• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.50 no.9
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• pp.659-667
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• 2012

Alloy 617 is a Ni-base superalloy and a candidate material for the intermediate heat exchanger (IHX) of a very high temperature gas reactor (VHTR) which is one of the next generation nuclear reactors under development. The high operating temperature of VHTR enables various applications such as mass production of hydrogen with high energy efficiency. Alloy 617 has good creep resistance and phase stability at high temperatures in an air environment. However, it was reported that the mechanical properties decreased at a high temperature in an impure helium environment. In this study, high-temperature corrosion tests were carried out at $850^{\circ}C-950^{\circ}C$ in a helium environment containing the impurity gases $H_2$, CO, and $CH_4$, in order to examine the corrosion behavior of Alloy 617. Until 250 h, Alloy 617 specimens showed a parabolic oxidation behavior at all temperatures. The activation energy for oxidation in helium environment was 154 kJ/mol. The SEM and EDS results elucidated a Cr-rich surface oxide layer, Al-rich internal oxides and depletion of grain boundary carbides. The thickness and depths of degraded layers also showed a parabolic relationship with time. A normal grain growth was observed in the Cr-rich surface oxide layer. When corrosion tests were conducted in a pure helium environment, the oxidation was suppressed drastically. It was elucidated that minor impurity gases in the helium would have detrimental effects on the high-temperature corrosion behavior of Alloy 617 for the VHTR application.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.97-102
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• 2024

The next-generation Molten Salt Reactor is known for its high safety because it uses nuclear fuel dissolved in high-temperature molten salt, unlike traditional solid atomic fuel methods. However, the high-temperature molten salt causes severe corrosion in internal structural materials, threatening the reactor's safety. Therefore, it is crucial to investigate the high-temperature corrosion resistance and wear performance of materials used in reactors to ensure safety. In this study, the high-temperature corrosion resistances and wear performances of corrosion samples in a NaCl-MgCl2-KCl (20-40-40 [wt%]) molten salt are investigated to evaluate the applicability of economically viable stainless steels, 316SS and 304SS. Hastelloy C276 and a new alloy containing a small amount of Nb are used as reference samples for comparative analysis. The mass loss, mass loss rate per unit volume, and surface roughness of each sample are measured to understand the corrosion mechanisms. Scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive spectroscopy analyses are employed to analyze the corrosion mechanisms. Wear tests on the corroded samples are also conducted to assess the extent of corrosion. Based on the experimental results, we predict the lifespans of the materials and evaluate their suitability as candidate materials for molten salt reactors. The data obtained from the experiments provide a valuable database for structural materials that can enhance the stability of molten salt reactors and recommend high-temperature corrosion-resistant materials suitable for next-generation reactors.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.24 no.7
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• pp.543-546
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• 2011

We studied sintering temperature to enhance the piezoelectric properties of $0.98(Na_{0.5}K_{0.5})NbO_3-0.02Li(Sb_{0.17}Ta_{0.83})O_3$+0.01wt%ZnO (hereafter NKN-LST+ZnO) lead free piezoelectric ceramics. The synthesis and sintering method were the conventional solid state reaction method and sintering was executed at $1,080\sim1,120^{\circ}C$. We found that NKN-LST+ZnO ceramics at optimal sintering temperature showed the improved piezoelectric properties at the optimal sintering temperature. The NKN-LST+ZnO ceramics show good performance with piezoelectric constant $d_{33}$= 153 pC/N sintered at $1,090^{\circ}C$. The results reveal that NKN-LST+ZnO ceramics are promising candidate materials for lead-free piezoelectric application.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.02a
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• pp.652-652
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• 2013

The conventional thermal chemical vapor deposition (CVD) setup for the graphene synthesis has mainly used convective heat transfer in order to heat a catalyst (e.g. Cu) up to $1,000^{\circ}C$. Although the conventional CVD has been so far widely accepted as the most appropriate candidate enabling mass-production of high-quality graphene, this method has stillremained under the standard for the commercialization largely due to the poor productivity arisen out of the required long processing time. Here, we introduced a fast and efficient synthetic route toward CVD-graphene. Unlike the conventional CVD using convection heat transfer, we adopted a CVD setup utilizing conduction heat transfer between Cu catalyst and rapid heating source. The high thermal conductive nature of Cu and the employed rapid heating source led to the remarkable reduction in processing timeas compared to the conventional convection based CVD (Fig. 1A), moreover, the synthesized graphene was turned out to have comparable quality to that synthesized by the conventional CVD (Fig. 1B). For the optimization of the conduction based CVD process, the parametric studies were thoroughly performed using through Raman spectroscopy and electrical sheet resistance measurement. Our approach is thought to be worth considerable in order to enhance productivity of the CVD graphene in the industry.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.20 no.9
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• pp.451-456
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• 2010

