• The Journal of the Petrological Society of Korea
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.161-172
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• 2011

Open beaker digestion method is routinely used as the sample preparation technique for trace element determination of rock samples by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, With this method, however, dissolution of Zr and Hf is not always guaranteed especially when the samples contain refractory minerals. In this study, glass bead digestion technique was compared with conventional open beaker digestion technique for the sample preparation of three USGS rock standards such as AGV-2, BHVO-2, and G-3. Thirty trace elements including rare earth elements were analysed by ICP-MS and ICP-AES. There were no clear differences in analytical results for the AGV-2 and BHVO-2 standards between the two techniques, but Zr, Hf, Y, and middle- to heavy- rare earth element concentrations of the G-3 standard prepared by open beaker digestion technique were significantly lower than the recommended values. This can be attributed to the presence of refractory mineral zircon. On the contrary, all the analytical results of the G-3 standard prepared by glass bead digestion technique were in good agreement with the recommended values, indicating complete dissolution of zircon. The analytical results show that the volatile elements such as Pb and Zn were not lost during the preparation of glass bead. Low dilution glass bead digestion technique described here will be very helpful to enhance precision and accuracy of trace element analysis for geological samples containing refractory minerals.

• The Journal of the Petrological Society of Korea
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.181-197
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• 2010

This study is for finding a geoscientific factor for clarifying the source soil of the ancient earthenware finding. The used samples were the earthenware, soil and rocks, which were collected at the Gyeongju, Gyeongsan and Haman area. The chemical and mineralogical study for the samples were carried out for understanding the change of mineralogical and chemical composition among them. The mineralogical compositions of the earthenware are different from those of the soils from the surrounding area, which suggests that the mineralogical approach for clarifying the source soil of the earthenware should be difficult. Major element compositions of the earthenware also are different from those of the surrounding soils, which suggests that the comparison of the chemical composition using the major elements might be difficult for deducing the source soil of the earthenware. However, PAAS-normalized rare earth element (REE) patterns and Nd model ages among the rock, soils and earthenware from the same sampling sites show similar characteristics one another compared to those of the major element compositions. Nd-Sr isotopic systematics among the earthenware, soils and rocks also show a close relationship. Our results suggest that REE and Nd-Sr isotope geochemistry might be more useful than the other geochemical technique in clarifying the source soils of the ancient earthenware.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.733-742
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• 2007

Petrological, mineralogical, and geochemical analyses were carried on the paleolithic obsidian implements excavated at Wolseongdong, Daegu, Korea. The obsidians has a homogeneous glassy texture that can be observed in a typical obsidian formed from a rapid cooling of silicic magma. Major element composition of the obsidians represent calc-alkaline series. Comparing those with other obsidians from domestic local excavation sites, Mt. Baekdu, and Kyusu of Japan, the Wolseongdong obsidians show similar element distribution pattern with others in spite of small difference in trace and rare Earth element contents. Sr isotopes of the obsidians considerably differ from those of the obsidians from southern part of the Korean Peninsula or from Mt. Baekdu. K-Ar age is approximately 30 Ma, which is much older than Mt. Baekdu (10 Ma). Therefore, considering the characteristics of obsidians found in the Korean Peninsula including mineralogy, petrology, trace element, and isotopes chronology, the obsidians can be divided into four groups: Mt. Baekdu, southern part of Korea (Kyusu of Japan), middle part of Korea, and Wolseongdong region. These groups suggest a possibility of more than four different origins of the obsidians found in the Korean Peninsular.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.247-260
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• 1999

Geochermical characteristics of the fluvial sediments deprnding on particle size distribution size were investigated in the respect of majir, minor and rare eath element chemisitry. Ratios of $Al_{2}O_{3}/Na_{2}O$ and $K_{2}O/Na_{2}O$ of the sediments show the homogeneous valus, and partly positive correlation with $SiO_{2}/Al_{2}O_{3}$, respecively. Characteristics of minor element ratios (V/Ni, Cr/V, Ni/Co and Zr/Hf)are within the lower and narrow range. Thesesuggested that sediment sources may be acidic to intermediate granitic rock, and may be explained by simple weathering and sedimentation. With increasing SiO2 contents, concentrations of $Al_{2}O_{3}$, $Fe_{2}O_{3}$, CaO and MgO decreased, but those of $K_{2}O$ and $Na_{2}O$ increased, Concentrations of Ba, Be, Cs, Cu, Li, Ni, Sr, V and Zr show comparatively normal negative and some positive trends. Compared with the mean composition of granite, concentrations of $Al_{2}O_{3}$, $Fe_{2}O_{3}$, MnO, CaO and MgO in the sediments of the study area were highly enriced. Among some minor and rare earth elements, concentrations of As, Cd, Cu, and V were enriched, but those of Be, Ce, Rb, Sc, Sr and Zn were depleted when compared with average composition of granite. By decreasing of particle size fractions, SiO2, Rb and Sr conterts decreased, but concentrations of $Al_{2}O_{3}$, $Fe_{2}O_{3}$, CaO, MgO, $TiO_{2}$, MgO, $P_{2}O_{5}$, Be, Cu, Hf, Pb, V and Zr increased. From the correlations between particle size fractions and element concenreations, some elements of $Fe_{2}O_{3}$, CaO, MgO, $P_{2}O_{5}$, Cu, Ni, Zn and Zr showed typical trends in the secondary contramination sediments. These trends are typically shown under 100 mesh fractions. It indicates that the fraction of minus 100 mesh is the optimum size fraction for geochemical and environmental survey.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.41 no.6
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• pp.773-795
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• 2008

