Porous Fe-Cu-C alloy was sintered by Pulsed Current Activated Sintering(PCAS) method within 10 min from horizontal ball mill mixture. The relative density of Fe-20wt.%Cu-0.8wt.%C alloy fabricated by PCAS method was 91%. The average hardness of the Fe-20wt.%Cu-0.8wt.%C alloy was HRB 92. The phase analysis, microstructure and composition information of the sintered alloy were investigated by using XRD, FESEM, EDAX.

Recent advances in technology using ultra-thin noble metal film in oxide/metal/oxide structures have attracted attention because this material is a promising alternative to meet the needs of transparent conduction electrodes (TCE). AZO/ Ag/AZO multilayer films are prepared by magnetron sputtering for Cu2ZnSn(S,Se)4 (CZTSSe) of kesterite solar cells. It is shown that the electrical and optical properties of the AZO/Ag/AZO multilayer films can be improved by the very low resistivity and surface plasmon effects due to the deposition of different thicknesses of Ag layer between oxide layers fixed at AZO 30 nm. The AZO/Ag/AZO multilayer films of Ag 15 nm show high mobility of 26.4 cm2/Vs and low resistivity and sheet resistance of 3.58*10−5 Ωcm and 5.0 Ω/sq. Also, the AZO/Ag (15 nm)/AZO multilayer film shows relatively high transmittance of more than 65% in the visible region. Through this, we fabricated CZTSSe thin film solar cells with 7.51% efficiency by improving the short-circuit current density and fill factor to 27.7 mV/cm2 and 62 %, respectively.

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

Porous Cu-14 wt% Co with aligned pores is produced by a freeze drying and sintering process. Unidirectional freezing of camphene slurry with CuO-Co3O4 powders is conducted, and pores in the frozen specimens are generated by sublimation of the camphene crystals. The dried bodies are hydrogen-reduced at 500oC and sintered at 800oC for 1 h. The reduction behavior of the CuO-Co3O4 powder mixture is analyzed using a temperature-programmed reduction method in an Ar-10% H2 atmosphere. The sintered bodies show large and aligned parallel pores in the camphene growth direction. In addition, small pores are distributed around the internal walls of the large pores. The size and fraction of the pores decrease as the amount of solid powder added to the slurry increases. The change in pore characteristics according to the amount of the mixed powder is interpreted to be due to the rearrangement and accumulation behavior of the solid particles in the freezing process of the slurry.

2 (Langmuir, Freundlich, Elovich, Temkin, and Dubinin-Radushkevich) and 3 (Sips and Redlich-Peterson)-parameter isotherm models were applied to evaluated for the applicability of adsorption of Cu(II) and/or phosphate isotherm using chitosan bead. Non-linear and linear isotherm adsorption were also compared on each parameter with coefficient of determination (R2). Among 2-parameter isotherms, non-linear Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm showed relatively higher R2 and appropriate maximum uptake (qm) than other isotherm equation although linear Dubinin-Radushkevich obtained highest R2. 3-parameter isotherm model demonstrated more reasonable and accuracy results than 2-parmeter isotherm in both non-linear and linear due to the addition of one parameter. The linearization for all of isotherm equation did not increase the applicability of adsorption models when error experiment data was included.

ZnO thin films are of considerable interest because they can be customized by various coating technologies to have high electrical conductivity and high visible light transmittance. Therefore, ZnO thin films can be applied to various optoelectronic device applications such as transparent conducting thin films, solar cells and displays. In this study, ZnO rod and thin films are fabricated using aqueous chemical bath deposition (CBD), which is a low-cost method at low temperatures, and environmentally friendly. To investigate the structural, electrical and optical properties of ZnO for the presence of citrate ion, which can significantly affect crystal form of ZnO, various amounts of the citrate ion are added to the aqueous CBD ZnO reaction bath. As a result, ZnO crystals show a nanorod form without citrate, but a continuous thin film when citrate is above a certain concentration. In addition, as the citrate concentration increases, the electrical conductivity of the ZnO thin films increases, and is almost unchanged above a certain citrate concentration. Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS) solar cell substrates are used to evaluate whether aqueous CBD ZnO thin films can be applicable to real devices. The performance of aqueous CBD ZnO thin films shows performance similar to that of a sputter-deposited ZnO:Al thin film as top transparent electrodes of CIGS solar cells.

