• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.194-202
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• 2010

Application of a stronger and more durable material for reactor pressure vessels (RPVs) might be an effective way to insure the integrity and increase the efficiency of nuclear power plants. A series of research projects to apply the SA508 Gr.4 steel in ASME code to RPVs are in progress because of its excellent strength and durability compared to commercial RPV steel (SA508 Gr.3 steel). In this study, the microstructural characteristics and mechanical properties of SA508 Gr.3 Mn-Mo-Ni low alloy steel and SA508 Gr.4N Ni-Mo-Cr low alloy steel were investigated. The differences in the stable phases between these two low alloy steels were evaluated by means of a thermodynamic calculation using ThermoCalc. They were then compared to microstructural features and correlated with mechanical properties. Mn-Mo-Ni low alloy steel shows the upper bainite structure that has coarse cementite in the lath boundaries. However, Ni-Mo-Cr low alloy steel shows the mixture of lower bainite and tempered martensite structure that homogeneously precipitates the small carbides such as $M_{23}C_6$ and $M_7C_3$ due to an increase of hardenability and Cr addition. In the mechanical properties, Ni-Mo-Cr low alloy steel has higher strength and toughness than Mn-Mo-Ni low alloy steel. Ni and Cr additions increase the strength by solid solution hardening. In addition, microstructural changes from upper bainite to tempered martensite improve the strength of the low alloy steel by grain refining effect, and the changes in the precipitation behavior by Cr addition improve the ductile-brittle transition behavior along with a toughening effect of Ni addition.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.32 no.11
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• pp.466-473
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• 2022

The effect of Cr and Mo contents on the hydrogen embrittlement of tempered martensitic steels was investigated in this study. After the steels with different Cr and Mo contents were austenitized at 820 ℃ for 90 min, they were tempered at 630 ℃ for 120 min. The steels were composed of fully tempered martensite with a lath-type microstructure, but the characteristics of the carbides were dependent on the Cr and Mo contents. As the Cr and Mo contents increased, the volume fraction of film-like cementite and prior austenite grain size decreased. After hydrogen was introduced into tensile specimens by electrochemical charging, a slow strain-rate test (SSRT) was conducted to investigate hydrogen embrittlement behavior. The SSRT results revealed that the steel with lower Cr or lower Mo content showed relatively poor hydrogen embrittlement resistance. The hydrogen embrittlement resistance of the tempered martensitic steels increased with increasing Mo content, because the reduction in the film-like cementite and prior austenite grain size plays an important role in improving hydrogen embrittlement resistance. The results indicate that controlling the Cr and Mo contents is essential to achieving a tempered martensitic steel with a combination of high strength and excellent hydrogen embrittlement resistance.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.220-225
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• 2018

The microstructure and mechanical characteristics of SUS630 specimens fabricated using the direct energy deposition (DED) process are investigated. In DED, several process parameters such as laser scan speed, chamber gas flow, powder carrier gas flow, and powder feed rate are kept fixed; the laser power is changed as 150 W, 180 W, and 210 W. As the laser power increases, the surface becomes smooth, the thickness uniformity improves, and the size and number of pores decreases. With the increase in laser power, the hardness deviation decreases and the average hardness increases. The microstructure of the material is columnar; pores are formed preferentially along the columnar interface. The lath-martensite phase governs the overall microstructure. The volumetric fraction of the retained austenite phase is measured to increase with the increase of laser input power.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.23 no.9
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• pp.525-530
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• 2013

This study investigated the continuous cooling transformation, microstructure, and mechanical properties of highstrength low-alloy steels containing B and Cu. Continuous cooling transformation diagrams under non-deformed and deformed conditions were constructed by means of dilatometry, metallographic methods, and hardness data. Based on the continuous cooling transformation behaviors, six kinds of steel specimens with different B and Cu contents were fabricated by a thermomechanical control process comprising controlled rolling and accelerated cooling. Then, tensile and Charpy impact tests were conducted to examine the correlation of the microstructure with mechanical properties. Deformation in the austenite region promoted the formation of quasi-polygonal ferrite and granular bainite with a significant increase in transformation start temperatures. The mechanical test results indicate that the B-added steel specimens had higher strength and lower upper-shelf energy than the B-free steel specimens without deterioration in low-temperature toughness because their microstructures were mostly composed of lower bainite and lath martensite with a small amount of degenerate upper bainite. On the other hand, the increase of Cu content from 0.5 wt.% to 1.5 wt.% noticeably increased yield and tensile strengths by 100 MPa without loss of ductility, which may be attributed to the enhanced solid solution hardening and precipitation hardening resulting from veryfine Cu precipitates formed during accelerated cooling.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.23 no.8
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• pp.423-429
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• 2013

Recently, steel structures have increasingly been required to have sufficient deformability because they are subjected to progressive or abrupt displacement arising from structure loading itself, earthquake, and ground movement in their service environment. In this study, high-strength low-carbon bainitic steel specimens with enhanced deformability were fabricated by varying thermo-mechanical control process conditions consisting of controlled rolling and accelerated cooling, and then tensile and Charpy V-notch impact tests were conducted to investigate the correlation between microstructure and mechanical properties such as strength, deformability, and low-temperature toughness. Low-temperature transformation phases, i.e. granular bainite (GB), degenerate upper bainite(DUB), lower bainite(LB) and lath martensite(LM), together with fine polygonal ferrite(PF) were well developed, and the microstructural evolution was more critically affected by start and finish cooling temperatures than by finish rolling temperature. The steel specimens start-cooled at higher temperature had the best combination of strength and deformability because of the appropriate mixture of fine PF and low-temperature transformation phases such as GB, DUB, and LB/LM. On the other hand, the steel specimens start-cooled at lower temperature and finish-cooled at higher temperature exhibited a good low-temperature toughness because the interphase boundaries between the low-temperature transformation phases and/or PF act as beneficial barriers to cleavage crack propagation.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.54-61
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• 2015