The major import minerals of South Korea are copper ore, lead-zinc ore, iron ore, manganese ore and molybdenum ore. Oversea resources development of South Korea have 92 projects in 14 nations of Asia, 29 projects in 10 nations of America and Europe, and 14 projects in 9 nations of Middle Asia and Africa. But, most projects of them are found in Australia, China, Mongolia and Indonesia. The most projects of the Australia, China and Indonesia are interested in coal and a little projects of them have manganese, iron, lead-zinc, nickel, copper, gold, molybdenum, rare earth elements and uranium. The most projects of the Mongolia are interested in gold and rare earth elements. Representative ore deposits models of metal resources are Orogenic lode deposits, Volcanogenic massive sulphide deposits, Porphyry deposits, Sedimentary exhalative deposits, Mississippi valley type deposits, Iron oxide copper-gold deposits and Magmatic nickel-copper-platinum group element deposits based on global distribution, reverses and grades of their deposits models. If oversea mineral resources will be examined the mineral reserves, mineral mine production and ore deposits models of nations and then survey and investigate of mineral resources, we may be maintained ore body of high grade at survey area and decrease the investment risk.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.85-95
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• 1987

The host rocks of titaniferous magnetite deposits in Gonamsan are alkaline gabbros, which are typical of undersaturated alkaline rocks in terms of the lack of normative quartz. According to field occurrences and petrographic features, these alkaline gabbros are divided into 3 rock types: coarse-grained and pegmatitic rock, medium-grained rock with equigranular texture, and layered cumulate rock. All these rocks mainly contain clinopyroxene(salite), plagioclase(An 43-66), pargasite, and ilmenite. The accessory minerals are apatite, sphene, quartz, and sometimes titaniferous magnetite. Pargasite, sphene, and quartz are considered to be secondary minerals formed by the reaction among clinopyroxene, plagioclase and Fe-Ti oxide at deuteric stage. Fe-Ti oxides generally occur as ilmenite in the alkaline rocks, and titaniferous magnetite in the ore deposits. Layered cumulate rocks are characterized by a recurrence of discontinuous thin mesolayer of clinopyroxene-pargasite within leucolayer mainly composed of plagioclase. Clinopyroxene is cumulus mineral whereas plagioclase, ilmenite and apatite occur as intercumulus minerals. According to the variation diagrams of oxide and trace element contents against the differentiation index, incompatible elements, such as Na, Ba and Sr, show positive correlations whereas compatible elements, such as Mg and Cr, show negative correlations. However some compatible elements, such as Co, Ni and V show irregular variations, reflecting relative cumulate status of cumulus and intercumulus minerals. On the de la Roche multicationic diagram, these alkaline gabbros are distributed along the differentiation curve of undersaturated alkaline series from alkaline basaltic composition through basanitic composition to tephritic composition. Layered cumulate rocks, which are distributed between basanitic composition and tephritic composition, reflect their cumulate character, slightly scattering away from the curve. The medium-grained rock shows higher contents in Ba, Sr and light rare earch elements than the coarse-grained and pegmatitic rock. The former shows two times higher contents of total rare earth elements than the latter, $while(La/Lu)_{cn}$ ratios maintain fairly constant values of 5.08~5.06 in these two rocks. This means that coarse-grained and pegmatitic rock, as compared with the medium-grained rock, was formed by the earlier differentiated magma but rare-earth element distribution pattern remained almost parallel during differentiation. From the data the above mentioned, these alkaline gabbros are considered to be comagmatic and to be formed by intrusions of differentiated magmas in its reservoir.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.252-261
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• 2022

