Microstructure, electric, and thermal properties of the Ta-Cu composite is evaluated for the application in electric contact materials. This material has the potential to be used in a medium for a high current range of current conditions, replacing Ag-MO, W, and WC containing materials. The optimized SPS process conditions are a temperature of 900oC for a 5 min holding time under a 30 MPa mechanical pressure. Comparative research is carried out for the calculated and actual values of the thermal and electric properties. The range of actual thermal and electric properties of the Ta-Cu composite are 50~300W/mk and 10~90 %IACS, respectively, according to the compositional change of the 90 to 10 wt% Ta-Cu system. The results related to the electric contact properties, suggest that less than 50 wt% of Ta compositions are possible in applications of electric contact materials.

An optimum route to fabricate oxide dispersion strengthened ferritic superalloy with desired microstructure was investigated. Two methods of high energy ball milling or polymeric additive solution route for developing a uniform dispersion of Y2O3 particles in Fe-Cr-Al-Ti alloy powders were compared on the basis of the resulting microstructures. Microstructural observation revealed that the crystalline size of Fe decreased with increases in milling time, to values of about 15-20 nm, and that an FeCr alloy phase was formed. SEM and TEM analyses of the alloy powders fabricated by solution route using yttrium nitrate and polyvinyl alcohol showed that the nano-sized Y-oxide particles were well distributed in the Fe based alloy powders. The prepared powders were sintered at 1000 and 1100 oC for 30 min in vacuum. The sintered specimen with heat treatment before spark plasma sintering at 1100 oC showed a more homogeneous microstructure. In the case of sintering at 1100 oC, the alloys exhibited densified microstructure and the formation of large reaction phases due to oxidation of Al.

This present study deals with the microstructure and tensile properties of 600 MPa-grade high strength and seismic resistant reinforcing steels. The high strength reinforcing steel (SD 600) was fabricated by Tempcore processing, while the seismic resistant reinforcing steel (SD 600S) was air-cooled after hot-rolling treatment. The microstructure analysis results showed that the SD 600 steel specimen consisted of a tempered martensite and ferrite-pearlite structure after Tempcore processing, while the SD 600S steel specimen had a fully ferrite-pearlite structure. The room-temperature tensile test results indicate that, because of the enhanced solid solution and precipitation strengthening caused by relatively higher contents of C, Mn, Si and V in the SD 600S steel specimen, this specimen, with fully ferrite-pearlite structure, had yield and tensile strengths higher than those of the SD 600 specimen. On the other hand, the hardness of the SD 600 and SD 600S steel specimens changed in different ways according to location, dependent on the microstructure, ferrite grain size, and volume fraction.

In this work, the effects of hydrogen reduction on the microstructure and thermoelectric properties of (GeTe)0.85(AgSbTe2)0.15 (TAGS-85) were studied by a combination of gas atomization and spark plasma sintering. The crystal structure and microstructure of TAGS-85 were characterized by X-ray diffraction(XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The oxygen content of both powders and bulk samples were found to decrease with increasing reduction temperature. The grain size gradually increased with increasing reduction temperature due to adhesion of fine grains in a temperature range of 350 to 450 °C. The electrical resistivity was found to increase with reduction temperature due to a decrease in carrier concentration. The Seebeck coefficient decreased with increasing reduction temperature and was in good agreement with the carrier concentration and carrier mobility. The maximum power factor, 3.3 × 10−3 W/mK2, was measured for the non-reduction bulk TAGS-85 at 450 °C.

In the present work, we use multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) as the starting material for the fabrication of sintered carbon steel. A comparison is made with conventionally sintered carbon steel, where graphite is used as the starting material. Milling is performed using a horizontal mill sintered in a vacuum furnace. We analyze the grain size, number of pores, X-ray diffraction patterns, and microstructure. Changes in the physical properties are determined by using the Archimedes method and Vickers hardness measurements. The result shows that the use of MWCNTs instead of graphite significantly reduces the size and volume of the pores as well as the grain size after sintering. The addition of Y2O3.to the Fe-MWCNT samples further inhibits the growth of grains.

