• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.179-189
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• 2006

High velocity oxygen fuel(HVOF) thermal spray coating of WC-Co powder is one of the most promising candidate for the replacement of the traditional hard chrome plating and ceramics coating because of the environmental problem of the very toxic $Cr^{6+}$ known as carcinogen and the brittleness of ceramics coating. WC-Co micron and nano powder were coated by HVOF thermal spraying method for the study of durability improvement of the high speed spindle. Coatings were planned by Taguchi program for the four spray parameters of spray distance, flow rates of hydrogen, oxygen and powder feed rate. Optimal coating process was obtained by the studies of coating properties such as porosity, surface roughness, micro hardness, and micro structure. WC-Co micron and nano powder were coated on the Inconel 718 substrate by the optimal coating process obtained in this study. The wear behaviors were studied by the sliding wear tester at room temperature and at an elevated temperature of $500^{\circ}C$ for the application to high speed spindle. Sliding wear test was carried out for four most promising hard coatings of chrome coating, ceramics coatings such as $A1_2O_3,\;Cr_2O_3$ and HVOF Co-alloy T800 for the comparison of their wear behaviors. HVOF WC-Co coating was better than other coatings showing highest micro hardness of 1400 Hv and comparable friction coefficients with others. HVOF WC-Co coating is a strong candidate for the replacement of the traditional hard chrome plating for the high speed spindle.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.339-345
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• 2008

The heat exchanger tube in nuclear power plants is mainly fabricated from nonferromagnetic material such as a copper, titanium, and inconel alloy, but the moisture separator & reheater tube in the turbine system is fabricated from ferromagnetic material such as a carbon steel or ferrite stainless steel which has a good mechanical properties in harsh environments of high pressure and temperature. Especially, the moisture separator & reheater tubes, which use steam as a heat transfer media, typically employ a tubing with integral fins to furnish higher heat transfer rates. The ferromagnetic tube typically shows superior properties in high pressure and temperature environments than a nonferromagnetic material, but can make a trouble during the normal operation of power plants because the ferrous tube has service-induced damage forms including a steam cutting, erosion, mechanical wear, stress corrosion cracking, etc. Therefore, nondestructive examination is periodically performed to evaluate the tube integrity. Now, the remote field testing(RFT) technique is one of the solution for examination of ferromagnetic tube because the conventional eddy current technique typically can not be applied to ferromagnetic tube such as a ferrite stainless steel due to the high electrical permeability of ferrous tube. In this study, we have designed RFT probes, calibration standards, artificial flaw specimen, and probe pusher-puller necessary for field application, and have successfully carry out RFT examination of the moisture separator & reheater tube of nuclear power plants.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.46 no.6
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• pp.351-356
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• 2008

Thermally sprayed tungsten carbide-based powder coatings are being widely used for a variety of wear resistance applications. The coating deposited by high velocity processes such as high velocity oxy-fuel (HVOF) thermal spraying is known to provide improved wear resistant property. In this study, optimal coating process (OCP) is obtained by the study of coating properties such as surface hardness, porosity, surface roughness and microstructure of 9 coatings prepared by Taguchi program for 3 levels of four spray parameters. The Friction and wear behaviors of HVOF WC-CoCr coating prepared by OCP, electrolytic hard chrome (EHC) plating and Inconel718 (In718) are investigated by reciprocating sliding wear test at $25^{\circ}C$, $450^{\circ}C$. Friction coefficients (FC) of all of the 3 samples are decreased as increasing sliding surface temperature from $25^{\circ}C$ to $450^{\circ}C$. FC of WC-CoCr decreases as increasing the surface temperature from $0.33{\pm}0.02$ at $25^{\circ}C$ to $0.26{\pm}0.02$ at $450^{\circ}C$, showing the lowest FC among the 3 samples. Wear trace (WT) and wear depth (WD) of WC-CoCr are smaller than those of EHC and In718 both at $25^{\circ}C$ and $450^{\circ}C$. These show that WC-CoCr is highly recommendable for protective coating on In718 and other metal components.