Ceramic materials have become essential due to their high durability, chemical stability, and excellent thermal stability in various advanced industries such as aerospace, automotive, and semiconductor. However, high-performance ceramic materials face limitations in commercialization due to the high cost of raw materials and complex manufacturing processes. Aluminum borate (Al₁₈B₄O₃₃) has emerged as a promising alternative due to its superior mechanical strength and thermal stability, despite its simple manufacturing process and low production cost. In this study, we propose a method for producing Al₁₈B₄O₃₃ spherical powder with increased uniformity and high flowability by controlling the particle size of B₂O₃. The content ratio of the manufactured Al18B4O33 spherical powder was Al2O3: B2O3 = 87:13, and it exhibited a 17% reduction in the Hausner ratio (1.04) and a 29% decrease in the angle of repose (23.9°) compared to pre-milling conditions, demonstrating excellent flowability.

Lithium (Li) is a key resource driving the rapid growth of the electric vehicle industry globally, with demand and prices continually on the rise. To address the limited reserves of major lithium sources such as rock and brine, research is underway on seawater Li extraction using electrodialysis and Li-ion selective membranes. Lithium lanthanum titanate (LLTO), an oxide solid electrolyte for all-solid-state batteries, is a promising Li-ion selective membrane. An important factor in enhancing its performance is employing the powder synthesis process. In this study, the LLTO powder is prepared using two synthesis methods: sol-gel reaction (SGR) and solid-state reaction (SSR). Additionally, the powder size and uniformity are compared, which are indices related to membrane performance. X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy are employed for determining characterization, with crystallite size analysis through the full width at half maximum parameter for the powders prepared using the two synthetic methods. The findings reveal that the powder SGR-synthesized powder exhibits smaller and more uniform characteristics (0.68 times smaller crystal size) than its SSR counterpart. This discovery lays the groundwork for optimizing the powder manufacturing process of LLTO membranes, making them more suitable for various applications, including manufacturing high-performance membranes or mass production of membranes.

Powder flowability is critical in additive manufacturing processes, especially for laser powder bed fusion. Many powder features, such as powder size distribution, particle shape, surface roughness, and chemical composition, simultaneously affect the flow properties of a powder; however, the individual effect of each factor on powder flowability has not been comprehensively evaluated. In this study, the impact of particle shape (sphericity) on the rheological properties of Ti-6Al-4V powder is quantified using an FT4 powder rheometer. Dynamic image analysis is conducted on plasma-atomized (PA) and gas-atomized (GA) powders to evaluate their particle sphericity. PA and GA powders exhibit negligible differences in compressibility and permeability tests, but GA powder shows more cohesive behavior, especially in a dynamic state, because lower particle sphericity facilitates interaction between particles during the powder flow. These results provide guidelines for the manufacturing of advanced metal powders with excellent powder flowability for laser powder bed fusion.

The coupling of two semiconducting materials is an efficient method to improve photocatalytic activity via the suppression of recombination of electron-hole pairs. In particular, the coupling between two different phases of TiO2, i.e., anatase and rutile, is particularly attractive for photocatalytic activity improvement of rutile TiO2 because these coupled TiO2 powders can retain the benefits of TiO2, one of the best photocatalysts. In this study, anatase TiO2 nanoparticles are synthesized and coupled on the surface of rutile TiO2 powders using a microemulsion method and heat treatment. Triton X-100, as a surfactant, is used to suppress the aggregation of anatase TiO2 nanoparticles and disperse anatase TiO2 nanoparticles uniformly on the surface of rutile TiO2 powders. Rutile TiO2 powders coupled with anatase TiO2 nanoparticles are successfully prepared. Additionally, we compare the photocatalytic activity of these rutile-anatase coupled TiO2 powders under ultraviolet (UV) light and demonstrate that the reason for the improvement of photocatalytic activity is microstructural.

아연(zinc) 분말은 철의 부식을 막아주는 희생양극의 기능으로 자동차, 선박 및 철구조물의 부식을 방지하 는데 널리 사용되고 있다. 그러나 아연 분말은 높은 비중 때문에 수지나 용매 내에서 분산성이 저하되고 빠르게 침전이 일어나는 단점을 가진다. 본 연구에서는 실리카(SiOx)를 미세 아연분말의 표면에 코팅함으로써 아연분말의 물성 및 기능을 개선하고자 하였다. 아연분말의 실리카 표면코팅은 졸-겔법을 사용하였고 SEM/EDS의 표면 및 성분분석과 TEM 단면분석을 통하여 불순물이 잔존하지 않는 실리카 코팅이 성공적으로 형성됨과 그 코팅의 두께를 확인 할 수 있었다. 한편 코팅공정의 반복회수와 평균입도 변화와의 관계를 측정하여 2회까지의 반복코팅이 분산안정성을 유지하는데 효과적임을 확인하였다. 이 밖에 실리카 코팅 아연분말의 진비중(true density) 측정을 통해 코팅 공정에 의해 비중이 20% 이상 감소함을 확인하였고 제타포텐셜 측정으로 실리카 코팅에 의해 아연분말의 분산안정성이 4배까지 증가함을 확인하였다. 마지막으로 질산수용액 담지를 통해 실리카 코팅 아연분말의 내산성 향상 또한 확인하였다. 따라서 본 연구에서 제조된 실리카 코팅 아연분말은 방청 안료의 원료로 적합할 것으로 기대된다.

This study investigated the effect of the grinding media of a ball mill under various conditions on the raw material of copper powder during the milling process with a simulation of the discrete element method. Using the simulation of the three-dimensional motion of the grinding media in the stirred ball mill, we researched the grinding mechanism to calculate the force, kinetic energy, and medium velocity of the grinding media. The grinding behavior of the copper powder was investigated by scanning electron microscopy. We found that the particle size increased with an increasing rotation speed and milling time, and the particle morphology of the copper powder became more of a plate type. Nevertheless, the particle morphology slightly depended on the different grinding media of the ball mill. Moreover, the simulation results showed that rotation speed and ball size increased with the force and energy.

