The subject of this study is a zeolite generated as a by-product of recycling LAS (lithium-aluminum-silicate) resources, a kind of glass and ceramic produced by induction. The zeolite by-product is modified into Mg-zeolite using Mg as a cation to absorb Pb, a heavy metal generated from water pollution caused by recent industrial wastewater. An ion-exchange method is used to carry out the modification process, from zeolite byproduct to Mg-zeolite, and simultaneously absorb the Pb in the heavy-metal solution (99.032 mg/L). It is found that the sodium zeolite in the raw material residue can be modified to magnesium zeolite by reacting it with a mixture solution at 1 M concentration for 24 h. As a result, it is found that the residual Pb (0.130 mg/L) in the heavy metal solution is shown to be absorbed by 99.86%, with successful formation of a Mg-modified zeolite.
W2C is synthesized through a reaction-sintering process from an ultrafine-W and WC powder mixture using spark plasma sintering (SPS). The effect of various parameters, such as W:WC molar ratio, sintering temperature, and sintering time, on the synthesis behavior of W2C is investigated through X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis of the microstructure, and final sintered density. Further, the etching properties of a W2C specimen are analyzed. A W2C sintered specimen with a particle size of 2.0 μm and a relative density over 98% could be obtained from a W-WC powder mixture with 55 mol%, after SPS at 1700℃ for 20 min under a pressure of 50 MPa. The sample etching rate is similar to that of SiC. Based on X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis, it is confirmed that fluorocarbon-based layers such as C-F and C-F2 with lower etch rates are also formed.
In this paper, a durability study is presented to enhance the mechanical properties of an Fe-Si-Al powderbased magnetic core, through the addition of graphite. The compressive properties of Fe-Si-Al-graphite powder mixtures are explored using discrete element method (DEM), and a powder compaction experiment is performed under identical conditions to verify the reliability of the DEM analysis. Important parameters for powder compaction of Fe-Si-Algraphite powder mixtures are identified. The compressibility of the powders is observed to increase as the amount of graphite mixture increases and as the size of the graphite powders decreases. In addition, the compaction properties of the Fe-Si-Al-graphite powder mixtures are further explored by analyzing the transmissibility of stress between the top and bottom punches as well as the distribution of the compressive force. The application of graphite powders is confirmed to result in improved stress transmission and compressive force distribution, by 24% and 51%, respectively.
In this study, partially dry transfer is investigated to solve the problem of fully dry transfer. Partially dry transfer is a method in which multiple layers of graphene are dry-transferred over a wet-transferred graphene layer. At a wavelength of 550 nm, the transmittance of the partially dry-transferred graphene is seen to be about 3% higher for each layer than that of the fully dry-transferred graphene. Furthermore, the sheet resistance of the partially drytransferred graphene is relatively lower than that of the fully dry-transferred graphene, with the minimum sheet resistance being 179 Ω/sq. In addition, the fully dry-transferred graphene is easily damaged during the solution process, so that the performance of the organic photovoltaics (OPV) does not occur. In contrast, the best efficiency achievable for OPV using the partially dry-transferred graphene is 2.37% for 4 layers.
In this study, the effects of Co content on the microstructure and Charpy impact properties of Fe-Cr-W ferritic/martensitic oxide dispersion strengthened (F/M ODS) steels are investigated. F/M ODS steels with 0–5 wt% Co are fabricated by mechanical alloying, followed by hot isostatic pressing, hot-rolling, and normalizing/tempering heat treatment. All the steels commonly exhibit two-phase microstructures consisting of ferrite and tempered martensite. The volume fraction of ferrite increases with the increase in the Co content, since the Co element considerably lowers the hardenability of the F/M ODS steel. Despite the lowest volume fraction of tempered martensite, the F/M ODS steel with 5 wt% Co shows the highest micro-Vickers hardness, owing to the solid solution-hardening effect of the alloyed Co. The high hardness of the steel improves the resistance to fracture initiation, thereby resulting in the enhanced fracture initiation energy in a Charpy impact test at – 40oC. Furthermore, the addition of Co suppresses the formation of coarse oxide inclusions in the F/M ODS steel, while simultaneously providing a high resistance to fracture propagation. Owing to these combined effects of Co, the Charpy impact energy of the F/M ODS steel increases gradually with the increase in the Co content.
In the present work, an explicit finite element analysis technique is introduced to analyze the thermal stress fields present in the additive manufacturing process. To this purpose, a finite element matrix formulation is derived from the equations of motion and continuity. The developed code, NET3D, is then applied to various sample problems including thermal stress development. The application of heat to an inclusion from an external source establishes an initial temperature from which heat flows to the surrounding body in the sample problems. The development of thermal stress due to the mismatch between the thermal strains is analyzed. As mass scaling can be used to shorten the computation time of explicit analysis, a mass scaling of 108 is employed here, which yields almost identical results to the quasi-static results.
In this study, the effects of kaolin addition on the properties of reticulated porous diatomite-kaolin composites are investigated. A reticulated porous diatomite-kaolin composite is prepared using the replica template method. The microstructure and pore characteristics of the reticulated porous diatomite-kaolin composites are analyzed by controlling the PPI value (45, 60, and 80 PPI) of the polyurethane foam (which are used as the polymer template), the ball-milling time (8 and 24 h), and the amount of kaolin (0–50 wt. %). The average pore size decreases as the amount of kaolin increases in the reticulated porous diatomite-kaolin composite. As the amount of kaolin increases, it can be determined that the amount of inter-connected pore channels is reduced because the plate-shaped kaolin particles connect the gaps between irregular diatomite particles. Consequently, a higher kaolin percentage affects the overall mechanical properties by improving the pore channel connectivity. The effect of kaolin addition on the basic properties of the reticulated porous diatomite-kaolin composite is further discussed with characterization data such as pore size distribution, scanning electron microscopy images, and compressive strength.
In this study, we fabricate a thin- and dense-BCuP-5 coating layer, one of the switching device multilayers, through a plasma spray process. In addition, the microstructure and macroscopic properties of the coating layer, such as hardness and bond strength, are investigated. Both the initial powder feedstock and plasma-sprayed BCuP-5 coating layer show the main Cu phase, Cu-Ag-Cu3P ternary phases, and Ag phase. This means that microstructural degradation does not occur during plasma spraying. The Vickers hardness of the coating layer was measured as 117.0 HV, indicating that the fine distribution of the three phases enables the excellent mechanical properties of the plasma-sprayed BCuP-5 coating layer. The pull-off strength of the plasma-sprayed BCuP-5 coating layer is measured as 16.5 kg/cm2. Based on the above findings, the applicability of plasma spray for the fabrication process of low-cost multi-layered electronic contact materials is discussed and suggested.
Since the interaction between the second-phase particle and grain boundary was theoretically explained by Zener and Smith in the late 1940s, the interaction of the second-phase particle and grain boundary on the microstructure is commonly referred to as Zener pinning. It is known as one of the main mechanisms that can retard grain growth during heat treatment of metallic and ceramic polycrystalline systems. Computer simulation techniques have been applied to the study of microstructure changes since the 1980s, and accordingly, the second-phase particle–grain boundary interaction has been simulated by various simulation techniques, and further diverse developments have been made for more realistic and accurate simulations. In this study, we explore the existing development patterns and discuss future possible development directions.