A powder-in-sheath rolling method is applied to the fabrication of a carbon nano tube (CNT) reinforced copper composite. A copper tube with outer diameter of 30 mm and wall thickness of 2 mm is used as sheath material. A mixture of pure copper powder and CNTs with a volume content of 3 % is filled in a tube by tap filling and then processed to an 93.3 % reduction using multi-pass rolling after heating for 0.5 h at 400 oC. The specimen is then sintered for 1h at 500 oC. The relative density of the 3 vol%CNT/Cu composite fabricated using powder in sheath rolling is 98 %, while that of the Cu powder compact is 99 %. The microstructure is somewhat heterogeneous in width direction in the composite, but is relatively homogeneous in the Cu powder compact. The hardness distribution is also ununiform in the width direction for the composite. The average hardness of the composites is higher by 8Hv than that of Cu powder compact. The tensile strength of the composite is 280 MPa, which is 20 MPa higher than that of the Cu powder compact. It is concluded that the powder in sheath rolling method is an effective process for fabrication of sound CNT reinforced Cu matrix composites.

Cu/PET composite films are widely used in a variety of wearable electronics. Lifetime of the electronics is determined by adhesion between the Cu film and the PET substrate. The formation of an anisotropic nanostructure on the PET surface by surface modification can enhance Cu/PET interfacial adhesion. The shape and size of the anisotropic nanostructures of the PET surface can be controlled by varying the surface modification conditions. In this work, the effect of Cu/PET interface nanostructures on the failure mechanism of a Cu/PET flexible composite film is studied. From observation of the morphologies of the anisotropic nanostructures on plasma-treated PET surfaces, and cross-sections and surfaces of the fractured specimens, the Cu/PET interface area and nanostructure width are analyzed and the failure mechanism of the Cu/PET film is investigated. It is found that the failure mechanism of the Cu/PET flexible composite film depends on the shape and size of the plasmatreated PET surface nanostructures. Cu/PET interface nanostructures with maximal peel strength exhibit multiple craze-crack propagation behavior, while smaller or larger interface nanostructures exhibit single-path craze-crack propagation behavior.

Silver nanowire (AgNW) networks have been adopted as a front electrode in Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS) thin film solar cells due to their low cost and compatibility with the solution process. When an AgNW network is applied to a CIGS thin film solar cell, reflection loss can increase because the CdS layer, with a relatively high refractive index (n ~ 2.5 at 550 nm), is exposed to air. To resolve the issue, we apply solution-processed ZnO nanorods to the AgNW network as an anti-reflective coating. To obtain high performance of the optical and electrical properties of the ZnO nanorod and AgNW network composite, we optimize the process parameters – the spin coating of AgNWs and the concentration of zinc nitrate and hexamethylene tetramine (HMT – to fabricate ZnO nanorods. We verify that 10 mM of zinc nitrate and HMT show the lowest reflectance and 10% cell efficiency increase when applied to CIGS thin film solar cells.

Effective control of the heat generated from electronics and semiconductor devices requires a high thermal conductivity and a low thermal expansion coefficient appropriate for devices or modules. A method of reducing the thermal expansion coefficient of Cu has been suggested wherein a ceramic filler having a low thermal expansion coefficient is applied to Cu, which has high thermal conductivity. In this study, using pressureless sintering rather than costly pressure sintering, a polymer solution synthesis method was used to make nano-sized Cu powder for application to Cu matrix with an AlN filler. Due to the low sinterability, the sintered Cu prepared from commercial Cu powder included large pores inside the sintered bodies. A sintered Cu body with Zn, as a liquid phase sintering agent, was prepared by the polymer solution synthesis method for exclusion of pores, which affect thermal conductivity and thermal expansion. The pressureless sintered Cu bodies including Zn showed higher thermal conductivity (180 W/m·K) and lower thermal expansion coefficient (15.8×10−6/℃) than did the monolithic synthesized Cu sintered body.

Due to its favorable optical properties, Cu2SnS3 (CTS) is a promising material for thin film solar cells. Doping, which modifies the absorber properties, is one way to improve the conversion efficiency of CTS solar cells. In this work, CTS solar cells with selenium doping were fabricated on a flexible substrate using sputtering method and the effect of doping on the properties of CTS solar cells was investigated. In XRD analysis, a shift in the CTS peaks can be observed due to the doped selenium. XRF analysis confirmed the different ratios of Cu/Sn and (S+Se)/(Cu+Sn) depending on the amount of selenium doping. Selenium doping can help to lower the chemical potential of sulfur. This effectively reduces the point defects of CTS thin films. Overall improved electrical properties were observed in the CTS solar cell with a small amount of selenium doping, and a notable conversion efficiency of 1.02 % was achieved in the CTS solar cell doped with 1 at% of selenium.

