• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.206-214
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• 2023

Tungsten carbide has many industrial applications due to its high electrical and thermal conductivity, high melting temperature, high hardness and good chemical stability. Because tungsten carbide is difficult to sinter, it is sintered with nickel or cobalt as a binder and is currently used in nozzles, cutting tools, and molds. Alumina is reported to be a viable binder for tungsten carbide due to its higher oxidation resistance and lower cost than nickel and cobalt. The ultrafine tungsten carbide-graphene-alumina composites were rapidly sintered in a high frequency induction heating active sintering unit. The microstructure and mechanical properties (fracture toughness and hardness) of the composites were investigated and analyzed by Vickers hardness tester and electron microscope. Since the high-frequency induction heating sintering method enables high-speed sintering, ultrafine composites can be prepared by preventing grain growth. In the tungsten carbide-graphene-alumina composites, the grain size of tungsten carbide increased with the amount of alumina participation. The hardness and fracture toughness of the tungsten carbide-5% graphene- x% alumina (x = 0, 5, 10,15) composites were 5.1, 8.6, 8.6, and 8.4 MPa-m^1/2 and 2384, 2168, 2165, and 2102 kg/mm², respectively. The fracture toughness increased without a significant decrease in hardness. Sinterability was improved by adding alumina to tungsten carbide-graphene.

• Journal of Power System Engineering
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.72-76
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• 2011

In this work, the parameter optimization for thermal-sprayed Al/SiC composites have been designed by $L_9(3^4)$ orthogonal array and analysis of variance(ANOVA). Al/SiC composites were fabricated by flame spray process on steel substrate. The hardness of composites were measured using micro-vickers hardness tester, and these results were analyzed by ANOVA. The ANOVA results showed that the oxygen gas flow, powder feed rate and spray distance affect on the hardness of the Al/SiC composites. From the ANOVA results, the optimal combination of the flame spray parameters could be extracted. It was considered that experimental design using orthogonal array and ANOVA was efficient to determine optimal parameter of thermal-sprayed Al/SiC composites.

• Journal of Korea Foundry Society
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.588-595
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• 1995

SiC particles reinforced Mg-Zr, Mg-Zn and Mg-Zn-Zr composites were manufactured by Rheocompocasting method. Effects of Zn, Zr addition on microstructures and hardness were investigated by using the micro Vickers hardness tester, the optical and scanning electron microscopy. By the Zr addition to the pureMg/SiCp composites, SiC particles become more homogeneously dispersed and grain refined so that the micro hardness of the composite increased. In case of Zn addition, although grain refinement and homogeneous dispersion effects of SiC particles were not obtained, hardness was more increased than the only Zr added composite by the formation of many Mg-Zn intermetallic compounds at grain boundary. In the Mg-Zn-Zr/SiCp composite, the highest value of hardness was obtained by triple effects such as grain refining, dispersion hardening of SiC particles and Mg-Zn compounds.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.299-306
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• 2019

The natural fibre composites are termed as bio-composites. They have shown a promising replacement to the current carbon/glass fibre reinforced composites as environmental friendly materials in specific applications. Natural fibre reinforced composites are potential materials for various engineering applications in automobile, railways, building and Aerospace industry. The natural fibre selected to fabricate the composite material is plant-based fibre e.g., sisal fibre. Sisal fibre is a suitable reinforcement for use in composites on account of its low density, high specific strength, and high hardness. Epoxy is a thermosetting polymer which is used as a resin in natural fibre reinforced composites. Hand lay-up technique was used to fabricate the composites by reinforcing sisal fibres into the epoxy matrix. Composites were prepared with the unidirectional alignment of sisal fibres. Test specimens with different fibre orientations were prepared. The fabricated composites were tested for mechanical properties. Impact test, tensile test, flexural test, hardness test, compression test, and thermal test of composites had been conducted to assess its suitability in industrial applications. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) test revealed the microstructural information of the fractured surface of composites.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.58-67
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• 2006

The relationship between acoustic property and coating hardness of musical instruments was investigated using a sound level meter and a pendulum hardness tester. Urethane topcoat, oil stain, natural oil varnish, and UV-curable epoxy acrylate coatings were applied on four different substrates: Paulownia coreana, Pinus koraiensis, Castanea crenata var. dulcis and Pinus densiflora. The influence of the coating type on the acoustic properties was stronger than that of the substrate. In the case of an oil stain formed with tacky coating layer, the sound pressure level (SPL) and surface hardness decreased with increasing of coating thickness. In the other coatings, SPL decreased and hardness increased as the coating layer thickened. However, SPL began to increase again at coating thickness above $100{\mu}m$.

