• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.103-109
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• 2021

High-entropy alloys have excellent mechanical properties under extreme environments, rendering them promising candidates for next-generation structural materials. It is desirable to develop non-equiatomic high-entropy alloys that do not require many expensive or heavy elements, contrary to the requirements of typical high-entropy alloys. In this study, a non-equiatomic high-entropy alloy powder Fe_49.5Mn₃₀Co₁₀Cr₁₀C_0.5 (at.%) is prepared by high energy ball milling and fabricated by spark plasma sintering. By combining different ball milling times and ball-to-powder ratios, we attempt to find a proper mechanical alloying condition to achieve improved mechanical properties. The milled powder and sintered specimens are examined using X-ray diffraction to investigate the progress of mechanical alloying and microstructural changes. A miniature tensile specimen after sintering is used to investigate the mechanical properties. Furthermore, quantitative analysis of the microstructure is performed using electron backscatter diffraction.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.183-188
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• 2021

The increasing demand for energy storage in mobile electronic devices and electric vehicles has emphasized the importance of electrochemical energy storage devices such as Li-ion batteries (LIBs) and supercapacitors. For reversible Li storage, alternative anode materials are actively being developed. In this study, we designed and fabricated an Nb₂O₅-Li₃VO₄ composite for use as an anode material in LIBs and hybrid supercapacitors. Nb₂O₅ powders were dissolved into a solution and the precursors were precipitated onto Li₃VO₄ through a simple, low-temperature hydrothermal reaction. The annealing process yielded an Nb₂O₅-Li₃VO₄ composite that was characterized by X-ray diffraction, electron microscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Electrochemical tests revealed that the Nb₂O₅-Li₃VO₄ composite electrode demonstrated increased capacities of approximately 350 and 140 mAh g^-1 at 0.1 and 5 C, respectively, were maintained up to 1000 cycles. The reversible capacity and rate capability of the composite electrode were enhanced compared to those of pure Nb₂O₅-based electrodes. These results can be attributed to the microstructure design of the synthesized composite material.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.336-341
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• 2021

In this study, a nanocrystalline FeNiCrMoMnSiC alloy was fabricated, and its austenite stability, microstructure, and mechanical properties were investigated. A sintered FeNiCrMoMnSiC alloy sample with nanosized crystal was obtained by high-energy ball milling and spark plasma sintering. The sintering behavior was investigated by measuring the displacement according to the temperature of the sintered body. Through microstructural analysis, it was confirmed that a compact sintered body with few pores was produced, and cementite was formed. The stability of the austenite phase in the sintered samples was evaluated by X-ray diffraction analysis and electron backscatter diffraction. Results revealed a measured value of 51.6% and that the alloy had seven times more austenite stability than AISI 4340 wrought steel. The hardness of the sintered alloy was 60.4 HRC, which was up to 2.4 times higher than that of wrought steel.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.61-67
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• 2021

Fabrication of a ferromagnetic composite powder for the magnesium and BaFe12O19 system by mechanical alloying (MA) is investigated at room temperature. Mixtures of Mg and BaFe12O19 powders with a weight ratio of Mg:BaFe12O19 = 4:1, 3:2, 2:3 and 1:4 are used. Optimal MA conditions to obtain a ferromagnetic composite with fine microstructure are investigated by X-ray diffraction, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) measurement. It is found that Mg-BaFe12O19 composite powders in which BaFe12O19 is dispersed in Mg matrix are successfully produced by MA of BaFe12O19 with Mg for 80 min. for all compositions. Magnetization of Mg-BaFe12O19 composite powders gradually increases with increasing the amounts of BaFe12O19, whereas coercive force of MA powders gradually decreases due to the refinement of BaFe12O19 powders with MA time for all compositions. However, it can be seen that the coercivity of Mg-BaFe12O19 MA composite powders with a weight ratio of Mg:BaFe12O19=4:1 and 3:2 for MA 80 min. are still high, with values of 1260 Oe and 1320 Oe compared to that of Mg:BaFe12O19=1:4. This clearly suggests that the refinement of BaFe12O19 powders during MA process for Mg:BaFe12O19=4:1 and 3:2 tends to be suppressed due to ductile Mg powders.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.29-37
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• 2021