The resistance of metallic materials to ballistic penetration generally depends on a number of parameters related to projectile, impact, and armor plate. Recently, armor materials have been required to have various properties such as hardness, strength, and impact toughness in order to maintain an excellent ballistic resistance even after impact. In the present study, the influence of tempering on the microstructure and mechanical properties of an ARMOX 500T armor steel plate was investigated and then compared with those of S45C and SCM440 steels. As the tempering temperature increased, the hardness and strength gradually decreased, whereas the ductility and impact toughness clearly increased because the hardness, tensile, and impact properties were affected by the microstructural evolution and precipitation occurring during tempering. On the other hand, temper embrittlement appeared at tempering temperatures of 300 to 400 °C for the impact specimens tested at low temperature.

Fe-6.5 wt.% Si alloys are widely known to have excellent soft magnetic properties such as high magnetic flux density, low coercivity, and low core loss at high frequency. In this work, disc-shaped preforms are prepared by spark plasma sintering at 1223 K after inert gas atomization of Fe-6.5 wt.% Si powders. Fe-6.5 wt.% Si sheets are rolled by a powder hot-rolling process without cracking, and their microstructure and soft magnetic properties are investigated. The microstructure and magnetic properties (saturation magnetization and core loss) of the hot-rolled Fe-6.5 wt.% Si sheets are examined by scanning electron microscopy, electron backscatter diffraction, vibration sample magnetometry, and AC B–H analysis. The Fe-6.5 wt.% Si sheet rolled at a total reduction ratio of 80% exhibits good soft magnetic properties such as a saturation magnetization of 1.74 T and core loss (W5/1000) of 30.7 W/kg. This result is caused by an increase in the electrical resistivity resulting from an increased particle boundary density and the oxide layers between the primary particle boundaries.

In this work, p-type Bi−Sb−Te alloys powders are prepared using gas atomization, a mass production powder preparation method involving rapid solidification. To study the effect of the sintering temperature on the microstructure and thermoelectric properties, gas-atomized powders are consolidated at different temperatures (623, 703, and 743 K) using spark plasma sintering. The crystal structures of the gas-atomized powders and sintered bulks are identified using an X-ray diffraction technique. Texture analysis by electron backscatter diffraction reveals that the grains are randomly oriented in the entire matrix, and no preferred orientation in any unique direction is observed. The hardness values decrease with increasing sintering temperature owing to a decrease in grain size. The conductivity increases gradually with increasing sintering temperature, whereas the Seebeck coefficient decreases owing to increases in the carrier mobility with grain size. The lowest thermal conductivity is obtained for the bulk sintered at a low temperature (603 K), mainly because of its fine-grained microstructure. A peak ZT of 1.06 is achieved for the sample sintered at 703 K owing to its moderate electrical conductivity and sustainable thermal conductivity.

Spherical-type zirconia granules are successfully fabricated by a spray-drying process using a water solvent slurry, and the change in the green density of the granule powder compacts is examined according to the organic polymers used. Two organic binders, polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA), which are dissolved in a water solvent and have different degrees of polymerization, are applied to the slurry with a plasticizer (polyethylene glycol). The granules employing a binder with a higher degree of polymerization (PVA) are not broken under a uniaxial press; consequently, they exhibit a poor green density of 2.4 g/cm3. In contrast, the granule powder compacts employing a binder with a lower degree of polymerization (HEMA) show a higher density of 2.6 g/cm3 with an increase in plasticizer content. The packing behavior of the granule powders for each organic polymer system is studied by examining the microstructure of the fracture surface at different applied pressures.

This present study deals with the effect of micro-alloying elements and transformation temperature on the correlation of microstructure and tensile properties of low-carbon steels with ferrite-pearlite microstructure. Six kinds of lowcarbon steel specimens were fabricated by adding micro-alloying elements of Nb, Ti and V, and by varying isothermal transformation temperature. Ferrite grain size of the specimens containing mirco-alloying elements was smaller than that of the Base specimens because of pinning effect by the precipitates of carbonitrides at austenite grain boundaries. The pearlite interlamellar spacing and cementite thickness decreased with decreasing transformation temperature, while the pearlite volume fraction was hardly affected by micro-alloying elements and transformation temperature. The room-temperature tensile test results showed that the yield strength increased mostly with decreasing ferrite grain size and elongation was slightly improved as the ferrite grain size and pearlite interlamellar spacing decreased. All the specimens exhibited a discontinuous yielding behavior and the yield point elongation of the Nb4 and TiNbV specimens containing micro-alloying elements was larger than that of the Base specimens, presumably due to repetitive pinning and release of dislocation by the fine precipitates of carbonitrides.

