• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.325-332
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• 2020

In this study, the effects of kaolin addition on the properties of reticulated porous diatomite-kaolin composites are investigated. A reticulated porous diatomite-kaolin composite is prepared using the replica template method. The microstructure and pore characteristics of the reticulated porous diatomite-kaolin composites are analyzed by controlling the PPI value (45, 60, and 80 PPI) of the polyurethane foam (which are used as the polymer template), the ball-milling time (8 and 24 h), and the amount of kaolin (0-50 wt. %). The average pore size decreases as the amount of kaolin increases in the reticulated porous diatomite-kaolin composite. As the amount of kaolin increases, it can be determined that the amount of inter-connected pore channels is reduced because the plate-shaped kaolin particles connect the gaps between irregular diatomite particles. Consequently, a higher kaolin percentage affects the overall mechanical properties by improving the pore channel connectivity. The effect of kaolin addition on the basic properties of the reticulated porous diatomite-kaolin composite is further discussed with characterization data such as pore size distribution, scanning electron microscopy images, and compressive strength.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.50 no.2
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• pp.218-222
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• 2018

An oxide-dispersion-strengthened (ODS) layer was formed on Zircaloy-4 tubes by a laser beam scanning process to increase mechanical strength. Laser beam was used to scan the yttrium oxide ($Y_2O_3$)-coated Zircaloy-4 tube to induce the penetration of $Y_2O_3$ particles into Zircaloy-4. Laser surface treatment resulted in the formation of an ODS layer as well as microstructural phase transformation at the surface of the tube. The mechanical strength of Zircaloy-4 increased with the formation of the ODS layer. The ring-tensile strength of Zircaloy-4 increased from 790 to 870 MPa at room temperature, from 500 to 575 MPa at $380^{\circ}C$, and from 385 to 470 MPa at $500^{\circ}C$. Strengthening became more effective as the test temperature increased. It was noted that brittle fracture occurred at room temperature, which was not observed at elevated temperatures. Resistance to dynamic high-temperature bursting improved. The burst temperature increased from 760 to $830^{\circ}C$ at a heating rate of $5^{\circ}C/s$ and internal pressure of 8.3 MPa. The burst opening was also smaller than those in fresh Zircaloy-4 tubes. This method is expected to enhance the safety of Zr fuel cladding tubes owing to the improvement of their mechanical properties.

• Journal of Korea Foundry Society
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.81-87
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• 2016

In this study, the effect of scrap ratio on the mechanical properties of Zr alloys was studied. Oxygen content in the ingot cake increased rapidly with increasing fraction of scrap, which can be attributed to the surface oxide of scrap including small pieces of turning, chips, etc. Iron content did not increase much with the increasing addition of scrap, suggesting scrap materials was well reserved in the iron-free container. As-cast structure of Zr alloy with the scrap:sponge ratio displayed plate/or needle ${\alpha}$ phase and no appreciable change of the cast structure was observed with change of scrap fraction. The strength increases with increasing fraction of scrap, which can be attributed to the increase of oxygen content. The ductility decreased slightly with increase of scrap fraction. Dislocation-oxygen interaction is known to increase the strength at the expense of ductility. Ingot cake with intentionally added $Fe_2O_3$ exhibited the drastic decrease of the formability, even exhibited the brittle fracture behavior during rolling. The oxidation resistance, however, increased with the increase of scrap fraction because of high oxygen content, which may prevent more penetration and diffusion of oxygen into matrix.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2007.11a
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• pp.280-280
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• 2007

Lead oxide-based ferroelectrics are the most widely used materials for piezoelectric actuators, sensors and transducers due to their excellent piezoelectric properties. Considering lead toxicity, there is great interest in developing lead-free piezoelectric materials, which are biocompatible and environmentally friendlier. Recently alkali oxide materials, including sodium - potassium niobate (NKN), have been given attention in view of their ultrasonic application and also as promising candidates for piezoelectric lead-free system. However, it is difficult to sinter such NKN-based materials via conventional sintering process. In this reason, many researchers have investigated hot press, hot isostatic press or spark-plasma sintering of NKN-based ceramics. In this study, as candidates for lead-free piezoelectric materials, dense (Na,K,Li)(Nb,Sb)$O_3$ systems were developed by conventional sintering process. The microstructures and piezoelectric properties of the (Na,K,Li)(Nb,Sb)$O_3$ systems were investigated as a function of variable compositions. The excellent piezoelectric and electromechanical properties indicate that this system is potentially good candidate as lead-free material for a wide range of electro-mechanical transducer applications.