In this study, effect of laser power on hardness and microstructure of SKD61 Hot Die steel of which surface was melted and hardened with Yb:YAG disk laser was investigated. Beam speed was fixed at 70 mm/sec and distance between them was 0.8 mm about Laser surface melting. The only thing that was changed laser power. Laser powers were 2.0, 2.4 and 2.8 kW. No defect was found under all conditions. As the laser power increased, the penetration depth were deepened and the bead width was also widened. There was no hardness deviation of fusion zone at same laser power and it was higher than that of heat affected zone. In addition, the more laser power increased, the more hardness in fusion zone decreased. Fusion zone was macroscopically dendrite structure. However, core matric in dendrite was lath martensite of 100 nm size. There were $M_{23}C_6$ of 500 nm and the VC and $Mo_2C$ of a nano meters on boundary of dendrite.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.11-19
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• 2024

A Fe-Ni Bainitic steel as a weathering steel application was developed by combining its excellent mechanical properties and corrosion resistance in maritime environments. Nickel concentration (0.4-3 wt%) and inverted austempering multi-step (IAM) process were primary determinants of the microstructure of the Fe-Ni Bainitic steel. The initial austempering steel was performed at 300 ℃ for 600 seconds to obtain a partly bainitic transformation. The steel was heated again for 1800 s at 450 ℃. The microstructure was comprised of ferrite, a blocky martensite/austenite island, and a homogeneous lath-shape bainite structure with widths ranging from 4.67 to 6.89 ㎛. The maximum strength, 1480 MPa, was obtained with 3 wt% nickel. In this study, corrosion behavior was investigated utilizing potentiodynamic and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) tests. A higher nickel content in Fe-Ni Bainitic steel refined the grain size, improved the bainite fraction, lowered the corrosion rate to 0.0257 mmpy, and increased the charge transfer of film resistance to 1369 Ω.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.169-181
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• 1995

This study has been performed to investigate some effects of the power density and traverse speed of laser beam on the optical microstructure, hardness and fatigue resistance of gray cast iron treated by laser surface hardening technique. Optical micrograph has shown that the dissolution of graphite flakes and the coarsening of lath martensite tend to increase with a small amount of retained austenite as the power density increases under the condition of a given traverse speed. Hardness measurements have revealed that as the power density increases, hardness values of outermost surface layer increases from Hv=620 to Hv=647 in case of traverse speed of 2.0m/min at gray cast iron. Fatigue test has exhibited that the fatigue strength of laser surface hardened specimen is superier compared to that of untreated specimen, showing that values for the fatigue strength at $N_f=10^7$ of gray cast iron laser-surface-hardened at a low power density of $4076w/cm^2$ and a high power density of $8153w/cm^2$ under the condition of a given traverse speed of 2.0m/min are $15kg_f/mm^2$ and $20kg_f/mm^2$, respectively, whereas the fatigue strength of untreated specimen is $11kg_f/mm^2$. Under high stress-low cycle condition a noraml brittleness fracture appears, whereas a ductile fracture with beach mark is observed in the specimen tested under low stress-high cycle condition.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.28-34
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• 2012

Material degradation of Cr steels in using for boiler tubes was studied in the relation of microstructural changes like carbide behavior and mechanical properties of hardness and creep-rupture life. The carbide dissolution was occurred in 2Cr steel of T22 during high temperature operation. And the grain refinement within martensite lath of 12Cr steel of X20 was derived by the high temperature-long time exposure. But the specific phenomena of material degradation which might be represented by hardness or creep-rupture time of the used tubes were not shown in all the tubes of T22 and X20 even in the fire-side using.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.53-60
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• 2017

The aim of this study is to examine a feasibility to substitute Ti for Ta in reduced activation ferritic/martensitic (RAFM) steel by comparing a Ti-added RAFM steel with a conventional Ta-added RAFM steel. The microstructures and mechanical properties of Ta-, and Ti-added RAFM steels were investigated and a relationship between microstructures and mechanical properties was considered based on quantitative analysis of precipitates in two RAFM steels. Ta-, and Ti-added RAFM steels were normalized at $1000{\sim}1040^{\circ}C$ for 30 min and tempered at $750^{\circ}C$ for 2 hr. Both RAFM steels had very similar microstructures, that is, typical tempered martensite with relatively coarse $M_{23}C_6$ carbides at boundaries of grain and lath, and fine MX precipitates inside laths. The MX precipitates were identified as TaC in Ta-added RAFM steel and TiC or (Ti, W)C in Ti-added RAFM steel, respectively. It is believed that these RAFM steels show similar tensile and Charpy impact properties due to similar microstructures. Precipitate hardening and brittle fracture strength calculated with quantitative analysis of precipitates elucidated well the similar behaviors on the tensile and Charpy impact properties of Ta-, and Ti-added RAFM steels.