• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.152-158
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• 2014

We report the effect of the fabric of the surface microstructure on the CO gas sensing properties of $SnO_2$ thin films deposited on self-assembled Au nanodots ($SnO_2$/Au) that were formed on $SiO_2/Si$ substrates. We characterized structural and morphological properties, comparing them to those of $SnO_2$ thin films deposited directly onto $SiO_2/Si$ substrates. We observed a significant enhancement of CO gas sensing properties in the $SnO_2$/Au gas sensors, specifically exhibiting a high maximum response at $200^{\circ}C$ and quite a low detection limit of 1 ppm level in dry air. In particular, the response of the $SnO_2/Au$ gas sensor was found to reach the maximum value of 32.5 at $200^{\circ}C$, which is roughly 27 times higher than the response (~1.2) of the $SnO_2$ gas sensor obtained at the same operating temperature of $200^{\circ}C$. Furthermore, the $SnO_2/Au$ gas sensors displayed very fast response and recovery behaviors. The observed enhancement in the CO gas sensing properties of the $SnO_2/Au$ sensors is mainly ascribed to the formation of a nanostructured morphology in the active $SnO_2$ layer having a high specific surface-reaction area by the insertion of a nanodot form of Au nucleation layer.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.116-122
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• 2013

For fabricating silicon solar cells with high conversion efficiency, texturing is one of the most effective techniques to increase short circuit current by enhancing light trapping. In this study, four different types of textures, large V-groove, large U-groove, small V-groove, and small U-groove, were prepared by a wet etching process. Silicon substrates with V-grooves were fabricated by an anisotropic etching process using a KOH solution mixed with isopropyl alcohol (IPA), and the size of the V-grooves was controlled by varying the concentration of IPA. The isotropic etching process following anisotropic etching resulted in U-grooves and the isotropic etching time was determined to obtain U-grooves with an opening angle of approximately $60^{\circ}$. The results indicated that U-grooves had a larger diffuse reflectance than V-grooves and the reflectances of small grooves was slightly higher than those of large grooves depending on the size of the grooves. Then amorphous Si:H thin film solar cells were fabricated on textured substrates to investigate the light trapping effect of textures with different shapes and sizes. Among the textures fabricated in this work, the solar cells on the substrate with small U-grooves had the largest short circuit current, 19.20 mA/$cm^2$. External quantum efficiency data also demonstrated that the small, U-shape textures are more effective for light trapping than large, V-shape textures.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.48-53
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• 2014

This study was carried out to investigate the effect of postweld heat treatment(PWHT, 930, 1080, $1230^{\circ}C$) on the microstructure, phase formation, pitting corrosion and mechanical properties such as hardness, tensile strength and impact values of super duplex stainless steel(UNS S32750) multipass welds. Based on the microstructural examination and X-ray diffraction analysis, it was found that the ${\sigma}$ phase was formed in the welds heat treated at $930^{\circ}C$ in which the ferrite content greatly decreased into 5~10% in the welds. The secondary austenite was formed in the reheated zone of welds and redissolved into ferrite with increasing heat treatment temperatures. The tensile strength and impact values of welds heat treated at $930^{\circ}C$ were the lowest and revealed the brittle fracture surface. The weight loss by pitting corrosion increased with test temperatures. It was confirmed that pitting corrosion occurred mainly in secondary austenite of reheated zones. The postweld heat treatment temperature is recommended to be in the range of $1050{\sim}1150^{\circ}C$.

