• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.211-221
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• 2016

Waste salt generated from a pyro-processing for the recovery of uranium and transuranic elements has high volatility at vitrification temperature and low compatibility in conventional waste glasses. For this reason, KAERI (Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute) suggested a new method to de-chlorinate waste salt by using an inorganic composite named SAP ($SiO_2-Al_2O_3-P_2O_5$). In this study, the de-chlorination behavior of waste salt and the microstructure of consolidated form were examined by adding $B_2O_3$ and $Fe_2O_3$ to the original SAP composition. De-chlorination behavior of metal chloride waste was slightly changed with given compositions, compared with that of original SAP. In the consolidated forms, the phase separation between Si-rich phase and P-rich phase decreases with the amount of $Al_2O_3$ or $B_2O_3$ as a connecting agent between Si and P-rich phase. The results of PCT (Product Consistency Test) indicated that the leach-resistance of consolidated forms out of reference composition was lowered, even though the leach-resistance was higher than that of EA (Environmental Assessment) glass. From these results, it could be inferred that the change in the content of Al or B in U-SAP affected the microstructure and leach-resistance of consolidated form. Further studies related with correlation between composition and characteristics of wasteform are required for a better understanding.

• Journal of Korea Foundry Society
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• v.42 no.5
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• pp.273-281
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• 2022

In order to understand the solidification behavior and microstructural evolution of the Al-Cu-Si ternary eutectic alloy system, changes of the microstructure of the Al-Cu-Si ternary eutectic alloy with different cooling rates were investigated. When the mold preheating temperature is 500℃, primary Si and Al2Cu dendrites are observed, with (α-Al+Al2Cu) binary eutectic and needle-shaped Si subsequently observed. In addition, even when the mold preheating temperature is 300℃, primary Si and Al2Cu dendrites can be observed, and both (α-Al+Al2Cu+Si) areas observed and areas not observed earlier appear. When the mold preheating temperature is 150℃, bimodal structures of the binary eutectic (α-Al+Al2Cu) and ternary eutectic (α-Al+Al2Cu+Si) are observed. When the preheating temperature of the mold is changed to 500℃, 300℃, and 150℃, the greatest change is in the Si phase, and upon reaching the critical cooling rate, the ternary eutectic of (α-Al+Al2Cu+Si) forms. If the growth of the Si phase is suppressed upon the formation of (α-Al+Al2Cu+Si), the growth of both Al and Cu is also suppressed by a cooperative growth mechanism. As a result of analyzing the Al-27wt%Cu-5wt%Si ternary eutectic alloy with a different alloy design simulation programs, it was confirmed that different results arose depending on the program. A computer simulation of the alloy design is a useful tool to reduce the trial and error process in alloy design, but this effort must be accompanied by a task that increases reliability and allows a comparison to microstructural results derived through actual casting.

• Journal of Korea Foundry Society
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.349-356
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• 2021

Effects of cooling condition after solidification on the microstructure and the mechanical properties of 0.36Mn containing ductile cast iron have been studied based on the minimized addition of Cu and Sn for vehicle component applications with better quality and cost competitiveness. Cu and Sn were selected for additional elements judging from the well-known fact of strong tendency of pearlite promotion followed by the tensile property improvement. After pouring of the Mg treated cast iron melt with various chemical compositions into the block specimens, two ways of post solidification cooling conditions were applied for comparison; both cooling in the mold and cooling in the air after dismantle at 800℃. The pearlite fraction of the mold-cooled specimens was analyzed as 27-44%, with the tensile strength and elongation of 513-568N/mm² and 10.4-14.3%, respectively. Whilest, the air cooled specimens showed the pearlite fraction of 77~85%, with the tensile strength and elongation of 728~758N/mm² and 3.2~6.0%, respectively. It is worthwhile to note that the remarkable improvement of both tensile strength and elongation of the ductile iron was achieved by the present air cooling condition with the minimized combined addition of Cu and Sn to the 0.36Mn containing ductile iron.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.198-205
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• 2023