Most of the red ginseng (RG) products contain active substances derived from hot water or alcohol extraction. Since active substances of RG are divided into two two types: water-soluble and liposoluble, water or alcohol is needed as an extraction solvent and this leads the different extraction yields and components of the active substances. To overcome the limit, whole red ginseng powder can be used and consumed by consumers. In this study, the physicochemical properties and extractable active substance contents of variable-sized RG powder (158.00 μm, 8.45 μm, and 6.33 μm) were analyzed, and dispersion stability was measured to investigate the suitable size of RG powder for industrial processing. In the results, no significant difference was found from the changes in color intensity and thiobarbutric acid tests at 4°C, 25°C, and 40°C for 4 weeks. There was no significant difference on the production of antioxidants and ginsenoside among the samples (p>0.05). In dispersion stability, RG-158.00 μm was precipitated immediately, and the dispersion stabilities between RG-8.45 μm and RG-6.33 μm showed no significant difference. It implies that fine RG is suitable for the production process. With further study, it seemed that the physicochemical effects of RG particle sizes can be clearly revealed.

In this study, the electroless nickel plating method has been investigated for the coating of Ni nanoparticles onto fine Al powder as promising energetic materials. The adsorption of nickel nanoparticles onto the surface of Al powders has been studied by varying various process parameters, namely, the amounts of reducing agent, complexing agent, and pH-controller. The size of nickel nanoparticles synthesized in the process has been optimized to approximately 200 nm and they have been adsorbed on the Al powder. TGA results clearly show that the temperature at which oxidation of Al mainly occurs is lowered as the amount of Ni nanoparticles on the Al surface increases. Furthermore, the Ni-plated Al powders prepared for all conditions show improved exothermic reaction due to the selfpropagating high-temperature synthesis (SHS) between Ni and Al. Therefore, Al powders fully coated by Ni nanoparticles show the highest exothermic reactivity: this demonstrates the efficiency of Ni coating in improving the energetic properties of Al powders.

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.

This study is focused on investigating the relation between the particle size of silver flake powder and mechanical milling parameters. Mechanical milling parameters such as ball size, impeller rotation speed and milling time of the attrition ball-mill were controlled to produce silver flake powder. The particle size of the silver flake powder increased with increasing ball size and impeller rotation speed. The change of the particle size of the silver flake powder with mechanical milling parameters was analyzed based on balls motion in the mill container of the attrition ball-mill. The silver flake particles were formed at the elastic deformation area of the ball due to the collision between balls. The change of the particle size of the silver flake powder with mechanical milling parameters well consists with the change of the collision energy of ball with parameters mentioned above.

This study investigated the effect of solvent on the fabrication of Ni-free Fe-based alloy nano powders by employing the PWE (pulsed wire evaporation) in liquid and compared the alloy particles fabricated by three different methods (PWE in liquid, PWE in Ar, plasma arc discharge), for high temperature oxidation-resistant metallic porous body for high temperature soot filter system. Three different solvents (ethanol, acetone, distilled water) of liquid were adapted in PWE in liquid process, while X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning microscope (FE-SEM), and transmission electron microscope (TEM) were used to investigate the characteristics of the Fe-Cr-Al nano powders. The alloy powder synthesized by PWE in ethanol has good particle size and no surface oxidation compared to that of distilled water. Since the Fe-based alloy powders, which were fabricated by PWE in Ar and PAD process, showed surface oxidation by TEM analysis, the PWE in ethanol is the best way to fabricate Fe-based alloy nano powder.

In this research, the optimal manufacturing conditions of fine Si powders from Si scrap were investigated as a function of different initial powder size using the high-energy ball milling equipment, which produces the fine powder by means of an ultra high-energy within a short duration. The morphological change of the powders according to the milling time was observed by Scanning electron microscopy (SEM). With the increasing milling time, the size of Si powder was decreased. In addition, more energy and stress for milling were required with the decreasing initial powder size. The refinement of Si scrap was rapidly carried out at 10min ball milling time. However, the refined powder started to agglomerate at 30 min milling time, while the powder size became uniform at 60 min milling time.

Al-Cu alloy nano powders have been produced by the electrical explosion of Cu-plated Al wire. The porous nano particles were prepared by leaching for Al-Cu alloy nano powders in 40wt% NaOH aqueous solution. The surface area of leached powder for 5 hours was 4 times larger than that of original alloy nano powder. It is demonstrated that porous nano particles could be obtained by selective leaching of alloy nano powder. It is expected that porous Cu nano powders can be applied for catalyst of SRM (steam reforming methanol).

Carbon nanotube (CNT) cathodes were fabricated using nano-sized silver (Ag) powders as a bonding material between the CNTs and cathode electrodes. The effects of the powder size on the sintering behavior, the current density and emission image for CNT cathodes were investigated. As the diameter of the Ag powders decreases to 10 nm, the sintering temperature of the CNT cathode was lowered primarily due to the higher specific surface area of the Ag powders. In this study, it was demonstrated that nano-sized Ag powders can be feasibly used as a bonding material for a screen-printed CNT cathode, yielding a high current density and a uniform emission image.

The electromagnetic wave (EM) absorption properties of various particle size have been investigated in a sheet-type absorber using the alloy powder. With decreasing the average particle size, the complex permeability () and permittivity () increased and the matching frequency is shifted toward lower frequency. The fabricated EM wave absorbers showed permeability , permittivity for a mesh sample, and the calculated power absorption was as high as 80% in the frequency range over 2 GHz.