The effect of the process conditions of high-velocity oxygen fuel (HVOF) thermal spray coating on the porosity of the coating layer is investigated. HVOF coating layers are formed by depositing amorphous FeMoCrBC powder. Oxygen pressure varies from 126 to 146 psi and kerosene pressure from 110 to 130 psi. The Microstructural analysis confirms its porosity. Data analysis is performed using experimental data. The oxygen pressure-kerosene pressure ratio is found to be a key contributor to the porosity. An empirical model is proposed using linear regression analysis. The proposed model is then validated using additional test data. We confirm that the oxygen pressure-kerosene pressure ratio exponentially increases porosity. We present a porosity prediction model relationship for the oxygen pressure-kerosene pressure ratio.

The effect of tert-butyl alcohol (TBA) as a freezing solvent on the pore structure of a porous tungsten body prepared by freeze-drying is analyzed. TBA slurries with a WO3 content of 10 vol% are prepared by mixing with a small amount of dispersant and binder at 30oC. The slurries are frozen at -25oC, and pores are formed in the frozen specimens by the sublimation of TBA during drying in air. After hydrogen reduction at 800oC and sintering at 1000oC, the green body of WO3 is completely converted to porous W with various pore structures. Directional pores from the center of the specimen to the outside are observed in the sintered bodies because of the columnar growth of TBA. A decrease in pore directionality and porosity is observed in the specimens prepared by long-duration drying and sintering. The change in pore structure is explained by the growth of the freezing solvent and densification.

Metal three-dimensional (3D) printing is an important emerging processing method in powder metallurgy. There are many successful applications of additive manufacturing. However, processing parameters such as laser power and scan speed must be manually optimized despite the development of artificial intelligence. Automatic calibration using information in an additive manufacturing database is desirable. In this study, 15 commercial pure titanium samples are processed under different conditions, and the 3D pore structures are characterized by X-ray tomography. These samples are easily classified into three categories, unmelted, well melted, or overmelted, depending on the laser energy density. Using more than 10,000 projected images for each category, convolutional neural networks are applied, and almost perfect classification of these samples is obtained. This result demonstrates that machine learning methods based on X-ray tomography can be helpful to automatically identify more suitable processing parameters.

The change in the open porosity of bulk graphite as a function of the uniaxial molding pressure during manufacturing is studied using artificial graphite powder. Subsequently, the graphite is impregnated to determine the effect of the open porosity on the impregnation efficiency and to improve the density of the final bulk graphite. Bulk graphite is manufactured with different uniaxial molding pressures after mixing graphite powder, which is the by-product of processing the final graphite products and phenolic resin. The bulk density and open porosity are measured using the Archimedes method. The bulk density and open porosity of bulk graphite increase as the molding pressure increases. The open porosity of molded bulk graphite is 25.35% at 30 MPa and 29.84% at 300 MPa. It is confirmed that the impregnation efficiency increases when the impregnation process is performed on a specimen with large open porosity. In this study, the bulk density of bulk graphite molded at 300 MPa is 11.06% higher than that before impregnation, which is the highest reported increase. Therefore, it is expected that the higher the uniaxial pressure, the higher the density of bulk graphite.

Pores produced by carbonization in bulk graphite process degrade the mechanical and electrical properties of bulk graphite. Therefore, the pores of bulk graphite must be reduced and an impregnation process needs to be performed for this reason. In this study, bulk graphite is impregnated by varying the viscosity of the impregnant. The pore volume and pore size distribution, according to the viscosity of the impregnant, are analyzed using a porosimeter. The total pore volume of bulk graphite is analyzed from the cumulative amount of mercury penetrated. The volume for a specific pore size is interpreted as the amount of mercury penetrating into that pore size. This decreases the cumulative amount of mercury penetrating into the recarbonized bulk graphite after impregnation because the viscosity of the impregnant is lower. The cumulative amount of mercury penetrating into bulk graphite before impregnation and after three times of impregnation with 5.1cP are 0.144 mL/g and 0.125 mL/gm, respectively. Therefore, it is confirmed that the impregnant filled the pores of the bulk graphite well. In this study, the impregnant with 5.1 cP, which is the lowest viscosity, shows the best effect for reducing the total pore volume. In addition, it is confirmed by Raman analysis that the impregnant is filled inside the pores. It is confirmed that phenolic resin, the impregnant, exists inside the pores through micro-Raman analysis from the inside of the pore to the outside.

