Effects of various friction stir processing (FSP) variables on the microstructural evolution and microhardness of the AZ31 magnesium alloy were investigated. The processing variables include rotational and travelling speed of the tool, kind of second phase (i.e., diamond, Al2O3, and ZrO2) and groove depth (i.e., volume fraction of second phase). Grain size, distribution of second phase particle, grain texture, and microhardness were analyzed as a function of the FSP process variables. The FSPed AZ31 composites fabricated with a high heat input condition showed the better dispersion of particle without macro defect. For all composite specimens, the grain size decreased and the microhardness increased regardless of the grooved depth compared with that of the FSPed AZ31 without strengthening particle, respectively. For the AZ31/diamond composite having a grain size of about 1 μm, microhardness (i.e., about 108 Hv) was about two times higher than that of the matrix alloy (i.e., about 52 Hv). The effect of second phase particle on retardation of grain growth and resulting hardness increase was discussed.

Usually porous metals are known as relatively excellent characteristic such as large surface area, light, lower heat capacity, high toughness and permeability for exhaust gas filter, hydrogen reformer catalyst support. The Ni alloys have high corrosion resistance, heat resistance and chemical stability for high temperature applications. In this study, the Ni-based porous metals have been developed with Hastelloy powder by gas atomization and water atomization in order to find the effects of powder shape on porous metal. Each Hastelloy powder is pressed on disk shape of 2 mm thickness with 12 tons using uniaxial press machine. The specimens are sintered at various temperatures in high vacuum condition. The pore properties were evaluated using Porometer and microstructures were observed with SEM.

For the reliable applications of silver nanowires, AgNW, which is used as a conductive transparent film in electronic devices, the isothermal degradation behaviors of AgNW films with and without overcoating were investigated. Accelerated isothermal degradation was performed as a function of temperature, time, and atmosphere. Electrical resistance and optical transmittance were measured and correlated with the microstructural damages, such as formation of oxide particles and fragmentations of AgNW, which were quantitatively determined from the scanning electron micrographs. The overcoating retarded the formation of oxide particles and subsequent fragmentations as well as resulting degradation in electrical resistance without affecting the optical transmittance.

439L stainless steel composites blended with fifteen micron SiC particles were prepared by uniaxial pressing of raw powders at 100 MPa and conventional sintering at 1350oC for 2 h. Based on the results of X-ray diffraction analysis, dissolution of SiC particles were apparent. The 5 vol% SiC specimen demonstrated maximal densification (91.5%) among prepared specimens ­(0-10 vol% SiC); the relative density was higher than the specimens in the literature (80-84%) prepared by a similar process but at a higher forming pressure (700 MPa). The stress-strain curve and yield strength were also maximal at the 5 vol% of SiC, indicating that densification is the most important parameter determining the mechanical property. The added SiC particles in this study did not serve as the reinforcement phase for the 439L steel matrix but as a liquid-phase-sintering agent for facilitating densification, which eventually improved the mechanical property of the sintered product.

The present study, aims to investigate the effect of minor Zr and Nb alloying on soft magnetic and electrical properties of Fe86(ZrxNb1-x)7B6Cu1 (x = 1, 0.75, 0.5, 0.25) alloys. The investigated alloys were prepared through the melt spinning process. Within the examined compositional range (Nb up to 5.25at%, respectively), the soft magnetic properties and electrical resistivity of the alloys continuously increase with increasing Nb content. However increasing the Nb content further decreases such properties. We could confirm the influence of ratio of Zr and Nb on grain growth and crystallization fraction during crystallization by using the soft magnetic properties and electrical properties.

Cu-Ni composite nanoparticles were successfully synthesized by electrical explosion of wire (EEW) method. Cu-Ni alloy and twisted wires with various Ni contents were used as the feeding material for a 3 kV charging voltage EEW machine in an ethanol ambient chamber. The phase structure and magnetic properties of the as-fabricated samples were studied. It was established that the prepared powders after drying have a spherical form with the particle size is under 100 nm. XRD analysis indicated that the nanopowders consisted of binary Cu-Ni phases. Only pure phases of the intermetallic compound Cu-Ni (Cu0.81Ni0.19 and Cu3.8Ni) were observed in the XRD patterns of the samples. The synthesized intermetallic Cu-Ni alloy nanopowders reveal magnetic behaviors, however, the lower Ni content samples exhibited paramagnetic behaviors, meanwhile, the higher Ni content samples exposed ferromagnetic properties.