• Journal of Power System Engineering
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.130-136
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• 2005

The effects of additional Mg content, the size and volume fraction of reinforcement phase on the mechanical properties of ceramic particle reinforced aluminium matrix composites fabricated by pressureless metal infiltration process were investigated. The hardness of $SiC_p/AC8A$ composites increased gradually with an increase in the additive Mg content, while the bending strength of $SiC_p/AC8A$ composites increased with an increase in additive Mg content up to 5%. However, this decreased when the level of additive Mg content was greater than 5% due to the formation of coarse precipitates by excessive Mg reaction and an increase in the porosity level. The hardness and strength of the composites increased with decreasing the size of SiC particle. It was found that the composites with smaller particles enhanced the interfacial bonding than those with bigger particles from fractography of the composites. The hardness of $Al_2O_{3p}/AC8A$ composites increased gradually with an increase in the volume fraction, however, the bending strength of $Al_2O_{3p}/AC8A$ composites decreased when the volume fraction of alumina particle was greater than 40% owing to the high porosity level.

• Journal of Korea Foundry Society
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.258-266
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• 1994

AC4A $Al/Al_2O_3+SiC_p$ hybrid composites were fabricated by the squeeze infiltration technique. Effect of applied pressure, volume fraction of reinforcement($Al_2O_3$ and SiC) and SiC particle size($4.5{\mu}m$, $6.5{\mu}m$ and $9.3{\mu}m$) on the solidification microstructure of the hybrid composites were examined. Mechanical properties were estimated preliminarly by fractographic observation, hardness measurement and wear test. Results show that the microstructure of the hybrid composites were quite satisfactory, namely revealing relatively uniform distribution of reinforcements and refined matrix. Some aggregation of SiC particle caused by particle pushing was observed especially in the hybrid composites containg in fine particle($4.5{\mu}m$). Refined matrix was attributed to applied pressure and increased nucleation sites with addition of reinforcements. Fractured facet also revealed finer for the hybrid composites possibly due to refined matrix. Hardness and wear resistance increased with volume fraction of reinforcements. For hybrid composites with $9.3{\mu}m$ SiC, hardness was somewhat lower and wear resistance higher than other composites.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society For Composite Materials Conference
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• 2000.04a
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• pp.139-142
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• 2000

The SiCp/AC8A composites were fabricated by the pressureless metal infiltration process successfully. The effect of additional Mg, which were mixed with SiC particles to promote interfacial wetting between the reinforcement and matrix alloy, and particle size on the mechanical properties was investigated. By increasing the additional Mg content the hardness of SiCp/AC8A composites was increased due to the hard reaction products, but the bending strength was decreased by the excess reaction of Mg and high porosity level when the additional Mg content is over 7%. The Hardness and bending strength was increased by decreasing the size of SiC particle.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers
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• v.17 no.10
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• pp.2498-2508
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• 1993

$Al/SiC/Al_{2}O_{3}$ hybrid composites are fabricated by squeeze infiltration method. From the misconstructive of $Al/SiC/Al_{2}O_{3}$ hybrid composites fabricated by squeeze infiltration method, uniform distribution of reinforcements and good bondings are found. Hardness value of $Al/SiC/Al_{2}O_{3}$ hybrid composites increases linearly with the volume fraction of reinforcement because SiC whisker and $Al_{2}$O$_{3}$ fiber have an outstanding hardness. Optimal aging conditions are obtained by examining the hardness of $Al/SiC/Al_{2}O_{3}$ hybrid composites with different aging time. Tensile properties such as Young's modulus and ultimate tensile strength are improved up to 30% and 40% by the addition of reinforcements, respectively. Failure mode of $Al/SiC/Al_{2}O_{3}$ hybrid composites is ductile on microstructural level. Through the abrasive wear test and wear surface analysis, wear behaviour and mechanism of 6061 aluminum and $Al/SiC/Al_{2}O_{3}$ hybrid composites are characterized under various testing conditions. The addition of SiC whisker to $Al/SiC/Al_{2}O_{3}$ composites gives rise to improvement of the wear resistance. The wear resistance of $Al/SiC/Al_{2}O_{3}$ hybrid composites is superior to that of Al/SiC composites. The wear mechanism of aluminum alloy is mainly abrasive wear at low speed range and adhesive and melt wear at high speed range. In contrast, that of $Al/SiC/Al_{2}O_{3}$ hybrid composites is abrasive wear at all speed range, but severe wear when counter material is stainless steel. As the testing temperature increases, wear loss of aluminum alloy decreases because the matrix is getting more ductile, but that of $Al/SiC/Al_{2}O_{3}$ hybrid composites is hardly varied. Oil lubricant is more effective to reduce the wear loss of aluminum alloy and $Al/SiC/Al_{2}O_{3}$ hybrid composites at high speed range.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.73-77
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• 2004

The mechanical and electrical properties of $Cu-TiB_2$ composites prepared by hot extrusion and cold drawing according to the variation of $TiB_2$ contents and the size of $TiB_2$ particle have been studied. The experimental results showed that the electrical conductivity was decreased with increasing the $TiB_2$ content, and their tensile strength and hardness increased inversely. In the case of the same content of $TiB_2$ particle, the smaller $TiB_2$ particle, the higher their mechanical properties. The electrical conductivity of $Cu-TiB_2$ composites showed more than 70%IACS. Their yield strength and hardness were more than 120 MPa and HRB 60～70, respectively.