We investigated the effects of Al and Mg on the microstructure and hardness of the coating layer of galvanized steel sheets, by thermodynamic calculations, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and Vickers hardness tests of Zn-0.2Al, Zn-6Al-2Mg, and Zn-10Al-5Mg coating layers. Regardless of the alloy composition of the galvanizing bath, a Fe-Al layer was observed between the coating layer and steel sheet. The Zn-0.2Al coating layer consists of major h.c.p. Zn phase and minor f.c.c. Al phase. The fraction of f.c.c. Al phase (containing a significant amount of Zn) of the coating layer increases with increasing the chemical composition of Al of the galvanizing bath. The h.c.p. MgZn₂ phase was formed in the Al/Mg-containing Zn-6Al-2Mg and Zn-10Al-5Mg coating layers, forming Zn-Al-MgZn₂ eutectic microstructure. The primary MgZn₂ phase was additionally formed in the Zn-10Al-5Mg coating layers containing high concentrations of Al and Mg. The Vickers hardness values of Zn-0.2Al, Zn-6Al-2Mg, and Zn-10Al-5Mg coating layers were 59.1 ± 1.2 HV, 161.2 ± 5.7 HV, and 215.5 ± 40.3 HV, respectively. The addition of Al and Mg increased the hardness of the coating layer by increasing the fraction of the Al phase (containing Zn) and MgZn₂ intermetallic compound, which were harder than the Zn phase.

• Journal of Korea Foundry Society
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.21-29
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• 2017

The effects of W content and heat treatment on the microstructure and mechanical properties of Hastelloy C-276 alloy investment castings were discussed. As the W content was increased, dendritic microstructure was refined and network type precipitate formed during solidification was distributed on the dendritic grain boundaries. Cr, Fe and Mn were highly segregated in the Ni-based dendrite matrix, and Mo, W, C and Si were in the precipitates. Due to the heat treatment, fine granular and flake precipitates were newly formed in the matrix, and unresolved network type precipitates remained on the grain boundary. The network type precipitates and the granular and flake precipitates formed by heat treatment were confirmed to be ${\mu}$ phase intermetallic compounds with similar compositions. Due to the increase of the W content and the heat treatment, hardness and tensile strength were significantly increased. However, tensile strength after aging treatment was decreased with the W content. These results can be explained in that brittle fracturing by the unresolved network type precipitates dispersed in the grain boundary was predominant over ductile fracturing by the dimple ruptures originating from the fine granular precipitates in the matrix.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.96-103
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• 2010

$Ni_3Al$ is known as a good high temperature structural material because of high yield strength at ambient temperature. However, it is too brittle to use as a structural material because of their weak grain boundary. In this work, orientation measurement and related mechanical properties of directionally solidified NiAl/$Ni_3Al$ two-phase alloys with various compositions (Ni-23~27 at.%Al) were investigated for developing multi-phase DS-processed alloys with the growth rates of 10, 50 and 100 ${\mu}m/s$ in a modified Bridgeman type furnace. It was found that the multi-phase microstructures such as the $\gamma$ dendrite +${\gamma}'$ matrix duplex microstructure was formed in the hypoeutectic composition of 23 at.%Al, $\beta$ dendrite +${\gamma}'$ matrix duplex microstructure in the hypereutectic composition of 26 and 27 at.%Al. And ${\gamma}'$ single phase was formed in the composition of 24.5 and 25 at.%Al. The hypoeutectic alloy including $\gamma$ dendrites with ${\gamma}'$ matrix showed a large elongation of over 70% at room temperature. However, the room-temperature tensile elongation decreased with increasing Al contents because the volume fraction of brittle $\beta$ dendrites in the ductile ${\gamma}'$ matrix increased.