Cobalt is a vital metal in the modern society because of its applications in lithium-ion batteries, super alloys, hard metals, and catalysts. Further, cobalt is a representative rare metal and is the 30th most abundant element in the Earth's crust. This study reviews the current status of cobalt extraction and recycling processes, along with the trends in its production amount and use. Although cobalt occurs in a wide range of minerals, such as oxides and sulfides of copper and nickel ores, the amounts of cobalt in the minerals are too low to be extracted economically. The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) leads cobalt mining, and accounts for 68.9 % of the global cobalt reserves (142,000 tons in 2020). Cobalt is mainly extracted from copper-cobalt and nickel-cobalt concentrates and is occasionally extracted directly from the ore itself by hydro-, pyro-, and electro-metallurgical processes. These smelting methods are essential for developing new recycling processes to extract cobalt from secondary resources. Cobalt is mainly recycled from lithium-ion batteries, spent catalysts, and cobalt alloys. The recycling methods for cobalt also depend on the type of secondary cobalt resource. Major recycling methods from secondary resources are applied in pyro- and hydrometallurgical processes.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.532-537
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• 2003

Crystallographic, electric, magnetic and heat transition properties of $\alpha$-Fe$_2$O$_3$ have been studied with a small addition of Eu impurities. Hematite($\alpha$-Fe$_2$O$_3$) is a basic ferromagnetic material having rhombohedral structure, which is similar to perovskites structure. Eu is a rare earth element that has an electric configuration of 4f$^{7}$ 6s$^2$. X-ray diffraction pattern of Fe$_{1-x}$ Eu$_{x}$O$_3$ (x = 0.00, 0.04, 0.06) shows an increament of a value when the amount of Eu impurities increased. The VSM data show an increment of magnetization by increasing the amount of Eu impurity. The one with x=0.06 shows the largest increment of magnetic remanence. The magnetic remanence varied from 0.49$\times$10$^{-3}$ emu/g to 0.62$\times$10$^{-3}$ emu/g when Eu impurity is increased by 2 %. Coercivity is decreased as Eu impurity is increased. Resistances is reduced significantly by Eu impurity. There is a clear difference in temperature-dependent resistance depending on the amount of Eu impurities. Especially, there are cusps between 150 K to 175 K. It indicates the change of electronic quantum states inside the atoms by rare earth impurities in rhombohedral structure. Temperature-dependent heat capacity shows that the most effective amount of Eu impurities is 6 %. %.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.311-319
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• 2010

Rare earth metal Ce has a relatively low melting point and high specific gravity. Because of its significantly high affinity to oxygen, nitrogen and sulfur, it is highly usable as a steel refining agent. However, because Ce compound has relatively high specific gravity, it is difficult to be separated from molten steel through floatation, and it degrades the purity of molten steel, or may clog the nozzle in continuous casting. Such problem may be solved by using an appropriate deoxidation agent together with Ce and settling molten steel sufficiently after refining. Thus a fundamental study in the formation behavior of non-metallic inclusion in Ce added Hyper Duplex STS melts was investigated. The addition amount of Ce, melt temperature were considered as experimental variables. A main non-metallic inclusion in mother alloy is 51(wt%MnO) - 27.6(wt%SiO$_2$)- 10.9(wt%$Cr_2O_3$). Non-metallic inclusion was dramatically decreased and the particle size was fined as the amount of Ce increased. Moreover (%MnO) and (%SiO$_2$) of non-metallic inclusion were decreased. But (%$Al_2O_3$)were relatively increased. The number of non-metallic inclusion were decreased and the large particle size were increased by increasing the temperature of molten steel.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.266-271
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• 2008

Magnesium alloys are alloyed with rare earth elements (Re, Ca, Sr) due to the limited use of magnesium in high-temperature conditions. In this study, the influences of Zr and Zn on the aging behavior of a Mg-Nd-Y alloy were investigated. magnesium alloys containing R.E elements require aging treatments Specifically, Nd, Y and Zr are commonly used for high-temperature magnesium alloys. Various aging treatments were conducted at temperatures of 200, 250 and $300^{\circ}C$ for 0.5, 1, 3, 6, and 10 hours in order to examine the microstructural changes and mechanical properties at a high temperature ($150^{\circ}C$). Hardness and high-temperature ($150^{\circ}C$) tensile tests were carried out under various aging conditions in order to investigate the effects of an aging treatment on the mechanical properties of a Mg-3.05Nd-2.06Y-1.13Zr-0.34Zn alloy. The maximum hardness was 67Hv; this was achieved after aging at $250^{\circ}C$ for 3 hours. The maximum tensile, yield strength and elongation at $150^{\circ}C$ were 237MPa, 145MPa and 13.6%, respectively, at $250^{\circ}C$ for 3 hours. The strengths of the Mg-3.05Nd-2.06Y-1.13Zr-0.34Zn alloy increased as the aging time increased to 3 hours at $250^{\circ}C$ This is attributed to the precipitation of a Nd-rich phase, a Zr-rich phase and $Mg_3Y_2Zn_3$.