In this study, the effects of Sm addition (0, 0.05, 0.2, 0.5 wt%) on the microstructure, hardness, and electrical and thermal conductivity of Al-11Si-1.5Cu aluminum alloy were investigated. As a result of Sm addition, increment in the amount of α-Al and refinement of primary Si from 70 to 10 μm were observed due to eutectic temperature depression. On the other hand, Sm was less effective at refining eutectic Si because of insufficient addition. The phase analysis results indicated that Sm-rich intermetallic phases such as Al-Fe-Mg-Si and Al-Si-Cu formed and led to decrements in the amount of primary Si and eutectic Si. These microstructure changes affected not only the hardness but also the electrical and thermal conductivity. When 0.5 wt% Sm was added to the alloy, hardness increased from 84.4 to 91.3 Hv, and electric conductivity increased from 15.14 to 16.97 MS/m. Thermal conductivity greatly increased from 133 to 157 W/m·K.

The effect of intercritical annealing temperature on the microstructure and mechanical properties of Fe-9Mn-0.2C- 3Al-0.5Si medium manganese steels containing Cu and Ni is investigated in this study. Six kinds of medium manganese steels are fabricated by varying the chemical composition and intercritical annealing temperature. Hardness and tensile tests are performed to examine the correlation of microstructure and mechanical properties for the intercritical annealed medium manganese steels containing Cu and Ni. The microstructures of all the steels are composed mostly of lath ferrite, reverted austenite and cementite, regardless of annealing temperature. The room-temperature tensile test results show that the yield and tensile strengths decrease with increasing intercritical annealing temperature due to higher volume fraction and larger thickness of reverted austenite. On the other hand, total and uniform elongations, and strain hardening exponent increase due to higher dislocation density because transformation-induced plasticity is promoted with increasing annealing temperature by reduction in reverted austenite stability.

본 연구에서는 구리 이온(Cu2+ ion) 제거를 위한 산화철(Fe3O4)/다공성 탄소 복합체를 합성하였으며, 이를 바탕으로 구리 이온 제거에 대한 특성 평가를 실시하였다. SEM, XRD 분석을 진행하여 수열합성(hydrothermal) 반응을 이용한 산화철/다공성 탄소 복합체의 형태와 구조를 확인하였다. BET 분석을 통해 비표면적과 기공 크기를 확인하였으며, UV-vis 장비를 통해 성능 평가를 실시하여 자성이 있는 Fe3O4와 다공성 탄소와의 시너지효과를 통해 액체 상태에서 존재하는 구리 이온을 제거할 수 있는 가능성을 제시하였다.

Cu2ZnSn(S,Se)4(CZTSSe) thin film solar cells areone of the most promising candidates for photovoltaic devices due to their earth-abundant composition, high absorption coefficient and appropriate band gap. The sputtering process is the main challenge to achieving high efficiency of CZTSSe solar cells for industrialization. In this study, we fabricated CZTSSe absorbers on Mo coated soda lime glass using different pressures during the annealing process. As an environmental strategy, the annealing process is performed with S and Se powder, without any toxic H2Se and/or H2S gases. Because CZTSSe thin films have a very narrow stable phase region, it is important to control the condition of the annealing process to achieve high efficiency of the solar cell. To identify the effect of process pressure during the sulfo-selenization, we experiment with varying initial pressure from 600 Torr to 800 Torr. We fabricate a CZTSSe thin film solar cell with 8.24 % efficiency, with 435 mV for open circuit voltage(VOC) and 36.98 mA/cm2 for short circuit current density(JSC), under a highest process pressure of 800 Torr.

Structural and mechanical effects of the dynamical precipitation in two copper-base alloys have been investigated over a wide range of deformation temperatures. Basing upon the information gained during the experiment, also some general conclusion may be formulated. A one concerns the nature of dynamic precipitation(DP). Under this term it is commonly understood decomposition of a supersaturated solid solution during plastic straining. The process may, however, proceed in two different ways. It may be a homogeneous one from the point of view of distribution and morphological aspect of particles or it may lead to substantial difference in shape, size and particles distribution. The effect is controlled by the mode of deformation. Hence it seems to be reasonable to distinguish DP during homogeneous deformation from that which takes place in heterogeneously deformed alloy. In the first case the process can be analyzed solely in terms of particle-dislocation-particle interrelation. Much more complex problem we are facing in heterogeneously deforming alloy. Deformation bands and specific arrangement of dislocations in form of pile-ups at grain boundaries generate additional driving force and additional nucleation sites for precipitation. Along with heterogeneous precipitation, there is a homogeneous precipitation in areas between bands of coarse slip which also deform but at much smaller rate. This form of decomposition is responsible for a specially high hardening rate during high temperature straining and for thermally stable product of the decomposition of alloy.