• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.12
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• pp.4664-4670
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• 2023

Radiation is the main safety issue for almost all nuclear applications, which must be controlled to protect living organisms and the surrounding materials. In this context, radiation shielding materials have been investigated and used in nuclear technologies. The choice of materials depends on the radiation usage area, type, and energy. Polymer materials are preferred in radiation shielding applications due to their superior characteristics such as chemical inertness, resistivity, low weight, flexibility, strength, and low cost. In the presented work, ABS polymer material, which is possibly the most commonly used material in 3D printers, is mixed with Gd₂O₃ and Er₂O₃ nanoparticles. ABS filaments containing these rare-earth elements are then produced using a filament extruder. These produced filaments are used in a 3D printer to create shielding samples. Following the production of shielding samples, SEM, EDS, and gamma-ray shielding analyses (including experiments, WinXCOM, GEANT4, and FLUKA) are performed. The results show that 3D printing technology offers significant enhancements in creating homogeneous and well-structured materials that can be effectively used in gamma-ray shielding applications.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.232-237
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• 1989

The elution mechanism of rare earth elements in cation exchange resin which was substituted with $NH_4^+,\;Zn^{2+}\;or\;Al^{3+}$ as a retaining ion had been investigated. Rare earths or rare earths-EDTA complex solution was loaded on the top of resin bed and eluted with 0.0269M EDTA solution. When the rare earth-EDTA complex was adsorbed on the $Zn^{2+}\;or\;Al^{3+}$ resin form, retaining ion was complexed with EDTA and liberated rare earths was adsorbed in the resin again. Adsorbed rare earths in resin phase could be eluted by the complexation reaction with EDTA eluent. On $NH_4^+$ resin form, the rare earth-EDTA complex which had negative charge could not adsorbed on the cation exchange resin because the complexation reaction between $NH_4^+$ and EDTA was impossible. So the elution time was much shorter than in $Zn^{2+}\;or\;Al^{3+}$ resin form. When the rare earths solution was loaded on the $Zn^{2+},\;Al^{3+}$ resin form bed, rare earths was adsorbed in the resin and the retaining ion was liberated. Adsorbed rare earths in resin bed was exchanged by EDTA eluent forming rare earths-EDTA complex, and eluted through these processes. On $NH_4^+$ resin form, rare earths loaded was adsorbed by exchange reaction with $NH_4^+$. As the EDTA eluent was added, rare earths was liberated from resin forming negatively charged rare earth-EDTA complex and eluted without any exchange reaction. So the elution time was greatly shortened and there was no metallic ion except rare earths in effluent. When the $Zn^{2+}\;and\;Al^{3+}$ was used as retaining ion, the pH of efflent was decreased seriousely because the $H^+$ liberated from EDTA molecule.

• Clean Technology
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.103-109
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• 2022

Nd-Fe-B waste permanent magnet contains about 20~30% rare earth elements and about 60~70% iron elements, and the rare earth and iron components were recovered through sulfuric acid leaching and fractional crystallization. Oxidation roasting was not performed for separation and recover of the rare earth and iron elements. The leaching characteristics were confirmed by using as variables the sulfuric acid concentration and the mineral solution concentration ratio. Sulfuric acid leaching was carried out for 3 hours for each sulfuric acid concentration. The leached solid phase was characterized for its crystalline phase, composition, and quantitative components by XRD and XRF analysis, and the filtrate was analyzed for components by ICP analysis. With sulfuric acid leaching at 3M sulfuric acid concentration, neodymium compounds were formed, the iron content was the least, and the recovery rate was high. After the filtrate remaining after sulfuric acid leaching was subjected to fractional crystallization through evaporation and concentration, the neodymium component was found to be concentrated 7.0 times and the iron component 2.8 times. In this study, the recovery rate of waste permanent magnets through sulfuric acid leaching and a fractional crystallization method without an oxidation and roasting process was confirmed to be about 99.4%.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.277-284
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• 1994

The spectrophotometric determination of rare earth elements with XO was investigated in the presence of cetylpyridium chloride(CPC), dodecyltrimethylammonium bromide(DTMAB), cetyltrimetylammonium bromide (CTMAB), Triton X-100 at pH 6.2. The complex between XO and rare earth elements in the presence of cationic surfactants was very stable and more sensitive than in the absence of surfactants. The largest absorbance increase was provided by CTMAB, which was therefore chosen for determination of rare earth elements. REE-XO-CTMAB complex has absorption maxima at 618nm and obeys the Beer's law in the range of 0~0.5 ppm. Molar absorptivity was $1.5{\times}10^5mol^{-1}cm^{-1}l$.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2010.05a
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• pp.49.1-49.1
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• 2010

The particle generation during the plasma enhanced process is highly considered as serious problem in the semiconductor manufacturing industry. The material for the plasma processing chamber requires the plasma etching characteristics which are homogeneously etched surface and low plasma etching depth for preventing particulate contamination and high durability. We found that the materials without grain boundaries can prevent the particle generation. Therefore, the amorphous material with the low plasma etching rate may be the best candidate for the plasma processing chamber instead of the polycrystalline materials such as yttria and alumina. Three glasses based on $SiO_2$ and $Al_2O_3$ were prepared with various rare-earth elements (Gd, Y and La) which are same content in the glass. The glasses were plasma etched in the same condition and their plasma etching rate was compared including reference materials such as Si-wafer, quartz, yttria and alumina. The mechanical and thermal properties of the glasses were highly related with cationic field strength (CFS) of the rare-earth elements. We assumed that the plasma etching resistance may highly contributed by the thermal properties of the fluorine byproducts generated during the plasma exposure and it is expected that the Gd containing glass may have the highest plasma etching resistance due to the highest sublimation temperature of $GdF_3$ among three rare-earth elements (Gd, Y and La). However, it is found that the plasma etching results is highly related with the mechanical property of the glasses which indicates the cationic field strength. From the result, we conclude that the glass structure should be analyzed and the plasma etching test should be conducted with different condition in the future to understand the plasma etching behavior of the glasses perfectly.

