• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.209-216
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• 2009

It was evaluated that the microstructural and mechanical properties of Ta-bearing 9Cr-0.5Mo-2W ferritic/martensitic experimental steels. All the experimental steels showed the tempered martensitic microstructures, and $M_{23}C_6$ carbides, whose sizes were ranged from 200 to 300 nm, were easily observed at both boundaries of the prior austenite grain and the martensite lath. In addition, a relatively large Nb-rich MX carbonitrides were intermittently detected at the prior austenite grain boundaries, whereas a lot of Vrich MX carbonitrides, whose mean diameter was less than 50 nm, were observed randomly at both boundaries. Ta was mainly incorporated into the V-rich MX carbonitrides rather than the Nb-rich ones and their content was spanned from 5 to 20 at.%. Ta contents within the MX precipitates also increased as the content of Ta increased. Because the Ta addition into the steels would be attributed to the precipitation strengthening, solid solution strengthening and lath width reduction, it was shown that the mechanical properties, including hardness, tensile strength and creep rate of the 9%Cr-0.5Mo-2W steels were improved by the increase of Ta content. Especially, 9Cr-0.5Mo-2W-0.3V-0.05Nb-0.14Ta steel was revealed to be relatively excellent in the application for the SFR fuel cladding.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.182-188
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• 2008

Carbon nanotubes(CNTs) have outstanding mechanical, thermal, and electrical properties. Thus, by placing nanotubes into appropriate matrix, it is postulated that the resulting composites will have enhanced properties. Cold spray can produce thick metal-based composite coatings with very high density, low oxygen content, and phase purity, which leads to excellent physical properties. In this study, we applied cold spray coating process for the consolidation of Cu/CNT composite powder. The precursor powder mixture, in which CNTs were filled into copper particles, was prepared to improve the distribution of the CNT in copper matrix. Pure copper coating was also conducted by cold spraying as a reference. Annealing heat treatment was applied to the coating to examine its effect on the properties of the composite coating. The hardness of Cu/CNT composite coating represented similar value to that of pure copper coating. It was importantly found that the electrical conductivity of the Cu/CNT composite coating significantly increased from 53% for the standard condition to almost 55% in the optimized condition, taking annealed ($500^{\circ}C/1hr$.) copper coating as a reference (100%). The thermal conductivity of Cu/CNT composite coating layer was higher than that of pure Cu coating. It was also found that the electrical and thermal conductivities of Cu/CNT composite could be improved through annealing heat treatment. The microstructural evolution of Cu/CNT coating was also investigated and related to the macroscopic properties.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.272-280
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• 2021

The influence of acetylene flow rates on the carburizing behavior of an AISI 4115 steel in 1 ton-class mass production-type vacuum carburizing furnace has been studied through microstructure, carbon concentration, hardness analyses. The AISI 4115 steels were carburized with various flow rates (20, 32.7, 60 l/min) and locations in the furnace (top, center, bottom) at 950℃. The acetylene flow rate played an important role in controlling the carburizing properties of carburized samples, such as effective case depth and uniformity carburizing according to location in the furnace. At an acetylene flow rate of 20 l/min, the carburized samples had a shallow average hardened layer (0.645 mm) compared to the target hardening depth (1 mm) due to low carbon flux and spatial uniformity of carburization (17.8%) in the furnace. At a flow rate of 60 l/min, the carburized samples showed an average hardened layer (1.449 mm) deeper than the target hardening depth and had the spatial uniformity of carburization (98.8%). In particular, at a flow rate of 32.7 l/min, the carburized samples had an average hardened layer (1.13 mm) close to the target hardening depth and had the highest carburizing uniformity (99.1%). As a result, an appropriate flow rate of 32.7 l/min was derived to satisfy the target hardening depth and to have spatial uniform hardened layer in the furnace.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.34-40
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• 2022

Recently, high-entropy carbides have attracted considerable attention owing to their excellent physical and chemical properties such as high hardness, fracture toughness, and conductivity. However, as an emerging class of novel materials, the synthesis methods, performance, and applications of high-entropy carbides have ample scope for further development. In this study, equiatomic (Hf-Ti-Ta-Zr-Nb)C high-entropy carbide powders have been prepared by an ultrahigh-energy ball-milling (UHEBM) process with different milling times (1, 5, 15, 30, and 60 min). Further, their refinement behavior and high-entropy synthesis potential have been investigated. With an increase in the milling time, the particle size rapidly reduces (under sub-micrometer size) and homogeneous mixing of the prepared powder is observed. The distortions in the crystal lattice, which occur as a result of the refinement process and the multicomponent effect, are found to improve the sintering, thereby notably enhancing the formation of a single-phase solid solution (high-entropy). Herein, we present a procedure for the bulk synthesis of highly pure, dense, and uniform FCC single-phase (Fm3m crystal structure) (Hf-Ti-Ta-Zr-Nb)C high-entropy carbide using a milling time of 60 min and a sintering temperature of 1,600℃.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.424-431
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• 2022

3Y-TZP ceramics obtained by doping 3 mol.% of Y₂O₃ to ZrO₂ to stabilize the phase transition are widely used in the engineering ceramic industry due to their excellent mechanical properties such as high strength, fracture toughness, and wear resistance. An additional increase in mechanical properties is possible by manufacturing a composite in which a high-hardness material such as oxide or carbide is added to the 3Y-TZP matrix. In this study, composite powder was prepared by dispersing a designated percentage of WC in the 3Y-TZP matrix, and the results were compared after manufacturing the composite using the different processes of spark plasma sintering and HP. The difference between the densification behavior and porosity with the process mechanism was investigated. The correlation between the process conditions and phase formation was examined based on the crystalline phase formation behavior. Changes to the microstructure according to the process conditions were compared using field-emission scanning electron microscopy. The toughness-strengthening mechanism of the composite with densification and phase formation was also investigated.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
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• 2001.06a
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• pp.3-3
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• 2001

