• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제42권3호
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• pp.249-258
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• 2010

Recently, many utilities have considered interim dry storage of spent nuclear fuel as an option for increasing spent fuel storage capacity. Foreign nuclear regulatory committees have provided some regulatory and licensing requirements for relatively low- and medium-burned spent fuel with respect to the prevention of spent fuel degradation during transportation and interim dry storage. In the present study, the effect of cladding creep and hydride distribution on spent fuel degradation is reviewed and performance tests with high-burned Zircaloy-4 and advanced Zr alloy spent fuel are proposed to investigate the effect of burnup and cladding materials on the current regulatory and licensing requirements. Creep tests were also performed to investigate the effect of temperature and tensile hoop stress on hydride reorientation and subsequently to examine the temperature and stress limits against cladding material failure. It is found that the spent fuel failure is mainly caused by cladding creep rupture combined with mechanical strength degradation and hydride reorientation. Hydride reorientation from the circumferential to radial direction may reduce the critical stress intensity that accelerates radial crack propagation. The results of cladding creep tests at $400^{\circ}C$ and 130MPa hoop stress performed in this study indicate that hydride reorientation may occur between 2.6% to 7.0% strain in tube diameter with a hydrogen content range of 40-120ppm. Therefore, it is concluded that hydride re-orientation behaviour is strongly correlated with the cladding creep-induced strain, which varies as functions of temperature and stress acting on the cladding.

• 한국분말야금학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국분말야금학회 2006년도 Extended Abstracts of 2006 POWDER METALLURGY World Congress Part2
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• pp.936-936
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• 2006

Bulk amorphous materials have been intensively studied to apply for various advanced industry fields due to their high mechanical, chemical and electrical properties. These materials have been produced by several techniques such as mechanical alloying, melt spinning and gas atomization, etc. Among them, the atomization is the most potential technique for commercialization due to high cooling rate during solidification of the melt and mass productivity. However, the amorphous powders still have some limitations because of their low ductility and toughness. Therefore, intensive efforts have to be carried out to increase the ductility and toughness. In this study, the Ni-based amorphous powder was produced by the gas atomization process. And in order to increase the ductile toughness, ductile Cu phase was coated on the Ni amorphous powder by spray drying process. The characteristics of the as-synthesis powders have been examined and briefly mentioned. The master alloy with $Ni_{57}Zr_{20}Ti_{16}Si_2Sn_3$ was prepared by vacuum induction melting furnace with graphite crucible and mold. The atomization was conducted at $1450^{\circ}C$ under the vacuum of $10^{-2}$ torr. The gas pressure during atomization was varied from 35 to 50 bars. After making the Ni amorphous powders, the spray drying was processed to produce the Cu -coated Ni amorphous composite powder. The amorphous powder and Cu nitrate solution were mixed together with a small amount of binder and then it was sprayed at temperature of $130^{\circ}C$ and rotating speed of 15,000 R.P.M.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제50권2호
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• pp.229-236
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• 2018

Accident-tolerant fuels (ATFs) are currently of high interest to researchers in the nuclear industry and in governmental and international organizations. One widely studied accident-tolerant fuel concept is multilayer cladding (also known as coated cladding). This concept is based on a traditional Zr-based alloy (Zircaloy-4, M5, E110, ZIRLO etc.) serving as a substrate. Different protective materials are applied to the substrate surface by various techniques, thus enhancing the accident tolerance of the fuel. This study focuses on the results of testing of Zircaloy-4 coated with pure chromium metal using the cold spray (CS) technique. In comparison with other deposition methods, e.g., Physical vapor deposition (PVD), laser coating, or Chemical vapor deposition techniques (CVD), the CS technique is more cost efficient due to lower energy consumption and high deposition rates, making it more suitable for industry-scale production. The Cr-coated samples were tested at different conditions ($500^{\circ}C$ steam, $1200^{\circ}C$ steam, and Pressurized water reactor (PWR) pressurization test) and were precharacterized and postcharacterized by various techniques, such as scanning electron microscopy, Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), or nanoindentation; results are discussed. Results of the steady-state fuel performance simulations using the Bison code predicted the concept's feasibility. It is concluded that CS Cr coating has high potential benefits but requires further optimization and out-of-pile and in-pile testing.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• 제18권5호
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• pp.212-219
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• 2019