Martensitic stainless steel is commonly used in the medical implant instrument. The alloy has drawbacks in terms of strength and wear properties when applied to instruments with sharp parts. 440C STS alloy, with improved durability, is an alternative to replace 420 J2 STS. In the present study, the carbide precipitation, and mechanical and corrosion properties of STS 440C alloy are studied as a function of different heat treatments. The STS 440C alloy is first austenitized at different temperatures; this is immediately followed by oil quenching and sub-zero treatment. After sub-zero treatment, the alloy is tempered at low temperatures. The microstructures of the heat treated STS 440C alloy consist of martensite and retained austenite and carbides. Using EDX and SADP with a TEM, the precipitated carbides are identified as a Cr23C6 carbide with a size of 1 to 2 ㎛. The hardness of STS 440C alloy is improved by austenitization at 1,100 ℃ with sub-zero treatment and tempering at 200 ℃. The values of Ecorr and Icorr for STS 440C increase with austenitization temperature. Results can be explained by the dissolution of Cr-carbide and the increase in the retained austenite. Sub-zero treatment followed by tempering shows a little difference in the properties of potentiodynamic polarizations.

• Current Applied Physics
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• v.18 no.12
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• pp.1540-1545
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• 2018

SiGe alloy is widely used thermoelectric materials for high temperature thermoelectric generator applications. However, its high thermoelectric performance has been thus far realized only in alloys synthesized employing mechanical alloying techniques, which are time-consuming and employ several materials processing steps. In the current study, for the first time, we report an enhanced thermoelectric figure-of-merit (ZT) ~ 1.1 at $900^{\circ}C$ in ntype $Si_{80}Ge_{20}$ nano-alloys, synthesized using a facile and up-scalable methodology consisting of rapid solidification at high optimized cooling rate ${\sim}3.4{\times}10^7K/s$, employing melt spinning followed by spark plasma sintering of the resulting nano-crystalline melt-spun ribbons. This enhancement in ZT > 20% over its bulk counterpart, owes its origin to the nano-crystalline microstructure formed at high cooling rates, which results in crystallite size ~7 nm leading to high density of grain boundaries, which scatter heat-carrying phonons. This abundant scattering resulted in a very low thermal conductivity ${\sim}2.1Wm^{-1}K^{-1}$, which corresponds to ~50% reduction over its bulk counterpart and is amongst the lowest reported thus far in n-type SiGe alloys. The synthesized samples were characterized using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy, based on which the enhancement in their thermoelectric performance has been discussed.

• Oral Biology Research
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.187-197
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• 2018

Chemical agents such as minocycline (MC) and citric acid (CA) were suggested in the treatment of contaminated implant surface. In this study, MC-HCl treatment was performed to enhance surface characteristics of titanium alloy surface. The purpose of this study was to assess the characteristics and the biocompatibility of Ti-6Al-4V surface treated by MC. Alpha-beta titanium alloy (Ti-6Al-4V) samples were prepared and they were divided into 6 groups according to chemical concentration and treatment time. These groups include 1) group I, non-treated smooth titanium alloy; 2) group II, MC 1.5 mg/mL for 1 hour; 3) group III, MC 1.5 mg/mL for 24 hours; 4) group IV, MC 15 mg/mL for 10 minutes; 5) group V, MC 100 mg/mL for 5 minutes; 6) group VI, pH1 CA for 3 minutes. The analysis of the surface characteristics of MC-treated titanium alloy was executed using scanning electron microscopy, roughness test, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Cell adhesion and MTT assay was done using MC3T3 cell. Titanium surfaces treated with MC indicated a more smoothened surface microstructure. For group II and III, the new peaks of rutile TiO2 were found. Group II and V have more basic group of Ti-OH form in XPS. In MTT assay, all MC-treated groups showed significantly higher cell viability compared to control. The surface roughness, crystal structure, surface hydrophilicity, cell viability of smooth titanium surface was improved by MC treatment. Compared with the control experiment and CA-treated group, smooth titanium surface treated with MC showed improved surface characteristics and cell biocompatibility.

