• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제41권5호
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• pp.575-602
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• 2009

In the wake of the Three Mile Island accident, vigorous research efforts were initiated to acquire a basic knowledge of the progression and consequences of accidents that involve a substantial degree of core degradation and melting. The primary emphasis of this research was placed on containment integrity, with: i) hydrogen combustion-detonation, ii) steam explosion, iii) direct containment heating (DCH), and iv) melt attack on the BWR Mark-I containment shell identified as energetic processes that could lead to early containment failure (i.e., within the first 24 hours of the accident). Should the core melt fail the reactor vessel, then non-condensable gas production from Molten Core-Concrete Interaction (MCCI) was identified as a mechanism that could fail the containment by pressurization over the long term. One signification question that arose as part of this investigation was the effectiveness of water in terminating an MCCI by flooding the interacting masses from above, thereby quenching the molten core debris and rendering it permanently coolable. Successful quenching of the core melt would prevent basemat melt through, as well as continued containment pressurization by non-condensable gas production, and so the accident progression would be successfully terminated without release of radioactivity to the environment. Based on these potential merits, ex-vessel corium coolability has been the focus of extensive research over the last 20 years as a potential accident management strategy for current plants. In addition, outcomes from this research have impacted the accident management strategies for the Gen III+LWR plant designs that are currently being deployed around the world. This paper provides: i) an historical overview of corium coolability research, ii) summarizes the current status of research in this area, and iii) highlights trends in severe accident management strategies that have evolved based on the findings from this work.

• 대한치과기공학회지
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• 제22권1호
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• pp.69-78
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• 2000

The microstructure and corrosion behavior of commercially dental casting gold alloys were investigated to clarify the effect of burn-out temperature and cooling rate. In the case of water quenching after casting, only the αphase, which is typical dendritic microstructure of golda alloy, was detected. However, the precipitates along the grain boundary were detected only at the slow cooling rate and they increased inversely proportional to the burn-out temperature. This might be due to the time difference which solute atom could diffuse. EPMA and SEM results also demonstrated that the precipitate should be lamellar structure consisted of Ag rich phase(${\alpha}_1$) and Cu rich phase (${\alpha}_2$). In terms of corrosion, the galvanic coupling was formed due to the difference of composition between precipitates and matrix at the slow cooling rate. In the case of water quenching, the critical current density($i_p$) which indicate the degree of corrosion was lowest at $650^{\circ}C$ and below the burnout temperature, $i_p$ increased with it because of the effect of grain boundary segregation. But above the temperature, $i_p$ increased with it. This may be due to the strain field effect by residual thermal stress.

• 대한기계학회논문집A
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• 제35권4호
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• pp.383-391
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• 2011

최근 차체 경량화를 위한 여러 가지 방법 가운데 고온에서 가공하여 성형성을 확보하고, 이후 열처리를 통하여 고강도를 가질 수 있는 프레스 열간 성형 및 핫스탬핑 기술이 각광을 받고 있으며, 이에 따라 핫스탬핑용 재료인 보론 첨가 강판의 수요도 늘어나고 있는 추세이다. 본 연구에서는 핫스탬핑용보론 첨가 강판의 우수한 경화능을 보이는 임계 최적 열처리 조건을 파악하고자, Al+Si 코팅이 된 보론강판을 각기 다른 온도로 열처리하여 수냉 조건에 따른 기계적 특성 및 조직을 관찰하였다. 또한, 이 결과를 토대로 선별된 기계적 특성이 우수한 보론강 시험편과 일반 냉연 강판인 SPRC 340과 SPRC 590 2종류의 상대재를 활용하여 특정 점용접 조건에서 용접을 실시하고, 보론강 및 상대재의 기계적 특성 변화에 따른 용접 후의 기계적 특성 및 조직, 그리고 코팅층 유무에 따른 특성 변화를 연구하였다.

• 한국주조공학회지
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• 제26권1호
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• pp.17-26
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• 2006

The substitution of cooling method from water quenching to air cooling after solution heat treatment was aimed for the development of a convenient and economical heat treatment process of duplex stainless steels without deterioration of mechanical and corrosion resistant properties for the industry. In order to achieve this goal, the mechanical properties and corrosion properties of a ASTM A890-4A duplex stainless steel were systematically investigated as functions of casting condition and cooling method after solution heat treatment. A 3-stepped sand mold and a permanent Y-block mold were used to check the effects of solidification structure and cooling rate after solution heat treatment. The microstructural characteristics such as the ferrite/austenite phase ratio and the precipitation behavior of ${\sigma}$ phase and carbides were investigated by combined analysis of OM and SEM-EDX with an aid of TTT diagram. Hardness and tension test were performed to evaluate the mechanical properties. Impact property at $-40^{\circ}C$ and corrosion resistance were also examined to check the possibility of the industrial application of this basic study. Throughout this investigation, air-cooling method was proved to effectively substitute for water-quenching process after the solution heat treatment, when the duplex stainless steel was sand mold cast with a thickness below 15 mm or permanent mold cast with a thickness below 20 mm.

