• Korea-Australia Rheology Journal
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.125-131
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• 2007

Biodegradable polymeric blends are expected to be widely used by industry due to their environmental friendliness and comparable mechanical and thermal properties. Poly (lactic acid) (PLA) and poly (butylene succinate) (PBS) are such biodegradable polymers which aim to replace commodity polymers in future applications. Since cost and brittleness of PLA is quite high, it is not economically feasible to use it alone for day to day use as a packaging material without blending. In this study, blends of PLA and PBS with various compositions were prepared by using a laboratory-scale twin-screw extruder at $180^{\circ}C$. Morphological, thermal, rheological and mechanical properties were investigated on the samples obtained by compression molding to explore suitability of these compositions for packaging applications. Morphology of the blends was investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Morphology showed a clear phase difference trend depending on blend composition. Modulated differential scanning calorimetry (MDSC) thermograms of the blends indicated that the glass transition temperature ($T_g$) of PLA did not change much with the addition of PBS, but analysis showed that for PLA/PBS blend of up to 80/20 composition there is partial miscibility between the two polymers. The tensile strength and modulus were measured by the Instron Universal Testing Machine. Tensile strength, modulus and percentage (%) elongation at break of the blends decreased with PBS content. However, tensile strength and modulus values of PLA/PBS blend for up to 80/20 composition nearly follow the mixing rule. Rheological results also show miscibility between the two polymers for PBS composition less than 20% by weight. PBS reduced the brittleness of PLA, thus making it a contender to replace plastics for packaging applications. This work found a partial miscibility between PBS and PLA by investigating thermal, mechanical and morphological properties.

• Journal of Korea Foundry Society
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.17-26
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• 2006

The substitution of cooling method from water quenching to air cooling after solution heat treatment was aimed for the development of a convenient and economical heat treatment process of duplex stainless steels without deterioration of mechanical and corrosion resistant properties for the industry. In order to achieve this goal, the mechanical properties and corrosion properties of a ASTM A890-4A duplex stainless steel were systematically investigated as functions of casting condition and cooling method after solution heat treatment. A 3-stepped sand mold and a permanent Y-block mold were used to check the effects of solidification structure and cooling rate after solution heat treatment. The microstructural characteristics such as the ferrite/austenite phase ratio and the precipitation behavior of ${\sigma}$ phase and carbides were investigated by combined analysis of OM and SEM-EDX with an aid of TTT diagram. Hardness and tension test were performed to evaluate the mechanical properties. Impact property at $-40^{\circ}C$ and corrosion resistance were also examined to check the possibility of the industrial application of this basic study. Throughout this investigation, air-cooling method was proved to effectively substitute for water-quenching process after the solution heat treatment, when the duplex stainless steel was sand mold cast with a thickness below 15 mm or permanent mold cast with a thickness below 20 mm.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.29 no.8
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• pp.483-488
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• 2016

Ultrasound imaging by using piezoelectric materials, such as lead zirconium titanate (PZT) has been one of the most preferred modes of imaging in the medical field due to its simple, low cost and non-ionizing radiation in comparison to other imaging techniques. Recently, the market demand for portable ultrasound is becoming larger with applications in developing countries, disaster area, military, and emergency purposes. However, most of ultrasound probes used is bulky and high power consumable, so unsuitable for such applications. In this study, the 3 layered ceramic specimen consisted of 128 pitches of $420{\mu}m$ in width and $450{\mu}m$ in thickness were prepared by using the Ti-rich PZT compositions co-fired at $1,050^{\circ}C$. Their electrical and ultrasound pulse-echo properties were investigated and compared to the single layer specimen. The 3 layered ultrasound probe showed 1.584 V of Vp-p, which is 3.2 times higher than single layered one, implying that it would allow effectively such a portable ultrasound probe system. The result were discussed in terms of higher capacitance, lower impedance and higher dielectric coefficient of the 3 layered ultrasound probe.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.41-45
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• 2014

We have investigated the passivation property of $SiN_x$ and $SiO_2$ thin films formed using various process conditions for the application of crystalline Si solar cells. An increase in the thickness of $SiN_x$ deposited using plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) led to the improvement of passivation quality. This could be associated with the passivation of Si dangling bonds by hydrogen atoms which were supplied during PECVD deposition. The $SiO_2$ thin films grown using dry oxidation process exhibited better passivation behavior than those using wet oxidation process, implying the dry oxidation process was more effective in the formation of high quality $SiO_2$ thin films. The relative effective life time gradually decreased with increasing dry oxidation temperature. Such a degradation of passivation behavior could be attributed to the increase in interface trap density caused by thermal damages.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Telematics and Electronics
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.25-31
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• 1977

Fe V spinels were prepared by sintering the well-ground stoichiometric mixtures of Fe O and V O at 1,10$0^{\circ}C$ under H -CO atmosphere. The activation energy for electrical conduction decreases with increasing amount of iron. The tendency of activation energy depending on the amount of iron contained clarifies that the electrical condction of the spinel is mainly due to electron hopping between Fe and Fe ions at B sites. In the experiment for negative resistance characteristics, the threshold voltage (Vth) for the samples is related to ambient temperature, thickness and raising rate of applied voltage. Vth decreases as temperature increases while Vth increases linearly with thickness and Vth increases linearly with the raising rate of applied voltage in semi-logarithmic scale. These results lead to a conclusion that current paths mainly formed by thermal breakdown are ascribed to the negative resistance phenomena. Applying this property, these vanadium iron spinels may be used for switching elements.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.08a
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• pp.297.2-297.2
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• 2013