This paper reviews recent approaches to develop composite polymer-containing coatings by plasma electrolytic oxidation (PEO) using various low-molecular fractions of superdispersed polytetrafluoroethylene (SPTFE). The features of the unique approaches to form the composite polymer-containing coating on the surface of MA8 magnesium alloy were summarized. Improvement in the corrosion and tribological behavior of the polymer-containing coating can be attributed to the morphology and insulating properties of the surface layers and solid lubrication effect of the SPTFE particles. Such multifunctional coatings have high corrosion resistance ($R_p=3.0{\times}10^7{\Omega}cm^2$) and low friction coefficient (0.13) under dry wear conditions. The effect of dispersity and ${\xi}$-potential of the nanoscale materials ($ZrO_2$ and $SiO_2$) used as electrolyte components for the plasma electrolytic oxidation on the composition and properties of the coatings was investigated. Improvement in the protective properties of the coatings with the incorporated nanoparticles was explained by the greater thickness of the protective layer, relatively low porosity, and the presence of narrow non-through pores. The impedance modulus measured at low frequency for the zirconia-containing layer (${\mid}Z{\mid}_{f=0.01Hz}=1.8{\times}10^6{\Omega}{\cdot}cm^2$) was more than one order of magnitude higher than that of the PEO-coating formed in the nanoparticles-free electrolyte (${\mid}Z{\mid}_{f=0.01Hz}=5.4{\times}10^4{\Omega}{\cdot}cm^2$).

• 한국표면공학회지
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• 제55권6호
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• pp.448-459
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• 2022

Generally, steel is the most commonly used in the industry because of good strength, processability and cost-effectiveness. Steel can be surface-treated such as coating or used as an alloy by adding elements such as Cr, Ni, Zr, and Al to increase corrosion resistance. However, even if steel is used in same environment corrosion resistance is sharply lowered when it is exposed to a high temperature for a fixed or extended period of time due to an overload or other factors. In particular, the use of hot-dip aluminized plated steel, which is used in high-temperature atmospheres, is increasing due to the surface Al₂O₃ oxide film. This steel necessitates an urgent solution as issues of corrosion resistance limitations often appear. It is an important issue that not only cause analysis but also the research for the surface treatment method that can be solved. Thus, in this study, Cr in which it is expected to be effective in corrosion resistance and heat resistance attempted to deposit on hot dip aluminized plated steel with PVD sputtering. And it was possible to present the surface treatment application of various types of industrial equipment exposed to high temperature and basic design guidelines for use by confirming the corrosion resistance of hot dip Al-Si plated steel with Cr film deposited at high temperature.

• 대한금속재료학회지
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• 제49권12호
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• pp.937-944
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• 2011

Studies have been carried out in order to reduce fuel-cladding chemical interaction (FCCI) behavior of metallic fuel in sodium-cooled fast reactors (SFR) using an electroplating technique. A $20{\mu}m$ thick Cr layer has been plated by the electrochemical method in the Sargent bath over the HT9 (12Cr-1Mo) clad material and diffusion couple tests of the U-10Zr metallic fuel as well as the rare earth alloy (70Ce-29La) have been conducted. The results show that the Cr plating can prevent FCCI behavior along the fuel-clad interface. However, cracks developed through the thickness during plating, which resulted in the migration of some fuel constituents. Variation of bath temperature, application of pulse current, and post heat treatment have been conducted to control such cracks. We found out that some conditions like the pulse current and the post heat treatment enhanced the layer property by reducing the internal cracks and improving the diffusion couple test.

• 대한금속재료학회지
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• 제48권2호
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• pp.109-115
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• 2010

In the present study, a Zr-based amorphous alloy matrix composite reinforced with tungsten porous foam was fabricated without pores or defects by liquid pressing process, and its microstructures and mechanical properties were investigated. About 69 vol.% of tungsten foam was homogeneously distributed inside the amorphous matrix, although the matrix of the composite contained a small amount of crystalline phases. The compressive test results indicate that the composite was not fractured at one time after reaching the maximum compressive strength, but showed considerable plastic strain as the compressive load was sustained by tungsten foam. The tungsten foam greatly improved the strength (2764 MPa) and ductility (39.4%) of the composite by homogeneously dispersing the stress applied to the matrix. This was because the tungsten foam and matrix were simultaneously deformed without showing anisotropic deformation due to the excellent bonding of tungsten/matrix interfaces. These findings suggest that the liquid pressing process is useful for the development of amorphous matrix composites with improved strength and ductility.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제55권5호
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• pp.1855-1862
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• 2023

