• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.64-70
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• 2012

Two kinds of eddy current probes are mainly used to perform the steam generator tube integrity assesment in NPPs. The first one is the bobbin probe using for inspection of volumetric defect like a fretting wear. The second one is the rotating probe using for inspection of non-volumetric defect like a crack. The eddy current probe is one of the essential components which consist of the whole eddy current examination system, and provides a decisive data for the tube integrity in accordance with acceptance criteria described in specific procedures. The design of ECT probe is especially important to improve examination results because the quality of acquired ECT data is depended on the probe design characteristics, such as coil geometry, electrical properties, operation frequency. In this study, it is analyzed that the coil winding number of differential bobbin probe affects the electrical properties of the probe. Eddy current bobbin probes for the steam generator tubes in NPPs are designed and fabricated according to the results. Experiment shows that the change in coil winding number has much effects on the optimum inspection frequency determined by the tube geometry and material. Therefore, the coil winding number in bobbin probe is very important in the probe design. In this study, a basis of the coil winding number for the eddy current bobbin probe design for steam generator tubes in NPPs is established.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.23-30
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• 2007

We observed the NaCl concentration of solutions using a near-field microwave microprobe(NFMM). Instead of the usual technique, we take advantage of the noncontact evaluation capabilities of a NFMM. A NFMM with a high Q dielectric resonator allows observation of small variations of the permittivity due to changes in the NaCl concentration. The changes of NaCl concentration due to a change of permittivity of the NaCl solution were investigated by measuring the microwave reflection coefficient $S_{11}$ of the resonator. The NaCl sensor consisted of a dielectric resonator coupled to a probe tip at an operating frequency of about f=4 GHz. The change of the NaCl concentration is directly related to the change of the reflection coefficient due to a near field electromagnetic interaction between the probe tip and the NaCl solution. In order to determine the probe selectivity, we measured a mixture solution of NaCl and glucose.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.465-471
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• 2013

A steam generator in nuclear power plant is a heatexchager which is used to convert water into steam from heat produced in a nuclear reactor core, and the steam produced in steam generator is delivered to the turbine to generate electricity. Because of damage to steam generator tubing may impair its ability to adequately perform required safety functions in terms of both structural integrity and leakage integrity, eddy current testing is periodically performed to evaluate the integrity of tubes in steam generator. This assessment is normally performed during a reactor refueling outage. Currently, the eddy current testing for steam generator of nuclear power plant in Korea is performed in accordance with KEPIC & ASME Code requirements, the eddy current testing system is consists of remote data acquisition unit and data analysis program to evaluate the acquired data. The KEPIC & ASME Code require that the electrical properties of remote data acquisition unit, such as total harmonic distortion, input & output impedance, amplifier linearity & stability, phase linearity, bandwidth & demodulation filter response, analog-to-digital conversion, and channel crosstalk shall be measured in accordance with the KEPIC & ASME Code requirements. In this paper, the measurement requirements of electrical properties for eddy current testing instrument described in KEPIC & ASME Code are presented, and the measurement results of newly developed eddy current testing instrument by KHNP(Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co., LTD) are presented.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.117-126
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• 2005

A stoichiometric mixture of evaporating materials for $AgGaS_2$ single crystal thin films was prepared from horizontal electric furnace. To obtain the single crystal thin films, $AgGaS_2$ mixed crystal was deposited on thoroughly etched semi-insulating GaAs(100) substrate by the hot wall epitaxy (HWE) system. The source and substrate temperatures were $590^{\circ}C\;and\;440^{\circ}C$, respectively The temperature dependence of the energy band gap of the $AgGaS_2$ obtained from the absorption spectra was well described by the Varshni's relation, $E_g(T)=2.7284 eV-(8.695{\times}10^{-4}eV/K)T^2/T(T+332K)$. After the as-grown $AgGaS_2$, single crystal thin films was annealed in Ag-, S-, and Ga-atmospheres, the origin of point defects of $AgGaS_2$ single crystal thin films has been investigated by the photoluminescence(PL) at 10K. The native defects of $V_{Ag},\;V_s,\;Ag_{int},\;and\;S_{int}$, obtained by PL measurements were classified as a donors or acceptors type. And we concluded that the heat-treatment in the Ag-atmosphere converted $AgGaS_2$ single crystal thin films to an optical n-type. Also, we confirmed that Ga in $AgGaS_2$ crystal thin films did not form the native defects because Ga in $AgGaS_2$ single crystal thin films existed in the form of stable bonds.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.471-478
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• 2010

Thin films play an important role in many technological applications including microelectronic devices, magnetic storage media, MEMS and surface coatings. It is well known that a thin film's material properties can be very different from the corresponding bulk properties and thus there has been a strong need for the development of a reliable test method to measure the mechanical properties of a thin film. We have developed an alternative and convenient test method to overcome the limitations of previous membrane deflection experiment and uniaxial tensile test by adopting a white light interferometer having sub-nanometer out-of-plane displacement resolution. The freestanding aluminium specimens are tested to verity the effectiveness of the test method developed and get the tensile properties. The specimens are 0.5 rum wide, $1{\mu}m$ thick and fabricated through MEMS processes including sputtering. 1 to 5 specimens are fabricated on Si dies. The membrane deflection experiments are carried out by using a homemade tester consisted of a motor-driven loading tip, a load cell, and 6 DOF alignment stages. The test system is compact enough to set it up beneath a commercial white light interferometric microscope. The white light fringes are utilized to align a specimen with the tester. The Young's modulus and yield point stress of the aluminium film are 62 GPa and 247 MPa, respectively.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.141-149
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• 2015

