• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.7
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• pp.2584-2594
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• 2024

A novel approach to incorporating oxide formers into ferritic ODS production has been developed using the co-precipitation technique. This method enables the tailored design of complex nano-oxides, integrated during Mechanical Alloying (MA) and precipitated during Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS) consolidation. Findings illustrate that co-precipitation effectively produces nano-powders with customised compositions, enriching Y, Ti, and Zr in the ferritic grade to condition subsequent oxide precipitation. While the addition of Y-Ti-Zr-O nano-oxides did not prevent the formation of Y-Al-O and Al-containing nano-oxides, these were refined thanks to the presence of well-dispersed Zr. Additionally, the Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS) parameters were optimised to tailor the bimodal grain size distribution of the ODS steels, aiming for favourable strength-to-ductility ratios. Comprehensive microstructural analyses were performed using SEM, EDS, EBSD, and TEM techniques, alongside mechanical assessments involving microtensile tests conducted at room temperature and small punch tests carried out at room temperature, 300 ℃, and 500 ℃. The outcomes yielded promising findings, showcasing similar or better performance with conventionally manufactured ODS steels. This reinforces the effectiveness and success of this innovative approach.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.7
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• pp.2376-2385
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• 2022

Two groups of oxide dispersion-strengthened reduced-activation ferritic/martensitic steels (A and B) were prepared by adding Y, Ti, and Zr into steels through vacuum induction melting to investigate the inclusions, microstructures, mechanical properties of the alloys. Results showed that particles with Y, Ti, and Zr easily formed. Massive, Zr-rich inclusions were found in B steel. Density of micron inclusions in A steel was 1.42 × 10¹⁴ m^-3, and density of nanoparticles was 3.61 × 10¹⁶ m^-3. More and finer MX carbides were found in steel tempered at 650 ℃, and yield strengths (YS) of A and B steel were 714±2 and 664±3.5 MPa. Thermomechanical processing (TMP) retained many dislocations, which improved the mechanical properties. YSs of A and B treated by TMP were 725±3 and 683±4 MPa. The existence of massive Zr-rich inclusions in B steels interrupted the continuity of the matrix and produced microcracks (fracture), which caused a reduction in mechanical properties. The presence of fine prior austenite grain size and inclusions was attributed to the low DBTTs of the A steels; DBTTs of A650 and A700 alloy were -79 and -65 ℃. Tempering temperature reduction and TMP are simple, readily useable methods that can lead to a superior balance of strength and impact toughness in industry applications.

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 2005.05a
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• pp.471-472
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• 2005

After thermal aging treatment at 693 K for 322 hours, any discernable precipitation could not be found in the $13{\sim}22$ Cr ODS steels, but showing an increase in SP-DBTT and reduction in upper shelf energy. The degree of aging embrittlement increases with Cr content such that the increases in SP-DBTT are 10, 50 and 73 K in 13, 16 and 19 Cr ODS steel, respectively. Amount of hardening also increased linearly as a function of Cr content. Based on the TEM observation, the origin of hardening must be related to the invisibly fine size of Cr-rich ${\acute{\alpha}}-phase$ (<1 nm).

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.6
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• pp.2139-2146
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• 2023

During reactor operation, the divertor must withstand unprecedented simultaneous high heat fluxes and high-energy neutron irradiation. The extremely severe service environment of the divertor imposes a huge challenge to the bonding quality of divertor joints, i.e., the joints must withstand thermal, mechanical and neutron loads, as well as cyclic mode of operation. In this paper, potassium-doped tungsten (KW) is selected as the plasma facing material (PFM), oxygen-free copper (OFC) as the interlayer, oxide dispersion strengthened copper (ODS-Cu) alloy as the heat sink material, and reduced activation ferritic/martensitic (RAFM) steel as the structural material. In this study, a vacuum brazing technology is proposed and optimized to bond Cu and ODS-Cu alloy with the silver-free brazing material CuSnTi. The most appropriate brazing parameters are a brazing temperature of 940 ℃ and a holding time of 15 min. High-quality bonding interfaces have been successfully obtained by vacuum brazing technology, and the average shear strength of the as-obtained KW/Cu and ODS-Cu alloy joints is ~268 MPa. And a fabrication route for manufacturing the flat-type divertor target based on brazing technology is set. For evaluating the reliability of the fabrication technologies under the reactor relevant condition, the high heat flux test at 20 MW/m² for the as-manufactured flat-type KW/Cu/ODS-Cu/RAFM mockup is carried out by using the Electron-beam Material testing Scenario (EMS-60) with water cooling. This paper reports the improved vacuum brazing technology to connect Cu to ODS-Cu alloy and summarizes the production route, high heat flux (HHF) test, the pre and post non-destructive examination, and the surface results of the flat-type KW/Cu/ODS-Cu/RAFM mockup after the HHF test. The test results demonstrate that the mockup manufactured according to the fabrication route still have structural and interfacial integrity under cyclic high heat loads.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.2
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• pp.337-343
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• 2020

