The hydrogen embrittlement of high strength steel for automobiles was evaluated by small punch (SP) test. The test specimens were fabricated to be 5 series, having various chemical compositions according to the processes of heat treatment and working. Hydrogen charging was electrochemically conducted for each specimen with varying of current density and charging time. It was shown that the SP energy and the maximum load decreased with increasing hydrogen charging time in every specimen. SEM investigation results for the hydrogen containing samples showed that the fracture behavior was a mixed fracture mode having 50% dimples and 50% cleavages. However, the fracture mode of specimens with charging hydrogen changed gradually to the brittle fracture mode, compared to the mode of other materials. All sizes and numbers of dimples decreased with increasing hydrogen charging time. These results indicate that hydrogen embrittlement is the major cause of fracture for high strength steels for automobiles; also, it is shown that the small punch test is a valuable test method for hydrogen embrittlement of high strength sheet steels for automobiles.

This study describes a hydrogen embrittlement evaluation of the subsurface zone in 590DP steel by micro-Vickers hardness measurement. The 590DP steel was designed to use in high-strength thin steel sheets as automotive materials. The test specimens were fabricated to 5 series varying the chemical composition through the process of casting and rolling. Electrochemical hydrogen charging was conducted on each specimen with varying current densities and charging times. The relationship between the embrittlement and hydrogen charging conditions was established by investigating the metallography. The micro-Vickers hardness was measured to evaluate the hydrogen embrittlement of the subsurface zone in addition to the microscopic investigation. The micro-Vickers hardness increased with the charging time at the surface. However, the changing ratio and maximum variation of hardness with depth were nearly the same value for each test specimen under the current density of 150 mA/cm2 and charging time of 50 hours. Consequently, it appears that hydrogen embrittlement in 590DP steel can be evaluated by micro-Vickers hardness measurement.

High strength sheet steels for automobile are seriously compromised by hydrogen embrittlement. This issue has been continuously studied, but the field of interest, which lies between microstructural characteristics and hydrogen behavior with hydrogen charging, has not yet been thoroughly investigated. This study was done to investigate the behavior of hydrogen according to the hydrogen volume fraction on 590MPa grade DP steels, which are developed under hydrogen charging conditions as high strength sheet steels for automobiles. The penetration depths and the mechanical properties, according to charging conditions, were investigated through the distribution of micro-hardness and the microstructural observation of the subsurface zone. It was found that the amount of hydrogen trapping in 590MPa DP steels was related to the austenite volume fraction. It was confirmed that the distribution of micro-hardnesses according to the depth of the subsurface zone under the free surface showed the relationship of the depth of the hydrogen saturation between the charging conditions.

Micro-scale copper bumps for build-up PCB were electroplated using a pulse-reverse method. The effects of the current density, pulse-reverse ratio and brightener concentration of the electroplating process were investigated and optimized for suitable performance. The electroplated micro-bumps were characterized using various analytical tools, including an optical microscope, a scanning electron microscope and an atomic force microscope. Surface analysis results showed that the electroplating uniformity was viable in a current density range of 1.4-3.0 A/dm2 at a pulse-reverse ratio of 1. To investigate the brightener concentration on the electroplating properties, the current density value was fixed at 3.0 A/dm2 as a dense microstructure was achieved at this current density. The brightener concentration was varied from 0.05 to 0.3 ml/L to study the effect of the concentration. The optimum concentration for micro-bump electroplating was found to be 0.05 ml/L based on the examination of the electroplating properties of the bump shape, roughness and grain size.

For development of a human body model for electric shock, electroconductive paints with carbon black as a filler material were developed. The characteristics of the volume resistivities of thin films fabricated using the electroconductive paints were investigated as a function of the particle sizes and content of carbon black. With a carbon black particle size over 80 μm, agglomeration of carbon black powders was observed. The volume resistivity of the particles increased as the porosity increased and as the amount of carbon black decreased due to the agglomeration of carbon black powders. With a particle size of 4 μm and 20 μm, agglomeration of carbon black powders was not observed and their porosities were measured as 0.86% and 1.12% with volume resistivities of 20 Ω·cm and 80 Ω·cm respectively. A carbon black particle size of less than 20 μm is considered to be suitable as a type of electric-shock electroconductive paint for a human body model.

Hydrogen production via high high-temperature steam electrolysis consumes less electrical energy than compared to conventional low low-temperature water electrolysis, mainly due to the improved thermodynamics and kinetics at elevated temperaturetemperatures. The elementalElemental powders of Cu, Ni, and YSZ are were used to synthesize high high-temperature electrolysis cathodecathodes, of Ni/YSZ and Cu/YSZ composites, by mechanical alloying. The metallic particles of the composites were uniformly covered with finer YSZ particles. Sub-micron sized pores are were homogeneously dispersed in the Ni/YSZ and Cu/YSZ composites. In this study, The cathode materials were synthesized and their Characterizations properties were evaluated in this study: It was found that the better electric conductivity of the Cu/YSZ composite was measured improved compared tothan that of the Ni/YSZ composite. Slight A slight increase in the resistance can be produced for in a Cu/YSZ cathode by oxidation, but it this is compensated offset for by a favorable thermal expansion coefficient. Therefore, Cu/YSZ cermet can be adequately used as a suitable cathode material of in high high-temperature electrolysis.

In-situ processing route was adopted to disperse carbon nanotubes (CNTs) into powders homogeneously. The composite powders with homogeneous dispersion of CNTs could be synthesized by a catalytic route for in-situ formation of CNTs on nano-sized Fe dispersed powders. CNTs/Fe/ nanopowders were densified by spark plasma sintering (SPS). The hardness and bending strength as well as electrical conductivity increased with increasing sintering temperature. However, the electrical conductivity of the composites sintered at above showed decreased value with increasing sintering temperature due to the oxidation of CNTs