• Journal of Korea Foundry Society
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• v.35 no.6
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• pp.155-162
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• 2015

The effect of Sr addition on mechanical and bio-corrosion properties of as-cast Mg-3wt.%Zn-0.5wt.%Ca-xwt.%Sr (x = 0.3, 0.6, 0.9) alloys were examined for application as biodegradable implant material. The microstructure, mechanical properties and corrosion resistance of the as-cast Mg-Zn-Ca-Sr alloys were characterized by using optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, tensile testing and electrochemical measurement in Hank's solution. The as-cast alloys contained ${\alpha}$-Mg and eutectic $Ca_2Mg_6Zn_3$ phases, while the alloys contained ${\alpha}$-Mg, $Ca_2Mg_6Zn_3$ and Mg-Zn-Ca-Sr intermetallic compound when the Sr addition was more than 0.3 wt.%. The yield strength, ultimate tensile strength and elongation increased with the increasing of Sr content up to 0.6 wt.% but decreased in the 0.9 wt.% Sr-added alloy, whereas the corrosion resistance of 0.3 wt.% Sr-added alloy was superior to other alloys. It was thought that profuse Mg-Zn-Ca-Sr intermetallic compound deteriorated both the mechanical properties and corrosion resistance of the as-cast alloy.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.87-94
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• 2014

Recently, the application of bending products has been increased since the industries such as automobile, aerospace, ships, and plants greatly need the usage of pipes. For facility fabrication, bending process is one of key technologies for pipings. Induction heat bending process is composed of bending deformation by repeated local heat and cooling. Because of local heating and compressive strain, detrimental phases may be precipitated and microstructural change can be induced. This work focused on the effect of induction heat bending process on the properties of ASME SA312 TP316 stainless steel. Evaluation was done on the base metal and the bended areas before and after heat treatment. Microstructure analysis, intergranular corrosion test including Huey test, double loop electropotentiokinetic reactivation test, oxalic acid etch test, and anodic polarization test were performed. On the base of microstructural analysis, grain boundaries in bended extrados area were zagged by bending process, but there were no precipitates in grain and grain boundary and the intergranular corrosion rate was similar to that of base metal. However, pitting potentials of bended area were lower than that of the base metal and zagged boundaries was one of the pitting initiation sites. By re-annealing treatment, grain boundary was recovered and pitting potential was similar to that of the base metal.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.153-159
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• 2018

Accelerators are used to speed up the construction by accelerating the setting time which helps in early removal of formwork thus leading to faster construction rate. Admixtures are used in mortar and concrete during or after mixing to improve certain properties of material which cannot be achieved in conventional cement mortar and concrete. The various industrial by products make nuisance and are hazardous to ecosystem as well. These wastes can be used in the construction industries to reduce the consumption of cement/aggregates, cost; and save the energy and environment by utilising waste and eliminate their disposal problem as well. The effect of calcium nitrate and triethanolamine (TEA) as accelerators and marble powder (MP) as waste material on the various properties of cement paste and mortar has been studied in the present work. The replacement ratio of MP was 0-10% @ 2.5% by weight of cement. The addition of calcium nitrate was 0% and 1%; and variation of addition of TEA was 0-0.1@ 0.025% and 0.1-1.0@ 0.1% by weight of cement. On the basis of setting time, some mix proportions were selected and further investigated. Setting time and soundness of cement paste; compressive strength and microstructure of mortar mix of selected mix proportions were studied experimentally at 3, 7 and 28 days aging. Results showed that use of MP, calcium nitrate, TEA and their combination reduced setting time of cement paste for all the mixes. Addition of calcium nitrate increased the compressive strength at all curing ages while MP and TEA decreased the compressive strength. The mechanism of additives was discussed through scanning electron microscope (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) analysis of the specimens.

• Journal of Magnetics
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.97-102
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• 2015

The waste of sintered Nd-Fe-B magnets was recycled using the method of dopingPrNd nanoparticles. The effect of PrNd nanoparticle doping on the magnetic properties of the regenerated magnets has been studied. As the content of the PrNd nanoparticles increases, the coercivity increases monotonically, whereas both the remanence and the maximum energy products reach the maximum values for 4 wt% PrNd doping. Microstructural observation reveals that the appropriate addition of PrNd nanoparticles improves the magnetic properties and refines the grain. Domain investigation shows that the self-pinning effect of the rare earth (Re)-rich phase is enhanced by PrNd nano-particle doping. Compared to the magnet with 4 wt% PrNd alloy prepared using the dual-alloy method, the regenerated magnet doped with the same number of PrNd nanoparticles exhibits better magnetic properties and a more homogeneous microstructure. Therefore, it is concluded that PrNd nanoparticle doping is an efficient method for recycling the leftover scraps of Nd-Fe-B magnets.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.320-326
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• 2011