• Current Applied Physics
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• v.18 no.11
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• pp.1426-1430
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• 2018

High magnetic field effects on the microstructure and magnetic properties of $BaFe_{12}O_{19}$ hexaferrites synthesized hydrothermal method have been investigated. The obtained results indicate that the lattice constant decreases gradually as the magnetic field strength increases, which may be attributed to the lattice distortion resulted from the high magnetic field. Polycrystalline $BaFe_{12}O_{19}$ samples prepared under magnetic field strength at zero and 5 T are single phase. It is found that application of external magnetic field during synthesis can induce orientated growth of the hexaferrite crystals along the easy magnetic axis. The magnetic properties can be effectively regulated by an application of high magnetic fields. It is observed that the $BaFe_{12}O_{19}$ prepared under a 5 T magnetic field exhibits a higher room-temperature saturation magnetization (66.3 emu/g) than that of the sample (43.6 emu/g) obtained without magnetic field. The results can be explained as the enhanced crystalline, improvement of $Fe^{3+}$ ions occupancy and the oriented growth induced by the external magnetic field. The growing orientation of particles gives rise to increased coercivity due to the enhancement in shape anisotropy. It is expected that an application of magnetic field during the formation of magnetic nanoparticles could be a promising technique to modify magnetic properties with excellent performance.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.47 no.10
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• pp.621-628
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• 2009

Thermomechanical processes were carried out to evaluate their effects on the mechanical and the microstructural property of a ferritic-martensitic steel. Modified 9Cr-1Mo steels were hot-rolled at a temperature of either $780^{\circ}C$ or $850^{\circ}C$ after normalizing at $1050^{\circ}C$ and then were air-cooled. Continuous annealing at $850^{\circ}C$ for 2 hours immediately after the hot rolling was also performed and they were compared to the specimens without thermomechanical process. The result showed that there were little differences between the hot rolled specimens in terms of the precipitation density and size. However, V content inside the MX precipitates increased in the case of the specimen rolled at $850^{\circ}C$. The application of the continuous annealing induced coarsening of the Nb-rich MX precipitation as well as an increase in the amount of V-rich MX precipitation, which is expected to enhance high temperature mechanical properties of the ferritic-martensitic steel.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.47 no.9
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• pp.573-579
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• 2009

Titanium/aluminum/stainless steel(Ti/Al/STS) clad materials have received much attention due to their high specific strength and corrosion-resisting properties. However, it is difficult to fabricate these materials, because titanium oxide is easily formed on the titanium surface during heat treatment. The aim of the present study is to derive optimized cladding conditions and thereupon obtain the stable quality of Ti/Al/STS clad materials. Ti sheets were prepared with and without pre-heat treatment and Ti/Al/STS clad materials were then fabricated by cold rolling and a post-heat treatment process. Microstructure of the Ti/Al and STS/Al interfaces was observed using a Scanning Electron Microscope(SEM) and an Energy Dispersed X-ray Analyser(EDX) in order to investigate the effects of Ti pre-heat treatment on the bond properties of Ti/Al/STS clad materials. Diffusion bonding was observed at both the Ti/Al and STS/Al interfaces. The bonding force of the clad material with non-heat treated Ti was higher than that with pre-heat treated Ti before the cladding process. The bonding force decreased rapidly beyond $400^{\circ}C$, because the formed Ti oxide inhibited the joining process between Ti and Al. Bonding forces of STS/Al were lower than those of Ti/Al, because brittle $Fe_3Al$, $Al_3Fe$ intermetallic compounds were formed at the interface of STS/Al during the cladding process. In addition, delamination of the clad material with pre-heat treated Ti was observed at the Ti/Al interface after a cupping test.