• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.4
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• pp.1250-1258
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• 2021

In this paper, the mechanical performance of cracked surface-coated Zircaloy cladding, which has different coating materials, coating thicknesses and initial crack lengths, has been investigated. By analyzing the stress field near the crack tip, the safety zone range of initial crack length has been decided. In order to determine whether the crack can propagate along the radial (r) or axial (z) directions, the energy release rate has been calculated. By comparing the energy release rate with fracture toughness of materials, we can divide the initial crack lengths into three zones: safety zone, discussion zone and danger zone. The results show that Cr is suitable coating material for the cladding with a thin coating while Fe-Cr-Al have a better fracture mechanical performance in the cladding with thick coating. The Si-coated and SiC-coated claddings are suitable for reactors with low power fuel elements. Conclusions in this paper can provide reference and guidance for the cladding design of nuclear fuel elements.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
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• 2000.11a
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• pp.3-4
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• 2000

Many researchers are interested in the synthesis and characterization of carbon nitride and diamond-like carbon (DLq because they show excellent mechanical properties such as low friction and high wear resistance and excellent electrical properties such as controllable electical resistivity and good field electron emission. We have deposited amorphous carbon nitride (a-C:N) thin films and DLC thin films by shielded arc ion plating (SAIP) and evaluated the structural and tribological properties. The application of appropriate negative bias on substrates is effective to increase the film hardness and wear resistance. This paper reports on the deposition and tribological OLC films in relation to the substrate bias voltage (Vs). films are compared with those of the OLC films. A high purity sintered graphite target was mounted on a cathode as a carbon source. Nitrogen or argon was introduced into a deposition chamber through each mass flow controller. After the initiation of an arc plasma at 60 A and 1 Pa, the target surface was heated and evaporated by the plasma. Carbon atoms and clusters evaporated from the target were ionized partially and reacted with activated nitrogen species, and a carbon nitride film was deposited onto a Si (100) substrate when we used nitrogen as a reactant gas. The surface of the growing film also reacted with activated nitrogen species. Carbon macropartic1es (0.1 -100 maicro-m) evaporated from the target at the same time were not ionized and did not react fully with nitrogen species. These macroparticles interfered with the formation of the carbon nitride film. Therefore we set a shielding plate made of stainless steel between the target and the substrate to trap the macropartic1es. This shielding method is very effective to prepare smooth a-CN films. We, therefore, call this method "shielded arc ion plating (SAIP)". For the deposition of DLC films we used argon instead of nitrogen. Films of about 150 nm in thickness were deposited onto Si substrates. Their structures, chemical compositions and chemical bonding states were analyzed by using X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and infrared spectroscopy. Hardness of the films was measured with a nanointender interfaced with an atomic force microscope (AFM). A Berkovich-type diamond tip whose radius was less than 100 nm was used for the measurement. A force-displacement curve of each film was measured at a peak load force of 250 maicro-N. Load, hold and unload times for each indentation were 2.5, 0 and 2.5 s, respectively. Hardness of each film was determined from five force-displacement curves. Wear resistance of the films was analyzed as follows. First, each film surface was scanned with the diamond tip at a constant load force of 20 maicro-N. The tip scanning was repeated 30 times in a 1 urn-square region with 512 lines at a scanning rate of 2 um/ s. After this tip-scanning, the film surface was observed in the AFM mode at a constant force of 5 maicro-N with the same Berkovich-type tip. The hardness of a-CN films was less dependent on Vs. The hardness of the film deposited at Vs=O V in a nitrogen plasma was about 10 GPa and almost similar to that of Si. It slightly increased to 12 - 15 GPa when a bias voltage of -100 - -500 V was applied to the substrate with showing its maximum at Vs=-300 V. The film deposited at Vs=O V was least wear resistant which was consistent with its lowest hardness. The biased films became more wear resistant. Particularly the film deposited at Vs=-300 V showed remarkable wear resistance. Its wear depth was too shallow to be measured with AFM. On the other hand, the DLC film, deposited at Vs=-l00 V in an argon plasma, whose hardness was 35 GPa was obviously worn under the same wear test conditions. The a-C:N films show higher wear resistance than DLC films and are useful for wear resistant coatings on various mechanical and electronic parts.nic parts.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers Conference
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• 2001.11a
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• pp.35-42
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• 2001

Nanotribological characteristics between a Si$_3$N$_4$ AFM tip and hydrophobic thin films were experimentally studied. Tests were performed to measure the nano adhesion and friction in both AFM(atomic force microscope) and LFM(lateral force microscope) modes in various ranges of normal load. Plasma-modified thin polymeric films were deposited on Si-wafer (100). Results showed that wetting angle of plasma-modified thin polymeric film increased with the treating time, which resulted in the hydrophobic surface and the decrease of adhesion and friction. Nanotribological characteristics of these surfaces were compared with those of other hydrophobic surfaces, such as DLC, OTS and IBAD-Ag coated surfaces. Those of OTS coated surface was superior to those of others, though wetting angle of plasma-modified thin polymeric film is higher.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.35-38
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• 2012

