• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.349-354
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• 2018

Particle size reduction is an important step in many technological operations. The process itself is defined as the mechanical breakdown of solids into smaller particles to increase the surface area and induce defects in solids, which are needed for subsequent operations such as chemical reactions. To fabricate nano-sized particles, several tens to hundreds of micron size ceramic beads, formed through high energy milling process, are required. To minimize the contamination effects during high-energy milling, the mechanical properties of zirconia beads are very important. Generally, the mechanical properties of $Y_2O_3$ stabilized tetragonal zirconia beads are closely related to the mechanism of phase change from tetragonal to monoclinic phase via external mechanical forces. Therefore, $Y_2O_3$ distribution in the sintered zirconia beads must also be closely related with the mechanical properties of the beads. In this work, commercially available $100{\mu}m-size$ beads are analyzed from the point of view of microstructure, composition homogeneity (especially for $Y_2O_3$), mechanical properties, and attrition rate.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.376-381
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• 2013

Spherical Ti-6Al-4V powders in the size range of 250 and 300 ${\mu}m$ were uniformly doped with nano-sized hydroxyapatite (HAp) powders by Spex milling process. A single pulse of 0.75-2.0 kJ/0.7 g of the Ti-6Al-4V powders doped with HAp from 300 mF capacitor was applied to produce fully porous and porous-surfaced Ti-6Al-4V implant compact by electro-discharge-sintering (EDS). The solid core was automatically formed in the center of the compact after discharge and porous layer consisted of particles connected in three dimensions by necks. The solid core increased with an increase in input energy. The compressive yield strength was in a range of 41 to 215 MPa and significantly depended on input energy. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and energy dispersive x-ray spectrometer were used to investigate the surface characteristics of the Ti-6Al-4V compact. Ti and O were the main constituents, with smaller amount of Ca and P. It was thus concluded that the porous-surfaced Ti-6Al-4V implant compacts doped with HAp can be efficiently produced by manipulating the milling and electro-discharge-sintering processes.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.470-477
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• 2023

The effects of annealing on the microstructure and mechanical properties of Al-Zn-Mg-Cu-Si alloys fabricated by high-energy ball milling (HEBM) and spark plasma sintering (SPS) were investigated. The HEBM-free sintered alloy primarily contained Mg₂Si, Q-AlCuMgSi, and Si phases. Meanwhile, the HEBM-sintered alloy contains Mg-free Si and θ-Al₂Cu phases due to the formation of MgO, which causes Mg depletion in the Al matrix. Annealing without and with HEBM at 500℃ causes partial dissolution and coarsening of the Q-AlCuMgSi and Mg₂Si phases in the alloy and dissolution of the θ-Al₂Cu phase in the alloy, respectively. In both alloys, a thermally stable α-AlFeSi phase was formed after long-term heat treatment. The grain size of the sintered alloys with and without HEBM increased from 0.5 to 1.0 ㎛ and from 2.9 to 6.3 ㎛, respectively. The hardness of the sintered alloy increases after annealing for 1 h but decreases significantly after 24 h of annealing. Extending the annealing time to 168 h improved the hardness of the alloy without HEBM but had little effect on the alloy with HEBM. The relationship between the microstructural factors and the hardness of the sintered and annealed alloys is discussed.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.1-5
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• 2008

ZnS-$SiO_2$ composite is normally used for sputtering target. In recent years, high sputtering power for higher deposition rate often causes crack formation of the target. Therefore the target material is required that the sintered target material should have high crack resistance, excellent strength and a homogeneous microstructure with high sintered density. In this study, raw ZnS and ZnS-$SiO_2$ powders prepared by a 3-D mixer or high energy ball-milling were successfully densified by spark plasma sintering, the effective densification method of hard-to-sinter materials in a short time. After sintering, the fracture toughness was measured by the indentation fracture (IF) method. Due to the effect of crack deflection by the residual stress occurred by the second phase of fine $SiO_2$, the hardness and fracture toughness reached to 3.031 GPa and $1.014MPa{\cdot}m^{1/2}$, respectively.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.103-109
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• 2021

