An optimum route to fabricate a hybrid-structured W powder composed of nano and micro size powders was investigated. The mixture of nano and micro W powders was prepared by a ball milling and hydrogen reduction process for WO3 and W powders. Microstructural observation for the ball-milled powder mixtures revealed that the nano-sized WO3 particles were homogeneously distributed on the surface of large W powders. The reduction behavior of WO3 powder was analyzed by a temperature programmed reduction method with different heating rates in Ar-10% H2 atmosphere. The activation energies for the reduction of WO3, estimated by the slope of the Kissinger plot from the amount of reaction peak shift with heating rates, were measured as 117.4 kJ/mol and 94.6 kJ/mol depending on reduction steps from WO3 to WO2 and from WO2 to W, respectively. SEM and XRD analysis for the hydrogen-reduced powder mixture showed that the nano-sized W particles were well distributed on the surface of the micro-sized W powders.
In commercial solar cells, the pattern of the front electrode is critical to effectively assemble the photo generated current. The power loss in solar cells caused by the front electrode was categorized as four types. First, losses due to the metallic resistance of the electrode. Second, losses due to the contact resistance of the electrode and emitter. Third, losses due to the emitter resistance when current flows through the emitter. Fourth, losses due to the shading effect of the front metal electrode, which has a high reflectance. In this paper, optimizing the number of finger on a 4 ´ 4 solar cell is demonstrated with known theory. We compared the short circuit current density and fill factor to evaluate the power loss from the front metal contact calculation result. By experiment, the short circuit current density(Jsc), taken in each pattern as 37.61, 37.53, and 37.38 mA/ cm2 decreased as the number of fingers increased. The fill factor(FF), measured in each pattern as 0.7745, 0.7782 and 0.7843 increased as number of fingers increased. The results suggested that the efficiency(Eff) was measured in each pattern as 17.51, 17.81, and 17.84 %. Throughout this study, the short-circuit current densities(Jsc) and fill factor(FF) varied according to the number of fingers in the front metal pattern. The effects on the efficiency of the two factors were also investigated.
The effect of strain aging on the tensile properties of API X70 linepipe steel was investigated in this study. The API X70 linepipe steel was fabricated by controlled rolling and accelerated cooling processes, and the microstructure was analyzed using optical and scanning electron microscopes and electron backscatter diffraction. Strain aging tests consisting of 1% pre-strain and thermal aging at 200 oC and 250 oC were conducted to simulate U-forming, O-forming, Expansion(UOE) pipe forming and anti-corrosion coating processes. The API X70 linepipe steel was composed of polygonal ferrite, acicular ferrite, granular bainite, and bainitic ferrite whose volume fraction was dependent on the chemical composition and process conditions. As the thermal aging temperature increased, the steel specimens showed more clearly discontinuous type yielding behavior in the tensile stress-strain curve due to the formation of a Cottrell atmosphere. After pre-strain and thermal aging, the yield and tensile strengths increased and the yield-to-tensile strength ratio decreased because yielding and aging behaviors significantly affected work hardening. On the other hand, uniform and total elongations decreased after pre-strain and thermal aging since dislocation gliding was restricted by increased dislocation density after a 1% pre-strain.
ZnO micro/nanocrystals with different morphologies were synthesized by thermal evaporation of various zinc source materials in an air atmosphere. Zinc acetate, zinc carbonate and zinc iodide were used as the source materials. No catalysts or substrates were used in the synthesis of the ZnO crystals. The scanning electron microscope(SEM) image showed that the morphology of ZnO crystals was strongly dependent on the source materials, which suggests that source material is one of the key factors in controlling the morphology of the obtained ZnO crystals. Tetrapods, nanogranular shaped crystals, spherical particles and crayon-shaped crystals were obtained using different source materials. The X-ray diffraction(XRD) pattern revealed that the all the ZnO crystals had hexagonal wurtzite crystalline structures. An ultraviolet emission was observed in the cathodoluminescence spectrum of the ZnO crystals prepared via thermal evaporation of Zn powder. However, a strong green emission centered at around 500 nm was observed in the cathodoluminescence spectra of the ZnO crystals prepared using zinc salts as the source materials.