In this study, we investigated the bonding mechanism of surface-treated steel with an Al-Si alloy in order to produce steel-aluminum (STL-Al) hybrid composite materials by cast-bonding. The results showed that there are differences in the phase and properties of the hybrid composite materials bonded specimens depending on the surface treatment of the steel sheet used, and that the bonding conditions can be controlled further by detailed conditions of the surface treatment. Based on the interfacial bonding strengths measured here, the galvanized surface treatment induced metallurgical bonding to form a reaction layer on the bonding surface and was determined to be the most effective surface treatment.

The effects of different types of process control agents (PCA) on the microstructure evolution of Ni-based oxide dispersion-strengthened superalloy have been investigated. Alloy synthesis was performed on elemental powders having a nominal composition of Ni-15Cr-4.5Al-4W-2.5Ti-2Mo-2Ta-0.15Zr-1.1Y2O3 in wt % using high energy ball milling for 5 h. The prepared powders are consolidated by spark plasma sintering at 1000oC. Results indicated that the powder ball-milled with ethanol as PCA showed large particle size, low carbon content and homogeneous distribution of elemental powders compared with the powder by stearic acid. The sintered alloy prepared by ethanol as PCA exhibited a homogeneous microstructure with fine precipitates at the grain boundaries. The microstructural characteristics have been discussed on the basis of function of the PCA.

Ultra-precision testing is a very important procedure to secure the reliability of the products as well as for the technology development in the areas of semiconductor and display. Accordingly, companies manufacturing equipment for testing of semiconductor and display have been continuously executing researches for the improvement of the performances of test sockets used in test equipment.

Through this study, characteristics of the materials in accordance with the mechanical and electrical properties of Ni-30wt%Co alloy and newly developed Cu-2wt%Be alloy were analyzed in order to select the probe pin material of the socket, which is a key component used in the semiconductor testing equipment. In addition, finite element interpretation was executed by using Ansys Workbench 14.0 to comparatively analyze the finite element interpretation results and experimental results. Experiment was executed for the mechanical properties including tensile strength, elasticity modulus, specific heat, thermal expansion coefficient and Contact Force, for electrical properties, experiment on surface resistance, specific resistance and electrical conductivity was executed to measure the properties. It was confirmed that the results of finite element interpretation and experiment displayed similar trend and it is deemed that the Contact Force value was superior for Be-Co alloy.

Through this study, it was confirmed that the newly developed Be-Co alloy is more appropriate as probe pin material used as the core component of test socket used in the semiconductor testing equipment than the existing Ni-Co alloy.

This study was carried out to evaluate the aspect of microstructure and mechanical property development on additive manufactured pure Ti at elevated heat-input. For this work, pure Ti powder (commercial purity, grade 1) was selected, and selective laser melting was conducted from 0.5 to 1.4 J/mm. As a result, increase in heat-input led to the significant grain growth form 4 μm to 12 μm, accompanying with the change of grain shape, correctly widmanstätten structured grains. In addition, Vickers microhardness was notably increased from 228 Hv to 358 Hv in accordance with elevated heat-input, which was attributed to the increased concentration of oxygen and nitrogen mainly occurred during selected laser melting process.

U-10wt.%Zr metallic fuel slugs containing rare-earth (RE: a rare-earth alloy comprising 53% Nd, 25% Ce, 16% Pr and 6% La) elements for a sodium-cooled fast reactor were fabricated by modified injection casting as an alternative method. The distribution, size and composition of the RE inclusions in the metallic fuel slugs were investigated according to the content of the RE inclusions. There were no observed casting defects, such as shrunk pipes, micro-shrinkage or hot tears formed during solidification, in the metallic fuel slugs fabricated by modified injection casting. Scanning electron micrographs and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) showed that the Zr and RE inclusions were uniformly distributed in the matrix and the composition of the RE inclusions was similar to that of a charged RE element. The content and the size of the RE inclusions increased slightly according to the charge content of the RE elements. RE inclusions in U-Zr alloys will have a positive effect on fuel performance due to their micro-size and high degree of distribution.

In this paper the effect of soldering technique and thermal shock test were investigated on SAC 305 solder joints, produced by two different solder method. The solder joints were subjected to different cycle numbers up to 5000 thermal shock tests with two different thermal profiles of –30/+110°C and –40/+125°C. Microstructural properties of the tested joints were examined with the focus on intermetallic layer thickness and crack formation/propagation. Thickness of the scallop shaped Cu6Sn5 intermetallic layer was increased with increasing cycle number for both THRS and multiwave joints, but the thickening was more effective for the THRS joints. Cracks typically formed at the solder alloy/ PTH barrel and the solder alloy/pin interfaces and propagated along grain boundaries and precipitations of intermetallic compound.