• Proceedings of the Korean Magnestics Society Conference
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• 2013.12a
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• pp.89-89
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• 2013

Rare earth (RE) - transition metal based high energy density magnets are of immense significance in various engineering applications. $Nd_2Fe_{14}B$ magnets possess the highest energy product and are widely used in whole industries. Simultaneously, composite alloys that are cheap, cost effective and strong commercially available have drawn great attention, because rare-earth metals are costly, less abundant and strategic shortage. We designed rare-earth free alloys and fabrication process and developed novel route to prepare $Nd_2Fe_{14}B$ powders by wet process employing spray drying and reduction-diffusion (R-D) without the use of high purity metals as raw material. MnAl-base permanent magnetic powders are potentially important material for rare-earth free magnets. We have prepared the nano-sized MnAl powders by plasma arc discharge and micron-sized MnAl powders by gas atomization. They showed good magnetic property, compared with that from conventional processes. $Nd_2Fe_{14}B$ powders with high coercivity of more than 10 kOe were successfully synthesized by adjusting R-D step, followed by precise washing system. It is considered that this process can be applied for the recycling of RE-elements extracted from ewaste including motors.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.49-56
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• 2010

In the pyroprocessing of spent nuclear fuels, LiCl-KCl waste salt containing radioactive rare earth chlorides are generated. The radioactive rare earth oxides are recovered by co-oxidative precipitation of rare earth elements. The powder phase of rare eath oxide waste must be immobilized to produce a monolithic wasteform suitable for storage and ultimate disposal. The immobilization of these waste developed in this study involves a solid state sintering of the waste with host borosilicate glass and zinc titanate based ceramic matrix(ZIT). And the rare-earth monazite which synthesised by reaction of ammonium di-hydrogen phosphate with the rare earth oxides waste, were immobilzed with the borosilicate glass. It is shown that the developed ZIT ceramic wasteform is highly resistant the leaching process, high density and thermal conductivity.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.63-67
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• 1992

This paper reports the effects of rare earth nitrate (REN) on the growth of internal organs and mineral elements in serums of broiler chickens. The REN used is mixture of light RE containing mainly La, Ce, Pr and Nd 4 elements. 40 eight-week old AA broiler chickens were divided randomly into four groups that their treatments were respectively 0, 20, 200 and 2000 mg REN/kg feed and the duration of the experiment was 60 days. Responses were measured in terms of internal organic weight and tissue, contents of mineral elements in serums. There were no significant differences between the organ ratios and tissue changes of the 20, 200 mg REN/kg groups and the control group. The organs included the heart, liver, kidneys, lungs, testicles, thyroids, adrenal glands, pancreas, tonsies of caecum, stomachus glandularis, duodenum, ileum and bursa of Fabricius. The liver and thyroid indices of 2000 mg REN/kg group were significantly higher than those of the control group (p < 0.01, p < 0.05) and the adrenal gland index lower (p < 0.05). The pathlolgic changes in the heart, kidney and thyroid were more serious than that of the control group. No significant differences occurred between the contents of K, Na, Mg elements in the serum of all groups, with the exception of the content of Ca, which was higher in the 2000 mg/kg group (p < 0.05). The contents of all trace elements including Mn, Zn and Cu, but except Fe, in the serums of all the treated groups were significantly higher than those of the control group (p < 0.01).

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.692-696
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• 1992

$NH_4^+ form cation exchange resin was used to separate one rare earth element from the rare earth mixture solution using Ln-EDTA eluent. Rare earth mixture solution was passed through the resin bed and eluted with 0.1M La-EDTA solution as an eluent. In here all the rare earth element except lanthanum ion are eluted and lanthanum ion absorbed in resin bed is eluted using 0.1M EDTA solution. If Ce-EDTA solution instead of La-EDTA solution was used as an eluent, all the rare earth element except cerium ion are eluted and cerium ion is eluted with 0.1M EDTA solution. This method can be applied to separate the individual rare earth element from the mixture. The separation mechanism is as follows: Absorption : 3RNH_4 ＋ Ln^{3+} = R_3Ln ＋ 3NH_4^+, La-EDTA elution : R_3Ln ＋ La-Y- = R_3La ＋ Ln-Y-, EDTA elution : R_3La ＋ HY^3- = La_-Y ＋ RH ＋ 2R^-.$

• Journal of Magnetics
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.365-369
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• 2013

Coal ash is known to contain a noticeable amount of valuable elements, including transition metals and lanthanides. Therefore it is quite actual problem to extract them for metallurgy and other applications. This paper presents the results of high gradient magnetic and mechanical separation, microscopy, element analyses and optical spectroscopy of brown coal ash taken from the combustion camera and chimney-stalk of Angren thermal power station. The separated magnetic fraction was 3.4 wt.%, where the content of Fe in ferrospheres increased to 58 wt.%. The highest contents of Fe and rare earth elements were found in the fine fractions of $50-100{\mu}m$. Optical absorption spectroscopy of water solutions of the magnetic fractions revealed $Fe^{2+}$ and $Fe^{3+}$ ions in the ratio of ~1:1. The separated coal ash could be used for cleaning of technological liquid waste by means of the high gradient magnetic field.