• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers
• /
• v.11 no.1
• /
• pp.53-62
• /
• 1987

High power lasers provide a controllable and precise energy source in surface transformation hardening. A careful control of the process is needed in order that the surface layer of the material reaches the austenizing temperature, but that it does not melt. In order to achieve this the results of theoretical and experimental studies on the laser surface hardening of a medium carbon steel are described. A two-dimensional computer program, which can be used generally for the determination of transient temperature distributions in welding and heat treatment, was established on the basis of the finite element method. For the confirmation of the accuracy of the numerical analysis, a medium carbon steel (SM 45C) of 5mm thickness was heat-treated with a 1kW CW CO$_{2}$ laser machine, while the traverse speed and the distance from the focal point (defocused distance) were varied. Experimental and numerical results showed a similar tendency in correlations between the hardened zone shape and the process parameters. With increasing beam spot diameter the width and depth of the hardened zone increased for relatively small beam spot diameters, but decreased rapidly after reaching the maximum value, while with increasing traverse speed the width and depth of the hardened zone decreased monotonously. Too small beam spot diameters are to be avoided, since the surface melting would lower the surface hardness and produce an uneven surface which may be unacceptable because of the possible requirement for subsequent machining. It could be observed that for a given traverse speed and laser power input there exists a optimal range of the beam spot diameter, which produce a large width of the hardened zone but no melting on the surface.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• v.36 no.2
• /
• pp.93-100
• /
• 2003

Objectives : Because shipyard workers are involved with various manufacturing process, they are exposed to many kinds of hazardous materials. Welders especially, are exposed to bisphenol-A (BPA) during the welding and flame cutting of coated steel, This study was conducted to assess the exposure status of the endocrine disrupter based on the job-exposure matrix. The effects of the genetic polymorphism of xenobiotic enzyme metabolisms involved in the metabolism of BPA on the levels of urinary metabolite were investigated. Methods : The study population was recruited from a shipyard company in the f province. A total of 84 shipbuilding workers 47 and 37 in the exposed and control groups, respectively, were recruited for this study. The questionnaire variables included, age, sex, use of personal protective equipment, smoking, drinking and work duration. The urinary metabolite was collected in the afternoon and correction made for the urinary creatinine concentration. The of the CYP1A1, CYP2E1 and UGT1A6 genotypes were investigated using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) methods with the DNA extracted from venous blood. Results : The urinary BPA level in the welders group was significantly higher than in the control group (p<0.05). The urinary BPA concentration with the wild type UGT1A6 was higher than the other UGT1A6 genotypes, but with no statistical significant. From themultiple regression analysis of the urinary BPA, the regression coefficient for job grade was statistically significant (p<0.05). Conclusions : The grade of exposure to BPA affected the urinary BPA concentration was statistically significant. However, the genetic polymorphisms of xenobiotics enzyme metabolism were not statistically significant. Further investigation of the genetic polymorphisms with a larger sample size is needed.