• Journal of Radiation Industry
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.217-221
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• 2015

When reactor coolant leaks occur due to cracks of a steam generator's tube, radioactive materials contained in the primary cooling water in nuclear power plant are forced out toward the secondary systems. At this time the secondary water purification resin in the ion exchange resin tower of the steam generator blowdown system is contaminated by the radioactivity of the leaked radioactive materials, so we pack this in special containers and store temporarily because we could not dispose it by ourselves. If steam generator tube leakage occurs, it produces contaminated spent resins annually about 5,000~7,000 liters. This may increase the amount of nuclear waste productions, a disposal working cost and a unit price of generating electricity in the plant. For this reasons, it is required to develop a decontamination process technique for reducing the radioactive level of these resins enough to handle by the self-disposal method. In this research, First, Investigated the structure and properties of the ion exchange resin used in a steam generator blowdown system. Second, Checked for a occurrence status of contaminated spent resin and a disposal technology. Third, identified the chemical characteristics of the waste radionuclides of the spent resin, and examined ionic bonding and separation mechanism of radioactive nuclear species and a spent resin. Finally, we carried out the decontamination experiment using chemicals, ultrasound, microbubbles, supercritical carbon dioxide to process these spent resin. In the case of the spent resin decontamination method using chemicals, the higher the concentration of the drug decontamination efficiency was higher. In the ultrasound method, foreign matter of the spent resin was removed and was found that the level of radioactivity is below of the MDA. In the microbubbles method, we found that the concentration of the radioactivity decreased after the experiment, so it can be used to the decontamination process of the spent resin. In supercritical carbon dioxide method, we found that it also had a high decontamination efficiency. According to the results of these experiments, almost all decontamination method had a high efficiency, but considering the amounts of the secondary waste productions and work environment of the nuclear power plant, we judged the ultrasound and supercritical carbon dioxide method are suitable for application to the plant and we established the plant applicable decontamination process system on the basis of these two methods.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.26 no.11
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• pp.2322-2327
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• 2002

The corrosion degradation characteristics of the 12Cr alloy steel, which is widely used in fossil power plants as a turbine blade material, are evaluated nondestructively by use of the backward radiated Rayleigh surface wave. In order to evaluate corrosion degradation characteristics, we constructed automated system for the backward radiation, and the frequency dependency of the Rayleigh surface wave is investigated indirectly by measuring the angular dependency of the backward radiation of the incident ultrasonic wave in the specimens. The velocity of the surface wave decrease as the increase of the aging time in the backward radiation profile, which seems to result from the increase of the effective degrading layer thickness. And, amplitude of the surface wave increase as the aging time, which seems to result from the increase of the intergranular corrosion. The result observed in this study demonstrates high potential of the backward radiated ultrasound as a tool for the nondestructive evaluation of the corrosion degradation characteristics of the aged materials.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.218-223
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• 2007

The dissipation of high-power ultrasonic energy at the faces of the defect causes an increase in temperature. It is resulted from localized selective heating in the vicinity of cracks because of the friction effect. In this paper the measurement of size and direction of crack using UET(Ultrasound Excitation Thermography) is described. The ultrasonic pulse energy is injected into the sample in one side. The hot spot, which is a small area around the crack tip and heated up highly, is observed. The hot spot, which is estimated as the starting point of the crack, is seen in the nearest position from the ultrasonic excitation point. Another ultrasonic pulse energy is injected into the sample in the opposite side. The hot spot, the ending point of the crack, is seen in the closest distance from the injection point also. From the calculation of the coordinates of both the first hot spot and the second hot spot observed, the size and slope of the crack is estimated. In the experiment of STS fatigue crack specimen(thickness 14mm), the size and the direction of the crack was measured.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.143-150
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• 2004

In this paper, resonant ultrasound spectroscopy(RUS) was used to determine the natural frequency of a ceramic ferrule and a ball lens. The ceramic ferrules are cylinderical shape with $\phi$ 2.56mm diameter and l0mm in length. Crack lengths of these ferrules are 10.40$\mu$m, 21.18$\mu$m and 32.35$\mu$m. The spherical ball lens was made of BK-7 glass, one's diameter in 2mm and 5mm. RUS system is consisted of spectrum analyzer, power amplifier, PZT sensor and support frame. The principle of RUS is that the mechanical resonant frequency of the materials depends on density and the coefficient of elasticity. Rus system is based on that given resonant frequency of the materials can be represented by the function of density and the coefficient of elasticity, and it is applied to excite specimen and to inspect the difference of natural frequency pattern between acceptable specimen and defective ones. Defect evaluation by RUS are performed to investigate the natural frequency measure of ferrule and ball lens.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.30-38
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• 2011

Effects of depolymerization treatments of a carbohydrase mixture (CM), ultrasound, and irradiation on the physical properties of defatted mustard meal-based edible films (DMM films) were investigated. DMM hydrocolloids were added to CM (0.42% (w/w solution)), treated by ultrasound (500-700 W, 10-30 min) or ${\gamma}$-ray (40-100 kGy) to prepare film-forming solutions. Films were formed by drying. The CM treatment at 0.42% (w/w), pH 5.5, and 40-$50^{\circ}C$ with a 0.5 hr incubation time resulted in the highest colloidal stability in the film-forming solution. The depolymerization treatments did not dramatically change the water vapor permeability of the films. The solubility of the film decreased up to 53.1% by the CM treatment. The ultrasound treatment (700 W-30 min) decreased tensile strength and elongation. The ultrasound treatment (600 W-20 min) resulted in more compact and uniform structures of the films. Flavor profiles were differentiated by the power level and the time of the ultrasound treatment.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.378-385
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• 2014

Multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were modified with a water soluble polymer, poly(vinyl alcohol), PVA, using a simple ultrasonic wave in water. Under the irradiation of ultrasound, PVA chains were severed as macroradicals and instantly grafted onto the surface of MWCNTs due to the radical scavenging effect of MWCNTs. To control the grafting PVA onto MWCNTs, the ultrasonication power and irradiation time were changed from 300 to 500 W and from 10 to 50 min, respectively. The grafted PVA onto MWCNTs was confirmed by FTIR, TGA, SEM, and TEM. Dispersion stability of the modified MWCNTs was monitored by Turbiscan. The amount of grafted PVA on MWCNTs increased with the increase in the sonication power and irradiation time. The grafted PVA on MWCNTs induced the improved dispersion stability of the modified MWCNTs in water. These findings exhibit that ultrasound can be readily used for the grafting polymer chains on MWCNTs.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.21 no.7
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• pp.845-853
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• 2012

Diethyl phthalate (DEP) is widely spread in the natural environment as an endocrine disruption chemicals (EDs). Therefore, in this study, ultrasound (US) and ultraviolet (UVC), including various applied power density (10-40 W/L), UV wavelengths (365 nm, 254 nm and 185 nm) and frequencies (283 kHz, 935 kHz) were applied to a DEP contaminated solution. The pseudo-first order degradation rate constants were in the order of $10^{-1}$ to $10^{-4}\;min^{-1}$ depending on the processes. Photolytic and sonophotolytic DEP degradation rate also were high at shortest UV wavelength (VUV) due to the higher energy of photons, higher molar absorption coefficient of DEP and increased hydroxyl radical generation from homolysis of water. Sonolytic DEP degradation rate increased with increase of applied input power and the dominant reaction mechanism of DEP in sonolysis was estimated as hydroxyl radical reaction by the addition of t-BuOH, which is a common hydroxyl radical scavenger. Moreover, synergistic effect of were also observed for sonophotolytic degradation with various UV irradiation.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.118-122
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• 2008

Degradations of phenol and chlorinated compounds mixtures were studied with ultrasound of 20 kHz and 0.57, 1.14 W/mL. In presence of carbon tetrachloride (CT), degradation rate of phenol is faster than chloroform (CF), dichloromethane (DCM) and phenol solution. It is due to that CT generates of free chlorine (HOCl and $OCl^-$) from the sonochemical degradation and plays a role of hydrogen atom scavenger. CF and DCM are react with free chlorine, so amount of free chlorine is smaller than CT solution. The degradation rates of chlorinated compounds decreased with co-presence of phenol in the solution due to the distribution ultrasonic energy to both compounds. The measured chloride ion was lower than the theoretical concentration assuming complete degradation. This means not all the contaminants destructed went through complete degradation.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.39 no.6
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• pp.576-584
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• 2020

In order to obtain basic information for using polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) gel as a tissue mimicking phantom for temperature visualization, the temperature change characteristics due to the focused ultrasound were examined for different concentration of PVA. To obtain the basic acoustic characteristics, the speed of sound, the attenuation coefficient, and the density depending on the PVA concentration were measured, and the thermodynamic characteristics, such as thermal conductivity and heat capacity, were measured. The range of temperature rising in the vicinity of the focal point due to the focused ultrasound was observed using a thermochromic film that changes color at 30 degree or more, and the discolored area was obtained by image processing of the recorded image. As the concentration of PVA increases in the given range of 2 wt% ~ 16 wt%, the area that rises above 30 degree inside the gel increases linearly. It is confirmed that the discolored area increases as the power applied to the focused ultrasonic transducer increases. These results showed good agreement with the simulation results using the finite element method.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.379-387
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• 2010

Sediments of Little Scioto (LS) River in Ohio was contaminated by poor disposal of creosote from Baker Wood Creosoting Facility. Among the primary compounds of creosote, Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) are the most common ingredient PAHs are known for toxic, carcinogenic and mutagenic compounds. There are many difficulties to remove the PAHs in nature environment because their characteristics are having a less water-solubility, volatile and low mobility properties as increasing the molecular weight. The generation of hydroxyl radicals (${\cdot}OH$) and hydrogen peroxide ($H_2O_2$) forms as well as high temperature (5000 K) and pressure (1000 atm) by a physico-chemical effects of ultrasound during a cavitation collapse can promote the degradation and desorption of PAHs in sediment And it can also produces shock wave and microjets which are able to change the size and surface of particle in solid-liquid system as one of physical effects. Therefore, we explored to understand the role of particle size, the effect of elimination for PAHs concentration by ultrasound and optimize the conditions for ultrasonic treatment. The condition of various size of particles (> $150{\mu}m$, < $150{\mu}m$) and solid-liquid ratio (12.5g/L, 25g/L) for the treatment was considered and ultrasonic power (430 W/L) with liquid - hexane extraction and microwave extraction method were applied after ultrasound treatment.