Graphite crucibles are used for melting uranium and its alloys in VIM furnace. Various coating materials namely Al₂O₃, ZrO₂, MgO etc. are applied on the inner surface of the crucibles using paint brush or thermal spray technique to mitigate U-C interaction. These leads to significant amount of carbon pick-up in uranium. In this study, the attempts are made to develop multilayer coatings comprising of SiC/Y₂O₃ and Mo/Y₂O₃ on graphite to study the feasibility of minimizing U-C interaction. The parameters are optimized to prepare SiC coating of about 70㎛ thickness using CVD technique on graphite coupons and subsequently Y₂O₃ coating of about 250㎛ thickness using plasma spray technique. Molybdenum and Y₂O₃ layers were deposited using plasma spray technique with 70㎛ and 250㎛ thickness, respectively. Interaction studies of the coated graphite with molten uranium at 1450℃ for 20 min revealed that Y₂O₃ coating with SiC interlayer provides physical barrier for uranium-graphite interaction, however, this led to the physical separation of coating layer. Y₂O₃ coating with Mo interlayer provided superior barrier effect showing no degradation and the coatings remained intact after interaction tests. Therefore, the Mo/Y₂O₃ coating was found to be a promising solution for minimizing carbon pick-up during uranium/uranium alloy melting.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국신재생에너지학회 2010년도 춘계학술대회 초록집
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• pp.58.1-58.1
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• 2010

In solar cell module manufacturing, single solar cells has to be joined electrically to strings. Copper stripes coated with tin-silver-copper alloy are joined on screen printed silver of solar cells which is called busbar. The bus bar collects the electrons generated in solar cell and it is connected to the next cell in the conventional module manufacturing by a metal stringer using conventional hot air or infrared lamp soldering systems. For thin solar cells, both soldering methods have disadvantages, which heats up the whole cell to high temperatures. Because of the different thermal expansion coefficient, mechanical stresses are induced in the solar cell. Recently, the trend of solar cell is toward thinner thickness below 180um and thus the risk of breakage of solar cells is increasing. This has led to the demand for new joining processes with high productivity and reduced error rates. In our project, we have developed a new method to solder solar cells with a laser heating source. The soldering process using diode laser with wavelength of 980nm was examined. The diode laser used has a maximum power of 60W and a scanner system is used to solder dimension of 6" solar cell and the beam travel speed is optimized. For clamping copper stripe to solar cell, zirconia(ZrO)coated iron pin-spring system is used to clamp both joining parts during a scanner system is traveled. The hot plate temperature that solar cell is positioned during lasersoldering process is optimized. Also, conventional solder joints after $180^{\circ}C$ peel tests are compared to the laser soldering methods. Microstructures in welded zone shows that the diffusion zone between solar cell and metal stripes is better formed than inIR soldering method. It is analyzed that the laser solder joints show no damages to the silicon wafer and no cracks beneath the contact. Peel strength between 4N and 5N are measured, with much shorter joining time than IR solder joints and it is shown that the use of laser soldering reduced the degree of bending of solar cell much less than IR soldering.

• 한국표면공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국표면공학회 2016년도 추계학술대회 논문집
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• pp.195-195
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• 2016

Titanium and its alloys are widely used as implants in orthopedics, dentistry and cardiology due to their outstanding properties, such as high strength, high level of hemocompatibility and enhanced biocompatibility. Hence, recent works showed that the synthesis of new Ti-based alloys for implant application involves more biocompatible metallic alloying element, such as, Nb, Hf, Zr and Mo. In particular, Nb and Hf are one of the most effective Ti ${\beta}-stabilizer$ and reducing the elastic modulus. Plasma electrolyte oxidation (PEO) is known as excellent method in the biocompatibility of biomaterial due to quickly coating time and controlled coating condition. The anodized oxide layer and diameter modulation of Ti alloys can be obtained function of improvement of cell adhesion. Silicon (Si) and magnesium (Mg) has a beneficial effect on bone. Si in particular has been found to be essential for normal bone and cartilage growth and development. In vitro studies have shown that Mg plays very important roles in essential for normal growth and metabolism of skeletal tissue in vertebrates and can be detected as minor constituents in teeth and bone. The aim of this study is to research Si and Mg doped hydroxyapatite film formation by plasma electrolytic oxidation. Ti-29Nb-xHf (x= 0, 3, 7 and 15wt%, mass fraction) alloys were prepared Ti-29Nb-xHf alloys of containing Hf up from 0 wt% to 15 wt% were melted by using a vacuum furnace. Ti-29Nb-xHf alloys were homogenized for 2 hr at $1050^{\circ}C$. Each alloy was anodized in solution containing typically 0.15 M calcium acetate monohydrate + 0.02 M calcium glycerophosphate at room temperature. A direct current power source was used for the process of anodization. Anodized alloys was prepared using 270V~300V anodization voltage at room. A Si and Mg coating was produced by RF-magnetron sputtering system. RF power of 100W was applied to the target for 1h at room temperature. The microstructure, phase and composition of Si and Mg coated oxide surface of Ti-29Nb-xHf alloys were examined by FE-SEM, EDS, and XRD.