• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.325-330
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• 2016

Owing to increasing demand of rare metals present in ICT products, it is necessary to promote the rare metal recycling industry from an environmental viewpoint and to prevent climate change. Despite the fact that information for toxic substances is partly indicated, a legal basis and an international standard indicating usage of rare metals is insufficient. In order to address this issue, a newly created study group of environment and climate change at the ITU (International Telecommunication Union) is doing research to develop methodologies for recycling rare metals from ICT products in an eco-friendly way. Under this group, the Republic of Korea has established two international standards related to rare metals present in ICT products. The first is 'Release of rare metal information for ICT products (ITU-T L.1100)' and the other is 'Quantitative and qualitative analysis methods for rare metals (ITU-T L.1101)'. A new proposal for recommending the provision of rare metal information through a label by manufacturers and consumer/recycling businesses has been approved recently and is supposed to be published later in 2016. Moreover, these recommendations are also being extended to IEC, ISO and other standardization organizations and a strategy to reinforce the ability for domestic standardization is being established in accordance with industrial requirements. This will promote efficient recycling of rare metals from ICT products and will help improve the domestic supply of rare metals.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.67-78
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• 2023

The rare metals used as raw materials in high-tech industries undergo changes in demand structures and supply chains following domestic industrial structural shifts and technological advancements, exhibiting high price volatility. Therefore, it is necessary to periodically analyze changes in the demand structures of rare metals. Since domestic demand for most rare metals relies on imports in Korea, the changes in domestic demand for rare metals can be identified by analyzing changes in their trade structure. In the present study, we analyze the changes in trade volume, trade growth rate, trade rankings, and trading countries from 2000 to 2022 for 35 rare metals, categorized into five types-ores, metals, alloys, compounds, and scrap. The trade of the raw materials of rare metals in Korea has generally increased since the 2000s, except for a significant decline in 2009 and 2016. The total trade volume, encompassing both exports and imports, has increased by approximately tenfold in 2022 compared to 2001. Until the mid-2010s, the trade of the raw materials of rare metals was primarily focused on those used in steel-manufacturing such as silicon, nickel, chrome, molybdenum, manganese, and others. However, after that period, there has been an increase in the trade of platinum group metals like palladium, rhodium, platinum, and the raw materials of rare metals for secondary battery-manufacturing such as lithium and cobalt. Particularly in 2022, lithium has become the largest share in trade of the raw materials of rare metals in Korea, due to the price surge and increase in demand.

• Design & Manufacturing
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.14-18
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• 2015

Although demand for non-metalic materials, acrylic and metal plate material is increased. The complex processing equipment that can machine it at the same time is extremely limited. In case of existing manual multiple routers, it is no substantial demand due to the difficulty in use and low efficiency. In this study, the CNC multiple router was designed. The structural analysis was carried out according to the structure of the bed as a basic step for the development of multiple CNC router system that can guarantee the increase in yield while optimizing the manufacturing process. CNC router added a dummy was carried out about weight analysis and load analysis. Development of a CNC router system will be progressed on the basis of the analysis result.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2007.06a
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• pp.46-46
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• 2007

There has been rapid progress in the portable electronics industry. which has led to a great increase for a demand of portable, lightweight power sources. Lithium 2'nd batteries have met these demand. and many studies on the cahtod materials for the lithium 2,nd batteries have been reported during the last decade. Possible candidates for the cathode materials for lithium 2,nd batteries are $LiCoO_2$, $LiNiO_2$, and $LiMn_2O_4$. Currently $LiCoO_2$ is widely used. but $LiMn_2O_4$ is an excellent alternative material in view of its several advantages such a low cost as well as the wasy availability of raw materials and environmental benignity. In this study, find the most suitable synthesis method that satisfied high capacitor and stability cycle character, etc in Li-Mn oxide for 2'nd batteries. And also made an experiment on doping the $LiMn_2O_4$ spinel with a small amount of metal ions has a remarkable effect on the electrochemical properties and characterics of powder, BET, PSA, Porosity, etc.

• Journal of Technologic Dentistry
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.177-198
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• 2006

This study purposed to offer basic data for safety education of the dental laboratory technology after the investigation of how much the students in the dept. of dental laboratory technology are aware of the danger of each instrument, equipment or laboratory procedure that they use during laboratory and how much they demand safety education for this. The objects for this study were 423 students who were in the dept. of dental laboratory technology. In this regard, four colleges which have the dept. of dental laboratory technology were randomly selected to do a questionnaire survey. SPSS 12.0 was used to analyze the collected data. The results were as follows: As for satisfaction with their major, the respondents answered Satisfied (59.1%), Average (35.5%) and Dissatisfied (5.4%). In terms of the production process of a partial denture, they considered casting, polishing the casting body, polishing denture and burn out were most dangerous in order. As for the production process of a full denture, what they regarded as the most dangerous in order was polishing denture, deflasking and wax wash. Regarding the laboratory procedures of porcelain material, casting, trimming casting body, polishing porcelain material and burn out were the most dangerous procedures that they perceived. With regard to materials for use, alcohol, polishing, metal and wire were the most dangerous ones they thought. As for the handling characteristics of each material, small towns showed a higher demand for safety of the handling characteristics of alcohol. In terms of school year and sex, juniors and girls had higher scores in the demand for safety of the handling characteristics of acid. Regarding the handling characteristics of each equipment and instrument, all of small towns, juniors and girls showed the highest demand for safety of the handling characteristics of alcohol lamps. With regard to scores in the demand for safety of other characteristics, all of small towns, juniors and girls had the highest demand for safety of emergency treatment. Concerning the demand for safety education by the completion of safety education, in terms of each material, highest was the demand for safety of acid from the group which completed safety education. In regard to equipments and instruments, when it came to the demand for safety of the handling characteristics of casting machine, the educated group's demand for safety of acid was higher. Regarding other characteristics, the group which was not educated gained higher scores in the demand for safety of emergency treatment. 11. In all areas(materials, machines and others), small towns, girls and juniors showed higher scores in the demand for safety. Based on the above results, it was found that when students conduct the laboratory of dental technology, they would think that many materials, instruments or equipments for use are very dangerous. However, safety education was not fully given to them. Regarding the scores in the damned for safety education, the highest was 4.16 and the lowest was 3.43, which suggests that the scores were generally very high. In this regard, it is necessary to continue delivering a systematic safety education of materials, equipments or instruments used during the laboratory of dental technology. Therefore, through the analysis of each material, instruments or facility used in every laboratory and each process, safety accident types and accident risk factors should be investigated to develop educational materials for this. Moreover, it is required to open safety education as a single course of study or insert safety contents of all materials and machines into the class of dental laboratory instrument or dental materials for the purpose of a systematic and thorough safety education to prevent a safety accident during laboratory.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.3-8
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• 2023

