• Metals and materials international
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.1376-1385
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• 2018

Ultrasonic melt treatment (UST) was applied to an A390 hypereutectic Al-Si alloy in a temperature range of $750-800^{\circ}C$ and its influence on the solidification structure and the consequent increase in strength was investigated. UST at such a high temperature, which is about $100^{\circ}C$ above the liquidus temperature, had little effect on the grain refinement but enhanced the homogeneity of the microstructure with the uniform distribution of constituent phases (e.g. primary Si, ${\alpha}-Al$ and intermetallics) significantly refined. With the microstructural homogeneity, quantitative analysis confirmed that UST was found to suppress the formation of Cu-bearing phases, i.e., $Q-Al_5Cu_2Mg_8Si_6$, $Al_2Cu$ phases that form in the final stage of solidification while notably increasing the average Cu contents in the matrix from 1.29 to 2.06 wt%. A tensile test exhibits an increase in the yield strength of the as-cast alloy from 185 to 208 MPa, which is mainly associated with the solute increment within the matrix. The important role of UST in the microstructure evolution during solidification is discussed and the mechanism covering the microstructure-strengthening interrelationship of the ultrasonically treated A390 alloy is proposed.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.270-278
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• 2018

STS 316L prepared by additive manufacturing (AM) exhibits deterioration of mechanical properties and wear resistance due to the presence of defects such as black-of-fusion defects, internal porosity, residual stress, and anisotropy. In addition, high surface roughness (integrity) of AM products remains an issue. This study aimed to apply ultrasonic nanocrystal surface modification (UNSM) technology to STS 316L prepared by AM to increase the surface hardness, to reduce the surface roughness, and to improve the friction and wear behavior to the level achieved by bulk material manufactured using traditional processes. Herein, the as-received and polished specimens were treated by UNSM technology and their resulting properties were compared and discussed. The results showed that UNSM technology increased the surface hardness and reduced the surface roughness of the as-received and polished specimens. These results can be attributed to grain size refinement and pore elimination from the surface. Moreover, the friction of the as-received and polished specimens after UNSM technology was lower compared to those of the as-received and polished specimens, but no significant differences in wear resistance were found.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.176-182
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• 2019

The primary objective of this study is to treat a monocrystalline silicon (Si) wafer having a thickness of $279{\mu}m$ by employing the ultrasonic nanocrystal surface modification (UNSM) technology for improving the efficiency and service life of nano-electromechanical systems (NEMSs) and micro-electromechanical systems (MEMSs) by enhancing of wear and corrosion resistances. The wear and corrosion resistances of the Si wafer were systematically investigated before and after UNSM treatment, wherein abrasive, oxidative and spalling wear mechanisms were applied to the as-received and subsequently UNSM-treated Si wafer. Compared to the asreceived state, the wear and corrosion resistances of the UNSM-treated Si wafer are found to be enhanced by about 23% and 14%, respectively. The enhancement in wear and corrosion resistances after UNSM treatment may be attributed to grain size refinement (confirmed by Raman spectroscopy) and modified surface integrity. Furthermore, it is observed that the Raman intensity reduced significantly after UNSM treatment, whereas neither the Raman shift nor new phases were found on the surface of the UNSM-treated Si wafer. In addition, the friction coefficient values of the as-received and UNSM-treated Si wafers are found to be about 0.54 and 0.39, respectively. Hence, UNSM technology can be effectively incorporated as an alternative mechanical surface treatment for NEMSs and MEMSs comprising Si wafers.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.46 no.9
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• pp.545-553
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• 2008

Dynamic deformation behavior of ultra-fine-grained pure coppers fabricated by equal channel angular pressing (ECAP) was investigated in this study. Dynamic torsional tests were conducted on four copper specimens using a torsional Kolsky bar, and then the test data were analyzed by their microstructures and tensile properties. The 1-pass ECAP'ed specimen consisted of fine dislocation cell structures elongated along the ECAP direction, which were changed to very fine, equiaxed subgrains of 300~400 nm in size as the pass number increased. The dynamic torsional test results indicated that maximum shear stress increased with increasing ECAP pass number. Adiabatic shear bands were not found at the gage center of the dynamically deformed torsional specimen of the 1- or 4-pass ECAP'ed specimen, while some weak bands were observed in the 8-pass ECAP'ed specimen. These findings suggested that the grain refinement according to the ECAP was very effective in strengthening of pure coppers, and that ECAP'ed coppers could be used without serious reduction in fracture resistance under dynamic torsional loading as adiabatic shear bands were hardly formed.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.6
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• pp.1972-1981
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• 2022

A typical ferritic/martensitic (F/M) steel sheet was subjected to pulsed laser surface remelting (LSR) and corrosion test in lead-bismuth eutectic (LBE) at 550 ℃. There present two modification zones with distinct microstructures in the LSRed specimen: (1) remelted zone (RZ) consisting of both bulk δ-ferrite grains and martensitic plates and (2) heat-affected zone (HAZ) below the RZ, mainly composed of martensitic plates and high-density precipitates. Martensitic transformation occurs in both the RZ and the HAZ with the Kurdjumov-Sachs and Nishiyama-Wassermann orientation relationships followed concurrently, resulting in scattered orientations and specific misorientation characteristics. Hardnesses of the RZ and the HAZ are 364 ± 7 HV and 451 ± 15 HV, respectively, considerably higher than that of the matrix (267 ± 3 HV). In oxygen-saturated and oxygen-depleted LBE, thicknesses of oxide layers developed on both the as-received and the LSRed specimens increase with prolonging corrosion time (oxide layers always thinner under the oxygen-depleted condition). The corrosion resistance of the LSRed F/M steel in oxygen-saturated LBE is improved, which can be attributed to the grain-refinement accelerated formation of dense Fe-Cr spinel. In oxygen-depleted LBE, the growth of oxide layers is very low with both types of specimens showing similar corrosion resistance.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.282-287
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• 2023

