The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of impurity level and fabrication processes on the strength, fracture toughness and fatigue resistance of 7075, 7050 and 7175 high strength aluminum forgings. It has been verified that plane strain fracture toughness and fatigue characteristics of a specially processed 7175S-T74 alloy is superior to a conventionally processed 7075-T6/T73, 7050-T74 and 7175-T74 alloys. These beneficial effects primarily arise from two view points, i.e., the effect of reducing the impurity level of iron and silicon has significantly diminished the size and volume fraction of second phase particles such as $Al_7Cu_2Fe$ and $Mg_2Si$. Futher reduction of the amount of nonequilibrium second phase particles has been observed by applying a special fabrication process.

Effect of retained austenite on rolling contact fatigue of nitrocarburized high-carbon chromium bearing steel has been investigated to develop surface-hardened bearing steel with imprved resistance to rolling contact fatigue. Fatigue tests were conducted in elesto-hydrodynamic lubricating conditions at a shaft speed of 5,000rpm, under max, hertzian stress of $492kg/mm^2$. Volume fraction of retained austenite in austenitic nitrocarburized STB2 steel was controlled by tempering at various temperature, $200{\sim}250^{\circ}C$. It was observed using TEM that decomposition of retained austenite during tempering at $250^{\circ}C$ was the highest in quantity, resulted in formation of lower bainite. Rolling contact fatigue life of the specimens with lower bainite, formed by decomposition of retained austenite, was improved in comparison with there of specimens with more amount of retained austenite.

Surface alloying of Ti alloy by $CO_2$ laser is able to produce few hundred micrometers thick TiN or TiC surface-alloyed layer with high hardness on the substrate by injecting reaction gas($N_2$ or $CH_4$). Laser surface alloying by means of process control is in many applications essential in order to obtain predictable hardening layer. This research has been investigated the effect of such parameters on TiN and TiC gas alloying of Ti-6Al-4V alloy by $CO_2$ laser. The maximum surface hardness of TiN layer was obtained 1750Hv on the conditions of 0.8kW laser power, 0.8m/min scanning speed and 100% $N_2$ atmosphere. However, the maximum hardness of TiC formation layer after laser treatment was about 630Hv. As scanning speed was increased, the hardness and depth of these layers were decreased at constant laser power.

In this study, the properties of coil spring made by Cu-Zn-Al and B added shape memory alloys are investigated. The measurement of recovery displacement and energy with increasing weight, and thermocycling properties have been studied using displacement measuring device. Transformation temperature and phase change by thermocycling have been also investigated by DSC and X-ray diffractometer. Grain size of the alloy is refined from 1.2mm to $400{\mu}m$ by 0.06wt% of B addition. The maximum recovery energy of the coil spring for B added alloy is larger than that of no B added alloy, it is because of grain refinement. And shape memory ability of the coil spring by thermocycling decrease with increasing thermocycling after thermocycle under load. The degradation of shape memory properties of coil spring by thermocycling is improved by B addition.

This work was carried out in order to investigate the effect of grain size on martensitic transformation temperature and morphology of Fe-27%Ni-0.27%C alloy. The martensitic transformation temperature was raised with increasing the austenitizing temperature within the range from $750^{\circ}C$ to $1200^{\circ}C$, owing to the grain growth, vacancy concentration. It was observed that the larger was the austenite grain, the higher was the martensitic transformation temperature. The influence of the austenite grain size was similar to that of the austenitizing temperature. The morphology of martensite in Fe-27%Ni-0.27%C alloy changed from lath to lenticular with the variation of grain size. From the above results, it was concluded that the martensitic transformation temperature and morphology was mainly dependent upon the austenite grain size.

Structural studies have been performed on precipitation hardening discovered in $Ll_2$-ordered $Ni_3$(Al,Cr) containing 0.2 and 0.5 mol% of carbon in terms of transmission electron microscopy(TEM). By aging at temperatures around 1073 K after solution treatment at 1423 K, fine polyhedral precipitates appear firstly on the dislocations and then in the matrix. The selected area electron diffraction (SAED) studies revealed that these particles are a $M_{23}C_6$ type carbide which has the cube-cube orientation relationship with the matrix lattice. Weak-beam electron microscopy observations of deformation induced dislocations suggested that the dislocations bypass the carbide particles during deformation.

To clarify the influence of precipitation microstructure and inclusion on the monotonic tensile fracture behaviors in 2090 alloy aged at $180^{\circ}C$, the detailed measurement of hardness, tensile strength, elongation and the observation of scanning electron micrography, transmision electron micrography have been carried out. The transgranular shear ductile fracture has been observed in specimen quenched after solution treatment at $500^{\circ}C$ for 45min. While the under-aged specimen was fractured in both transgranular shear ductile and intergranular fracture mode, the fracture mode of peak-aged and over-aged alloy was predominantly intergranular fracture. The fracture behavior of each ageing condition was influenced by the change of precipitation microstructural features. In the case of peak-aged and over-aged alloys, the coarse and heterogeneous slip band caused by both shearable nature of the ${\delta}^{\prime}(Al_3Li)$ precipitates and PFZ along the high angle grain boundary aid the localization of deformation, resulting in low energy intergranular fracture. It was also estimated that the fractured T-type intermetallic phases (inclusion) and the equilibrium ${\delta}$(AlLi) phases which were formed at grain boundaries palyed an important role in promoting intergranular fracture mode.

The purpose of this research is to develop the technology for the synthesis of (Ti,Al)N powder, which shows simultaneously the excellent properties of TiN and AlN, from the Ti-Al intermetallic compounds by the direct nitriding method. The effects of variables such as temperature, Ti-Al intermetallic compounds ($TiAl_3$, TiAl and $Ti_3Al$) were investigated by TG, XRD and SEM. The (Ti,Al)N powder can be easily synthesized from the intermetallic compounds by the direct nitriding method. Among the intermetallic compounds, the nitriding behavior increased with TiAl> $Ti_3Al$ > $TiAl_3$, as the difference of diffusion coefficient for nitrogen in each materials. The ternary nitride such as $Ti_2AlN$ and $Ti_3Al_2N_2$ can be synthesized by the direct nitriding method, although the ternary nitride coexist with TiN and AlN. The ternary nitrides are stable below $1400^{\circ}C$, but these are gradually decomposed into TiN and AlN above $1400^{\circ}C$.