• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
• /
• v.24 no.10
• /
• pp.779-783
• /
• 2011

The morphology of etch pits in commercial 4H-SiC epi-wafer were investigated by molten-KOH etching. The etching process was optimized in $525{\sim}570^{\circ}C$ at 2~10 min and the novel type of etch pits was revealed. This type of etch pits have been considered as TED (threading edge dislocation) II, its origin and nature, however, are not reported yet. In this work, the morphology and evolution of etch pits during epitaxial growth were analyzed and the different behavior between TED and TEDII was discussed.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
• /
• 2003.05a
• /
• pp.49-52
• /
• 2003

The effects of nitrogen on the deformation behavior of duplex stainless steel have been studied The variation of strength was correlated with the characteristic microstructures. Analysis based on Hall-Petch relation confirmed that nitrogen enhances phase-boundary strengthening effect. The evolution of dislocation structure, slip traces, and misorientation distribution during deformation were also characterized to elucidate the effect of nitrogen on inelastic deformation mechanism.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
• /
• v.27 no.5
• /
• pp.417-425
• /
• 2007

The ferritic 9Cr-1Mo-V-Nb heat-resisting steel was experimentally studied in order to characterize its microstructural evolution during creep-fatigue by coercivity measurement. The creep-fatigue test was conducted at $550\;^{\circ}C$ with the tensile holding time of 60s and 600s, respectively. The coercivity decreased until the failure and the hardness monotonously decreased for the whole fatigue life. As the life fraction of creep-fatigue increased, the $M_{23}C_6$ carbide coarsened following the Ostwald ripening mechanism. However, the MX carbonitrides did not grow during creep-fatigue due to so stable at $550\;^{\circ}C$. The width of martensite lath increased because of the dislocation recovery at the lath boundaries. The magnetic coercivity has an influence on the microstructural properties such as dislocation, precipitates and martensite lath boundaries, which interpreted in relation to microstructural changes. Consequently, this study proposes a magnetic coercivity to quantify the level of damage and microstructural change during the creep-fatigue of ferritic 9Cr-1Mo-V-Nb steel.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
• /
• v.22 no.8
• /
• pp.403-408
• /
• 2012

A sample of ultra low carbon IF steel was processed by six-layer stack accumulative roll-bonding (ARB) and annealed. The ARB was conducted at ambient temperature after deforming the as-received material to a thickness of 0.5 mm by 50% cold rolling. The ARB was performed for a six-layer stacked, i.e. a 3 mm thick sheet, up to 3 cycles (an equivalent strain of ~7.0). In each ARB cycle, the stacked sheets were, first, deformed to 1.5 mm thickness by 50% rolling and then reduced to 0.5 mm thickness, as the starting thickness, by multi-pass rolling without lubrication. The specimen after 3 cycles was then annealed for 0.5 h at various temperatures ranging from 673 to 973 K. The microstructural evolution with the annealing temperature for the 3-cycle ARB processed IF steel was investigated in detail by transmission electron microscopy observation. The ARB processed IF steel exhibited mainly a dislocation cell lamella structure with relatively high dislocation density in which the subgrains were partially observed. The selected area diffraction (SAD) patterns suggested that the misorientation between neighboring cells or subgrains was very small. The thickness of the grains increased in a gradual way up to 873 K, but above 898 K it increased drastically. As a result, the grains came to have an equiaxed morphology at 898 K, in which the width and the thickness of the grains were almost identical. The grain growth occurred actively at temperatures above 923 K.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
• /
• v.15 no.1
• /
• pp.19-24
• /
• 2005

For the good combination of high-temperature strength, toughness and creep property, $9-12\%$ chromium steels are often used for gas turbine compressors, steam turbine rotors, blade and casing. In this study, the correlation of microstructural evolution and mechanical properties was investigated fur the specimens heat-treated at 600, 650 and $700^{\circ}C$ for 1000, 3000 and 5000 hrs. The microstructure of as-received specimen was tempered martensite with a high dislocation density, small sub-grains and fine secondary phase such as $M_23C_6$. Aging for long-time at high temperature caused the growth of martensite lath and the decrease of dislocation density resulting in the decrease in strength. However, the evolution of secondary phases had influence on hardness, yield strength and impact property. In the group A specimen aged at $600^{\circ}C\;and\;650^{\circ}C$, Laves phase was observed. The Laves phase caused the increase of the hardness and the decrease of the impact property. In addition, the abrupt growth of secondary phases caused decrease of the impact property in both A and B group specimens.