A promising candidate material for a $H_2$ permeable membrane is SiC due to its many unique properties. A hydrogen-selective SiC membrane was successfully fabricated on the outer surface of an intermediate multilayer $\gamma-Al_2O_3$ with a graded structure. The $\gamma-Al_2O_3$ multilayer was formed on top of a macroporous $\alpha-Al_2O_3$ support by consecutively dipping into a set of successive solutions containing boehmite sols of different particle sizes and then calcining. The boehmite sols were prepared from an aluminum isopropoxide precursor and heated to $80^{\circ}C$ with high speed stirring for 24 hrs to hydrolyze the precursor. Then the solutions were refluxed at $92^{\circ}C$ for 20 hrs to form a boehmite precipitate. The particle size of the boehmite sols was controlled according to various experimental parameters, such as acid types and acid concentrations. The topmost SiC layer was formed on top of the intermediate $\gamma-Al_2O_3$ by pyrolysis of a SiC precursor, polycarbosilane, in an Ar atmosphere. The resulting amorphous SiC-on-$Al_2O_3$ composite membrane pyrolyzed at $900^{\circ}C$ possessed a high $H_2$ permeability of $3.61\times10^{-7}$ $mol{\cdot}m^{-2}{\cdot}s^{-1}{\cdot}Pa^{-1}$ and the $H_2/CO_2$ selectivity was much higher than the theoretical value of 4.69 in all permeation temperature ranges. Gas permeabilities through a SiC membrane are affected by Knudsen diffusion and a surface diffusion mechanism, which are based on the molecular weight of gas species and movement of adsorbed gas molecules on the surface of the pores.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.42 no.8 s.279
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• pp.575-581
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• 2005

SiC-based ceramics are considered as candidate materials for the advanced nuclear energy systems such as the generation IV reactors and the fusion reactors due to their excellent high-temperature strength and irradiation resistance. The advanced nuclear energy systems and their main components adopting ceramic composites were briefly reviewed. A novel fabrication method of $SiC_f/SiC$ composites by introducing SiC whiskers was also described. In addition, the charged-particle irradiation ($Si^{2+}$ and $H^{+}$ ion) into CVD SiC was carried out to simulate the severe environments of the advanced nuclear reactors. SiC whiskers grown in the fiber preform increased the matrix infiltration rate by more than $60\%$ compared to the conventional CVI process. The highly crystalline and pure SiC showed little degradation in hardness and elastic modulus up to a damage level of 10 dpa at $1000^{\circ}C$.

• Composites Research
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.151-155
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• 2016

Graphene has been a valuable candidate for use as electrodes for supercapacitors. In order to improve the surface area of graphene, three-dimensional graphene was synthesized on porous Ni nanostructure using thermal chemical vapor deposition and microwave plasma chemical vapor deposition. The structural and chemical characterization of synthesized graphene was performed by scanning electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. It was confirmed that three-dimensional and high-crystalline multilayer graphene onto various substrates was synthesized successfully.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.412-412
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• 2014

Zinc oxide (ZnO) is one of the most powerful materials for purifying organic pollutants using photocatalytic activity. In this study, we have introduced a novel method to design highly photoreactive flexible 3 dimensional (3D) ZnO nanocomposite [F-ZnO-m (m: reaction time, min)] by electrospinning and simple-step ZnO growth processing (one-step ZnO seed coating/growth processing). Significantly, the F-ZnO-m could be a new platform (or candidate) as a photocatalytic technology for both morphology control and large-area production. The highest photocatalytic degradation rate ([k]) was observed for F-ZnO-m at 2.552 h-1, which was 8.1 times higher than that of ZnO nanoparticles (NPs; [k] = 0.316 h-1). The enhanced photocatalytic activity of F-ZnO-m may be attributed to factors such as large surface area. The F-ZnO-m is highly recyclable and retained 98.6% of the initial decolorization rate after fifteen cycles. Interestingly, the F-ZnO-m samples show very strong antibacterial properties against both Gram-negative Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) after exposure to UV-light for 30 min. The antibacterial properties of F-ZnO-m samples are more effective than those of ZnO NPs. More than 96.6% of the E. coli is sterilized after ten cycles. These results indicate that F-ZnO-m samples might have utility in several promising applications such as highly efficient water/air treatment and inactivation of pathogenic microorganisms.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.6-11
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• 2018

There are various manufacturing processes for pure $SiO_2$ that is used as abrasives, chemicals, filters, and glasses, and in metallurgy and optical industries. In the optical fiber industry, to produce $SiO_2$ preform, $SiCl_4$ is utilized as a raw material. However, the combustion reaction of $SiCl_4$ has caused critical environmental issues, such as ozone deficiency by chlorine compounds, the greenhouse effect by carbon dioxide and corrosive gas such as hydrochloric acid. Thus, finding an alternative source that does not have those environmental issues is important for the future. Octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane (OMCTS or D4) as a chlorine free source is recently promising candidate for the $SiO_2$ preform formation. In this study, we first conducted a vaporizer design to vaporize the OMCTS. The vaporizer for the OMCTS vaporization was produced on the basis of the results of the vaporizer design. The size of the primary particle of the $SiO_2$ formed by OMCTS was less than 100 nm. X-ray diffraction patterns of the $SiO_2$ indicated an amorphous phase. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy analysis revealed the Si-O-Si bond without the -OH group.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.149-154
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• 2017

Transparent conducting oxides (TCOs) were fabricated using solution-based ITO (Sn-doped $In_2O_3$) nanoinks with nanorods at an annealing temperature of $200^{\circ}C$. In order to optimize their transparent conducting performance, ITO nanoinks were composed of ITO nanoparticles alone and the weight ratios of the nanorods to nanoparticles in the ITO nanoinks were adjusted to 0.1, 0.2, and 0.5. As a result, compared to the other TCOs, the ITO TCOs formed by the ITO nanoinks with weight ratio of 0.1 were found to exhibit outstanding transparent conducting performance in terms of sheet resistance (${\sim}102.3{\Omega}/square$) and optical transmittance (~80.2 %) at 550 nm; these excellent properties are due to the enhanced Hall mobility induced by the interconnection of the composite nanorods with the (440) planes of the short lattice distance in the TCOs, in which the presence of the nanorods can serve as a conducting pathway for electrons. Therefore, this resulting material can be proposed as a potential candidate for solution-based TCOs for use in optoelectronic devices requiring large-scale and low-cost processes.