Graphene, a new material with various advantageous properties, has been actively used in various fields in recent years. Applications of graphene oxide are increasing in combination with other materials due to the different properties of graphene oxide, depending on the number of single and multiple layers of graphene. In this study, single-layer graphene oxide and multi-layer graphene oxide are spray coated on polystyrene, and the physicochemical properties of the coated surfaces are characterized using SEM, Raman spectroscopy, AFM, UV-Vis spectrophotometry, and contact angle measurements. In singlelayer graphene oxide, particles of 20 μm are observed, whereas a 2D peak is less often observed, and the difference in surface height increases according to the amount of graphene oxide. Adhesion increases with an increase in graphene oxide up to 0.375 mg, but decreases at 0.75 mg. In multi-layer graphene oxide, particles of 5 μm are observed, as well as a 2D peak. According to the amount of graphene oxide, the height difference of the surface increases and the adhesive strength decreases. Both materials are hydrophilic, but single-layer graphene oxide has a hydrophilicity higher than that of multi-layer graphene oxide. We believe that multi-layer graphene oxide and single-layer graphene oxide can be implemented based on the characteristics that make them suitable for application.

Ti-Al-Si target and Cr-Si target are sputtered alternately to develop a multi-layered nitride coating on a steel mold to improve die-casting lifetime. Prior to the multi-layer deposition, a CrN layer is developed as a buffer layer on the mold to suppress the diffusion of reactive elements and enhance the cohesive strength of the multi-layer deposition. Approximately 50 nm CrSiN and TiAlSiN layers are deposited layer by layer, and form about three μm-thickness of multi-layered coating. From the observation of the uncoated and coated steel molds after the acceleration experiment of liquid metal injection casting, the uncoated mold is severely eroded by the adhesion of molten metallic glass. On the other hand, the multi-layer coating on the mold prevents element diffusion from the metallic glass and mold erosion during the experiment. The multi-layer structure of the coating transforms the nano-composite structured coating during the acceleration test. Since the nano-composite structure disrupts element diffusion to molten metallic glass, despite microstructure changes, the coating is not eroded by the 1,050 oC molten metallic glass.

Ultraviolet curable coating solution was prepared with poly(ethylene glycol) acrylate oligomer and various mono and multi-functional acrylate monomers. The optical properties of UV cured coating layer on PET film with acrylate coating solution containing metal oxides, such as fumed silica and alumina, were also investigated to reduce light reflection on films. Poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate which has 575 of average molecular weight was used as oligomer acrylate, and pentaerythritol triacrylate and dipentaerythritolpenta-/hexa acrylate were used as multi-functional acrylate monomers. Also, butyl acrylate was used to improve the adhesion as well as to reduce glass transition temperature to give a better flexability. 1-hydroxy cyclohexyl phenyl ketone was used as photoinitiator. We found out the metal oxides in acrylate coating solution showed a homogeneous dispersion from energy dispersive spectroscopy data. Transmittance and light reflection of coated PET film was measured with UV/vis spectrometer and gloss meter, respectively. When 1.00 g of both metal oxides was added into coating solution, the transmittance and the glossiness were reduced from 90% to 30% and from 190 GU to 35 GU, respectively. However, adding up to 1.00 g of the metal oxide into coating solution did not affect on the hardness of coating layer and adhesion between coated layer and PET film. Conclusively, we can control transmittance and light reflection of coated film by adjusting the amounts of metal oxide in coating solution.