• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.74-82
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• 1998

The grain boundary etching method as a technique for assessing degradation of structural materials used at elevated temperature has received much attention since it is simple, inexpensive and easy to apply to real plant components. In this study, the technique is applied to some aged petroleum and chemical plant components such as reactors and drums. As a degradation parameter, intersection number ratio ($N_i/N_o$), is employed. The intersection number ratio ($N_i/N_o$) is defined as the ratio of intersection number ($N_i$) obtained from 5-minute picric acid etched surface to the number ($N_o$) obtained from Nital etched surface. In order to study degradation level, several relationships were measured such as the correlation between shift in ductile brittle transition temperature, $({\Delta}DBTT)_{sp}$ and intersection number ratio, ($N_i/N_o$) and the correlation between the measured ($N_i/N_o$) values and Larson-Miller Parameter values.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.50 no.2
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• pp.246-252
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• 2018

A series of simulated reactivity-initiated accident (RIA) tests on irradiated fully recrystallized boiling water reactor Zircaloy-2 cladding has been performed by means of the expansion-due-to-compression (EDC) test method. The EDC method reproduces fuel pellet-clad mechanical interaction (PCMI) conditions for the cladding during RIA transients with respect to temperature and loading rates by out-of-pile mechanical testing. The tested materials had a large variation in burnup and hydrogen content (up to 907 wppm). The results of the EDC tests showed variation in the PCMI resistance of claddings with similar burnup and hydrogen content, making it difficult to clearly identify ductile-to-brittle transition temperatures. The EDC-tested samples of the present and previous work were investigated by light optical and scanning electron microscopy to study the influence of factors such as azimuthal variation of the Zr-hydrides and the presence of hydride rims and radially oriented hydrides. Two main characteristics were identified in samples with low ductility with respect to hydrogen content and test temperature: hydride rims and radial hydrides at the cladding outer surface. Crack propagation and failure modes were also studied, showing two general modes of crack propagation depending on distribution and amount of radially oriented hydrides. It was concluded that the PCMI resistance of irradiated cladding under normal conditions with homogenously distributed circumferential hydrides is high, with good margin to the RIA failure limits. To further improve safety, focus should be on conditions causing nonfavorable hydride distribution, such as hydride reorientation and formation of hydride blisters at the cladding outer surface.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.7
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• pp.2376-2385
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• 2022

Two groups of oxide dispersion-strengthened reduced-activation ferritic/martensitic steels (A and B) were prepared by adding Y, Ti, and Zr into steels through vacuum induction melting to investigate the inclusions, microstructures, mechanical properties of the alloys. Results showed that particles with Y, Ti, and Zr easily formed. Massive, Zr-rich inclusions were found in B steel. Density of micron inclusions in A steel was 1.42 × 10¹⁴ m^-3, and density of nanoparticles was 3.61 × 10¹⁶ m^-3. More and finer MX carbides were found in steel tempered at 650 ℃, and yield strengths (YS) of A and B steel were 714±2 and 664±3.5 MPa. Thermomechanical processing (TMP) retained many dislocations, which improved the mechanical properties. YSs of A and B treated by TMP were 725±3 and 683±4 MPa. The existence of massive Zr-rich inclusions in B steels interrupted the continuity of the matrix and produced microcracks (fracture), which caused a reduction in mechanical properties. The presence of fine prior austenite grain size and inclusions was attributed to the low DBTTs of the A steels; DBTTs of A650 and A700 alloy were -79 and -65 ℃. Tempering temperature reduction and TMP are simple, readily useable methods that can lead to a superior balance of strength and impact toughness in industry applications.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.237-244
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• 2000

Phenolic resin used as a precursor of carbonized matrix for carbon-carbon composites was modified by addition of molybdenum disilicide (MoSi$_2$) in various concentrations of 0, 4, 12 and 20% by weight to improve the anti-oxidation properties of the composites. The green body was manufactured by a prepreg method and was submitted to carbonization up to 110$0^{\circ}C$. In this work, the oxidation behavior of carbon-carbon composites with MoSi$_2$ as an oxidation inhibitor was investigated at the temperature range of 600-100$0^{\circ}C$ in an air environment. The carbon-carbon composites with MoSi$_2$ showed a significantly improved oxidation resistance due to both the reduction of the porosity formation and the formation of mobile diffusion barrier for oxygen when compared to those without MoSi$_2$. Carbon active sites should be blocked, decreasing the oxidation rate of carbon. This is probably due to the effect of the inherent MoSi$_2$ properties, resulted from a formation of the protective layer against oxygen attack in the composites studied.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.439-445
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• 2001

The destructive method is reliable and widely used lot the estimation of material degradation but, it have time-consuming and a great difficulty in preparing specimens from in-service industrial facilities. Therefore, the estimation of degraded structural materials used at high temperature by nondestructive evaluation such as electric resistance method, replica method, Barkhausen noise method, electro-chemical method and ultrasonic method are strongly desired. Ultrasonic nondestructive evaluation technique has been reported good to attain efficiency of measurement, high sensitivity of measurement, and rapidity and reliability of result interpretation. In this study, it was verified experimentally the feasibility of the evaluation of degraded 2.25Cr-1Mo steel specimens which were prepared by the isothermal aging heat treatment at $630^{\circ}C$ by high frequency longitudinal wave method investigating the change of attenuation coefficient by FFT analysis and wavelet transform. Because of carbide precipitation increase and spheroidization near grain boundary of microstructure to aging degradation, attenuation coefficient had a tendency to increase as degradation proceeded. It was identified possibly to evaluate degradation using the characteristics of high-frequency ultrasonics. Frequency dependence of ultrasonic attenuation coefficient to aging degradation appeared large, which made sure that attenuation coefficient is an important parameter for evaluation of aging degradation.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.593-598
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• 2013

In this study, we have evaluated the water absorption phenomenon of photoresist dry film, which is commonly used to build circuits on PCB (Printed Circuit Board) by photolithography, by using ATR-FTIR (Attenuated Total Reflectance-Fourier Transform Infrared). We have firstly observed significant change in fracture mode of dry film with respect to temperature and humidity, which we assumed the material transition from ductile to brittle. Secondly, we have established the process of absorption test for determining the diffusion coefficients of water into the dry film both with gravimeter and ATR-FTIR. We have successfully calculated the diffusion coefficients for each environmental conditions from the results which we achieved by gravimeter and ATR-FTIR. Compared to the gravimeter which is a conventional method for absorption test, the ATR-FTIR method in this study has been found to be very easy to use and have the same accuracy as gravimeter. Moreover, we are expecting to use the ATR-FTIR as an appropriate method to study the absorption phenomena related to any kinds of solvent and polymer system.