In this study, we have attempted to characterize the photovoltaic effect in real-time measurement of photoinduced current in a poly-Si-based solar cell using photoconductive atomic force microscopy (PC-AFM). However, the high contact resistance that originates from the metal-semiconductor Schottky contact disturbs the current flow and makes it difficult to measure the photoinduced current. To solve this problem, a thin metallic film has been coated on the surface of the device, which successfully decreases the contact resistance. In the PC-AFM analysis, we used a metal-coated conducting cantilever tip as the top electrode of the solar cell and light from a halogen lamp was irradiated on the PC-AFM scanning region. As the light intensity becomes stronger, the current value increases up to $200{\mu}A$ at 80 W, as more electrons and hole carriers are generated because of the photovoltaic effect. The ratio of the conducting area at different conditions was calculated, and it showed a behavior similar to that generated by a photoinduced current. On analyzing the PC-AFM measurement results, we have verified the correlation between the light intensity and photoinduced current of the poly-Si-based solar cell in nanometer scale.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.295-300
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• 2000

Uniform silicon tip arrays were fabricated using the reactive ion etching followed by the reoxidation sharpening, and the effect of Pd-coated layer on electron emission characteristics was studied. The electron emission from Si field emitter arrays(FEAs) was a little, but improved by removing surface oxide on the FEA, but pronounced drastically by coating a $100-{\AA}-thick$ Pd metal layer. The turn-on voltage in the Pd-coated Si FEAs was reduced by 30 V in comparison with that in uncoated ones. This results from the increase of surface roughness at the tip apex by the Pd coating on Si FEA, via the decrease of the apex radius at which electrons are emitting. The Pd-coated emitters showed superior operating stability over a wide current range to that of the uncoated ones. This suggests that Pd coating enhances the high temperature stability and the surface inertness Si FEA.

• Journal of Information Display
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.60-65
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• 2001

Lateral type poly-silicon field emitters were fabricated by utilizing the LOCOS (Local Oxidation of Silicon) process. For the implementation 'of an ideal field emission device with quasi-zero tunneling barrier, a new and fundamental approach has used conducted by introducing an intelligent carbon-based thin layer on the cathode tip surface via a field-assisted self-aligning of carbon (FASAC) process. Fundamental lowering of the turn-on field for the electron emission was feasible through the control of both the tip shape and surface barrier height.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Machine Tool Engineers Conference
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• 2004.04a
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• pp.530-537
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• 2004

Development of a versatile nanomanipulation tool is an overarching theme in nanotechnology. Such a tool will likely revolutionize the field given that it will enable fabrication and operation of a wealth of interesting nanodevices. This study seeks funding to create a novel nanomanipulation system with the ultimate goal of using this system for nanomanufacturing at the molecular level. The proposed design differs from existing approaches. It is based on a nanoscale ion trap integrated to a scanning prove microscope (SPM) tip. In this design, molecules to be assembled will be ionized and collected in the nanoscale ion trap all in an ultra high vacuum (UHV) environment. Once filled with the molecular ions, the nanoscale ion trap-SPM tip will be moved on a substrate surface using scanning probe microscopy techniques. The molecular ions will be placed at their precise locations on the surface. By virtue of the SPM, the devices that are being nanomanufactured will be imaged in real time as the molecular assembly process is carried out. In the later stages, automation of arrays of these nanomanipulators will be developed.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.32 no.7
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• pp.529-535
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• 2008

The characteristics of combustion process in an internal combustion engine are affected by the mixing process between injected fuel and ambient gas. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the mixture formation process of diesel spray. In this study, the spray structure was visualized by the exciplex fluorescence method, which can provide the simultaneous 2-D images of vapor and liquid phase in inner spray. For accurate investigation, the liquid-phase images were recorded with a 35mm still camera and CCD camera. Consequentially, it could be confirmed that the high-concentration vapor phase is formed in the region of spray tip and the edge of the liquid phase where droplets exist in the evaporating diesel spray, and the formed vapor is spread by diffusion. Also, the distribution of vapor is determined by the motion of droplets that exist in the edge of the liquid phase and the spray-tip region.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.516-520
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• 2009

This study describes aerodynamic characteristics for the HAWT (Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine) rotor blade using general CFD(Computational Fluid Dynamics) code. The boundary conditions for analysis are validated with the experimental result by the NREL (National Renewable Energy Laboratory)/NASA Ames wind tunnel test for S809 airfoil. In the case of wind turbine rotor blade, complex phenomena are appeared such as flow separation and re-attachment. Those are handled by using a commercial flow analysis tool. The 2-equation k-$\omega$ SST turbulence model and transition model appear to be well suited for the prediction. The 3-dimensional phenomena in the HAWT rotor blade is simulated by a commercial 3-D aerodynamic analysis tool. Tip vortex geometry and Radial direction flows along the blade are checked by the analysis.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.61 no.1
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• pp.12-15
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• 2017

We presented a mapping the work function of the vanadium pentoxide ($V_2O_5$) nanonet structures by scanning Kelvin probe microscopy (SKPM). In this measurement, the $V_2O_5$ nanonet was self-assembled via dropping the solution of $V_2O_5$ nanowires (NWs) onto the $SiO_2$ substrate and drying the solvent, resulting in the networks of $V_2O_5$ NWs. We found that the SKPM signal as a surface potential of $V_2O_5$ nanonet is attributed to the contact potential difference (CPD) between the work functions of the metal tip and the $V_2O_5$ nanonet. We generated the histograms of the CPD signals obtained from the SKPM mapping of the $V_2O_5$ nanonet as well as the highly ordered pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) which is used as a reference for the calibration of the SKPM tip. By using the histogram peaks of the CPD signals, we successfully estimated the work function of ~5.1 eV for the $V_2O_5$ nanonet structures. This work provides a possibility of a nanometer-scale imaging of the work function of the various nanostructures and helps to understand the electrical characteristics of the future electronic devices.