengthened (ODS) powders were produced by high energy ball milling, followed by spark plasma sintering (SPS) for consolidation. The mixed powders of 84Fe-14Cr-$2Y_2O_3$ (wt%) were mechanically milled for 10 and 90 mins, and then consolidated at different temperatures ($900{\sim}1100^{\circ}C$). Mechanically-Alloyed (MAed) particles were examined by means of cross-sectional images using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Both mechanical alloying and sintering behavior was investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM). To confirm the thermal behavior of $Y_2O_3$, a replica method was applied after the SPS process. From the SEM observation, MAed powders milled for 10 min showed a lamella structure consisting of rich regions of Fe and Cr, while both regions were fully alloyed after 90 min. The results of sintering behavior clearly indicate that as the SPS temperature increased, micro-sized defects decreased and the density of consolidated ODS alloys increased. TEM images revealed that precipitates smaller than 50 nm consisted of $YCrO_3$.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.572-594
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• 2016

As one of the Gen-IV nuclear energy systems, a sodium-cooled fast reactor (SFR) is being developed at the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute. As a long-term national research project, advanced radiation resistant oxide dispersion strengthened steel (ARROS) is being developed as an in-core fuel cladding tube material for a SFR in the future. In this paper, the current status of ARROS development is reviewed and its future prospective is discussed.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.46 no.6
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• pp.857-862
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• 2014

Mechanical alloying under various gas atmospheres such as Ar, an Ar-$H_2$ mixture, and He gases were carried out, and its effects on the powder properties, microstructure and mechanical properties of ODS ferritic steels were investigated. Hot isostatic pressing and hot rolling processes were employed to consolidate the ODS steel plates. While the mechanical alloyed powder in He had a high oxygen concentration, a milling in Ar showed fine particle diameters with comparably low oxygen concentration. The microstructural observation revealed that low oxygen concentration contributed to the formation of fine grains and homogeneous oxide particle distribution by the Y-Ti-O complex oxides. A milling in Ar was sufficient to lower the oxygen concentration, and this led a high tensile strength and fracture elongation at a high temperature. It is concluded that the mechanical alloying atmosphere affects oxygen concentration as well as powder particle properties. This leads to a homogeneous grain and oxide particle distribution with excellent creep strength at high temperature.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.122-128
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• 1998

NiAl based ODS (Oxide Dispersion Strengthened) intermetallic alloys have been produced by mechanical alloying (MA) process and consolidated by hot extrusion. Subsequent thermomechanical treatments have been applied to induce secondary recrystallization in an attempt to improve creep resistance in this material. The creep behavior of secondary recrystallized MA NiAl has been investigated and compared with those of as-extruded condition. Minimum creep rate were shown to be approximately two orders of magnitude lower than that in as-extruded condition. The improvement in creep resistance is believed due to the grain coarsening, restricting of dispersoid coarsening as well as increase in grain aspect ratio. Creep threshold stress behavior, below which no measurable creep rate can be detected, has been discussed on the basis of particle-dislocation interaction theory. The threshold stress becomes negligible after secondary recrystallization in MA NiAl, presumably due to dispersoid coarsening and a decrease in grain boundary area during secondary recrystallization.

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 2004.10a
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• pp.911-912
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• 2004

1. Cathodic hydrogen charging considerably reduced the tensile ductility of ODS steels and a 9Cr-2W RMS. The hydrogen embrittlement of ODS steels was strongly affected by specimen sampling orientation, showing significant embrittlement in the T-direction. This comes from the microstructural anisotropy caused by elongated grains of ODS steels in L-direction. 2. The ODS steels contained a higher concentration of hydrogen than 9Cr-2W RMS at the same cathodic charging condition, and the critical hydrogen concentration required to transition from ductile to brittle fracture was in the range of $10{\sim}12$ wppm, which approximately 10 times larger than that of a 9Cr-2W martensitic steel. 3. The ODS steels showed a typical ductile to brittle transition behavior and it strongly depended on the specimen sampling direction, namely L- and T-direction. In T-direction, the SP-DBTT was about 170 L, irrespective of the ODS materials, and L-direction showed a lower SP-DBTT than that of T-direction.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.133-140
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• 2017