This study discussed production, demand, and future prospects of rubidium, which is an alkali group metal that is highly reactive to various media and requires carefulness in handling, but no significant environmental hazard of rubidium has been reported yet. Rubidium is used in various fields such as optoelectronic equipment, biomedical, and chemical industries. Because of difficulty in production as well as limited demand, the transaction price of rubidium is relatively high, but its detail information such as market status and potential growth is uncertain. However, if the mass production of versatile ultra-high-performance equipment such as quantum computers and the necessity of rubidium use in the equipment are confirmed, there is a possibility that the rubidium market will expand in the future. Rubidium is often found together with lithium, beryllium, and cesium, and may be present in granite containing minerals such as lepidolite and pollucite, as well as in seawater and industrial waste. Several technologies such as acid leaching, roasting, solvent extraction, and adsorption are used to recover rubidium. The maximum recovery efficiency of the rubidium from the sources and the processing above is generally high, but, in many practices, rubidium is not the main recovery target, and therefore the actual recovery effects should depend on presence of other valuable components or impurities, together with recovery costs, energy consumption, environmental issues, etc. In conclusion, although the current production and consumption of rubidium are limited, with consideration of the possible market fluctuations according to the emergence of large-scale demand sources, etc., further investigations by related institutions should be necessary.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.55 no.3
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• pp.185-202
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• 2018

Photoelectrochemical (PEC) cells can convert solar energy, the largest potential source of renewable energy, into hydrogen fuel which can be stored, transported, and used on demand. In terms of cost competitiveness compared with fossil fuels, however, both photocatalytic efficiency and cost-effectiveness must be achieved simultaneously. Improvement of cost-effective, scalable, versatile, and eco-friendly fabrication methods has emerged as an urgent mission for PEC cells, and solution-based fabrication methods could be capable of meeting these demands. Herein, we review recent challenges for various nanostructured oxide photoelectrodes fabricated by solution-based processes. Hematite, tungsten oxide, bismuth vanadate, titanium oxide, and copper oxides are the main oxides focused on, and various strategies have been attempted with respect to these photocatalyst materials. The effects of nanostructuring, heterojunctions, and co-catalyst loading on the surface are discussed. Our review introduces notable solution-based processes for water splitting photoelectrodes and gives an outlook on eco-friendly and cost-effective approaches to solar fuel generation and innovative artificial photosynthesis technologies.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.165-169
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• 2018

Rare earth elements (REEs) are considered to be vital to modern industry due to their important roles in applications such as permanent magnets, automobile production, displays, and many more. The imbalance between demand and supply of REEs can be solved by recycling processes. Regarding the needs of industry and society, the International Organization for Standardization, Technical Committee 298 (ISO/TC298) Rare Earths has been recently launched for developing international standards on rare earth elements. In accordance with the suggestion of its constituents, it is tentatively working to develop the appropriate standards under five working groups (WG) on terms and definitions (WG1), element recycling (WG2), environmental stewardship (WG3), packaging, labelling, marking, transport, and storage (WG4), and testing analysis (WG5). The scope and structure of ISO/TC298 on the topic of rare earths is discussed in this document.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2013

As the medical paradigm is changing from disease treatment to disease prevention and an early diagonosis, the demand to develop techniques for the detection of minute concentrations of biomolecules is increasing. Among the various techniques to sense the minute concentration of biomolecules, the biosensors utilizing the matured semiconductor techniques are presented here. To understand such biosensors, the structure and working principle of a MOSFET (Metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor) which is the basic semiconductor device is firstly introduced, and then the ISFET (Ion sensitive FET), BioFET (Biologically modified FET), Nanowire FET, and IFET (Ionic FET) are introduced, and their applications to biomedical fields are discussed.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.481-491
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• 2017

In this study, we developed 300 W lightweight DMFC system for charging secondary battery in small unit military operation. In order to reduce the volumetric shape and weight of the system considering the environment of the individual soldier's, the arranging of system components has been optimized. A metal bipolar plates made of STS-470FC have been implemented to the DMFC stack to meet the weight demand of the system. As a result of the performance test of the stack, the target value was satisfied by outputting 561 W exceeding 24% of the stack output 450 W required to output 300 W required for the entire system. Moreover, 2,655 hours exceeding 1,000 hours also has been satisfied. To ensure good robustness of the metallic bipolar plate based DMFC stack, finite element method based simulations are conducted using a commercial ANSYS Fluent software.