• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.311-318
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• 2008

In modem power reactors, nuclear fuels have recently reached 55,000 MWd/MtU from the initial average burnup of 35,000 MWd/MtU to reduce the fuel cycle cost and waste volume. At such high burnups, a fuel pellet produces fission products proportional to the burnup and creates a typical high burnup structure around the periphery region of the pellet, producing the so called 'rim effect'. This rim region of a highly burnt fuel is known to be ca. $200\;{\mu}m$ in width and is known to affect the fuel integrity. To characterize the local burnup in the rim region, solid sampling in the micro meter region by laser ablation is needed so that the distribution of isotopes can be determined by ICP-MS. For this procedure, special radiation shielding is required for personnel safety. In this study, we installed a radiation shielded laser ablation ICP-MS system, and a performance test of the developed system was conducted to evaluate the safe operation of instruments.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.51 no.3
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• pp.776-783
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• 2019

Laser welding is usually a more effective method than electron-beam one since a vacuum chamber is not required. It is important for joining Zr-1%Nb (E110) alloy in a manufacturing process of nuclear fuel rods. In the present work, effect of energy parameters of pulsed laser welding on properties of butt joints of sheets with a thickness of 0.5 mm is investigated. The most efficient combination has been found (8-11 J pulse energy, 10-14 ms pulse duration, 780-810 W peak pulse power, 3 Hz pulse frequency, 1.12 mm/s welding speed). The results show that ultimate strength under static loading can not be used as a quality criterion for zirconium alloys welds. Increased shielding gas flow rate does not allow to protect weld metal totally and contributes to defect formation without using special nozzles. Several types of imperfections of the welds have been found, but the major problem is branching microcracks on the surface of the welds. It is difficult to identify the cause of their appearance without additional research on improving the welding zone protection (gas composition and flow rate as well as nozzle configuration) and studying the hydrogen content in the welds.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.49 no.9
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• pp.720-725
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• 2011

W-Ni-Fe heavy alloys have been used in various fields, such as kinetic energy penetrators and radiation shielding materials, due to their high density and good mechanical properties. In this study, the sintering of W-Ni-Fe alloys with various Ni/Fe ratios was demonstrated to improve the mechanical properties and penetration capabilities of heavy alloys by formation of interfacial phase. The microstructural changes and the mechanical properties of the W-Ni-Fe alloys after liquid-phase sintering were investigated. The Vickers hardness and tensile strength of the 95W1.3Ni3.7Fe sample, which had coated W grains by $Fe_7W_6$ phase (${\mu}$-phase), were 450 Hv and 1560 MPa, respectively. As a result, enhancement of the mechanical properties was considered to have uniformly generated ${\mu}$-phase around W grains.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.35-42
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• 2021

Magnesium alloys are used in electronic devices such as laptops due to their lightweight features as well as vibration absorption and electromagnetic shielding properties. However, the precision of electronics is limited by the large number of small and precise ribs, the cost-effective manufacture of which requires appropriate technology. Plate forging is an efficient manufacturing process that can address these challenges. In this study, plate forging of magnesium alloys was investigated specifically for the fabrication of laptop cover. The plate forging process with back-pressure was used for near-net shape formation. Finite element analysis was used to select appropriate variables for back-pressure formation to generate ribs of various sizes and shapes without defects. The reliability of the analysis was verified to manufacture the prototype. The effect of back-pressure can be verified via fabrication of prototypes as well as structure and forming analysis based on finite element method. The process design factor of back-pressure increases formability without defects of under-filling and flow-through. Moreover, the tensile strength was maintained even after high temperature plate forging at 370 ℃, and the elongation was improved.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.6
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• pp.2221-2229
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• 2022

In this research, for improving the measurement performance of Prompt Gamma-ray Neutron Activation Analysis (PGNAA) set-up, a new optimization method for set-up design was proposed and investigated. At first, the calculation method for Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) was proposed. Since the SNR could be calculated and quantified accurately, the SNR was chosen as the evaluation parameter in the new optimization method. For discussing the feasibility of the SNR optimization method, two kinds of PGNAA set-ups were designed in the MCNP code, based on the SNR optimization method and the previous signal optimization method, respectively. Meanwhile, the single element spectra analysis method was proposed, and the analysis effect of single element spectra as well as element sensitivity were used for comparing the measurement performance. Since the simulation results showed the better measurement performance of set-up designed by SNR optimization method, the experimental set-ups were built for the further testing, finally demonstrating the feasibility of the SNR optimization method for PGNAA setup design.