This study investigates the oxidation properties of Fe-14Cr ferritic oxide-dispersion-strengthened (ODS) steel at various high temperatures (900, 1000, and $1100^{\circ}C$ for 24 h). The initial microstructure shows that no clear structural change occurs even under high-temperature heat treatment, and the average measured grain size is 0.4 and $1.1{\mu}m$ for the as-fabricated and heat-treated specimens, respectively. Y-Ti-O nanoclusters 10-50 nm in size are observed. High-temperature oxidation results show that the weight increases by 0.27 and $0.29mg/cm^2$ for the as-fabricated and heat-treated ($900^{\circ}C$) specimens, and by 0.47 and $0.50mg/cm^2$ for the as-fabricated and heat-treated ($1000^{\circ}C$) specimens, respectively. Further, after 24 h oxidation tests, the weight increases by 56.50 and $100.60mg/cm^2$ for the as-fabricated and heat-treated ($1100^{\circ}C$) specimens, respectively; the latter increase is approximately 100 times higher than that at $1000^{\circ}C$. Observation of the surface after the oxidation test shows that $Cr_2O_3$ is the main oxide on a specimen tested at $1000^{\circ}C$, whereas $Fe_2O_3$ and $Fe_3O_4$ phases also form on a specimen tested at $1100^{\circ}C$, where the weight increases rapidly. The high-temperature oxidation behavior of Fe-14Cr ODS steel is confirmed to be dominated by changes in the $Cr_2O_3$ layer and generation of Fe-based oxides through evaporation.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.8
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• pp.2582-2590
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• 2021

The high-energy milling is one of the most extended techniques to produce Oxide dispersion strengthened (ODS) powder steels for nuclear applications. The consequences of the high energy mill process on the final powders can be measured by means of deformation level, size, morphology and alloying degree. In this work, an ODS ferritic steel, Fe-14Cr-5Al-3W-0.4Ti-0.25Y₂O₃-0.6Zr, was fabricated using two different mechanical alloying (MA) conditions (M_std and M_act) and subsequently consolidated by Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS). Milling conditions were set to evidence the effectivity of milling by changing the revolutions per minute (rpm) and dwell milling time. Differences on the particle size distribution as well as on the stored plastic deformation were observed, determining the consolidation ability of the material and the achieved microstructure. Since recrystallization depends on the plastic deformation degree, the composition of each particle and the promoted oxide dispersion, a dual grain size distribution was attained after SPS consolidation. M_act showed the highest areas of ultrafine regions when the material is consolidated at 1100 ℃. Microhardness and small punch tests were used to evaluate the material under room temperature and up to 500 ℃. The produced materials have attained remarkable mechanical properties under high temperature conditions.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.521-528
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• 2014

The surface modification of engineering materials by laser beam scanning (LBS) allows the improvement of properties in terms of reduced wear, increased corrosion resistance, and better strength. In this study, the laser beam scan method was applied to produce an oxide dispersion strengthened (ODS) structure on a zirconium metal surface. A recrystallized Zircaloy-4 alloy sheet with a thickness of 2 mm, and $Y_2O_3$ particles of $10{\mu}m$ were selected for ODS treatment using LBS. Through the LBS method, the $Y_2O_3$ particles were dispersed in the Zircaloy-4 sheet surface at a thickness of 0.4 mm, which was about 20% when compared to the initial sheet thickness. The mean size of the dispersive particles was 20 nm, and the yield strength of the ODS treated plate at $500^{\circ}C$ was increased more than 65 % when compared to the initial state. This strength increase was caused by dispersive $Y_2O_3$ particles in the matrix and the martensite transformation of Zircaloy-4 matrix by the LBS.