• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.16 no.5 s.98
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• pp.175-185
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• 1999

Acoustic emission(AE) measurement was carried out to evaluate the fracture behavior of high tension steel. Fracture toughness $K_{AE}$ could be determined reasonably by using the load value corresponding to an abrupt change of the accumulated AE counts AE emitted from the test specimens. AE characteristics of the base metal, the weld metal and the heat-affected zone could be distinguished using a constant value b which represented the AE amplitude distribution, Consequently the structure integrity can be evaluated by variation of the constant b at the load level. In addition it was found that AE signals due to crack growth have high amplitude but low rise time and duration.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.47-54
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• 1998

Various equipments in plants are welded with two different materials and it is required to investigate the effects of fatigue crack propagation on the neighborhood of a welded portion. The characteristics of fatigue crack growth in the base metal of carbon and stainless steel, in the carbon and stainless steel sides located in the neighborhood of welded portion (carbon/stainless steel), respectively and welded portion, are investigated. The results show that the crack growth in the welded portion (carbon/stainless steel) is an average value of the crack growths in the carbon and stainless steel respectively located in the neighborhood of the welded portion. It is found that the crack growth in the welded portion is not significantly different from those in the carbon and stainless steel sides. Hence it can be concluded that the structure welded with two different materials wold not impede the integrity based on the fatigue crack growth.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Technology Engineers
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.469-476
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• 2009

Hard facing overlay welding in high chromium carbide is a representative way of extending the fatigue life or recompensing damage, because workpiece surface is uniformly overlay-welded by alloy material. In general, grinding process is currently used for finish due to hardness of weld material. The development of tool material, such as PCBN, has made it possible to use turning instead of grinding. There are many advantages of hard Owning, as lower equipment costs, shorter setup time, fewer process steps, higher material removal rate, better surface integrity and the elimination of cutting fluid. In this paper, machining characteristics and cutting performance are examined to investigate turning possibility of overly welding in high chromium carbide.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.41 no.11
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• pp.1021-1033
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• 2017

In this study, an optimum process to improve structural integrity was established by investigating effect of the process variables on fatigue lifetime of steel-sleeve repair welds in buried gas pipeline. Residual stresses in the repair welds were derived through sequentially-coupled temperature-stress analysis using ABAQUS, which is a commercial finite element analysis program. In addition, variations of operating stresses were derived by finite element linear elastic stress analysis. Fatigue lifetimes of the steel-sleeve repair welds were evaluated by substituting the derived weld residual stresses and operating stress variations into the structural stress/fracture mechanics approach as input. Parametric study using finite element analysis and fatigue assessment for various repair welding process variables were carried out to investigate the effects of the process variables on the fatigue lifetime. Finally, based on the effects of the process variables on the fatigue lifetime, an optimal process to minimize the welding time and economic costs and to improve the fatigue lifetimes was derived.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.1460-1465
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• 2012

The semi-automatic gas metal arc welding equipment was developed and the weldability of zinc coated steel pipes was evaluated in terms of strength, porosity and welding parameters including shielding gas composition. The good bead appearance and the reduction of porosity in the welds could be possibly obtained by adding $O_2$ to Ar. The strength and joint efficiency of welds made by the semi-automatic welding equipment was about 1.8 times higher compared with welds manually made. The integrity of welds was confirmed by the water pressure test as well, Finally, it is expected that the weld productivity will be enhanced even unskilled welders can produce quality welds by operating the semi-automatic welding equipment.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.147-153
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• 2013

Recently the primary water stress corrosion cracking(PWSCC) has occurred in the dissimilar metal weld region between pressurizer nozzle and safe-end in nuclear power plants(NPPs). As material of the pressurizer nozzle, SA508 Gr. 3 low alloy steel was used. F316L stainless steel and Alloy 82/182 were used as safe-end and weld metal, respectively. Although mechanical properties are needed for evaluation of the structural integrity against flaw in the material, material specification and standard don't supply those properties. Therefore, the present study conducted tensile and fracture toughness tests on SA508 Gr.3 and F316L stainless steel at ambient temperature and operating temperature of NPPs and reported the tested results.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.36 no.12
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• pp.1511-1519
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• 2012