The effect of stress relief heat treatment temperature and duration time on the microstructure, residual stress and Vickers hardness of additively manufactured Ti-6Al-4V alloy using laser powder bed fusion process was clarified. As a result of stress relief heat treatment for 240 minutes at 823 K and 60 minutes or more at 873 K, residual stress was decreased less than 30 MPa without grain growth and phase transformation which causes dimensional distortion and deterioration of mechanical properties. In addition, hardness was increased with increasing heat treatment temperature and duration time. It was deduced that the refinement of acicular martensitic α' phase due to the increasing duration time of isothermal heat treatment at 773~873 K, which was not detected by XRD and phase map analysis using SEM-EBSD, probably increases the hardness.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.12 no.3 s.36
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• pp.253-258
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• 2005

Characteristics of electroplated Ni films such as grain size, resistivity, solder wetting angle, and growth rate of intermetallic compound were evaluated as a function of electroplating current density. With increasing the electroplating current density from $5\;mA/cm^2 $ to $40\;mA/cm^2 $, the nodule size on the Ni film surface decreased, grain refinement occurred, and resistivity increased from $7.37\mu\Omega-cm$ to $9.13\mu\Omega-cm$. Compared with Ni film processed at $40\;mA/cm^2 $, Ni films electroplated at $5\;mA/cm^2 $ and $10\;mA/cm^2 $ exhibited low resistivity, dense microstructure, and slow growth rate of intermetallic compound. Ni films electroplated at $5\;mA/cm^2 $ and $10\;mA/cm^2 $ are more suitable for Ni UBM application than that fabricated at $40\;mA/cm^2 $.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.188-194
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• 1999

To investigate the effect of niobium and tin on the mechanical properties of zirconium alloys, the tensile test and the microstructural analysis were performed on the Zr-based binary(Zr-xNb, Zr-xSn) and ternary(Zr-0.8Sn-xNb, Zr-0.4Nb-xSn) alloys. As the content of Nb or Sn element increased, the strengths of the Zr-based alloys tended to gradually increase. The increase of mechanical strength was remarkable strength was remarkable in the range more than the solubility of Nb and Sn. The strengthening effects were discussed on the basis of the solid solution hardening, the precipitate hardening, the grain size effect, and the texture effect. The mechanical strength is mainly controlled by the solid solution hardening and additionally by the precipitate hardening in the content more than solubility limit of Nb and Sn. The grain refinement also has a slight effect on the strength of the zirconium alloys with the addition of Nb and Sn. However, the texture effect can be excluded due to the same Kearns number regardless of the content of alloying elements.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.203-208
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• 2003

The effect of indium on the microstructure and hardness of a Au-Pt-Cu ternary alloy was investigated using optical microscopy, differential scanning calorimeter, scanning electron microscopy x-ray diffractometry, electron probe microanalizer and vickers hardness tester. A hardness of the solution floated Au-Pt-Cu-0.5In quarternary alloy with 0.5 wt.% was reached a maximum value (162 Hv) in 30 min at 550$^{\circ}C$ in the range of 150 to 950$^{\circ}C$ but that of the alloy was rapidly increased until 30 min with increasing aging time at 550$^{\circ}C$ and after that was remained almost constant value. Also, the microhardness of the matrix Au-Pt-Cu ternary alloy aged at 550$^{\circ}C$ for 30 min was continuously increased with indium contents and the grain size of Au-Pt-Cu ternary alloy decreased as increased indium contents. Analyses of EPMA and XRD revealed that the matrix Au-Pt-Cu-In quarternary alloy is composed of fcc structure and intermetallic InPt$_3$ precipitate with Ll$_2$ structure. Based on this investigation, it can be concluded that an increase in microhardness of Au-Pt-Cu-In quarternary alloy is due to precipitation hardening InPt$_3$ and grain size refinement.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.7 no.5
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• pp.243-248
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• 1997

The effect of $O_2$ partial pressure on microstructure and soft magnetic properties of as-deposited Fe-Hf-O thin film alloys, which are produced by rf magnetron sputtering method in $Ar+O_2$ mixed gas atmosphere, are investigated. Saturation magnetization ($4{\pi}M_s$) of Fe-Hf-O film were decreased with increasing $O_2$ partial pressure, the best soft magnetic properties exhibit at $O_2$ partial pressure of 10%. With further increase of $O_2$ partial pressure, soft magnetic properties decreased continuously. The $Fe_{82}Hf_{3.4}O_{14.6}$ film with $P_{O2}=10%$ exhibits good soft magnetic properties with $4{\pi}M_s=17.7kG$, $H_c=0.7Oe$ and ${\mu}_ {eff}$ (1~100 MHz)=2,500, respectively. The addition of O is effective in grain refinement. In case of $P_{O2}=15%$, it is observed that $Fe_3O_4$ compound is formed and high frequency soft magnetic properties are decrease. The electrical resistvity($\rho$) of Fe-Hf-O film is increased with increasing $O_2$ partial pressure. Electrical resistivity of $Fe_{82}Hf_{3.4}O_{14.6}$ film was 5 times higher than that of the film without oxygen. Thus, it is considered that the good magnetic properties of $Fe_{82}Hf_{3.4}O_{14.6}$ film results from decreasing the $\alpha$-Fe grain size by precipitates (Hf and O), high electrical resistivity.