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are of significant interest because of their high porosity, which facilitates their utilization in gas storage and catalysis. To enhance their current properties in these applications, it is necessary to elucidate the interactions between molecules in a confined environment that differ from those in bulk conditions. Herein, we study the confined molecular interaction by investigating the solvent-dependent photophysical properties of two different-sized molecules inside MOF-5. Ruthenium tris-bipyridine (Rubpy) and coumarin 153 (C153) are encapsulated in MOF-5. Rubpy with MOF-5 (Rubpy@MOF) is prepared by building MOF-5 around it, resulting in limited space for solvent molecules in the pores. The smaller C153 is encapsulated in the preformed MOF-5 (C153@MOF) by simply soaking the MOF in a concentrated C153 solution. C153@MOF permits more space for solvent molecules in the pore. Their characteristic absorption and emission spectra are examined to elucidate the confined molecular interactions. Rubpy@MOF and C153@MOF exhibit different spectral shifts compared to the guest molecules under bulk conditions. This discrepancy is attributed to the different micro-environments inside the pores, derived from confined host-guest interactions in the interplay of solvent molecules.

The effect of sublimable vehicles on the pore structure of Cu fabricated by freeze drying is investigated. The 5 vol% CuO-dispersed slurries with camphene and various camphor-naphthalene compositions are frozen in a Teflon mold at -25oC, followed by sublimation at room temperature. After hydrogen reduction at 300oC and sintering at 600 °C, the green bodies of CuO are completely converted to Cu with various pore structures. The sintered samples prepared using CuO/camphene slurries show large pores that are aligned parallel to the sublimable vehicle growth direction. In addition, a dense microstructure is observed in the bottom section of the specimen where the solidification heat was released, owing to the difference in the solidification behavior of the camphene crystals. The porous Cu shows different pore structures, such as dendritic, rod-like, and plate shaped, depending on the composition of the camphornaphthalene system. The change in pore structure is explained by the crystal growth behavior of primary camphor and eutectic and primary naphthalene. Keywords: Porous Cu, Pore structure

In order to develop a process for manufacturing a composite structure of an intermetallic compound foam and a hollow material, the firing and pore form of the Al-Ni precursor in a steel pipe are investigated. When the Al-Ni precursor is foamed in a hollow pipe, if the temperature distribution inside the precursor is uneven, the pore shape distribution becomes uneven. In free foaming, no anisotropy is observed in the foaming direction and the pore shape is isotropic. However, in the hollow pipe, the pipe expands in the pipe axis direction and fills the pipe. The interfacial adhesion between Al3Ni foam and steel pipe is excellent, and interfacial pore and reaction layer are not observed by SEM. In free foaming, the porosity is 90 %, but it decreases to about 80 % in the foam in the pipe. In the pipe foaming, most of the pore shape appears elongated in the pipe direction in the vicinity of the pipe, and this tendency is more remarkable when the inside pipe diameter is small. It can be seen that the pore size of the foam sample in the pipe is larger than that of free foam, because coarse pores remain after solidification of the foam because the shape of the foam is supported by the pipe. The vertical/horizontal length ratio expands along the pipe axis direction by foaming in the pipe, and therefore circularity is reduced.

다공성 분리막은 입자성 물질을 제거하는데 산업적으로 다양하게 응용되고 있다. 기존 다공성 분리막 제작 방법 과 다르게, 용액퍼짐 상분리법은 매우 간단하게 기공을 형성할 수 있다. 먼저 지지층으로 메쉬 위에 물을 적신 후, 물과 혼합 되지 않은 용매에 폴리설폰 용액을 흘려준다. 이때 물과 혼합되지 않은 용매는 쉽게 기화되어 폴리설폰은 얇은 막으로 만들어지게 된다. 기공을 형성하기 위해 폴리설폰 용액에 물과 혼합할 수 있는 물질을 넣게 되면, 넣어주는 농도 비율에 따라 기공크기를 조절할 수 있게 된다. 막의 두께는 쉽게 용액의 농도로 조절이 된다. 다공성 분리막은 메쉬의 형성을 그대로 유지하고 있어 3차원 구조체를 형성하는데 매우 유용하다. 본 연구에서 제시된 용액 퍼짐 상분리법은 매우 낮은 생산단가와 쉬운 공정조절에 의해 기존 분리막에 비해 높은 가격경쟁력을 가질 수 있는 특징을 보이고 있다.

To improve the performance of carbon nanofibers as electrode material in electrical double-layer capacitors (EDLCs), we prepare three types of samples with different pore control by electrospinning. The speciments display different surface structures, melting behavior, and electrochemical performance according to the process. Carbon nanofibers with two complex treatment processes show improved performance over the other samples. The mesoporous carbon nanofibers (sample C), which have the optimal conditions, have a high sepecific surface area of 696 m2 g−1, a high average pore diameter of 6.28 nm, and a high mesopore volume ratio of 87.1%. In addition, the electrochemical properties have a high specific capacitance of 110.1 F g−1 at a current density of 0.1 A g−1 and an excellent cycling stability of 84.8% after 3,000 cycles at a current density of 0.1 A g−1. Thus, we explain the improved electrochemical performance by the higher reaction area due to an increased surface area and a faster diffusion path due to the increased volume fraction of the mesopores. Consequently, the mesoporous carbon nanofibers are demonstrated to be a very promising material for use as electrode materials of high-performance EDLCs.