• Journal of Power System Engineering
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.40-45
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• 2016

The manufacturing process of large scaled Al 7050 alloy is difficult for the occurrence of solidification crack during casting. The aims of this study are the evaluations of microstructure and mechanical properties of extruded Al 7050 billet and ring forged one with large scale. Large scaled Al 7050 billet was casted by direct-chill casting process. The extruded and ring forged specimens were prepared from the casted ingot after residual stress relief and homogenization heat treatment, respectively. Microstructures, hardness and tensile test of the surface, middle and center part of each specimen were performed at room temperature. Sheared and elongated type grains were observed at the edge parts of surface and center area and its aspect ratios of grains were low and similar as 0.21 while that of middle area was closed to 0.92 value in ring forged Al 7050 alloy. The mechanical properties of extruded Al 7050 alloy were superior than those of ring forged one. The hardness values of surface and center part were slightly higher than that of middle part in ring forged Al 7050 alloy.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.302-311
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• 2010

In this research, the refinement behavior of the coarse magnesium powders fabricated by gas atomization was investigated as a function of milling time using a short duration high-energy ball milling equipment, which produces fine powders by means of an ultra high-energy within a short duration. The microstructure, hardness, and formability of the powders were investigated as a function of milling time using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, Vickers micro-hardness tester and magnetic pulsed compaction. The particle morphology of Mg powders changed from spherical particles of feed metals to irregular oval particles, then platetype particles, with increasing milling time. Due to having HCP structure, deformation occurs due to the existence of the easily breakable C-axis perpendicular to the base, resulting in producing plate-type powders. With increasing milling time, the particle size increased until 5 minutes, then decreased gradually reaching a uniform size of about 50 micrometer after 20 minutes. The relative density of the initial power was 98% before milling, and mechanically milled powder was 92~94% with increase milling time (1~5 min) then it increased to 99% after milling for 20 minutes because of the change in particle shapes.

• International Journal of Korean Welding Society
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.58-62
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• 2001

The surface of AC8A Ah alloy was modified by adding the Cu powder using a Plasma Transferred Arc (PTA) welding process. Under the optimum fabricating conditions, the modified surface of AC8A Ah alloy was observed to possess the sound microstructure with a minimum porosity. Hardness and wear resistance properties of the as-fabricated alloy were compared with those of the 76 heat-treated one. In case of the as-fabricated alloy, the hardness of the modified layer was twice that of the matrix region. Although significant increase in the hardness of the matrix region was observed after T6 heat treatment, the hardness of the modified layer was not observed to change. The wear resistance of the modified layer was significantly increased compared to that of the matrix region. The microstructure of a weld zone and the matrix region were investigated using the optical microscope, scanning electron microscope (SEM), electron probe microanalysis (EPMA), and transmission electron microscope (TEM). The primary and eutectic silicon in the weld zone were finer and more curved than in the matrix region, while some precipitates has had been found therein. According to the TEM observation, the predominant precipitate present in the weld zone was the $\theta$'phase, which is precipitated during cooling by rapid solidification in PTA welding process. Improvement of hardness and wear properties in the weld zone in the as-fabricated condition can be explained based on the presence of $\theta$’precipitates and fine primary and eutectic silicon distribution.

• Journal of Korea Foundry Society
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.225-232
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• 2009

For comprehensive understanding of the formation behavior of $\beta-Al_5FeSi$ phase in Al-Si-Cu alloys with the existence of Fe element, microstructure characterizations were performed using combined analysis of OM, SEM-EDS, XRD. Especially, experimental and predictive works on solidification events of $\beta-Al_5FeSi$ phase as well as other phases formed together with $\beta-Al_5FeSi$ have been carried out by using DSC analysis and Java-based Materials Properties software (J. Mat. Pro.). Primary and eutectic $\beta-Al_5FeSi$ phases were able to distinguish from each other on microstructures by their morphological features. Primary $\beta-Al_5FeSi$ phase was seen to have rough surface perpendicular to growth direction, indicating free attachment of solute atoms in liquid state. On the other hand, the eutectic $\beta-Al_5FeSi$ phase was formed with plain and straight surface during eutectic reaction together with $\alpha$-Al phase. The eutectic reaction of $\beta-Al_5FeSi$ and $\alpha$-Al phases was seen to be able to separate into each formation depending on cooling rate.