In the fabrication of electronic circuits used in electronic products, molybdenum thin films are deposited on semiconductors to prevent oxidation. During the deposition, the presence of a particle or dust at the interface between the thin film and substrate causes the decrease of adhesion, performance, and life cycle. In this study, a damage measurement targeting two kinds of glass substrate, with and without particles, was performed in order to measure the change in the molybdenum thin film deposition area in the presence of a particle. Clean and dirty molybdenum thin film specimens were fabricated and directly deposited on a substrate using the sputtering method, and a reflection-type digital holographic interferometer was configured for measuring the damage. Reflection-type digital holography has several advantages; e.g., the configuration of the interferometer is simple, the measurement range can be varied depending on the magnification of a microscopic lens, and the measuring time is short. The results confirm that reflection-type digital holography is useful for the measurement of the damage and defects of thin films.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.16-24
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• 2008

Near-field scanning microwave microscope (NSMM) has been used to characterize the electromagnetic properties of samples based on a cavity perturbation technique. We used a NSMM using a waveguide cavity to couple a metallic probe tip as a point like evanescent field emitter. We explained the quality of our NSMM system by applying the cavity perturbation theory. First, to make a shape perturbation, we inserted linear and loop probes in the waveguide resonator. To check up electric and magnetic field distribution inside the waveguide resonator by shape perturbation, we confirmed the field distribution by using a HFSS simulation. Second, to make material perturbation, we located a dielectric sample in front of the probe tip and measured reflection coefficient $(S_{11})$. We found that the resonance frequency$(f_r)$ was changed linearly as the dielectric constant of resonator$({\varepsilon}_r)$ increased when ${\Delta}{\varepsilon}\;and\;{\Delta}{\mu}$ were small.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.368-375
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• 2013

Failure of small bore piping welds is a recurring problem at nuclear power plants. And the socket weld cracking in small bore piping has caused unplanned plant shutdowns for repair and high economic impact on the plants. Consequently, early crack detection, including the detection of manufacturing defects, is of the utmost importance. Until now, the surface inspection methods has been applied according to ASME Section XI requirements. But the ultrasonic inspection as a volumetric method is also applying to enforce the inspection requirement. However, the conventional manual ultrasonic inspection techniques are used to detect service induced fatigue cracks. And there was uncertainty on manual ultrasonic inspection because of limited access to the welds and difficulties with contact between the ultrasonic probe and the OD(outer diameter) surface of small bore piping. In this study, phased array ultrasonic inspection technique is applied to increase inspection speed and reliability. To achieve this object, the 3.5 MHz phased array ultrasonic transducer are designed and fabricated. The manually encoded scanner was also developed to enhance contact conditions and maintain constant signal quality. Additionally inspection system is configured and inspection procedure is developed.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.341-348
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• 2016

Harbor facilities require long-term durability and safety, and also maintain the performance requirement until the durability life. However, existing harbor facilities are becoming superannuated with durable years and durability is declined by erosion of the sea and damage from sea. In addition, harbor facilities will be in demand for the expansion of harbor and offshore structures with rising economic power by enhancement of domestic industry and increase of import and export. Therefore, in this study, two kinds of nondestructive test (NDT) techniques (schmidt rebound hammer and ultrasonic sensor) are verified for the effective maintenance of underwater concrete structures including harbor facilities. Sea field applicability of Schmidt hammer and ultrasonic sensor was verified by comparing field test result with sea field test result and also deduced the compressive strength estimation equation by depth of the water. On the basis of the sea field test result, compressive strength estimation equation which was deduced by multiple regression analysis indicated highest accuracy compared to other equations, especially it will be more likely to be used in underwater because of the depth of water correction. In the future, if schmidt hammer and ultrasonic sensor which were invented as waterproofing are used with ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle), it will be possible to make a diagnosis of high reliability for underwater concrete structures and set up a ubiquitous concept of NDT system.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.237-243
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• 1995

We have studied methods of detecting attenuation of solid materials such as silicon wafer and piezoelectric $LiTaO_3$ by means of optical probing techniques. We have performed measurements of surface acoustic waves(SAW) generated from 90 degree wedge type transducer and also from inter-digital transducers(IDT). SAW of 20.0 MHz was generated on a silicon wafer from the 90 degree wedge type transducer and those of 20.8 and 14.5 MHz are generated on a $LiTaO_3$ from the IDT. Then any surface-corrugation resulted from the above SAW was investigated by He-Ne laser beams. We projected laser beams, which were modulated by an optical chopper, on the SAW of the same frequency and then measured the scattered beam by the lock-in amplifier. We modulated and synchronized both SAW and the incident laser beam as well as the phase sensitive detector(PSD) to the same frequency in order to simplify our measurement system. We obtained the attenuation coefficients of SAW to be $0.62{\sim}0.75dB/mm$(from IDT1, 20.8 MHz), and $0.60{\sim}0.72dB/mm$(from IDT2, 14.5 MHz), $0.83{\sim}1.28dB/mm$(from the wedge type), respectively.