• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.45 no.4
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• pp.245-249
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• 2008

The SiC and ZrC are critical and essential materials in TRISO coated fuel particles since they act as protective layers against diffusion of metallic and gaseous fission products and provides mechanical strength for the fuel particle. However, SiC and ZrC have critical disadvantage that SiC loses chemical integrity by thermal dissociation at high temperature and mechanical properties of ZrC are weaker than SiC. In order to complement these problems, we made new combinations of the coating layers that the ZrC layers composed of SiC. In this study, after Silicon carbide(SiC) were chemically vapor deposited on graphite substrate, Zirconium carbide(ZrC) were deposited on SiC/graphite substrate by using Zr reaction technology with Zr sponge materials. The different morphologies of sub-deposited SiC layers were correlated with microstructure, chemical composition and mechanical properties of deposited ZrC films. Relationships between deposition pressure and microstructure of deposited ZrC films were discussed. The deposited ZrC films on SiC of faceted structure with smaller grain size has better mechanical properties than deposited ZrC on another structure due to surface growth trend and microstructure of sub-deposited layer.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2010.05a
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• pp.42.2-42.2
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• 2010

Recently, highly porous bone substitutes, which have interconnected open pore structure, have been focused on improving their mechanical properties and modifying their functions. Especially, it is highly required to develop functional gradient structured bone substitute which is available for controlling their material properties such as bioresorption rate and elastic modulus. Porous $ZrO_2$ scaffold was fabricated by the sponge replica method using PU sponge. After 3 times of dip coating and the subsequent oven drying, burning out and microwave sintering were carried out. Various $ZrO_2$-BCP powder mixtures were prepared depending on the ratio and coated on the $ZrO_2$ scaffold by dip coating process. X-ray diffraction analysis was performed to characterize the phase identification of the scaffolds. Microstructures of the bone substitutes were observed using scanning electron microscopy.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.18-30
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• 2012

Zirconium is one of the most important material used as cladding of fuel rods in nuclear reactors because of its high dimensional stability, good corrosion resistance and especially low neutron-absorbing cross section. However, Hf free nuclear grade Zr sponge is commercially produced by only three countries including USA, France and Russia. So, Zr has been thoroughly managed as a national strategic material in Korea. Most of the zirconium is used for Korean nuclear industry as nuclear fuel cladding materials manufactured from Hf free Zr alloy raw material. Also, there are some other applications such as alloying element and detonator. In this review, zirconium production and recycling technologies have been reviewed and current industrial status was also analyzed. And recent achievements in innovative reduction technologies such as electrolytic reduction process and molten oxide electrolysis were also introduced.

• Journal of Korea Foundry Society
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.81-87
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• 2016

In this study, the effect of scrap ratio on the mechanical properties of Zr alloys was studied. Oxygen content in the ingot cake increased rapidly with increasing fraction of scrap, which can be attributed to the surface oxide of scrap including small pieces of turning, chips, etc. Iron content did not increase much with the increasing addition of scrap, suggesting scrap materials was well reserved in the iron-free container. As-cast structure of Zr alloy with the scrap:sponge ratio displayed plate/or needle ${\alpha}$ phase and no appreciable change of the cast structure was observed with change of scrap fraction. The strength increases with increasing fraction of scrap, which can be attributed to the increase of oxygen content. The ductility decreased slightly with increase of scrap fraction. Dislocation-oxygen interaction is known to increase the strength at the expense of ductility. Ingot cake with intentionally added $Fe_2O_3$ exhibited the drastic decrease of the formability, even exhibited the brittle fracture behavior during rolling. The oxidation resistance, however, increased with the increase of scrap fraction because of high oxygen content, which may prevent more penetration and diffusion of oxygen into matrix.