• 한국주조공학회지
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• 제21권4호
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• pp.253-259
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• 2001

There are many methods to produce metal foams, which can be classified into three groups according to the state of the starting metal i.e. liquid or powder or solid. Three types of defects such as cell closing, cell deformation or breakdown and cell misrun are thought to be occurred when we make the open cell aluminum foams by precision casting. Filling ability of the mold slurry between preform is related with cell closing, mold collapsibility is related with cell deformation or breakdown, mold temperature and pouring pressure are related with cell misrun. These factors can be evaluated by measuring slurry fluidity, burnout strength and permeability of the mold. Properties of the plaster mold were evaluated to find optimum mold conditions for high quality open cell aluminum foam in this study. Permeability was almost zero independent of burnout conditions, however, crack initiation was found on the surface of all specimens one or two minutes after taking out from the furnace. Crack has grown and disappeared with time. This crack may facilitate the mold filling when molten metal is poured, because of the improved mold permeability. It was considered that crack initiation and disappearance was closely related with temperature difference between the surface and inner part. Knocking-out the mold is a difficult problem due to the small cell size, because continuous mesh structure of the metal foam is not strong. It is not easy to remove molding material after pouring. We can expect that water quenching can facilitate the knocking-out the mold after solidification without damaging cell structures. Collapsed particles after water quenching became bigger with the increase in time.

• 한국재료학회지
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• 제30권5호
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• pp.231-238
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• 2020

The composition of martensite transformation in NiAl alloy is determined using pure nickel and aluminum powder by vacuum hot press powder metallurgy, which is a composition of martensitic transformation, and the characteristics of martensitic transformation and microstructure of sintered NiAl alloys are investigated. The produced sintered alloys are presintered and hot pressed in vacuum; after homogenizing heat treatment at 1,273 K for 86.4 ks, they are water-cooled to produce NiAl sintered alloys having relative density of 99 % or more. As a result of observations of the microstructure of the sintered NiAl alloy specimens quenched in ice water after homogenization treatment at 1,273 K, it is found that specimens of all compositions consisted of two phases and voids. In addition, it is found that martensite transformation did not occur because surface fluctuation shapes did not appear inside the crystal grains with quenching at 1,273 K. As a result of examining the relationship between the density and composition after martensitic transformation of the sintered alloys, the density after transformation is found to have increased by about 1 % compared to before the transformation. As a result of examining the relationship between the hardness (Hv) at room temperature and the composition of the matrix phase and the martensite phase, the hardness of the martensite phase is found to be smaller than that of the matrix phase. As a result of examining the relationship between the temperature at which the shape recovery is completed by heating and the composition, the shape recovery temperature is found to decrease almost linearly as the Al concentration increases, and the gradient is about -160 K/at% Al. After quenching the sintered NiAl alloys of the 37 at%Al into martensite, specimens fractured by three-point bending at room temperature are observed by SEM and, as a result, some grain boundary fractures are observed on the fracture surface, and mainly intergranular cleavage fractures.

• 열처리공학회지
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• 제17권4호
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• pp.223-229
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• 2004

The effects of the cooling and annealing conditions on the microstructures and corrosion properties were investigated for the Cu-contained Zr-Nb alloy (Zr-1.1Nb-0.07Cu). After annealing at $1050^{\circ}C$ for 15 min, the specimens were cooled by three methods of water quenching, air cooling, and furnace cooling. Widmanstatten structures were developed in both air- and furnace-cooled specimens, and the Widmanstatten plate width of the furnace-cooled specimens was wider than that of the air-cooled ones. The weight gain in the furnace-cooling case was higher than that in the air-cooling case. This could be the reason why the diffusion time was more enough during the furnace cooling than the air cooling. The oxide of the furnace-cooled specimen was nonunformly formed just beneath the Widmanstatten plate boundaries, where ${\beta}_{Zr}$ phases were exised concentrately. Compared with the $640^{\circ}C$ annealing after the water quenching, the $570^{\circ}C$ annealing could make the ${\beta}_{Nb}$ phases and a concomitant reduction of the Nb in the matrix, and then it could improve the corrosion resistance with the increase of the annealing time. It would be concluded that the corrosion resistance of the Zr-1.1Nb-0.07Cu was good when the Nb concentration in the matrix was reached at an equilibrium level and then the ${\beta}_{Nb}$ phase was formed.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제30권6호
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• pp.937-945
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• 2020