Recently TiN, TiAlN, CrN hardcoatings have adapted many industrial application such as die, mold and cutting tools because of good wear resistant and thermal stability. However, in terms of high speed process, general hard coatings have been limited by oxidation and thermal hardness drop. Especially in the case of PCB drill, high speed cutting and without lubricant process condition have not adapted these coatings until now. Therefore more recently, superhard nanocomposite coating which have superhard and good thermal stability have developed. In previous works, WC-TiAlN new nanocomposite film was investigated by cathodic arc ion plating system. Control of AI concentration, WC-TiAlN multi layer composite coating with controlled microstructure was carried out and provides additional enhancement of mechanical properties as well as oxidation resistance at elevated temperature. It is noted that microhardness ofWC-TiA1N multi layer composite coating increased up to 50 Gpa and got thermal stability about $900^{\circ}C$. In this study WC-TiAlN nanocomposite coating was deposited on PCB drill for enhancement of life time. The parameter was A1 concentration and plasma cleaning time for edge sharpness maintaining. The characteristic of WC-TiAlN film formation and wear behaviors are discussed with data from AlES, XRD, EDS and SEM analysis. Through field test, enhancement of life time for PCB drill was measured.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.431-435
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• 2023

An irradiation hardening of Inconel 718 produced by selective laser melting (SLM) was studied based on the microstructural observation and mechanical behavior. Ion irradiation for emulating neutron irradiation has been proposed owing to advantages such as low radiation emission and short experimental periods. To prevent softening caused by the dissolution of γ' and γ" precipitates due to irradiation, only solution annealing (SA) was performed. SLM SA Inconel 718 specimen was ion irradiated to demonstrate the difference in microstructure and mechanical properties between the irradiated and non-irradiated specimens. After exposing specimens to Fe³⁺ ions irradiation up to 100 dpa (displacement per atom) at an ambient temperature, the hardness of irradiated specimens was measured by nano-indentation as a function of depth. The depth distribution profile of Fe³⁺ and dpa were calculated by the Monte Carlo SRIM (Stopping and Range of Ions in Matter)-2013 code under the assumption of the displacement threshold energy of 40 eV. A transmission electron microscope was utilized to observe the formation of irradiation defects such as dislocation loops. This study reveals that the Frank partial dislocation loops induce irradiation hardening of SLM SA Inconel 718 specimens.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.49-57
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• 2024

We investigated the changes in microstructure and surface roughness of the compound layer of GC250D gray cast iron, commonly used in brake discs, during gas nitriding. The gas atmosphere of the nitriding process was controlled with a hydrogen partial pressure of 49.5%, and the process was conducted at a nitriding temperature of 520℃ with various process times. As the nitriding process time of the GC250D material increased, both the depth of hardening and the thickness of the compound layer increased, with a maximum surface hardness of approximately 1265 HV_0.1 was measured. Additionally, the surface roughness increased with the process time. Phase analysis of the compound layer revealed an increase in the proportion of the γ' phase as the nitriding process time increased. Changes in the formation of the compound layer were observed depending on the orientation of graphite within the material, leading to the formation of wedges. Therefore, the increase in surface roughness appears to be attributed to the uneven compounds, the expansion of the compound layer and wedges formed on the surface during the nitriding process.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.423-428
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• 2016

The last stage blades of a low pressure (LP) turbine get frequently fractured because of stress corrosion cracking. This is because they operate in a severe corrosive environment that is caused by the impurities dissolved in condensed steam and high stress due to high speed rotation. To improve the reliability of the blades under severe conditions, 12% Cr martensitic stainless steel, having excellent corrosion resistance and higher strength, is widely used as the blade material. This paper shows the result of root cause analysis on a blade which got fractured suddenly during normal operation. Testing of mechanical properties and microstructure examination were performed on the fractured blade and on a blade in sound condition. The results of testing of mechanical properties of the fractured blade showed that the hardness were higher but impact energy were lower, and were not meeting the criteria as per the material certificate specification. This result showed that the fractured blade became embrittled. The branch-type crack was found to have propagated through the grain boundary and components of chloride and sulfur were detected on the fractured surface. Based on these results, the root cause of fracture was confirmed to be stress corrosion cracking.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.17 no.9 s.89
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• pp.1272-1277
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• 2007

Comparison of fruit bodies of Pleurotus ostreatus cultivar chunchu No .2 grown on the sawdust, rice straw and cotton waste substrates revealed differences in the pattern of differentiation of hyphal compartments. Required period for primordium induction of fruit bodies grown on sawdust substrate was 13 days. Physical structure shown as hardness of stipes grown on the sawdust substrate, fruit bodies were harden than control. Pileocystidia were well developed on the surface of pileus in the fruit body cultivated on rice straw. Microstructures of fruit body grown on the sawdust and cotton wastes substrates shown fast-discharge of basidiospore and sytoms ageing. Hyphae of fruit bodies formed on sawdust substrate had less stainable cytoplasmic material and many more vacuoles than hyphae of fruit bodies formed on synthetic substrate with 50% of pine sawdust, 30% of cotton seed hull and 20 of beet pulp(control).