• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제52권9호
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• pp.2054-2063
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• 2020

The high-temperature oxidation behavior of ZrSi₂ used as a coating material for nuclear fuel cladding was investigated for developing accident-tolerant fuel cladding of light water reactors. Bulk ZrSi₂ samples were prepared by spark plasma sintering. In situ X-ray diffraction was conducted in air at 900, 1000, and 1100 ℃ for 20 h. The microstructures of the samples before and after oxidation were examined by scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. The results showed that the oxide layer of zirconium silicide exhibited a layer-by-layer structure of crystalline ZrO₂ and amorphous SiO₂, and the high-temperature oxidation resistance was superior to that of Zircaloy-4 owing to the SiO₂ layer formed. ZrSi₂ was coated on the Zircaloy-4 tube surface using laser 3D printing, and the coated tube was oxidized for 2000 s at 1200 ℃ under a vapor/argon mixture atmosphere. The outer surface of the coated tube was hardly oxidized (10-30 ㎛), while the inner surface of the uncoated tube was significantly oxidized to approximately 300 ㎛.

• 열처리공학회지
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• 제25권5호
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• pp.227-232
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• 2012

Magnesium alloy have good physical properties such as good castability, good vibration absorption, high strength/weight ratios. Despite the desirable properties, the poor resistance of Mg alloy impedes their use in many various applications. Therefore, magnesium alloy require surface treatment to improve hardness, corrosion and wear resistance. Plasma Electrolytic Oxidation (PEO) is one the surface treatment methods to form oxide layer on Mg alloy in alkali electrolyte. In comparison with Anodizing, there is environmental process having higher hardness and faster deposition rate. In this study, the characteristics of oxide film were examined after coating the AZ31 Mg alloy through the PEO process. We changed concentration of sodium aluminate into $K_2ZrF_6$, KF base electrolyte. The morphologies of the coating layer were characterized by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Corrosion resistance also investigated by potentiodynamic polarization analysis. As a result, propertiy of oxide layer were changed by concentration of sodium aluminate. Increasing with concentration of sodium aluminate in electrolyte, the oxidation layer was denser and the pore size was smaller on the surface.

• Applied Microscopy
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• 제43권4호
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• pp.173-176
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• 2013

The oxidation behavior of the crystallized $Al_{87}Ni_3Y_{10}$ alloy has been investigated with an aim to compare with that of the amorphous $Al_{87}Ni_3Y_{10}$ alloy. The oxidation at 873 K occurs as follows: (1) growth of an amorphous aluminum-yttrium oxide layer (~10 nm) after heating up to 873 K; and (2) formation of $YAlO_3$ crystalline oxide (~220 nm) after annealing for 30 hours at 873 K. Such an overall oxidation step indicates that the oxidation behavior in the crystallized $Al_{87}Ni_3Y_{10}$ alloy occurs in the same way as in the amorphous $Al_{87}Ni_3Y_{10}$ alloy. The simultaneous presence of aluminum and yttrium in the oxide layer significantly enhances the thermal stability of the amorphous structure in the oxide phase. Since the structure of aluminum-yttrium oxide is dense due to the large difference in ionic radius between aluminum and yttrium ions, the diffusion of oxygen ion through the amorphous oxide layer is limited thus stabilizing the amorphous structure of the oxide phase.

• 한국전기전자재료학회논문지
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• 제26권1호
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• pp.18-21
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• 2013

$SiO_2$ layer grown by rapid thermal oxidation and $SiN_x$ layer were used for passivating the surface of n-type silicon solar cell, instead of only $SiN_x$ layer generally used in photovoltaic industry. The rapid thermal oxidation provides the reduction of processing time and avoids bulk life time degradation during the processing. Improvement of 30 mV in Voc and $2.7mA/cm^2$ in Jsc was obtained by applying these two layers. This improvement led to fabrication of a large area ($239cm^2$) n-type solar cell with 17.34% efficiency. Internal quantum efficiency measurement indicates that the improvement comes from the front side passivation, but not the rear side, by using $SiO_2/SiN_x$ stack.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제52권10호
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• pp.2299-2305
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• 2020