High-entropy alloys have excellent mechanical properties under extreme environments, rendering them promising candidates for next-generation structural materials. It is desirable to develop non-equiatomic high-entropy alloys that do not require many expensive or heavy elements, contrary to the requirements of typical high-entropy alloys. In this study, a non-equiatomic high-entropy alloy powder Fe_49.5Mn₃₀Co₁₀Cr₁₀C_0.5 (at.%) is prepared by high energy ball milling and fabricated by spark plasma sintering. By combining different ball milling times and ball-to-powder ratios, we attempt to find a proper mechanical alloying condition to achieve improved mechanical properties. The milled powder and sintered specimens are examined using X-ray diffraction to investigate the progress of mechanical alloying and microstructural changes. A miniature tensile specimen after sintering is used to investigate the mechanical properties. Furthermore, quantitative analysis of the microstructure is performed using electron backscatter diffraction.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.46 no.5
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• pp.675-680
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• 2014

Pulverization of two different sized micro-$B_4C$ particles (${\sim}10{\mu}m$ and ${\sim}150{\mu}m$) was investigated using a STS based high energy ball milling system. Shapes, generation of the impurities, and reduction of the particle size dependent on milling time and initial particle size were investigated using various analytic tools including SEM-EDX, XRD, and ICP-MS. Most of impurity was produced during the early stage of milling, and impurity content became independent on the milling time after the saturation. The degree of particle size reduction was also dependent on the initial $B_4C$ size. It was found that the STS nanoparticles produced from milling is strongly bounded with the $B_4C$ particles forming the $B_4C$/STS composite particles that can be used as a neutron absorbing nanocomposite. Based on the morphological evolution of the milled particles, a schematic pulverization model for the $B_4C$ particles was constructed.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.49 no.2
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• pp.161-166
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• 2011

The aim of this study was to determine the effect of high-energy mechanical milling (HEMM) time and sintering temperature on microstructure and mechanical properties of the TiAl composite fabricated by pulse current activated sintering. TiAl intermetallic powders were milled by HEMM for 1h, 4h, and 8h respectively. Thermal analysis was used to observe the phase transformation of the milled TiAl powders. The sintering time decreased with increase of milling time. The hardness and fracture toughness of the sintered specimens also was improved with increasing milling time. The grain size of the sintered specimens which was milled for 4h was in the range of 50~100 nm.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.122-130
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• 2009

Austenitic oxide-dispersion-strengthened (ODS) stainless steel was fabricated using a wet mixing process without a mechanical milling in order to reduce contaminations of impurities during their fabrication process. Solution of yttrium nitrate was dried after a wet mixing with 316L stainless steel powder. Carbon and oxygen contents were effectively reduced by this wet processing. Microstructural analysis showed that coarse yttrium silicates of about 150 nm were formed in austenitic ODS steels with a silicon content of about 0.8 wt%. Wet-processed austenitic ODS steel without silicon showed higher yield strength by the presence of finer oxide of about 20 nm.

• Journal of Power System Engineering
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.78-85
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• 2013

A high thermal conductivity material, namely graphene is treated by planetary ball milling machine to transport the heat by increasing the temperature. Experiments were performed to assess the heat transfer enhancement benefits of coating the bottom wall of copper substrate with graphene. It is well known that the graphene is unable to disperse into base fluid without any treatment, which is due to the several reasons such as attachment of hydrophobic surface, agglomeration and impurity. To further improve the dispersibility and thermal characteristics, planetary ball milling approach is used to grind the raw samples at optimized condition. The results are examined by transmission electron microscopy, x-ray diffraction, Raman spectrometer, UV-spectrometer, thermal conductivity and thermal imager. Thermal conductivity measurements of structures are taken to support the explanation of heat transfer properties of different samples. As a result, it is found that the planetary ball milling approach is effective for improvement of both the dispersion and heat carriers of carbon based material. Indeed, the heat transfer of the ground graphene coated substrate was higher than that of the copper substrate with raw graphene.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.91-96
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• 2021

The enhancement of thermoelectric figure of merit was achieved by the simple processes of sieving and high energy ball milling, respectively, which are enable to reduce the grain size of n-type Bi₂Te₃ thermoelectric materials. By optimizing the grain size, the electrical conductivities and thermal conductivities were controlled. In this study, spark plasma sintering was employed for hindering the grain growth during the sintering process. The thermoelectric figure of merit was measured to be 0.78 in the samples with 30 min high energy ball milling process. Notably, this value was 40 % higher than that of pristine Bi₂Te₃ sample. This result shows the properties of thermoelectric materials can be readily controlled by optimization of grain size via simple ball milling process.