In this study, ODS ferritic stainless steels were fabricated using a commercial alloy powder, and their microstructures and mechanical properties were studied to develop the advanced structural materials for high temperature service applications. Mechanical alloying and uniaxial hot pressing processes were employed to produce the ODS ferritic stainless steels. It was revealed that oxide particles in the ODS stainless steels were composed of Y-Si-O, Y-Ti-Si-O, and Y-Hf-Si-O complex oxides were observed depending on minor alloying elements, Ti and Hf. The ODS ferritic stainless steel with a Hf addition presented ultra-fine grains with uniform distributions of fine complex oxide particles which located in grains and on the grain boundaries. These favorable microstructures led to superior tensile properties than commercial stainless steel and ODS ferritic steel with Ti addition at elevated temperature.

Al-CuO is a thermite material exhibiting the exothermic reaction only when aluminum melts. For wide spread of its application, the reaction temperature needs to be reduced in addition to the enhancement of total reaction energy. In the present study, a thermite nanocomposite with a large contact area between Al and CuO was fabricated in order to lower the exothermic reaction temperature and to improve the reactivity. A cryomilling process was performed to achieve the nanostructure, and the effect of composition on the microstructure and its reactivity was studied in detail. The microstructure was characterized using SEM and XRD, and the thermal property was analyzed using DSC. The results show that as the molar ratio between Al and CuO varies, the fraction of uniform nanocomposite structure was changed affecting the exothermic reaction characteristics.

Uniaxial tensile tests were performed on porcine skin to investigate the tensile stress-strain constitutive characteristic at quasistatic deformations using uniaxial tensile tests. Experimental results were then used to determine the parameters of the various constitutive model types for rubber, including the Mooney-Rivlin, Yeoh, Ogden, and others. The Prony series viscoelastic model was also calibrated based on the stress relaxation test. To investigate the calibrated constitutive equations (visco-hyperelastic), the falling impact test was conducted. From the viewpoint of the maximum impact load, the error was approximately 15.87%. Overall, the Ogden model predicted the experimental measurements most reasonably. The calibrated constitutive model is expected to be of practical use in describing the mechanical properties of porcine skin.

A liquid crystal display (LCD) recycling process is needed to increase its efficiency by recovering the resources in addition to metals and plastics. This study investigates the pre-treatment process for recycling LCD glass. Recycling pre-treatment includes dismantling the LCD from the waste product, crushing the glass, and separating the glass particles from the impurities. Scanning electron microscopy confirmed that the oscillation milling process is more effective in maintaining uniform powder shape and size as compared to the cut milling process. The glass particles crushed by the oscillating mill, optimized at 1500 rpm, had a uniformly distributed particle size of less than 10 µm. These small particles were separated from the organic impurities, achieving a 98% pure powder that can be used as recycled raw materials. The proposed pre-treatment process for recycling LCD glass will enhance the ability to use waste glass as a valuable resource in the manufacturing of future displays.

Residual stress has a great influence on the metal, but it is difficult to measure at small area using a general method. Residual stress calculations using the Vickers indentation can solve this problem. In this paper, a numerical simulation has been made for the residual stress measurement method of metal material deformed by high-speed impact. Then, the stress-strain curve at the high-speed deformation was confirmed through actual experiments, and the residual stresses generated thereafter were calculated by the Vickers indenter method. A Vickers indentation analysis under the same conditions was performed at the position where a residual stress of about 169.39 MPa was generated. Experiments were carried out and high speed impact was applied to the specimen to generate residual stress. The obtained results indicate that it is possible to identify residual stresses in various metals with various shapes through Vickers indentation measurements, and to use them for process and quality control.

The effects of carbon content on the austenite stability and strain-induced transformation of nanocrystalline Fe-11% Ni alloys were investigated using X-ray analysis and mechanical tests. The nanocrystalline FeNiC alloy samples were rapidly fabricated using spark plasma sintering because of the extremely short densification time, which not only helped attain the theoretical density value but also prevented grain growth. The increased austenite stability resulted from nanosized crystallites in the sintered alloys. Increasing compressive deformation increased the volume fraction of strain-induced martensite from austenite decomposition. The kinetics of the strain-induced martensite formation were evaluated using an empirical equation considering the austenite stability factor. As the carbon content increased, the austenite stability was enhanced, contributing to not only a higher volume fraction of austenite after sintering, but also to the suppression of its strain-induced martensite transformation.

