• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.50 no.3
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• pp.206-211
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• 2012

Graphene has recently received high attention as a promising material for various applications, and many related studies have been undertaken to reveal its basic mechanical properties. However, the tribological properties of graphene film fabricated by the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method are barely known. In this study, the contact angle and frictional wear characteristics of graphene coated copper film were investigated under room temperature, normal air pressure, and no lubrication condition. The contact angle was measured by sessile drop method and the wear test was carried out under normal loads of 660 mN and 2940 mN, respectively. The tribological behaviors of a graphene coating layer were also examined. Compared to heat treated bare copper foil, the graphene coated one shows a higher contact angle and lower friction coefficient.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.50 no.11
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• pp.829-838
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• 2012

The microstructure, chemical composition, and lead isotope ratio of the Buddhist bell of Yongmoon Mountain Sangwonsa temple, which was selected as one of the three great bells of Korea by Japanese historians, were analyzed in order to estimate the origin of the material and the time of casting. The microstructure of the temple bell was composed of a copper matrix phase with ${\alpha}$, a face centered cubit lattice structure, a ${\delta}$ phase with $Cu_{41}$ $(Sn,Ag,Sb)_{11}$ as the chemical structural formula, dispersed lead and $Cu_2S$ particles, and locally agglomerated fine particles. Through analysis of the chemical composition of the bell, a criterion (Pb: 0-3.0 wt%, Sn: 10-15 wt%) for distinguishing the bells of the Shilla dynasty from the bells of the Koryo Chosun dynasty is proposed. Examining the lead isotope ratio of $^{207}Pb/^{206}Pb$ and $^{208}Pb/^{206}Pb$ of the Buddhist bell of Sangwonsa temple proved that the bell was fabricated using raw materials in South Korea, which led to the conclusion that the bell was cast in Korea and the top board of the bell has been damaged by an unknown individual. The criteria of distinguishing the bells from the Shilla dynasty from the bells of the Koryo Chosun dynasty presented for the first time in this research is expected to aid in identifying and estimating the previously unclear production years of other bells.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.49 no.11
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• pp.845-852
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• 2011

The Spark Plasma Sintering(SPS) method offers a means of fabricating a sintered-body having high density without grain growth through short sintering time and a one-step process. A titanium compact having high density and purity was fabricated by the SPS process. It can be used to fabricate a Ti sputtering target with controlled parameters such as sintering temperature, heating rate, and pressure to establish the optimized processing conditions. The compact/target(?) has a diameter of ${\Phi}150{\times}6.35mm$. The density, purity, phase transformation, and microstructure of the Ti compact were analyzed by Archimedes, ICP, XRD and FE-SEM. A Ti thin-film fabricated on a $Si/SiO_2$ substrate by a sputtering device (SRN-100) was analyzed by XRD, TEM, and SIMS. Density and grain size were up to 99% and below $40{\mu}m$, respectively. The specific resistivity of the optimized Ti target was $8.63{\times}10^{-6}{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.389-394
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• 2019

In the present study, we have investigated the effect of sintering process conditions on the stability of the austenite phase in the nanocrystalline Fe-5wt.%Mn-0.2wt.%C alloy. The stability and volume fraction of the austenite phase are the key factors that determine the mechanical properties of FeMnC alloys, because strain-induced austenite-martensite transformation occurs under the application of an external stress at room temperature. Nanocrystalline Fe-5wt.%Mn-0.2wt.%C samples are fabricated using the spark plasma sintering method. The stability of the austenite phase in the sintered samples is evaluated by X-ray diffraction analysis and hardness test. The volume fraction of austenite at room temperature increases as the sample is held for 10 min at the sintering temperature, because of carbon diffusion in austenite. Moreover, water quenching effectively prevents the formation of cementite during cooling, resulting in a higher volume fraction of austenite. Furthermore, it is found that the hardness is influenced by both the austenite carbon content and volume fraction.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.225-230
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• 2011

Magnetic materials has been applied to various fields due to their energy convertible properties between electrical and mechanical energy. Particularly, permanent magnets have been currently attracted much attention because they produce external magnetic field without any electrical current. For high efficiency, a demand for permanent magnets containing rare earth elements has been continuously increased, which abruptly raises the price and causes the supply difficulty of rare earth materials. Therefore, the development of permanent magnets with less or without rare earth elements become a urgent issue. In this report, the current trend and major issues on high efficiency permanent magnets, particularly exchange-coupling magnets, are discussed.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.449-453
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• 2021