• International Journal of Concrete Structures and Materials
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.213-228
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• 2014

Alkali-activated binder (AAB) is recently being considered as a sustainable alternative to portland cement (PC) due to its low carbon dioxide emission and diversion of industrial wastes and by-products such as fly ash and slag from landfills. In order to comprehend the behavior of AAB, detailed knowledge on relations between microstructure and mechanical properties are important. To address the issue, a new approach to characterize hardened pastes of AAB containing fly ash as well as those containing fly ash and slag was adopted using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectra microanalyses. The volume stoichiometries of the alkali activation reactions were used to estimate the quantities of the sodium aluminosilicate (N-A-S-H) and calcium silicate hydrate (CSH) produced by these reactions. The 3D plots of Si/Al, Na/Al and Ca/Si atom ratios given by the microanalyses were compared with the estimated quantities of CSH(S) to successfully determine the unique chemical compositions of the N-A-S-H and CSH(S) for ten different AAB at three different curing temperatures using a constrained nonlinear least squares optimization formulation by general algebraic modeling system. The results show that the theoretical and experimental quantities of N-A-S-H and CSH(S) were in close agreement with each other. The $R^2$ values were 0.99 for both alkali-activated fly ash and alkali-activated slag binders.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.61-68
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• 2023

Ti and Ti alloys are used in the automobile and aerospace industries due to their high specific strength and excellent corrosion resistance. However their application is limited due to poor formability at room temperature and high unit cost. In order to overcome these issues, dissimilarly jointed materials, such as cladding materials, are widely investigated to utilize them in each industrial field because of an enhanced plasticity and relatively low cost. Among various dissimilar bonding processes, the rolled cladding process is widely used in Ti alloys, but has a disadvantage of low bonding strength. Although this problem can be solved through post-heat treatment, the mechanical properties at the bonded interface are deteriorated due to residual stress generated during post-heat treatment. Therefore, in this study, the microstructure change and residual stress trends at the interfaces of Ti/Al cladding materials were studied with increasing post-heat treatment temperature. As a result, compared to the as-rolled specimens, no difference in microstructure was observed in the specimens after postheat treatment at 300, 400, and 500℃. However, a new intermetallic compound layer was formed between Ti and Al when post-heat treatment was performed at a temperature of 600℃ or higher. Then, it was also confirmed that compressive residual stress with a large deviation was formed in Ti due to the difference in thermal expansion coefficient and modulus of elasticity between Ti Grade II and Al 1050.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.231-238
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• 2020

The composition of martensite transformation in NiAl alloy is determined using pure nickel and aluminum powder by vacuum hot press powder metallurgy, which is a composition of martensitic transformation, and the characteristics of martensitic transformation and microstructure of sintered NiAl alloys are investigated. The produced sintered alloys are presintered and hot pressed in vacuum; after homogenizing heat treatment at 1,273 K for 86.4 ks, they are water-cooled to produce NiAl sintered alloys having relative density of 99 % or more. As a result of observations of the microstructure of the sintered NiAl alloy specimens quenched in ice water after homogenization treatment at 1,273 K, it is found that specimens of all compositions consisted of two phases and voids. In addition, it is found that martensite transformation did not occur because surface fluctuation shapes did not appear inside the crystal grains with quenching at 1,273 K. As a result of examining the relationship between the density and composition after martensitic transformation of the sintered alloys, the density after transformation is found to have increased by about 1 % compared to before the transformation. As a result of examining the relationship between the hardness (Hv) at room temperature and the composition of the matrix phase and the martensite phase, the hardness of the martensite phase is found to be smaller than that of the matrix phase. As a result of examining the relationship between the temperature at which the shape recovery is completed by heating and the composition, the shape recovery temperature is found to decrease almost linearly as the Al concentration increases, and the gradient is about -160 K/at% Al. After quenching the sintered NiAl alloys of the 37 at%Al into martensite, specimens fractured by three-point bending at room temperature are observed by SEM and, as a result, some grain boundary fractures are observed on the fracture surface, and mainly intergranular cleavage fractures.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.100-106
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• 2014

