Sulfate-rich waste powder containing a radioactive nuclide is generated from chemical decontamination process and radioactive liquid waste treatment using ion exchange resin. The radioactive sulfate-rich waste powder should be stabilized for final disposal. The techniques for immobilization of the radioactive sulfate-rich waste powder such as hydraulic cement, geopolymer, and iron phosphate glass have been applied, however, there are limitation in these techniques. Firstly, the hydraulic cement cannot applied to the wastes containing high concentration of sulfate because the expansion, cracks, and disintegration can be happened in the waste form. Geopolymer has a low density although they can be used as a good binder. The iron phosphate glass can be utilized, however, a considerable amount of SO2 gas is emitted due to the high sintering temperature. In this study, immobilization of radioactive sulfate-rich waste powder was carried out to resolve above problems by applying low temperature sintering method using a low-melting glass. As a result, it was confirmed that the waste form has a high bulk density. The compressive strength of the waste form was over 40 MPa, which is higher than the acceptance criteria (≥ 3.44 MPa). From ANS 16.1 test, it was verified that the waste form met the acceptance criteria of the leachability index (≥ 6). It was also confirmed that the waste form was chemically durable through product consistency test (PCT). In addition, the chemical stabilities of waste forms were compared following the sintering condition and the composition of the waste forms. The difference of the chemical stability was explained by difference in the abundance of chemical form obtained from the sequential extraction test.

수처리 및 의약바이오 분야에서 유효물질 분리에 활용되고 있는 알루미나 중공사 분리막은 얇은 두께로 인해 취 급 및 적용시 쉽게 파괴되는 단점이 있기 때문에 분리막의 강도를 100 MPa 이상으로 향상시키기 위한 연구가 필요하다. 본 연구에서는 나노입자의 함량을 0, 1, 3, 5 wt%로 증가시켰을 때 제조된 중공사 분리막의 특성을 평가하였다. 그 결과, 나노입 자의 함량이 증가함에 따라 중공사 분리막의 강도는 79 MPa에서 115 MPa로 증가하였으며, 밀도는 1.76 g/m3에서 1.88 g/m3 으로 증가하였고 기공률과 평균기공크기는 각각 51%에서 48%로, 416 nm에서 352 nm로 감소한 것을 확인하였다. 스폰지구 조가 발달하고 스폰지구조의 기공크기가 향상된 알루미나 중공사 분리막은 100 MPa 이상으로 기계적 강도가 향상되었으며, 약 100000 GPU의 높은 질소 투과도 및 약 3000 L/m2h의 높은 물 투과도를 나타내었다. 따라서, γ-알루미나 나노입자를 소 결조제로 첨가하는 것은 α-알루미나 중공사 분리막의 기계적 강도를 효과적으로 증진시키고 높은 투과성능을 유지할 수 있 는 매우 유효한 방법임을 확인하였다.

Transition metal carbides (TMCs) are used to process difficult-to-cut materials due to the trend of requiring superior wear and corrosion properties compared to those of cemented carbides used in the cutting industry. In this study, TMC (TiC, TaC, Mo2C, and NbC)-based cermets were consolidated by spark plasma sintering at 1,300 oC (60 oCmin) with a pressure of 60 MPa with Co addition. The sintering behavior of TMCs depended exponentially on the function of the sintering exponent. The Mo2C-6Co cermet was fully densified, with a relative density of 100.0 %. The Co-binder penetrated the hard phase (carbides) by dissolving and re-precipitating, which completely densified the material. The mechanical properties of the TMCs were determined according to their grain size and elastic modulus: TiC-6Co showed the highest hardness of 1,872.9 MPa, while NbC-6Co showed the highest fracture toughness of 10.6 MPa*m1/2. The strengthened grain boundaries due to high interfacial energy could cause a high elastic modules; therefore, TiC-6Co showed a value of 452 ± 12 GPa.