In this study, we report the microstructure and the high-temperature oxidation behavior of Fe-Ni alloys by spark plasma sintering. Structural characterization is performed by scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction. The oxidation behavior of Fe-Ni alloys is studied by means of a high-temperature oxidation test at 1000oC in air. The effect of Ni content of Fe-Ni alloys on the microstructure and on the oxidation characteristics is investigated in detail. In the case of Fe-2Ni and Fe-5Ni alloys, the microstructure is a ferrite (α) phase with body centered cubic (BCC) structure, and the microstructure of Fe-10Ni and Fe-20Ni alloys is considered to be a massive martensite (α’) phase with the same BCC structure as that of the ferrite phase. As the Ni content increases, the micro-Vickers hardness of the alloys also increases. It can also be seen that the oxidation resistance is improved by decreasing the thickness of the oxide film.

The effects of the heat treatment temperature and of the atmosphere on the dehydrogenation and hydrogen reduction of ball-milled TiH2-WO3 powder mixtures are investigated for the synthesis of Ti-W powders with controlled microstructure. Homogeneously mixed powders with refined TiH2 particles are successfully prepared by ball milling for 24 h. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses show that the powder mixture heat-treated in Ar atmosphere is composed of Ti, Ti2O, and W phases, regardless of the heat treatment temperature. However, XRD results for the powder mixture, heat-treated at 600oC in a hydrogen atmosphere, show TiH2 and TiH peaks as well as reaction phase peaks of Ti oxides and W, while the powder mixture heat-treated at 900oC exhibits only XRD peaks attributed to Ti oxides and W. The formation behavior of the reaction phases that are dependent on the heat treatment temperature and on the atmosphere is explained by thermodynamic considerations for the dehydrogenation reaction of TiH2, the hydrogen reduction of WO3 and the partial oxidation of dehydrogenated Ti.

Silicon alloys are considered promising anode active materials to replace Li-ion batteries by graphite powder, because they have a relatively high capacity of up to 4200 mAh/g, and are environmentally friendly and inexpensive ECO-materials. However, its poor charge/discharge properties, induced by cracking during cycles, constitute their most serious problem as anode electrode. In order to solve these problems, Si-Ge-Al alloys with porous structure are designed as anode alloy powders, to improve cycling stability. The alloys are melt-spun to obtain the rapidly solidified ribbons, and then ball-milled to make fine powders. The powders are etched using 1 M HCl solution, which gives the powders a porous structure by removing the element Al. Subsequently, in this study, the microstructures and the characteristics of the etched powders are evaluated for application as anode materials. As a result, the etched porous powder shows better electrochemical properties than as-milled Si-Ge-Al powder.

입자 복합재료는 입자의 형상, 크기 그리고 분포의 산포특성으로 인해 물성치의 편차가 존재하고, 입자 복합재료를 사용 한 시스템의 거동 또한 산포가 존재한다. 하지만 입자의 산포특성을 고려하기 어려우므로 균질화법을 사용하여 시스템의 거 동을 해석하거나 국부영역에서 미세구조를 적용하여 해석한다. 본 연구에서는 입자의 랜덤적 산포특성을 고려하기 위해 RMDFs(random morphology description functions)를 사용하여 랜덤 미세구조를 생성하였고, 단면 1차 모멘트를 사용하여 가우시안 함수의 수(N)와 입자의 산포특성의 관계를 분석하였다. 그리고 랜덤 미세구조 구조물의 거동을 분석하기 위하여 랜덤 미세구조를 전체에 반영한 외팔보에 multi-scale 해석을 수행하였다. 그 결과 입자의 산포특성과 외팔보의 처짐의 편차 는 N의 증가에 따라 감소하고 N=200에서 수렴하는 것을 확인하였다.