Zr alloy specimens were coated with Cr-Al alloy to enhance their resistance to oxidation. The coated samples were oxidized at 1200 ℃ in a steam environment for 300 s and showed extremely low oxidation when compared to uncoated Zr alloy specimens. The microstructure and elemental distribution of the oxides formed on the surface of Cr-Al alloys have been investigated by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). A very thin protective layer of Cr₂O₃ formed on the outer surface of the Cr-Al alloy, and a thin Al₂O₃ layer was also observed in the Cr-Al alloy matrix, near the surface. Our results suggest that these two oxide layers near the surface confers excellent oxidation resistance to the Cr-Al alloy. Even after exposure to a high temperature of 1200 ℃, inter-diffusion between the Cr-Al alloy and the Zr alloy occurred in very few regions near the interface. Analysis of the inter-diffusion layer by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) measurement confirmed its identity as Cr₂Zr.

• 한국재료학회지
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• 제9권6호
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• pp.609-614
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• 1999

The effect of the amount of $SiO_2$dopant on the behavior of $AlO_2$$O_3$-composite formation by melt oxdation of Al-alloy was examined in this paper. The $SiO_2$powder was spread on the top surface of the Al-1Mg-3-Si-5Zn-1Cu alloy in th alumina crucible. The selected amount of each powder was 0.03, 0.10, 0.16g/$\textrm{cm}^2$. The oxidation behavior was determined by observing the weight gain after the heat treatment for 10 hours at 1373K. The macroscopic structure of formed oxide layer was examined by an optical microscope. The top surface and the cross-section of the grown oxide layer were investigated by SEM and analysed by EDX. The $SiO_2$ powder was determined to enhance oxidation by thermit reaction with Al which reduced the growth incubation period of the oxidation layer. As the amount of the $SiO_2$dopant increased, the growth rate decreased due to the precipitated Si which blocked the Al-alloy channel in the composite materials. However, more uniform layer was obtained due to the occurrance of the enhanced oxidation reaction in the whole alloy surface compared to the case of addition of less amount of dopant.

• 동력기계공학회지
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• 제11권2호
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• pp.44-50
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• 2007

The oxidation behavior of commercial pure titanium is investigated in the temperature range of $727^{\circ}C{\sim}950^{\circ}C$ in mixed gases. The weight change is measured by TGA during oxidation in mixed gases. The oxidation behavior indicated by weight gain or the growth of oxide layer is based on the linear rate law at high temperatures. The structure of the oxide scale formed during oxidation is analysed by optical microscopy, electron probe microanalyzer, scanning electron microscope and x-ray diffraction. Oxide scales have a $TiO_2$ structure, and are constituted with multi-layered or two layered porous external one and a dense internal one. Ti-O solid solution region is formed at the interface of metal and scale layer. The formation of oxide scale is influenced by the oxidation temperature, time, crystal structure and the condition of atmosphere.

• 한국표면공학회지
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• 제30권2호
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• pp.93-103
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• 1997