Scavenging electricity from wasteful energy resources is currently an important issue and piezoelectric nanogenerators (NGs) based on zinc oxide (ZnO) are promising energy harvesters that can be adapted to various portable, wearable, self-powered electronic devices. Although ZnO has several advantages for NGs, the piezoelectric semiconductor material ZnO generate an intrinsic piezoelectric potential of a few volts as a result of its mechanical deformation. As grown, ZnO is usually n-type, a property that was historically ascribed to native defects. Oxygen vacancies (Vo) that work as donors exist in ZnO thin film and usually screen some parts of the piezoelectric potential. Consequently, the ZnO NGs' piezoelectric power cannot reach to its theoretical value, and thus decreasing the effect from Vo is essential. In the present study, c-axis oriented insulator-like sputtered ZnO thin films were grown in various temperatures to fabricate an optimized nanogenerator (NGs). The purity and crystalinity of ZnO were investigated with photoluminescence (PL). Moreover, by introducing a p-type polymer usually used in organic solar cell, it was discussed how piezoelectric passivation effect works in ZnO thin films having different types of defects. Prepared ZnO thin films have both Zn vacancies (accepter like) and oxygen vacancies (donor like). It generates output voltage 20 time lager than n-type dominant semiconducting ZnO thin film without p-type polymer conjugating. The enhancement is due to the internal accepter like point defects, zinc vacancies (VZn). When the more VZn concentration increases, the more chances to prevent piezoelectric potential screening effects are occurred, consequently, the output voltage is enhanced. Moreover, by passivating remained effective oxygen vacancies by p-type polymers, we demonstrated further power enhancement.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.15-28
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• 2020

Urbanization and industrialization have caused increasing damage to national lands, and ecological restoration has proceeded without any specific assessment of this damage. The purpose of this study is to select indices to assess damaged areas through literature review and panel discussions, and to derive the importance of damaged area assessment indices by analyzing them through the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). This study has derived, via literature review, six types of damage and a total of 18 related assessment indices. A total of 51 responses were collected from surveys and given to experts, and an AHP analysis conducted. As a result of the analysis, "Landform change (0.268)" was of the highest importance, with associated damage types as follows: "Soil contamination (0.193)", "Vegetation damaged (0.149)", "Surface soil loss (0.143)", "Change in soil physiochemical property (0.125)", and "Vegetation decline (0.122)". The analysis determined that the item of the highest importance in the overall assessment of damage was "Slope occurred area (0.100)", and that "Conductivity (0.022)" was of the lowest importance. This study can be presented as a criterion in determining the type and degree of damage in setting priorities for future ecological restoration projects.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.55 no.3
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• pp.373-378
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• 2011

The present paper reports the study of binary mixtures and their properties over the entire range of composition at temperatures 288, 298, 308 and 318 K. Excess dielectric constant, excess molar volume, excess refractive index, molar refraction and excess molar refraction at different temperatures have been computed from the experimentally measured values of the aforesaid parameters and fitted to the Redlich-Kister equation. Excess dielectric constant, excess molar volume excess molar polarizations are negative whereas excess refractive indices are positive over entire mole fraction of methyl acetate for all temperatures. The results are discussed in light of intermolecular interactions occurring in the binary mixture. Estimated coefficients of the Redlich-Kister polynomials and the standard error along the coefficients are also reported.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.279-285
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• 2015

Background: Korean Red Ginseng has been used as a traditional oriental medicine to treat illness and to promote health for several thousand years in Eastern Asia. It is widely accepted that ginseng saponins, ginsenosides, are the major active ingredients responsible for Korean Red Ginseng's therapeutic activity against many kinds of illness. Although the crude saponin fraction (CSF) displayed antiplatelet activity, the molecular mechanism of its action remains to be elucidated. Methods: The platelet aggregation was induced by collagen, the ligand of integrin ${\alpha}_{II}{\beta}_I$ and glycoprotein VI. The crude saponin's effects on granule secretion [e.g., calcium ion mobilization and adenosine triphosphate (ATP) release] were determined. The activation of mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs), including extracellular signal-regulated protein kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2), c-Jun N-terminal kinases (JNKs), and p38 MAPK, and phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt was analyzed by immunoblotting. In addition, the activation of integrin ${\alpha}_{II}b{\beta}_{III}$ was examined by fluorocytometry. Results: CSF strongly inhibited collagen-induced platelet aggregation and ATP release in a concentration-dependent manner. It also markedly suppressed $[Ca^{2+}]_i$ mobilization in collagen-stimulated platelets. Immunoblotting assay revealed that CSF significantly suppressed ERK1/2, p38, JNK, PI3K, Akt, and mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase 1/2 phosphorylation. In addition, our fraction strongly inhibited the fibrinogen binding to integrin ${\alpha}_{IIb}{\beta}_3$. Conclusion: Our present data suggest that CSF may have a strong antiplatelet property and it can be considered as a candidate with therapeutic potential for the treatment of cardiovascular disorders involving abnormal platelet function.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.342-348
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• 2003

Ultrasonic backscattering profiles of the Zr plates(with a thickness of 1.32mm) with/without Be-Zr alloy layer(with a thickness of $100{\mu}m$) were measured at various incidence positions to evaluate the characteristics of Be diffusion layer. Four principal subprofiles were observed in the backward ultrasound radiated from leaky Lamb waves. The angles and the intensities of the subprofile peaks decreased by the stiffening effect of Be layer. Generation and change of the subprofiles were explained by the acoustical property, collective group velocity and leaky factor difference of the plates under consideration. Backward radiation subprofiles turned out to be an useful method for evaluating thin diffusion layers on plates.