Grain morphology, phase stability and mechanical properties in binary Ti-Al alloys containing 43-52 mo1% Al have been investigated. Isothermal forging was used to control the grain sizes of these alloys in the range of 5 to 350 μm. Grain morphology and volume fraction of α2 phase were observed by optical metallography and scanning electron microscopy. Compressive properties were evaluated at room temperature, 1070 K, and 1270 K in an argon atmosphere. Work hardening is significant at room temperature, but it hardly took place at 1070 K and 1270 K because of dynamical recrystallization. The grain morphologies were determined as functions of aluminum content and processing conditions. The transus curve of α and α+γ shifted more to the aluminum-rich side than was the case in McCullough’s phase diagram. Flow stress at room temperature depends strongly on the volume fraction of the α2 phase and the grain size, whereas flow stress at 1070 K is insensitive to the alloy composition or the grain size, and flow stress at 1270 K depends mainly on the grain size. The α2 phase in the alloys does not increase the proof stress at high temperatures. These observations indicate that improvement of both the proof stress at high temperature and the room temperature ductility should be achieved to obtain slightly Ti-rich TiAl base alloys.

Graphite was diffusion-bonded by hot-pressing to W-25Re alloy using a Ti interlayer. For the joining, a uniaxial pressure of 25 MPa was applied at 1600 oC for 2 hrs in an argon atmosphere with a heating rate of 10 oC min−1. The interfacial microstructure and elemental distribution of the W-25Re/Ti/Graphite joints were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Hot-pressed joints appeared to form a stable interlayer without any micro-cracking, pores, or defects. To investigate the high-temperature stability of the W-25Re/Ti/Graphite joint, an oxy-acetylene torch test was conducted for 30 seconds with oxygen and acetylene at a 1.3:1 ratio. Cross-sectional analysis of the joint was performed to compare the thickness of the oxide layer and its chemical composition. The thickness of W-25Re changed from 250 to 20 μm. In the elemental analysis, a high fraction of rhenium was detected at the surface oxidation layer of W-25Re, while the W-25Re matrix was found to maintain the initial weight ratio. Tungsten was first reacted with oxygen at a torch temperature over 2500 oC to form a tungsten oxide layer on the surface of W-25Re. Then, the remaining rhenium was subsequently reacted with oxygen to form rhenium oxide. The interfacial microstructure of the Ti-containing interlayer was stable after the torch test at a temperature over 2500 oC.

Neodymium-iron-boron (Nd-Fe-B) sintered magnets have excellent magnetic properties such as the remanence, coercive force, and the maximum energy product compared to other hard magnetic materials. The coercive force of Nd-Fe-B sintered magnets is improved by the addition of heavy rare earth elements such as dysprosium and terbium instead of neodymium. Then, the magnetocrystalline anisotropy of Nd-Fe-B sintered magnets increases. However, additional elements have increased the production cost of Nd-Fe-B sintered magnets. Hence, a study on the control of the microstructure of Nd-Fe-B magnets is being conducted. As the coercive force of magnets improves, the grain size of the Nd2Fe14B grain is close to 300 nm because they are nucleation-type magnets. In this study, fine particles of Nd-Fe-B are prepared with various grinding energies in the pulverization process used for preparing sintered magnets, and the microstructure and magnetic properties of the magnets are investigated.

Noncontact direct-printed conductive silver patterns with an enhanced electrical resistivity are fabricated using a silver ink with a mixture of silver nanoparticles and nanoplates. The microstructure and electrical resistivity of the silver pattern are systematically investigated as a function of the mixing ratio of the nanoparticles and nanoplates. The pattern, which is fabricated using a mixture with a mixing ratio of 3(nanoparticles):7(nanoplates) and sintered at 200oC shows a highly dense and well-sintered microstructure and has a resistivity of 7.60 μΩ·cm. This originates a mutual synergistic effect through a combination of the sinterability of the nanoparticles and the packing ability of the nanoplates. This is a conductive material that can be used to fabricate noncontact direct-printed conductive patterns with excellent electrical conductivity for various flexible electronics applications, including solar cells, displays, RFIDs, and sensors.