Interest and investment in renewable energy have increased worldwide, highlighting the need for renewable energy. Solar energy was the most promising energy of all renewable energy sources, and it has the highest investment value. Because photovoltaics require a certain amount of area for installation, high density and high output performance are required. Shingled module is a promising technology in that they are featured by higher density and higher output compared to the conventional modules. Shingled technology uses a laser scribing to divide solar cells that are to be bonded with electrically conductive adhesive (ECA) to produce and connect strings, which has a higher output in the same area than the conventional modules. In the process of producing solar modules, metal ribbons are used to interconnect cells, but they are also needed for string connections in shingled solar cells. Accordingly, in this study, we researched the interconnection that best suits the connector that joins the string to the string. The module outputs produced under the conditions of the string interconnection were compared and analyzed.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.31 no.9
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• pp.525-531
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• 2021

Carbon-encapsulated Ni catalysts are synthesized by an electrical explosion of wires (EEW) method and applied for CO₂ methanation. We find that the presence of carbon shell on Ni nanoparticles as catalyst can positively affect CO₂ methanation reaction. Ni@5C that is produced under 5 % CH₄ partial pressure in Ar gas has highest conversions of 68 % at 350 ℃ and 70 % at 400 ℃, which are 73 and 75 % of the thermodynamic equilibrium conversion, respectively. The catalyst of Ni@10C with thicker carbon layer shows much reduced activity. The EEW-produced Ni catalysts with low specific surface area outperform Ni catalysts with high surface area synthesized by solution-based precipitation methods. Our finding in this study shows the possibility of utilizing carbon-encapsulated metal catalysts for heterogeneous catalysis reaction including CO₂ methanation. Furthermore, EEW, which is a highly promising method for massive production of metal nanoparticles, can be applied for various catalysis system, requiring scaled-up synthesis of catalysts.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.196-203
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• 2019

We report on the fabrication and characterization of an oxide photoanode with a zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorod array embedded in cuprous oxide ($Cu_2O$) thin film, namely a $ZnO/Cu_2O$ oxide p-n heterostructure photoanode, for enhanced efficiency of visible light driven photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting. A vertically oriented n-type ZnO nanorod array is first prepared on an indium-tin-oxide-coated glass substrate via a seed-mediated hydrothermal synthesis method and then a p-type $Cu_2O$ thin film is directly electrodeposited onto the vertically oriented ZnO nanorod array to form an oxide p-n heterostructure. The introduction of $Cu_2O$ layer produces a noticeable enhancement in the visible light absorption. From the observed PEC current density versus voltage (J-V) behavior under visible light illumination, the photoconversion efficiency of this $ZnO/Cu_2O$ p-n heterostructure photoanode is found to reach 0.39 %, which is seven times that of a pristine ZnO nanorod photoanode. In particular, a significant PEC performance is observed even at an applied bias of 0 V vs $Hg/Hg_2Cl_2$, which makes the device self-powered. The observed improvement in the PEC performance is attributed to some synergistic effect of the p-n bilayer heterostructure on the formation of a built-in potential including the light absorption and separation processes of photoinduced charge carriers, which provides a new avenue for preparing efficient photoanodes for PEC water splitting.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.237-242
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• 2019

In this study, ultrasonic spray pyrolysis combined with salt-assisted decomposition, a process that adds sodium nitrate ($NaNO_3$) into a titanium precursor solution, is used to synthesize nanosized titanium dioxide ($TiO_2$) particles. The added $NaNO_3$ prevents the agglomeration of the primary nanoparticles in the pyrolysis process. The nanoparticles are obtained after a washing process, removing $NaNO_3$ and NaF from the secondary particles, which consist of the salts and $TiO_2$ nanoparticles. The effects of pyrolysis temperature on the size, crystallographic characteristics, and bandgap energy of the synthesized nanoparticles are systematically investigated. The synthesized $TiO_2$ nanoparticles have a size of approximately 2-10 nm a bandgap energy of 3.1-3.25 eV, depending on the synthetic temperature. These differences in properties affect the photocatalytic activities of the synthesized $TiO_2$ nanoparticles.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.73-78
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• 2019

Lead free $(Ba_{0.7}Ca_{0.3})TiO_3$ thick films with nano-sized grains are prepared using an aerosol deposition (AD) method at room temperature. The crystallinity of the AD thick films is enhanced by a post annealing process. Contrary to the sharp phase transition of bulk ceramics that has been reported, AD films show broad phase transition behaviors due to the nano-sized grains. The polarization-electric hysteresis loop of annealed AD film shows ferroelectric behaviors. With an increase in annealing temperature, the saturation polarization increases because of an increase in crystallinity. However, the remnant polarization and cohesive field are not affected by the annealing temperature. BCT AD thick films annealed at $700^{\circ}C/2h$ have an energy density of $1.84J/cm^3$ and a charge-discharge efficiency of 69.9 %, which is much higher than those of bulk ceramic with the same composition. The higher energy storage properties are likely due to the increase in the breakdown field from a large number of grain boundaries of nano-sized grains.