There is a growing need to introduce advanced pressure vessel steels with higher strength and toughness for the optimizatiooCn of the design and construction of longer life and larger capacity nuclear power plants. SA508 Gr.4N Ni-Cr-Mo low alloy steels have superior strength and fracture toughness, compared to SA508 Gr.3 Mn-Mo-Ni low alloy steel. Therefore, the application of SA508 Gr.4N low alloy steel could be considered to satisfy the strength and toughness required in advanced nuclear power plants. The purpose of this study is to characterize the microstructure and mechanical properties of SA508 Gr.4N low alloy steels. 1 ton ingot of SA508 Gr.4N model alloy was fabricated by vacuum induction melting followed by forging, quenching, and tempering. The predominant microstructure of the SA508 Gr.4N model alloy is tempered martensite having small packet and fine Cr-rich carbides. The yield strength at room temperature was 540MPa, and it was decreased with an increase of test temperature while DSA phenomenon occurred at around $288^{\circ}C$. Overall transition property of SA508 Gr.4N model alloy was much better than SA508 Gr.3 low alloy steel. The index temperature, $T_{41J}$, of SA508 Gr.4N model alloy was $-132^{\circ}C$ in Charpy impact tests, and reference nil-ductility transition temperature, $RT_{NDT}$ of $-105^{\circ}C$ was obtained from drop weight tests. From the fracture toughness tests performed in accordance with the ASTM standard E1921 Master curve method, the reference temperature, $T_0$ was $-147^{\circ}C$, which was improved more than $60^{\circ}C$ compared to SA508 Gr.3 low alloy steels.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.9 no.5
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• pp.449-457
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• 2020

The influence of subsequent curing on the performance of fly ash contained mortar under steam curing was studied. Mortar samples incorporated with different content (0%, 20%, 50% and 70%) of Class F fly ash under five typical subsequent curing conditions, including standard curing (ZS), water curing(ZW) under 25℃, oven-dry curing (ZD) under 60℃, frozen curing (ZF) under -10℃, and nature curing (ZN) exposed to outdoor environment were implemented. The unsteady chloride diffusion coefficient was measured by rapid chloride migration test (RCM) to analyze the influence of subsequent curing condition on the resistance to chloride penetration of fly ash contained mortar under steam curing. The compressive strength was measured to analyze the mechanical properties. Furthermore, the open porosity, mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP), x-ray diffraction (XRD) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) were examined to investigate the pore characteristics and phase composition of mortar. The results indicate that the resistance to chloride ingress and compressive strength of steam-cured mortar decline with the increase of fly ash incorporated, regardless of the subsequent curing condition. Compared to ZS, ZD and ZF lead to poor resistance to chloride penetration, while ZW and ZN show better performance. Interestingly, under different fly ash contents, the declining order of compressive strength remains ZS>ZW>ZN>ZD>ZF. When the fly ash content is blow 50%, the open porosity grows with increase of fly ash, regardless of the curing conditions are diverse. However, if the replacement amount of fly ash exceeds a certain high proportion (70%), the value of open porosity tends to decrease. Moreover, the main phase composition of the mortar hydration products is similar under different curing conditions, but the declining order of the C-S-H gels and ettringite content is ZS>ZD>ZF. The addition of fly ash could increase the amount of harmless pores at early age.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.456-463
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• 2010

This paper describes the results of the application of Cr-Diamond-like carbon (DLC) films for efficiency improvement through surface modification of spur gear parts in the hydraulic gear pump. Cr-DLC films were successfully deposited on SCM 415 substrates by a hybrid coating process using linear ion source (LIS) and magnetron sputtering method. The characteristics of the films were systematically investigated using FE-SEM, nano-indentation, sliding tester and AFM instrument. The microstructure of Cr-DLC films turned into the dense and fine grains with relatively preferred orientation. The thickness formed in our Cr buffer layer and DLC coating layer were obtained the 487 nm and $1.14\;{\mu}m$. The average friction coefficient of Cr-DLC films considerably decreased to 0.15 for 0.50 of uncoated SCM415 material. The hardness and surface roughness of Cr-DLC films were measured 20 GPa and 10.76 nm, respectively. And then, efficiency tests were performed on the hydraulic gear pump to investigate the efficiency performance of the Cr-DLC coated spur gear. The experimental results show that the volumetric and mechanical efficiency of hydraulic gear pump using the Cr-DLC spur gear were improved up to 2~5% and better efficiency improvement could be attributed to its excellent microstructure, higher hardness, and lower friction coefficient. This conclusion proves the feasibility in the efficiency improvement of hydraulic gear pump for industrial applications.