The Mn-Zn ferrite powders were prepared by high energy ball milling, then compacted and sintered at various temperatures to assess their sintering behavior and magnetic properties. The initial ferrite powders were spherical in shape with the size of approximately 70 m. After 3 h of ball milling at 300 rpm, aggregated powders ~230 nm in size and composed of ~15 nm nanoparticles were formed. The milled powders had a density of ~70 % when compacted at 490 MPa for 3 min. In the samples subsequently sintered at 1,273 K ~ 1,673 K for 3 h, the MnZnFe2O4 phase was detected. The density of the sintered samples had a tendency to increase with increasing sintering temperature up to 1,473 K, which produced the highest density of 98 %. On the other hand, the sample sintered at 1,373 K had the highest micro-hardness of approximately 610 Hv, which is due to much finer grains.

Ecoflex는 친환경적이고 인체에 무해하며, 기존 신축성 전극들의 문제점으로 거론되는 회복성과 pre-stretching 공정이 필요하지 않은 우수한 탄성체이다. 그러나 ecoflex의 문제점은 같은 실리콘 고무 계열이거나 소수성 표면을 띈 소재가 아니면 표면에 접착력이 나오지 않는다. 그리고 금속 분말 페이스트 또는 잉크의 기반 재료로 적용하기엔 아직도 많은 한계가 있다. 마이크로 크기의 금속 분말을 사용하면 경화가 불안정하여 전극과 기판의 접착력이 좋지 않고, 바인더 함량을 증가시켜 경화를 안정화하면 전도성이 좋지 않다는 단점이 있다. 본 연구에서는 나노 금속 입자를 사용해 선경화를 진행하였고, 광 소결 공정을 통해 전기전도도를 증가시켜 기존의 문제점을 해결하였다. 이렇게 개발된 전극의 신뢰성 검증을 위해 다양한 분석을 진행하였다. 먼저 Rheology test를 통해 페이스트의 신뢰성을 검증하였고, 내용제성 시험으로 전극과 기판의 접착력을 분석하였다. 광 소결 공정 후에 전극의 전기전도도 변화를 확인하기 위해 SEM 분석을 진행하였다. 마지막으로 ecoflex의 우수한 기계적 특성을 평가하기 위해 인장 시험과 인장 반복 시험을 통해 기계적 내구성까지 검증하였다. 그 결과, 나노 금속 입자를 기반으로 만들어진 전극임에도 불구하고 변형률 5 %까지 인장이 가능하였으며, 변형률 2 %에서 160 번의 반복 인장 시험에도 문제없이 작동하는 것을 검증하였다.

In this study, a nanocrystalline FeNiCrMoMnSiC alloy was fabricated, and its austenite stability, microstructure, and mechanical properties were investigated. A sintered FeNiCrMoMnSiC alloy sample with nanosized crystal was obtained by high-energy ball milling and spark plasma sintering. The sintering behavior was investigated by measuring the displacement according to the temperature of the sintered body. Through microstructural analysis, it was confirmed that a compact sintered body with few pores was produced, and cementite was formed. The stability of the austenite phase in the sintered samples was evaluated by X-ray diffraction analysis and electron backscatter diffraction. Results revealed a measured value of 51.6% and that the alloy had seven times more austenite stability than AISI 4340 wrought steel. The hardness of the sintered alloy was 60.4 HRC, which was up to 2.4 times higher than that of wrought steel.

In this study, binderless-WC, WC-6 wt%Co, WC-6wt% 1 and 2.5 B4C materials are fabricated by spark plasma sintering process (SPS process). Each fabricated WC material is almost completely dense, with a relative density up to 99.5 % after the simultaneous application of pressure of 60 MPa. The WC added Co and Co-B4C materials resulted in crystalline growth. The WC with HCP crystal structure has respective interfacial energy (basal facet direction: 1.07 ~ 1.34 J·m−2, prismatic direction: 1.43 ~ 3.02 J·m−2) that depends on the grain growth direction. It is confirmed that the continuous grain growth, biased by the basal facet, which has relatively low energy, is promoted at the WC/Co interface. As abnormal grain growth takes place, the grain size increases more than twice from 0.37 to 0.8 um. It is found through analysis that the hardness property also greatly decreases from about 2661.4 to 1721.4 kg/mm2, along with the grain growth.

