Transparent and conducting titanium (Ti) doped indium oxide (TIO) thin films were deposited on the poly-imide (PI) substrate with radio frequency magnetron sputtering and then electron irradiation was conducted on the TIO film's surface to investigate the effect electron irradiation on the crystallization and opto-electrical properties of the films. All x-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern showed two diffraction peaks of the In₂O₂ (431) and (444) planes with regardless of the electron beam irradiation energy. In the AFM analysis, the surface roughness of as deposited films was 3.29 nm, while the films electron irradiated at 700 eV, show a lower RMS roughness of 2.62 nm. In this study, the FOM of as deposited TIO films is 6.82 × 10^-3 Ω^-1, while the films electron irradiated at 500 eV show the higher FOM value of 1.0 × 10^-2 Ω^-1. Thus, it is concluded that the post-deposition electron beam irradiation at 500 eV is the one of effective methods of crystallization and enhancement of opto-electrical performance of TIO thin film deposited on the PI substrate.

We investigated the effects of Al and Mg on the microstructure and hardness of the coating layer of galvanized steel sheets, by thermodynamic calculations, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and Vickers hardness tests of Zn-0.2Al, Zn-6Al-2Mg, and Zn-10Al-5Mg coating layers. Regardless of the alloy composition of the galvanizing bath, a Fe-Al layer was observed between the coating layer and steel sheet. The Zn-0.2Al coating layer consists of major h.c.p. Zn phase and minor f.c.c. Al phase. The fraction of f.c.c. Al phase (containing a significant amount of Zn) of the coating layer increases with increasing the chemical composition of Al of the galvanizing bath. The h.c.p. MgZn₂ phase was formed in the Al/Mg-containing Zn-6Al-2Mg and Zn-10Al-5Mg coating layers, forming Zn-Al-MgZn₂ eutectic microstructure. The primary MgZn₂ phase was additionally formed in the Zn-10Al-5Mg coating layers containing high concentrations of Al and Mg. The Vickers hardness values of Zn-0.2Al, Zn-6Al-2Mg, and Zn-10Al-5Mg coating layers were 59.1 ± 1.2 HV, 161.2 ± 5.7 HV, and 215.5 ± 40.3 HV, respectively. The addition of Al and Mg increased the hardness of the coating layer by increasing the fraction of the Al phase (containing Zn) and MgZn₂ intermetallic compound, which were harder than the Zn phase.

Tungsten carbide has many industrial applications due to its high electrical and thermal conductivity, high melting temperature, high hardness and good chemical stability. Because tungsten carbide is difficult to sinter, it is sintered with nickel or cobalt as a binder and is currently used in nozzles, cutting tools, and molds. Alumina is reported to be a viable binder for tungsten carbide due to its higher oxidation resistance and lower cost than nickel and cobalt. The ultrafine tungsten carbide-graphene-alumina composites were rapidly sintered in a high frequency induction heating active sintering unit. The microstructure and mechanical properties (fracture toughness and hardness) of the composites were investigated and analyzed by Vickers hardness tester and electron microscope. Since the high-frequency induction heating sintering method enables high-speed sintering, ultrafine composites can be prepared by preventing grain growth. In the tungsten carbide-graphene-alumina composites, the grain size of tungsten carbide increased with the amount of alumina participation. The hardness and fracture toughness of the tungsten carbide-5% graphene- x% alumina (x = 0, 5, 10,15) composites were 5.1, 8.6, 8.6, and 8.4 MPa-m^1/2 and 2384, 2168, 2165, and 2102 kg/mm², respectively. The fracture toughness increased without a significant decrease in hardness. Sinterability was improved by adding alumina to tungsten carbide-graphene.

3Y-TZP (3 mol% yttria-stabilized tetragonal zirconia polycrystals, 3Y-TZP) ceramics are emerging as dental implant materials due to their superior optical and mechanical properties as well as excellent biophysical properties, in spite of low bioactivity. In this study, we investigated to sintered properties and microstructural defects of dental zirconia implants fabricated by ceramic injection molding and post-HIP (Hot isostatic pressing) processing and analyzed the processing parameters related with the obtainment of its high sinterd density. Sintered and microstructural parameters, i.e, apparent density, grain size and phase composition of zirconia implants fabricated by injection molding were dependent on the fixtute size and implant type. Maximum sintered density of 99.2% and minimum grain size of 0.3-0.4 ㎛ were obtained from large-scaled 2-body sample. In 1-body ceramic implant, high sintered density of 99.5% was obtained, but it had a little monoclinic phase and wide grain size distribution.

This work was intended to investigate the effects of Zn content on microstructure and hardness of discontinuous precipitates (DPs) produced by continuous cooling (CC) in Mg-8%Al-X%Zn alloys with 0%, 0.5% and 1% of Zn contents (wt%). The DPs in the alloys possessed a wide range of (α+β) interlamellar spacings, which is attributed to the different transformation temperatures during CC. The higher Zn content resulted in the lower level of interlamellar spacings of the DPs, along with thinner and larger volume fraction of β phase layer in the DPs. It is noted that the DPs in the alloy with higher Zn content exhibited higher hardness, and that the ratio of increase in hardness of the DPs to that of the as-cast state was also increased with increasing Zn content. The reason was discussed on the basis of microstructural differences of the DPs in the Mg-8%Al-X%Zn alloys.

The current study deals with the effect of cooling rate and temperature for annealing on medium-carbon Cr-Mo alloy steel, especially for cold heading quality wire rod, to derive the optimum micro-structures for plastic deformation. This is to optimize the spheroidization heat treatment conditions for softening the material. Heat treatment was performed under seven different conditions at a temperature between A_c1 and A_c3, mostly within 720℃ to 760℃, and the main variables at this time were temperature, retention time and cooling rate. Microstructure and phase changes were observed for each test condition, and it was confirmed that they were greatly affected by the cooling rate. It was also confirmed that the cooling rate was changed in the range of 0.1℃/min to 5℃/min and affected by phase deformation and spheroidization fraction. The larger the spheroidization fraction, the lower the hardness, which is associated with the increasing connection of ferrite phases.

Recently, research on flexible sensors for personal health management has been gaining attention. In this study, we fabricated a crack-based flexible sensor in thin film form to measure the pulse on the wrist. We evaluated the characteristics of the sensor based on the curing conditions of the PDMS (Polydimethylsiloxane) film to optimize the sensor's gauge factor. The modulus of PDMS varies depending on the curing conditions. In this case, the modulus of PDMS has a significant influence on crack formation, leading to changes in the sensitivity of the sensor. This study examined the changes in the gauge factor associated with these variations.