• Applied Microscopy
• /
• v.45 no.3
• /
• pp.170-176
• /
• 2015

In this work, various electron microscopy and analysis techniques were used to investigate the microstructural evolution of a 9% Cr tempered martensite ferritic (TMF) steel T91 upon ultrasonic nanocrystalline surface modification (UNSM) treatment. The micro-dimpled surface was analyzed by scanning electron microscopy. The characteristics of plastic deformation and gradient microstructure of the UNSM treated specimens were clearly revealed by crystal orientation mapping of electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD), with flexible use of the inverse pole figure, image quality, and grain boundary misorientation images. Transmission electron microscope (TEM) observation of the specimens at different depths showed the formation of dislocations, dense dislocation walls, subgrains, and grains in the lower, middle, upper, and top layers of the treated specimens. Refinement of the $M_{23}C_6$ precipitates was also observed, the size and the number density of which were found to decrease as depth from the top surface decreased. The complex microstructure and microstructural evolution of the TMF steel samples upon the UNSM treatment were well-characterized by combined use of EBSD and TEM techniques.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
• /
• v.31 no.1
• /
• pp.12-17
• /
• 2018

We investigated the corrosion behavior of commercially pure cold working processed (CP)-Ti with coarse-grained (CG) microstructure heat-treated at $400^{\circ}C$ and $600^{\circ}C$, respectively. It is observed that corrosion resistance of as-received CP-Ti heat-treated at $400^{\circ}C$, at which recrystallization proceeds, is largely improved. Interestingly, the mechanical property of CP-Ti sample at $400^{\circ}C$ was scarcely deteriorated. It is attributed to the decrease of the defects such as strain variance and dislocation density. On the other hand, the annealing treatment at $600^{\circ}C$ of CP-Ti plate causes to grain growth with the noticeable reduction of mechanical property. Hence, it is considered that defect density such as strain and dislocation density is important microstructural parameter for the improvement of corrosion resistance. The introduction of proper annealing treatment can help to improve corrosion resistance without scarifying mechanical property of CP-Ti.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.47 no.3
• /
• pp.323-331
• /
• 2015

Zirconium alloys are widely used in nuclear reactors as structural materials. During the operation, they are exposed to fast neutrons. Ion irradiation is used to simulate the damage introduced by neutron irradiation. In this article, we briefly review the neutron irradiation damage of zirconium alloys, then summarize the effect of ion irradiation on microstructural evolution, mechanical and corrosion properties, and their relationships. The microstructure components consist of dislocation loops, second phase precipitates, and gas bubbles. The microstructure parameters are also included such as domain size and microstrain determined by X-ray diffraction and the S-parameter determined by positron annihilation. Understanding the relationships of microstructure and properties is necessary for developing new advanced materials with higher irradiation tolerance.

• Journal of Korea Foundry Society
• /
• v.40 no.4
• /
• pp.118-127
• /
• 2020

Microstructural evolution during a heat treatment and high-temperature tensile properties have been investigated in conventionally cast CM247LC. In as-cast specimens, MC carbides with high amounts of Ta, Ti, Hf, and W were found to exist in the interdendritic regions, and γ' was observed in the form of cubes and octocubes prior to decomposition into cubes. In the heat-treated condition, some portion of eutectic γ-γ' remained, and uniform cubic γ' was observed in both interdendritic regions and dendrite core. Three types of carbides with different stoichiometries and compositions were found at the grain boundaries. MC carbides with high Hf contents were observed in the vicinity of eutectic γ-γ'. The highest tensile strength value was found at 750℃, whereas the greatest ductility appeared at 649℃. The effect of the temperature on the tensile properties was closely related to the dislocation structure. With increase in the test temperature, the density of dislocations inside γ' decreased, whereas that in the γ matrix increased. Stacking faults generated in γ' at 750℃ had a strengthening effect, whereas thermally activated dislocation motion at a high temperature was considered to have the opposite effect.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.55 no.6
• /
• pp.2298-2304
• /
• 2023

Titanium alloys are expected to become one of the candidate materials for nuclear-powered spacecraft due to their excellent overall performance. Nevertheless, atomistic mechanisms of the defect accumulation and evolution of the materials due to long-term exposure to irradiation remain scarcely understood by far. Here we investigate the heavy irradiation damage in a-titanium with a dose as high as 4.0 canonical displacements per atom (cDPA) using atomistic simulations of Frenkel pair accumulation. Results show that the content of surviving defects increases sharply before 0.04 cDPA and then decreases slowly to stabilize, exhibiting a strong correlation with the system energy. Under the current simulation conditions, the defect clustering fraction may be not directly dependent on the irradiation dose. Compared to vacancies, interstitials are more likely to form clusters, which may further cause the formation of 1/3<1210> interstitial-type dislocation loops extended along the (1010) plane. This study provides an important insight into the understanding of the irradiation damage behaviors for titanium.