Expensive PCBN or ceramic cutting tools are used for processing of difficult-to-cut materials such as Ti and Ni alloy materials. These tools have the problem of breaking easily due to their high hardness but low fracture toughness. To solve these problems, cutting tools that form various coating layers are used in low-cost WC-Co hard material tools, and research on various tool materials is being conducted. In this study, binderless-WC, WC-6 wt%Co, WC-6 wt%Co-1 wt% Mo2C, and WC-6 wt%Co-2.5 wt% Mo2C hard materials are densified using horizontal ball milled WC-Co, WC-Co-Mo2C powders, and spark plasma sintering process (SPS process). Each SPSed Binderless-WC, WC-6 wt%Co-1 wt% Mo2C, and WC-6 wt%Co- 2.5 wt% Mo2C hard materials are almost completely dense, with relative density of up to 99.5 % after the simultaneous application of pressure of 60 MPa and almost no significant change in grain size. The average grain sizes of WC for Binderless- WC, WC-6 wt%Co-1 wt% Mo2C, and WC-6 wt%Co-2.5 wt% Mo2C hard materials are about 0.37, 0.6, 0.54, and 0.43 μm, respectively. Mechanical properties, microstructure, and phase analysis of SPSed Binderless-WC, WC-6 wt%Co-1 wt% Mo2C, and WC-6 wt%Co-2.5 wt% Mo2C hard materials are investigated.

We fabricate the non-equiatomic high-entropy alloy (NE-HEA) Fe49.5Mn30Co10Cr10C0.5 (at.%) using spark plasma sintering under various sintering conditions. Each elemental pure powder is milled by high-energy ball milling to prepare NE-HEA powder. The microstructure and mechanical properties of the sintered samples are investigated using various methods. We use the X-ray diffraction (XRD) method to investigate the microstructural characteristics. Quantitative phase analysis is performed by direct comparison of the XRD results. A tensile test is used to compare the mechanical properties of small samples. Next, electron backscatter diffraction analysis is performed to analyze the phase fraction, and the results are compared to those of XRD analysis. By combining different sintering durations and temperature conditions, we attempt to identify suitable spark plasma sintering conditions that yield mechanical properties comparable with previously reported values. The samples sintered at 900 and 1000oC with no holding time have a tensile strength of over 1000 MPa.

Expensive PCBN or ceramic cutting tools are used for the processing of difficult-to-cut materials such as Ti and Ni alloy materials. These tools have a problem of breaking easily due to their high hardness but low fracture toughness. To solve this problem, cutting tools that form various coating layers are used in low-cost WC-Co hard material tools, and researches on various tool materials are being conducted. In this study, WC-5, 10, and 15 wt%Ni hard materials for difficult-to-cut cutting materials are densified using horizontal ball milled WC-Ni powders and pulsed current activated sintering method (PCAS method). Each PCASed WC–Ni hard materials are almost completely dense, with a relative density of up to 99.7 ~ 99.9 %, after the simultaneous application of pressure of 60 MPa and electric current for 2 min; process involves almost no change in the grain size. The average grain sizes of WC and Ni for WC-5, 10, and 15 wt%Ni hard materials are about 1.09 ~ 1.29 and 0.31 ~ 0.51 μm, respectively. Vickers hardness and fracture toughness of WC-5, 10, and 15 wt%Ni hard materials are about 1,923 ~ 1,788 kg/mm2 and 13.2 ~ 14.3 MPa.m1/2, respectively. Microstructure and phase analyses of PCASed WC-Ni hard materials are performed.

This paper focuses on the electrical properties and stability against DC accelerated aging stress of ZnO-V2O5-MnO2- Nb2O5-Bi2O3-Co3O4-Dy2O3 (ZVMNBCD) varistor ceramics sintered at 850 - 925 ℃. With the increase of sintering temperature, the average grain size increases from 4.4 to 11.8 mm, and the density of the sintered pellets decreases from 5.53 to 5.40 g/ cm3 due to the volatility of V2O5, which has a low melting point. The breakdown field abruptly decreases from 8016 to 1,715 V/cm with the increase of the sintering temperature. The maximum non-ohmic coefficient (59) is obtained when the sample is sintered at 875 ℃. The samples sintered at below 900 oC exhibit a relatively low leakage current, less than 60 mA/cm2. The apparent dielectric constant increases due to the increase of the average grain size with the increase of the sintering temperature. The change tendency of dissipation factor at 1 kHz according to the sintering temperature coincides with the tendency of the leakage current. In terms of stability, the samples sintered at 900 ℃ exhibit both high non-ohmic coefficient (45) and excellent stability, 0.8% in ΔEB/EB and -0.7% in Δα/α after application of DC accelerated aging stress (0.85 EB/85 oC/24 h).