Oxide dispersed strengthened (ODS) steel is an important candidate for Gen-IV reactors. Oxide embedded in Fe can help to trap irradiation defects and enhances the strength of steel. It was observed in this study that the size of oxide has a profound impact on the depinning mechanism. For smaller sizes, the oxide acts as a void; thus, letting the dislocation bypass without any shear. On the other hand, oxides larger than 2 nm generate new dislocation segments around themselves. The depinning is similar to that of Orowan mechanism and the strengthening effect is likely to be greater for larger oxides. It was found that higher shear deformation rates produce more fine-tuned stress-strain curve. Both molecular dynamics (MD) simulations and BKS (Bacon-Knocks-Scattergood) model display similar characteristics whereby establishing an inverse relation between the depinning stress and the obstacle distance. It was found that (110)_oxide || (111)_Fe (oriented oxide) also had similar characteristics as that of (100)_oxide || (111)_Fe but resulted in an increased depinning stress thereby providing greater resistance to dislocation bypass. Our simulation results concluded that critical depinning stress depends significantly on the size and orientation of the oxide.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.133-140
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• 2017

This study investigates the oxidation properties of Fe-14Cr ferritic oxide-dispersion-strengthened (ODS) steel at various high temperatures (900, 1000, and $1100^{\circ}C$ for 24 h). The initial microstructure shows that no clear structural change occurs even under high-temperature heat treatment, and the average measured grain size is 0.4 and $1.1{\mu}m$ for the as-fabricated and heat-treated specimens, respectively. Y-Ti-O nanoclusters 10-50 nm in size are observed. High-temperature oxidation results show that the weight increases by 0.27 and $0.29mg/cm^2$ for the as-fabricated and heat-treated ($900^{\circ}C$) specimens, and by 0.47 and $0.50mg/cm^2$ for the as-fabricated and heat-treated ($1000^{\circ}C$) specimens, respectively. Further, after 24 h oxidation tests, the weight increases by 56.50 and $100.60mg/cm^2$ for the as-fabricated and heat-treated ($1100^{\circ}C$) specimens, respectively; the latter increase is approximately 100 times higher than that at $1000^{\circ}C$. Observation of the surface after the oxidation test shows that $Cr_2O_3$ is the main oxide on a specimen tested at $1000^{\circ}C$, whereas $Fe_2O_3$ and $Fe_3O_4$ phases also form on a specimen tested at $1100^{\circ}C$, where the weight increases rapidly. The high-temperature oxidation behavior of Fe-14Cr ODS steel is confirmed to be dominated by changes in the $Cr_2O_3$ layer and generation of Fe-based oxides through evaporation.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.298-301
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• 2017

In the present work, we use multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) as the starting material for the fabrication of sintered carbon steel. A comparison is made with conventionally sintered carbon steel, where graphite is used as the starting material. Milling is performed using a horizontal mill sintered in a vacuum furnace. We analyze the grain size, number of pores, X-ray diffraction patterns, and microstructure. Changes in the physical properties are determined by using the Archimedes method and Vickers hardness measurements. The result shows that the use of MWCNTs instead of graphite significantly reduces the size and volume of the pores as well as the grain size after sintering. The addition of $Y_2O_3$.to the Fe-MWCNT samples further inhibits the growth of grains.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.572-594
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• 2016

As one of the Gen-IV nuclear energy systems, a sodium-cooled fast reactor (SFR) is being developed at the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute. As a long-term national research project, advanced radiation resistant oxide dispersion strengthened steel (ARROS) is being developed as an in-core fuel cladding tube material for a SFR in the future. In this paper, the current status of ARROS development is reviewed and its future prospective is discussed.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.269-274
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• 2013

The present work investigated the dispersion behavior of $Y_2O_3$ particles into AISI 316L SS manufactured using laser cladding technology. The starting particles were produced by high energy ball milling in 10 min for prealloying, which has a trapping effect and homogeneous dispersion of $Y_2O_3$ particles, followed by laser cladding using $CO_2$ laser source. The phase and crystal structures of the cladded alloys were examined by XRD, and the cross section was characterized using SEM. The detailed microstructure was also studied through FE-TEM. The results clearly indicated that as the amount of $Y_2O_3$ increased, micro-sized defects consisted of coarse $Y_2O_3$ were increased. It was also revealed that homogeneously distributed spherical precipitates were amorphous silicon oxides containing yttrium. This study represents much to a new technology for the manufacture and maintenance of ODS alloys.