Trace elements Co, Cr were added to investigate their influence on the microstructure and physical properties of Al-Si extruded alloy. The Co, Cr elements were randomly distributed in the matrix, forms intermetallic phase and their existence were confirmed by XRD, EDS and SEM analysis. With addition of trace elements, the microstructure was modified, Si particle size was reduced and the growth rate of β-(Al5FeSi) phase limited. Compared to parent alloy, hardness and tensile strength were enhanced while the linear coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) was significantly reduced by 42.4% and 16.05% with Co and Cr addition respectively. It is considered that the low CTE occurs with addition of Co was due to the formation of intermetallic compound having low coefficient of thermal expansion. The results suggested that Co acts as an effective element in improving the mechanical properties of Al-Si alloy.

Microstructures and mechanical properties of as-cast Al-6.5Mg-1.5Zn-0.5Fe alloys newly alloy-designed for the parts of automobile were investigated in detail. The aluminum (Al) sheets of 4 mm thickness, 30 mm width and 100 mm length were reduced to a thickness of 1mm by multi-pass rolling at ambient temperature and subsequently annealed for 1h at 200~500°C. The as-cast Al sheet was deformed without a formation of so large cracks even at huge rolling reduction of 75%. The recrystallization begun to occur at 250°C, it finished at 350°C. The as-rolled material showed tensile strength of 430 MPa and tensile elongation of 4.7%, however the specimen after annealing at 500°C showed the strength of 305 MPa and the elongation of 32%. The fraction of high angle grain boundaries above 15 degree increased greatly after annealing at high temperatures. These characteristics of the specimens after annealing were discussed in detail.

The grain boundary wetting phase transition in an industrial EZ33A cast alloy is studied. 12% of the grain boundaries are completely wetted at the temperature slightly higher than the eutectic transformation temperature (530°C). The fraction of wetted grain boundaries increases with temperature, reaches a maximum of 85% at 570°C, and does not change further until the alloy melts. In the as-cast state, the alloy has low ductile properties at the ambient temperature. The microstructure in the as-cast state corresponds to the wetting state at about 560°C, which indicates that the cooling rate in casting is almost equal to that in quenching. The volume and the surface fraction of the second phase and the hardness measured at the least wetted state of samples point to its good machinability. The wetting data are used to suggest a sequence of heat treatment and machining for processing EZ33A alloy parts.

Poppet valves made from high-frequency heat-treated SUH3 steel have insufficient durability, and scratches appear on the valve face in prolonged use. It is necessary to develop surface treatment technology with excellent durability to prevent the deterioration of engine performance. Therefore, a surface treatment technology with higher abrasion resistance than existing processes was developed by direct metal deposition to the face where the cylinder and valve are closed. In this study, heat pretreatment and deposition tests were performed on three materials to find suitable powders. In the performance evaluation, the hardness, friction coefficient, and wear rate were measured. Direct metal deposition using Inconel 738 and Stellite 6 powders without heat pretreatment were experimentally verified to have excellent durability.

In this study, BaFe12-2xCoxTixO19 (X : 0 to 2.0, 0.2) powders were synthesized by sol-gel process. TG-DTA, XRD, SEM, VSM, and Network analyzer were measured in order to influence easy magnetization axis change on the wave absorption frequency range change. The easy magnetization axis change of the annealed powder at 900°C and 1200°C was confirmed by the coercive force decreased 4,800 and 3,870 Oe to 260 and 269 Oe, respectively, at the substitution ratio of 0.8 and 1.0. And it was confirmed that the change of the easy magnetization axis affected the change of the wave absorption frequency. The wave absorption frequency of substituted Barium Ferrite was less than 10 GHz range after the easy magnetization axis of Barium ferrite changed to a-b plan direction. It was confirmed the BaFe12-2xCoxTixO19(x = 0.8 to 1.6) was synthesized by the sol-gel process and it was annealed at 900°C and 1200°C, which could be used as a wave absorber in the X-band region of 10 GHz less.

In this study, agar-based nanocomposite films containing ultra-porous silica aerogel particles were fabricated by gel casting using an aqueous agar/silica aerogel slurry. The silica aerogel particles did not show significant agglomeration and were homogeneously distributed in the agar matrix. Transmission electron microscopy observations demonstrated that the silica aerogel particles had a mesoporous microstructure and their pores were not incorporated into the agar polymer molecules. The thermal conductivities of the agar and agar/5 wt.% silica aerogel nanocomposite films were 0.36 and 0.20 W·m–1·K–1, respectively. The transmittance of the agar films did not decrease upon the addition of silica aerogel particles into them. This can be attributed to the anti-reflection effect of silica aerogel particles.