• Composites Research
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.29-34
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• 2009

In this paper, finite element analyses were used to estimate the strain distribution at the fracture site of a tibia bone. A stainless steel bone plate and various composite bone plates were considered to find out the best conditions for callus generation while bone fracture was cured for 16 weeks. Through this research, the appropriate load condition which makes the strains between the appropriate range($2{\sim}10%$) was sought. From this analysis, it was found that lower level of external load is needed for the appropriate strain for the case of composite bone plate application and it was also found that the composite bone plate had potential advantages for effective bone fracture healing relieved stress shielding effect.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.6
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• pp.2166-2171
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• 2023

In the present study, six silicone rubber doped by tellurium borate oxides were fabricated using the casting method. The densities of the fabricated silicon rubber-doped by tellurium borate oxides samples were measured using the Archimedes Method. Moreover, the linear attenuation coefficient of silicone rubber doped tellurium borate oxides samples was evaluated experimentally using the hyper pure germanium, and the recorded linear attenuation coefficient values were affirmed using the theoretical Phy-X program. The experimental measurements were performed using the narrow beam transmission method with radioactive isotopes Am-241, Cs-137, and Co-60 with energies of 59, 661, 1173, and 1332 keV. The linear attenuation coefficient values showed an enhancement by 4.73 times, 1.20 time, 1.17, time, and 1.17 time, respectively at gamma photon energies of 59, 661, 1173, and 1332 keV, when the TeO₂ concentration increased in the fabricated composites from 0 to 50 wt%. The enhancement of the linear attenuation coefficient values has a positive effect on the transmission rate values where the half-value thickness and transmission rate were decreased accompanied by an increase in the RPE.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.10
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• pp.3525-3534
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• 2023

Non-uniformity of Pu and Cm composition in used nuclear fuel was analyzed to determine its effect on Pu accountancy in pyroprocessing, while employing the Pu-to-²⁴⁴Cm ratio method. Burnup simulation of a typical pressurized water reactor fuel assembly, required for the analysis, was carried out using MCNP code. Used fuel nuclide composition, as a function of nine axial and two radial meshes, were evaluated. The axial variation of neutron flux and self-shielding effects were found to affect the uniformity of Pu and Cm compositions and in turn the Pu-to-²⁴⁴Cm ratio. However, the results of the study showed that these non-uniformities do not affect the use of Pu-to-²⁴⁴Cm ratio method for Pu accountancy, if the measurement samples are drawn from the voloxidized powder at the feed step of pyroprocessing. 'Material Unaccounted For' and its uncertainty estimates are also presented for a pyrprocessing facility to verify safeguards monitoring requirements of the IAEA.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.12
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• pp.4518-4526
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• 2023

NECP-SARAX is a neutronics analysis code system for advanced reactor developed by Nuclear Engineering Computational Physics Laboratory of Xi'an Jiaotong University. In past few years, improvements have been implemented in TULIP code which is the cross-section generation module of NECP-SARAX, including the treatment of resonance interface, considering the self-shielding effect in non-resonance energy range, hyperfine group method and nuclear library with thermal scattering law. Previous studies show that NECP-SARAX has high performance in both fast and thermal spectrum system analysis. The accuracy of TULIP code in fast and thermal spectrum system analysis is demonstrated preliminarily. However, a systematic verification and validation is still necessary. In order to validate the applicability of TULIP code for full energy range, 147 fast spectrum critical experiment benchmarks and 170 thermal spectrum critical experiment benchmarks were selected from ICSBEP and used for analysis. The keff bias between TULIP code and reference value is less than 300 pcm for all fast spectrum benchmarks. And that bias keeps within 200 pcm for thermal spectrum benchmarks with neutron-moderating materials such as polyethylene, beryllium oxide, etc. The numerical results indicate that TULIP code has good performance for the analysis of fast and thermal spectrum system.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.289-300
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• 2011

Atomistic origins of carbon solubility into silicates are essential to understand the effect of carbon on the properties of silicates and evolution of the Earth system through igneous and volcanic processes. Here, we investigate the atomic structure and NMR properties of dissolved carbon in enstatite using Raman spectroscopy and quantum chemical calculations. Raman spectrum for enstatite synthesized with 2.4. wt% of amorphous carbon at 1.5 GPa and $1,400^{\circ}C$ shows vibrational modes of enstatite, but does not show any vibrational modes of $CO_2$ or ${CO_3}^{2-}$. The result indicates low solubility of carbon into enstatite at a given pressure and temperature conditions. Because $^{13}C$ NMR chemical shift is sensitive to local atomic structure around carbon and we calculated $^{13}C$ NMR chemical shielding tensors for C substituted enstatite cluster as well as molecular $CO_2$ using quantum chemical calculations to give insights into $^{13}C$ NMR chemical shifts of carbon in enstatite. The result shows that $^{13}C$ NMR chemical shift of $CO_2$ is 125 ppm, consistent with previous studies. Calculated $^{13}C$ NMR chemical shift of C is ~254 ppm. The current calculation will alllow us to assign potential $^{13}C$ NMR spectra for the enstatite dissolved with carbon and thus may be useful in exploring the atomic environment of carbon.