Flat rolling of wire is an industrial process used to manufacture electrical flat wire, medical catheters, springs, piston segments and automobile parts, among other products. In a multi-step wire flat rolling process, a wire with a circular crosssection is rolled at room temperature between two flat rolls in several passes to achieve the desired thickness to width ratio. To manufacture a flat wire with a homogeneous microstructure, mechanical and metallurgical properties with an appropriate pass schedule, this study investigated the effect of each pass schedule (1stand ~ 4stand) on the microstructures, mechanical properties and widths of cold rolled high carbon steel wires using four-pass flat rolling process. The evolutions of the microstructures and mechanical properties of the widths of cold rolled wires during three different pass schedules of the flat rolling process of high carbon wires were investigated, and the results were compared with those for a conventional eight-pass schedule. In the width of cold rolled wires, three different pass schedules are clearly distinguished and discussed. The experimental conditions were the same rolling speed, rolling force, roll size, tensile strength of the material and friction coefficient. The experimental results showed that the four-pass flat cold rolling process was feasible for production of designed wire without cracks when appropriate pass schedules were applied.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.204-210
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• 2008

$1.5\;{\mu}m$-thick copper films deposited on silicon wafers were successfully bonded at $415^{\circ}C$/25 kN for 40 minutes in a thermo-compression bonding method that did not involve a pre-cleaning or pre-annealing process. The original copper bonding interface disappeared and showed a homogeneous microstructure with few voids at the original bonding interface. Quantitative interfacial adhesion energies were greater than $10.4\;J/m^2$ as measured via a four-point bending test. Post-bonding annealing at a temperature that was less than $300^{\circ}C$ had only a slight effect on the bonding energy, whereas an oxygen environment significantly deteriorated the bonding energy over $400^{\circ}C$. This was most likely due to the fast growth of brittle interfacial oxides. Therefore, the annealing environment and temperature conditions greatly affect the interfacial bonding energy and reliability in Cu-Cu bonded wafer stacks.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.373-379
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• 2002

We investigated the evolution of magnetoresistance and magnetic property of tunneling magnetoresistive(TMR) device with microstructure and plasma oxidation time. TMR devices have potential applications for non volatile MRAM and high density HDD reading head. We prepared the tunnel magnetoresistance(TMR) devices of Ta($50{\AA}$)/NiFe($50{\AA}$)/IrMn($150{\AA}$)/CoFe($50{\AA}$)/Al($13{\AA}$)-O/CoFe($40{\AA}$)/FiFe($400{\AA}$)/Ta(($50{\AA}$) structure which have $100{\times}100\mu\textrm{m}^2$ junction area on $2.5{\times}2.5\textrm{cm}^2$ Si/$SiO_2$(($1000{\AA}$) substrates by an inductively coupled plasma(ICP) magnetron sputter. We fabricated the insulating layer using an ICP plasma oxidation method by with various oxidation time from 30 sec to 360 sec, and measured resistances and magnetoresistance(MR) ratios of TMR devices. We found that the oxidized sample for oxidation time of 80 sec showed the highest MR radio of 30.31 %, while the calculated value regarding inhomogeneous current effect indicated 25.18 %. We used transmission electron microscope(TEM) to investigate microstructural evolution of insulating layer. Comparing the cross-sectional TEM images at oxidation time of 150 sec and 360 sec, we found that the thickness and thickness variation of 360 sec-oxidized insulating layer became 30% and 40% larger than those of 150 sec-oxidized layer, repectively. Therefore, our results imply that increase of thickness variation with oxidation time may be one of the major treasons of the MR decrease.