• 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.

• Archives of Metallurgy and Materials
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• v.66 no.4
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• pp.935-939
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• 2021

In this study, high-purity tantalum metal powder was manufactured via self-propagating high-temperature synthesis. During the process, Ta₂O₅ and Mg were used as the raw material powder and the reducing agent, respectively, and given that combustion rate and reaction temperature are important factors that influence the success of this process, these factors were controlled by adding an excessive mass of the reducing agent (Mg) i.e., above the chemical equivalent, rather than by using a separate diluent. It was confirmed that Ta metal powder manufactured after the process was ultimately manufactured 99.98% high purity Ta metal powder with 0.5 ㎛ particle size. Thus, it was observed that adding the reducing reagent in excess favored the manufacture of high-purity Ta powder that can be applied in capacitors.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.51-60
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• 2014

In this study, the domestic supply & demand of the raw materials of 35 rare metals was analyzed categorized as four types - ores, metals, compounds and scraps. Foreign trade volumes of the raw materials of rare metals have been steadily increased, furthermore, recently trade growth rate highly exceeds GDP. The raw materials of rare metals - silicon, nickel, molybdenum, manganese, etc. - for steel industry were the most big part of the raw materials of rare metals trade, while the raw materials of rare metals for electronics industry were imported relatively small volumes less than $100 million. However systematic supply & demand management on the raw materials of rare metals for electronics industry is needed since recently growth rate per year has been remarkably high over 20%. Import volumes were about three times bigger than export scale, and most of the raw materials of rare metals were traded as a metal form.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.1-9
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• 2011

Rare metals, called as vitamins of industry, are defined as the elements which are very few in the earth and are difficult to extract from ores. The requirements for total amounts of rare metals have increased as the global economics grows and the function of electronic components varies considerably. The rare metals have been maldistributed to America, CIS(Commonwealth of Independent States), China, Australia, Canada as about 80% of total natural resources, which also lead to unequal materials flow or distribution. Therefore, it was needed to investigate the feature of rare metals in terms of industry as well as technology. We could identify the industrial issues associated with the supply of critical rare elements in electronic components.

• 한국지구물리탐사학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.563-568
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• 2003

Recently, the recycled amount of electric, mechanical parts, and appliances in artifacts has increased. These products use valuable rare metals such as platinum group metals and gold, which are included occasionally as additives. Rare metals are maldistributed in the world and most of them are produced in small quantities. A small amount of rare metals used in the appliances causes a large loss of rare metal resources because of the lack of an economically recycling method. The present recycling technologies including physical and chemical separation methods that are considered for recycling of electric, mechanical parts and appliances.

• 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.

• Archives of Metallurgy and Materials
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• v.65 no.4
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• pp.1281-1285
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• 2020

Recently, since the demand of rare earth permanent magnet for high temperature applications such as an electric motor has increased, dysprosium (Dy), a heavy rare earth element, is becoming important due to severe bias in its production. To fulfill the increasing need of Dy, recycling offers as a promising alternative. In recycling of rare earths, Hydro-metallurgical extraction method is mainly used however it has adverse environmental effects. Liquid metal extraction on the other hand, is an eco-friendly and simple method as far as the reduction of rare earth metal oxide is concerned. Therefore, liquid metal extraction was studied in this research as an alternative to the hydro-metallurgical recycling method. Magnesium (Mg) is selected as solvent metal because it doesn't form intermetallic compounds with Fe, B and has a low melting and low boiling point. Extraction behavior of Dy in (Nd,Dy)-Fe-B magnet is observed and effect of Mg ratio on extraction of Dy is confirmed.

• Proceedings of the Korean Powder Metallurgy Institute Conference
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• 2006.09a
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• pp.614-615
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• 2006

Investigation of influence the morphology of initial powder particles, application pore-formers for sintering of nickel powders and application of flux for sintering of aluminum was made. Using different methods was prepared material with size of porous in wide range size of pores ($1-500{\mu}m$). Using the flux for gravity sintering of aluminum in air atmosphere was manufactured porous material with porosity about 45%..

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.134-137
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• 2015

The monolayer engineering diamond particles are aligned on the oxygen free Cu plates with electroless Ni plating layer. The mean diamond particle sizes of 15, 23 and $50{\mu}m$ are used as thermal conductivity pathway for fabricating metal/carbon multi-layer composite material systems. Interconnected void structure of irregular shaped diamond particles allow dense electroless Ni plating layer on Cu plate and fixing them with 37-43% Ni thickness of their mean diameter. The thermal conductivity decrease with increasing measurement temperature up to $150^{\circ}C$ in all diamond size conditions. When the diamond particle size is increased from $15{\mu}m$ to $50{\mu}m$ (Max. 304 W/mK at room temperature) tended to increase thermal conductivity, because the volume fraction of diamond is increased inside plating layer.

• KEPCO Journal on Electric Power and Energy
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.121-125
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• 2015

Distribution of rare earth metals (REMs) and rare valuable metals (RVMs) contents in coal ashes (fly ash, bottom ash, and pond ash) and leachate from 11 coal-fired power plants in Korea were investigated. Coal ashes and leachates were found to contain important REMs and RVMs such as Yttrium (Y) and Neodymium (Nd), which was in the range of 23~75 mg/kg. However, it still requires developing effective recovery and separation methods in order to utilize REMs and RVMs in ash and leachate. Recovery of valuable elements (Y and Nd) from various and extensive ash sources (8.21 million tons/year in 2013) can provide the existing power plants with additional profit; therefore, it can significantly improve economics of the power plants.