The various sintered samples comprising of 72 wt%(Al2O3) : 28 wt%(SiO2) based ceramics were fabricated using a colloidal processing route. The phase analysis of the ceramics was performed using an X-ray diffractometer (XRD) at room temperature confirming the presence of Al2O5Si and Al5.33Si0.67O9.33. The surface morphology of the fracture surface of the different sintered samples having different sizes of grain distribution. The resistive and capacitive properties of the three different sintered samples at frequency sweep (1 kHz to 1 MHz). The contribution of grain and the non-Debye relaxation process is seen for various sintered samples in the Nyquist plot. The ferroelectric loop of the various sintered sample shows a slim shape giving rise to low remnant polarization. The excitation performance of the sample at a constant electric signal has been examined utilizing a designed electrical circuit. The above result suggests that the prepared lead-free ceramic can act as a base for designing of dielectric capacitors or resonators.

Predicting the quality of materials after they are subjected to plasma sintering is a challenging task because of the non-linear relationships between the process variables and mechanical properties. Furthermore, the variables governing the sintering process affect the microstructure and the mechanical properties of the final product. Therefore, an artificial neural network modeling was carried out to correlate the parameters of the spark plasma sintering process with the densification and hardness values of Ti-6Al-4V alloys dispersed with nano-sized TiN particles. The relative density (%), effective density (g/cm3), and hardness (HV) were estimated as functions of sintering temperature (oC), time (min), and composition (change in % TiN). A total of 20 datasets were collected from the open literature to develop the model. The high-level accuracy in model predictions (>80%) discloses the complex relationships among the sintering process variables, product quality, and mechanical performance. Further, the effect of sintering temperature, time, and TiN percentage on the density and hardness values were quantitatively estimated with the help of the developed model.

Used in the ceramic tile market as a representative building material, relief ceramic tile is showing increased demand recently. Since ceramic tiles are manufactured through a sintering process at over 1,000 oC after uniaxial compression molding by loading granule powders into a mold, it is very important to secure the flowability of granular powders in a mold having a relief pattern. In this study, kaolin, silica, and feldspar are used as starting materials to prepare granule powders by a spray dryer process; the surface of the granule powders is subject to hydrophobic treatment with various concentrations of stearic acid. The effect on the flowability of the granular powder according to the change of stearic acid concentration is confirmed by measuring the angle of repose, tap density, and compressibility, and the occurrence of cracks in the green body produced in the mold with the relief pattern is observed. Then, the green body is sintered by a fast firing process, and the water absorption, flexural strength, and durability are evaluated. The surface treatment of the granule powders with stearic acid improves the flowability of the granule powders, leading to a dense microstructure of the sintered body. Finally, the hydrophobic treatment of the granule powders makes it possible to manufacture relief ceramic tiles having a flexural strength of 292 N/cm, a water absorption of 0.91 %, and excellent mechanical durability

The purpose of this study is to investigate the densification behavior and the corresponding microstructural evolution of tantalum and tantalum-tungsten alloy powders for explosively formed liners. The inherent inhomogeneous microstructures of tantalum manufactured by an ingot metallurgy might degrade the capability of the warhead. Therefore, to overcome such drawbacks, powder metallurgy was incorporated into the near-net shape process in this study. Spark plasma-sintered tantalum and its alloys with finer particle sizes exhibited higher densities and lower grain sizes. However, they were contaminated from the graphite mold during sintering. Higher compaction pressures in die and isostatic compaction techniques also enhanced the sinterability of the tantalum powders; however, a full densification could not be achieved. On the other hand, the powders exhibited full densification after being subjected to hot isostatic pressing over two times. Consequently, it was found that the hot isostatic-pressed tantalum might exhibit a lower grain size and a higher density as compared to those obtained in previous studies.

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.