High temperature materials used in the elevated temperature and corrosive atmosphere must have the good oxidation resistance and preserve their own mechanical properties simultaneously. For the oxidation resistance, it is very important to form a protective oxide scale such as $Al_2O_3$ or $Cr_2O_3$ on the substrate. However, the additions of protective oxide forming elements such as Cr and Al in the alloy to enhance its oxidation resistance are limited due to the deleterious effects on their mechanical properties. PECVD(P1asma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition) coating processes were employed to improve the oxidation resistance at high temperature. Cr and/or A1 were coated on the substrates of Ni and Inconel 600 at various temperatures of 400, 500, $600^{\circ}C$ and at different conditions of specimen surfaces. Then, coated specimens were exposed to isothermal and cyclic oxidation conditions in air at 1000 and $1100^{\circ}C$. In order to enhance the adhesion between the substrate and coated layer, heat treatments of the coated specimens were conducted in a vacuum. At isothermal oxidation experiments, Al-coated Ni specimen showed better oxidation resistance than pure Ni. At cyclic oxidation experiments at $1000^{\circ}C$. Cr and Al-coated specimen showed better oxidation resistance. Cr-coated Inconel 600 had also showed better oxidation resistance due to Cr in the substrate. By PECVD coating process, oxidation resistance could be improved, but it was not improved as expected due to the weakness of the adhesion between the substrate and the coated layer.

• 한국재료학회지
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• 제20권4호
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• pp.217-222
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• 2010

Zirconium diboride (ZrB2) and mixed diboride of (Zr0.7Ta0.3)B2 containing 30 vol.% silicon carbide (SiC) composites were prepared by hot-pressing at $1800^{\circ}C$. XRD analysis identified the high crystalline metal diboride-SiC composites at $1800^{\circ}C$. The TaB2 addition to ZrB2-SiC showed a slight peak shift to a higher angle of 2-theta of ZrB2, which confirmed the presence of a homogeneous solid solution. Elastic modulus, hardness and fracture toughness were slightly increased by addition of TaB2. A volatility diagram was calculated to understand the oxidation behavior. Oxidation behavior was investigated at $1500^{\circ}C$ under ambient and low oxygen partial pressure (pO2~10-8 Pa). In an ambient environment, the TaB2 addition to the ZrB2-SiC improved the oxidation resistance over entire range of evaluated temperatures by formation of a less porous oxide layer beneath the surface SiO2. Exposure of metal boride-SiC at low pO2 resulted in active oxidation of SiC due to the high vapor pressure of SiO (g), and, as a result, it produced a porous surface layer. The depth variations of the oxidized layer were measured by SEM. In the ZrB2-SiC composite, the thickness of the reaction layer linearly increased as a function of time and showed active oxidation kinetics. The TaB2 addition to the ZrB2-SiC composite showed improved oxidation resistance with slight deviation from the linearity in depth variation.

• 한국전기전자재료학회논문지
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• 제15권4호
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• pp.373-379
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• 2002

We investigated the evolution of magnetoresistance and magnetic property of tunneling magnetoresistive(TMR) device with microstructure and plasma oxidation time. TMR devices have potential applications for non volatile MRAM and high density HDD reading head. We prepared the tunnel magnetoresistance(TMR) devices of Ta($50{\AA}$)/NiFe($50{\AA}$)/IrMn($150{\AA}$)/CoFe($50{\AA}$)/Al($13{\AA}$)-O/CoFe($40{\AA}$)/FiFe($400{\AA}$)/Ta(($50{\AA}$) structure which have $100{\times}100\mu\textrm{m}^2$ junction area on $2.5{\times}2.5\textrm{cm}^2$ Si/$SiO_2$(($1000{\AA}$) substrates by an inductively coupled plasma(ICP) magnetron sputter. We fabricated the insulating layer using an ICP plasma oxidation method by with various oxidation time from 30 sec to 360 sec, and measured resistances and magnetoresistance(MR) ratios of TMR devices. We found that the oxidized sample for oxidation time of 80 sec showed the highest MR radio of 30.31 %, while the calculated value regarding inhomogeneous current effect indicated 25.18 %. We used transmission electron microscope(TEM) to investigate microstructural evolution of insulating layer. Comparing the cross-sectional TEM images at oxidation time of 150 sec and 360 sec, we found that the thickness and thickness variation of 360 sec-oxidized insulating layer became 30% and 40% larger than those of 150 sec-oxidized layer, repectively. Therefore, our results imply that increase of thickness variation with oxidation time may be one of the major treasons of the MR decrease.