• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제54권2호
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• pp.709-731
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• 2022

Loss of fracture resistance due to thermal aging degradation is a potential limiting factor affecting the long-term (80+ year) viability of nuclear reactors. To evaluate the effects of decades of aging in a practical time frame, accelerated aging must be employed prior to mechanical characterization. In this study, a variety of chemically and microstructurally diverse austenitic stainless steels were aged between 0 and 30,000 h at 290-400 ℃ to simulate 0-80+ years of operation. Over 600 static fracture tests were carried out between room temperature and 400 ℃. The results presented include selected J-R curves of each material as well as K_0.2mm fracture toughness values mapped against aging condition and ferrite content in order to display any trends related to those variables. Results regarding differences in processing, optimal ferrite content under light aging, and the relationship between test temperature and Mo content were observed. Overall, it was found that both the ferrite volume fraction and molybdenum content had significant effects on thermal degradation susceptibility. It was determined that materials with >25 vol% ferrite are unlikely to be viable for 80 years, particularly if they have high Mo contents (>2 wt%), while materials less than 15 vol% ferrite are viable regardless of Mo content.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• 제22권4호
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• pp.242-251
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• 2023

The electrochemical corrosion behaviors of 304 stainless steels (STSs) with various coatings (organic coating and dry coating) were examined, and their applicability as bipolar plates in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) was validated. The results showed that the organic-coated samples had a significant decrease in anodic and cathodic current density compared to the uncoated sample. However, an increase in carbon black content in the organic coating or additional heat treatment at 700 ℃ resulted in a decrease in corrosion resistance. In addition, improvements in corrosion resistance achieved by adding TiO₂ powder to the organic coating were found to be limited. In contrast, dry coating with TiC and CrC exhibited higher corrosion potential, significantly lower current density, and reduced contact resistance compared to the organic coatings. Notably, the TiC-coated sample showed a comparatively lower current density and more stable behavior than the CrC-coated sample. Based on a series of experimental results, a thin TiC coating without defects is proposed as a promising surface treatment strategy for STS bipolar plates in PEMFC.

• 대한용접접합학회:학술대회논문집
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• 대한용접접합학회 2002년도 Proceedings of the International Welding/Joining Conference-Korea
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• pp.70-75
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• 2002

The penetration potential of TIG welding in one single run is limited, though the process itself generates high quality welds with good weld cosmetics. This is one of the main reasons, which has contributed to its development in high duty applications such as those encountered in aeronautical, aerospace, nuclear & power plant applications. For these applications, stainless steels, titanium k nickel based alloys are most often used. As these materials remain very sensible to weld heat input k atmospheric pollution, stringent processing conditions are imposed. For example welding of titanium alloys requires argon shielding of weld zone and for 5 mm thick plates multi-pass runs & filler additions are required. This multi-run operation not only raises the welding cost, but also increases defect risks. In recent years, extensive interest has been raised by the possibility to increase weld penetrations through flux applications & the process is designated ATIG-activated TIG, or FBTIG-flux bounded TIG. The improved welding performance of such flux assisted TIG is related to arc constriction and surface tension effects on weld pool. The research work by authors has lead to the formulation of welding fluxes for stainless steels k titanium alloys with TIG Process. These fluxes are now commercialized & some applications in industry have already been carried out. FBTIG for aluminum has been proposed with silica application for AC mode TIG welding. The paper highlights the fundamentals of flux role in TIG welding and illustrates some industrial applications.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제55권2호
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• pp.555-565
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• 2023

Despite many advantages as structural materials, austenitic stainless steels (SSs) have been avoided in many next generation nuclear systems due to poor void swelling resistance. In this paper, we report the results of heavy ion irradiation to the recently developed advanced radiation resistant austenitic SS (ARES-6P) with nanosized NbC precipitates. Heavy ion irradiation was performed at high temperatures (500 ℃ and 575 ℃) to the damage level of ~200 displacement per atom (dpa). The measured void swelling of ARES-6P was 2-3%, which was considerably less compared to commercial 316 SS and comparable to ferritic martensitic steels. In addition, increment of hardness measured by nano-indentation was much smaller for ARES-6P compared to 316 SS. Though some nanosized NbC precipitates were dissociated under relatively high dose rate (~5.0 × 10^-4 dpa/s), sufficient number of NbC precipitates remained to act as sink sites for the point defects, resulting in such superior radiation resistance.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• 제8권2호
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• pp.70-79
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• 1990