N-acyl-homoserine lactone (AHL)-mediated quorum sensing (QS) plays a major role in development of biofilms, which contribute to rise in infections and biofouling in water-related industries. Interference in QS, called quorum quenching (QQ), has recieved a lot of attention in recent years. Rhodococcus spp. are known to have prominent quorum quenching activity and in previous reports it was suggested that this genus possesses multiple QQ enzymes, but only one gene, qsdA, which encodes an AHL-lactonase belonging to phosphotriesterase family, has been identified. Therefore, we conducted a whole genome sequencing and analysis of Rhodococcus sp. BH4 isolated from a wastewater treatment plant. The sequencing revealed another gene encoding a QQ enzyme (named jydB) that exhibited a high AHL degrading activity. This QQ enzyme had a 46% amino acid sequence similarity with the AHL-lactonase (AidH) of Ochrobactrum sp. T63. HPLC analysis and AHL restoration experiments by acidification revealed that the jydB gene encodes an AHL-lactonase which shares the known characteristics of the α/β hydrolase family. Purified recombinant JydB demonstrated a high hydrolytic activity against various AHLs. Kinetic analysis of JydB revealed a high catalytic efficiency (k_cat/K_M) against C4-HSL and 3-oxo-C6 HSL, ranging from 1.88 x 10⁶ to 1.45 x 10⁶ M^-1 s^-1, with distinctly low K_M values (0.16-0.24 mM). This study affirms that the AHL degrading activity and biofilm inhibition ability of Rhodococcus sp. BH4 may be due to the presence of multiple quorum quenching enzymes, including two types of AHL-lactonases, in addition to AHL-acylase and oxidoreductase, for which the genes have yet to be described.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• 제34권5호
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• pp.369-377
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• 2004

The objective of this study was to investigate the patterns of protein leaching to an external phase during an ethyl acetate-based, double emulsion microencapsulation process. An aqueous protein solution (lactoglobulin, lysozyme, or ribonuclease; $W_1$) was emulsified in ethyl acetate containing poly-d,l-lactide-co-glycolide 75:25. The $W_1/O$ emulsion was transferred to a 0.5% polyvinyl alcohol solution saturated with ethyl acetate $(W_2)$. After the double emulsion was stirred for 5, 15, 30, or 45 min, additional 0.5% polyvinyl alcohol $(W_3)$ was quickly added into the emulsion. This so-called quenching step helped convert emulsion microdroplets into microspheres. After 2-hr stirring, microspheres were collected and dried. The degree of protein leaching to $W_2$ and/or $W_3$ phase was monitored during the microencapsulation process. In a separate, comparative experiment, the profile of protein leaching to an external phase was investigated during the conventional methylene chloride-based microencapsulation process. When ethyl acetate was used as a dispersed solvent, proteins continued diffusing to the $W_2$ phase, as stirring went on. Therefore, the timing of ethyl acetate quenching played an important role in determining the degree of protein microencapsulation efficiency. For example, when quenching was peformed after 5-min stirring of the primary $W_1/O$ emulsion, the encapsulation efficiencies of lactoglobulin and ribonuclease were $55.1{\pm}4.2\;and\;45.3{\pm}7.6%$, respectively. In contrast, when quenching was carried out in 45 min, their respective encapsulation efficiencies were $39.6{\pm}3.2\;and\;29.9{\pm}11.2%$. By sharp contrast, different results were attained with the methylene-chloride based process: up to 2 hr-stirring of the primary and double emulsions, less than 5% of a protein appeared in $W_2$. Afterwards, it started to partition from $W_1\;to\;W_2/W_3$, and such a tendency was affected by the amount of PLGA75:25 used to make microspheres. Different solvent properties (e.g., water miscibility) and their effect on microsphere hardening were to be held answerable for such marked differences observed with the two microencapsulation processes.

• 한국세라믹학회지
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• 제27권1호
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• pp.1-6
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• 1990

Preparation and heavy metal ion adsorption of sumicron hydroxy apatite were studied in this experiment. Submicron HAP was synthesized with Ca(OH)2 solution and H3PO4.Ca(OH)2 solution was made from water-quenching of CaCO3 heated at 1, 00$0^{\circ}C$ and 20%-H3PO4 was dropped into this Ca(OH)2 solution heated at 8$0^{\circ}C$. XRD pattern of prepared powder showed HAP crystal. The average particle size and sahpe of HAP were 0.25${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$ and sphere type. As a adsorbent, 1.0g of the prepared HAP powder in 1 liter of artifical 5ppm heavy matal waste water was sufficient, and more effective at pH7-9.