Pipe structures contain many welded zones, and ultrasonic tests are increasingly being performed by using automated testing devices in order to evaluate the weld integrity. An electromagnetic acoustic transducer (EMAT) is a noncontact transducer that can transmit or receive ultrasonic waves without a couplant. Furthermore, it can easily generate specific guided waves such as SH (shear horizontal) or Lamb waves by altering the design of the coil and magnet. Therefore, an EMAT should be useful for application to an automated ultrasonic inspection system. In this study, SH waves generated using an EMAT were applied to inspect the pipe-weld zone. To analyze the specific SH mode (SH0) from the SH wave signals, wavelet transform was applied. It was found that flaws could be detected precisely because the intensity of the $SH_0$ mode-frequency, which is analyzed by using wavelet transform, is proportional to the length of the flaw.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.9 no.5
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• pp.187-195
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• 2010

Hyper duplex stainless steels have been developed in Korea for the purpose of application to the seawater system of Korean nuclear power plants. This system supplies seawater to cooling water heat exchanger tubes, related pipes and chlorine injection system. In normal operation, seawater is supplied to heat exchanger through the exit of circulating water pump headers, and the heat exchanged sea water is extracted to the discharge pipes in circulating water system connected to the circulating water discharge lines. The high flow velocity of some part of seawater system in nuclear power plants accelerates damages of components. Therefore, high strength and high corrosion resistant steels need to be applied for this environment. Hyper duplex stainless steel (27Cr-7.0Ni-2.5Mo-3.2W-0.35N) has been newly developed in Korea and is being improved for applying to nuclear power plants. In this study, the physical & mechanical properties and corrosion resistance of newly developed materials are quantitatively evaluated in comparative to commercial stainless steels in other countries. The properties of weld & HAZ (heat affected zone) are analyzed and the best compositions are suggested. The optimum conditions in welding process are derived for ensuring the volume fraction of ferrite(${\alpha}$) and austenite(${\gamma}$) in HAZ and controlling weld cracks. For applying these materials to the seawater heat exchanger, CCT and CPT in weldments are measured. As a result of all experiments, it was found that the newly developed hyper duplex stainless steel WREMBA has higher corrosion resistance and mechanical properties than those of super austenitic stainless steels including welded area. It is expected to be a promising material for seawater systems of Korean nuclear power plants.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.8
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• pp.1732-1741
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• 2020

The structural integrity of welded joints in the reactor pressure vessel (RPV) is directly related to the safety of nuclear power plants. The RPV is made from SA508-III steel in a pressurized water reactor. In this study, we investigated the effects of temperature on the tensile and fracture toughness properties of Chinese SA508-III welded joint in different sampling areas in order to provide reference data for structural integrity assessments of RPVs. The specimens used in tensile and fracture toughness tests were fabricated from the base metal (BM), weld metal (WM), and the heat-affected zone (HAZ) in the welded joint. The representative testing temperatures included the ambient temperature (20 ℃), upper shelf temperature (100 ℃), and service temperature (320 ℃). The results showed that temperature greatly affected the fracture toughness (JIC) values for the SA508-III welded joint. The JIC values for BM and HAZ both decreased remarkably from 20 ℃ to 320 ℃. The fracture morphologies showed that the BM and HAZ in the welded joint exhibited fully ductile fracture at 20 ℃, whereas partial cleavage fracture was mixed in ductile fracture mode at 100 ℃ and 320 ℃. The WM exhibited the ductile and cleavage fracture mixed mode at various temperatures, and the JIC values showed slight changes.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.85-91
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• 1998

In nuclear fuel manufacturing process, end-closure welding has long been recognized as requiring very high integrity. In this basic study, ECT(eddy current testing) method for end-closure welding has been developed to detect end cap weld discontinuities for nuclear fuel safety. In order to improve the inspection reliability, the maximum scanning speed and the maximum frequency is investigated for end-closure welding inspection. The bandpass filter(0-250Hz) is used for removing noise effects. This study shows that ECT method is effective and sensitive for the detection of small defect(0.35mm diameter).