Stainless clad steels were made through hot rolling process. Backing plates employed in this study were HSLA steel and mild steel. The shear bond strength increased with an increase of the soaking temperature and time. It was also found that the shear bond strength increased with an increase of the reduction ratio. The threshold deformation was observed to be 20% and 10% respectively when the soaking conditions of 15 min. at 900.deg. C and 30 min. at 1000.deg. C were applied. Either the rolling or the transverse direction did not give any significant difference in the shear bond strength. Stainless steel-HSLA steel was superior to stainless steel-mild steel in the same range of magnitude. Because the above experimental results were in contrary to the existing mechanisms, the new model was proposed to describe the bonding mechanism and the void formation.

• 열처리공학회지
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• 제24권1호
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• pp.3-9
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• 2011

Plasma nitriding of stainless steels has been investigated over a range of temperature from 400 to $500^{\circ}C$ and time from 10 to 20 hours. Characterization of systematic materials was carried out in terms of mechanical properties and corrosion behaviors. The results showed that plasma nitriding conducted at low temperatures not only increased the surface hardness, but also improved the corrosion resistance of STS 316L, STS409L, and STS 420J2. It was found that plasma-nitriding treatment at $500^{\circ}C$ resulted in increasing the corrosion performance of STS 409L and STS 420J2, while STS 316L was observed with server and massive damage on surface due to the formation of CrN.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• 제9권5호
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• pp.209-215
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• 2010

To elucidate the effect of aging time on resistance to localized corrosion of hyper duplex stainless steel, a double-loop electrochemical potentiokinetic reactivation test a potentiodynamic anodic polarization test, a scanning electron microscope-energy dispersive spectroscope analysis, and a thermodynamic calculation were conducted. With an increase in aging time, sigma phases are precipitated much more than chi phases due to the meta-stable chi phase acting as a transition phase. As aging time at $850^{\circ}C$ increases, the corrosion resistance decreases owing to an increase in Cr, Mo and W depleted areas adjacent to the intermetallic phases such as sigma phases and chi phases.

• 한국표면공학회지
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• 제32권1호
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• pp.43-48
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• 1999

Oxidation behavior of 304 and 316 stainless steels was studied. After solution heat treatment, specimens were polished up to 1$mu \textrm{m}$ using $Al_2O_3$ powder and then subjected to oxidation between $300^{\circ}C$ and 50$0^{\circ}C$ in dry air. TEM and EDS were used for analyzing the components and structure of oxide film. TEM analysis of oxide film revealed that thin amorphous Fe oxide ($Fe_2O_3$) was formed on the top of surface while polycrystalline (Cr, $Fe_2O_3$ was formed below the amorphous Fe oxide layer. The specimens oxidized at $500^{\circ}C$ showed that 316 stainless steel had higher oxidation resistance than 304 stainless steel. These results suggest that Mo component of 316 stainless steel suppresses the formation of Cr carbide which may result in a local Cr depleted area.

• 열처리공학회지
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• 제36권5호
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• pp.261-269
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• 2023

This study aims to investigate the effects of tungsten additions on the microstructure, corrosion characteristics, and hardness of super duplex stainless steel heat-treated at two different annealing temperatures. Under the annealing temperature of 1100℃, the microstructure of the stainless steels consisted mainly of ferrite, while under the annealing temperature of 1000℃, significant amounts of austenite and secondary phases were also observed. In terms of corrosion characteristics in 3.5 wt%NaCl solution, there was not a significant difference due to W addition at the 1100℃ conditions. However, at the 1000℃, a tendency of decreased corrosion resistance was observed with increasing the tungsten content. On the other hand, the micro-hardness of the stainless steel heat-treated 1000℃ showed an increasing trend with tungsten addition. This increase can be mainly attributed to the higher fraction of secondary phases, primarily sigma, known for their high hardness.

• 한국소성가공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국소성가공학회 2008년도 추계학술대회 논문집
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• pp.21-22
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• 2008