Gd2O3:Eu3+ red phosphors were prepared by template method from crystalline cellulose impregnated by metal salt. The crystallite size and photoluminescence(PL) property of Gd2O3:Eu3+ red phosphors were controlled by varying the calcination temperature and Eu3+ mol ratio. The nano dispersion of Gd2O3:Eu3+ was also conducted with a bead mill wet process. Dependent on the time of bead milling, Gd2O3:Eu3+ nanosol of around 100 nm (median particle size : D50) was produced. As the bead milling process proceeded, the luminescent efficiency decreased due to the low crystallinity of the Gd2O3:Eu3+ nanoparticles. In spite of the low PL property of Gd2O3:Eu3+ nanosol, it was observed that the photoluminescent property was recovered after re-calcination. In addition, in the dispersed nanosol treated at 85 oC, a self assembly phenomenon between particles appeared, and the particles changed from spherical to rod-shaped. These results indicate that particle growth occurs due to mutual assembly of Gd(OH)3 particles, which is the hydration of Gd2O3 particles, in aqueous solvent at 85 oC.
In order to develop a new commercial Al-12%Si casting alloy with improved physical properties, we investigated the effect of adding Sr and TiB to the alloy. Al-12%Si alloys were prepared by die casting at 660 oC. The eutectic temperature of the Sr-modified Al-12%Si alloy decreased to 9 oC and the mushy zone region increased. The shape of the Si phase changed from coarse acicula to fine fiber with the addition of Sr. The addition of TiB in the Al-12%Si alloy reduced the size of the primary α-Al and eutectic Si phases. When Sr and TiB were added together, it worked more effectively in refinement and modification. The density of twins in the Si phase-doped Sr increased and the width of the twins was refined to 5 nm. These results are related to the impurity induced twinning(IIT) growth.
Evaluation of the durability and stability of materials used in power plants is of great importance because parts or components for turbines, heat exchangers and compressors are often exposed to extreme environments such as high temperature and pressure. In this work, high-temperature corrosion behavior of 316 L stainless steel in a carbon dioxide environment was studied to examine the applicability of a material for a supercritical carbon dioxide Brayton cycle as the next generation power plant system. The specimens were exposed in a high-purity carbon dioxide environment at temperatures ranging from 500 to 800 oC during 1000 hours. The features of the corroded products were examined by optical microscope and scanning electron microscope, and the chemical compound was determined by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The results show that while the 316 L stainless steel had good corrosion resistance in the range of 500-700 oC in the carbon dioxide environment, the corrosion resistance at 800 oC was very poor due to chipping the corroded products off, which resulted in a considerable loss in weight.
The microstructural evolution and modulation of mechanical properties were investigated for a Ti65Fe35 hypereutectic alloy by addition of Bi53In47 eutectic alloys. The microstructure of these alloys changed with the additional Bi- In elements from a typical dendrite-eutectic composite to a bimodal eutectic structure with primary dendrite phases. In particular, the primary dendrite phase changed from a TiFe intermetallic compound into a β-Ti solid solution despite their higher Fe content. Compressive tests at room temperature demonstrated that the yield strength slightly decreased but the plasticity evidently increased with an increasing Bi-In content, which led to the formation of a bimodal eutectic structure (β-Ti/TiFe + β- Ti/BiIn containing phase). Furthermore, the (Ti65Fe35)95(Bi53In47)5 alloy exhibited optimized mechanical properties with high strength (1319MPa) and reasonable plasticity (14.2%). The results of this study indicate that the transition of the eutectic structure, the type of primary phases and the supersaturation in the β-Ti phase are crucial factors for controlling the mechanical properties of the ultrafine dendrite-eutectic composites.
In this study, the coating of an Al-Cr layer on the surface of a Zircaloy-4 alloy was carried out through plasma pretreatment coating and a laser surface melting process. Two different conditions for laser treatment, severe or minimal surface melting of the Zr alloy substrate, were applied to form the final coating. When there was significant surface melting of the Zr alloy, the solidification microstructure of the newly formed coating layer was mainly composed of needle-shaped Al3Zr, Al(Cr) and Al7Cr phases. On the other hand, the solidification microstructure of the coating layer was mainly composed of Al(Cr) and Al7Cr phases when there was minimal surface melting of Zr base in the laser process. However, when the coating was maintained at 1100 oC for 2 hours, significant inter-diffusion occurred between the phases in the coating. As a result, the upper part of the coating layer was observed to mainly consist of Al3Zr and Al8Cr5 phases, regardless of the laser treatment conditions.
To improve photocatalytic performance, a PbS/ZnO/TiO2 nanotube catalyst was synthesized, and its surface characteristics and photocatalytic efficiency were investigated. The hybrid photocatalysts were produced by anodic oxidation and successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction(SILAR). The photocatalytic efficiency was evaluated using the dye degradation rate. The PbS/ZnO/TiO2 photocatalyst significantly enhanced the photocatalytic activity for dye degradation, which was ascribed to the synergistic effect of their better absorption of solar light and a decrease in the rate of excited electron-hole recombination.