Al-Cr-Si ternary quench ribbons are fabricated using a single roll method and investigated for their structural and thermal properties. In particular, the sinterability is examined by pulse current sintering to obtain the following results. The Al74Cr20Si6 composition becomes a quasicrystalline single phase; by reducing the amount of Cr, it becomes a twophase mixed structure of Al phase and quasicrystalline phase. As a result of sintering of Al74Cr20Si6, Al77Cr13Si10 and Al90Cr6Si4 compositions, the sintering density is increased with the large amount of Al phase; the sintering density is the highest in Al90Cr6Si4 composition. In addition, as a result of investigating the effects of sintering temperature and pressurization on the sintered density of Al90Cr6Si4, a sintered compact of 99% or more at 513 K and 500 MPa is produced. In particular, since the Al-Cr-Si ternary crystal is more thermally stable than the Al-Cr binary quaternary crystal, it is possible to increase the sintering temperature by about 100 K. Therefore, using an alloy of Al90Cr6Si4 composition, a sintered compact having a sintered density of 99 % or more at 613 K and 250 MPa can be manufactured. It is possible to increase the sintering temperature by using the alloy system as a ternary system. As a result, it is possible to produce a sintered body with higher density than that possible using the binary system, and at half the pressure compared with the conventional Al-Cr binary system.

Cr-Si based alloys are not only excellent in corrosion resistance at high temperatures, but also have good wear resistance due to the formation of Cr3Si phase, therefore they are promising as metallic coating materials. Aluminum is often added to Cr-Si alloys to improve the oxidation resistance through which stable alumina surface film is formed. On the other hand, due to the addition of aluminum, various Al-containing phases may be formed and may negatively affect the heat resistance of the Cr-Si-Al alloys, so detailed investigation is required. In this study, two Cr-Si-Al alloys (high-Si & high-Al) were prepared in the form of cast ingots through a vacuum arc melting process and the microstructural changes after high temperature heating process were investigated. In the case of the cast high-Si alloy, a considerable amount of Cr3Si phase was formed, and its hardness was significantly higher than that of the cast high-Al alloy. Also, Al-rich phases (with the high Al/ Cr ratio) were not found much compared to the high-Al alloy. Meanwhile, it was observed that the amount of the Al-rich phases reduced by the annealing heat treatment for both alloys. In the case of the high temperature heating at 1,400 oC, no significant microstructural change was observed in the high Si alloy, but a little more coarse and segregated AlCr phases were found in the high Al alloy compared to the cast state.

Cr-Al alloys are attracting attention as oxidation resistant coating materials for high temperature metallic materials due to their excellent high temperature stability. However, the mechanical properties and oxidation resistance of Cr-Al alloys can be further enhanced, and such attempts are made in this study. To improve the properties of Cr-Al alloys, Si is added up to 5 wt%. Casting specimens with different amounts of Si content are prepared by a vacuum arc remelting method and isothermally heated under steam conditions at 1,100oC for 1 hour. The as-cast microstructure of low Si alloys is mainly composed of only a Cr phase, while Al8Cr5 and Cr3Si phases are also observed in the 5% Si alloy. In the high Si alloy, only Cr and Cr3Si phases remain after the isothermal heating at 1,100oC. It is found that Si additions slightly decrease the oxidation resistance of the Cr-Al alloy. However, the microhardness of the Cr-Al alloy is observed to increase with an increasing Si content.

In this study we manufacture a Ni-Cr-B-Si +WC/12Co composite coating layer on a Cu base material using a laser cladding (LC) process, and investigate the microstructural and mechanical properties of the LC coating and Ni electroplating layers (reference material). The initial powder used for the LC coating layer is a powder feedstock with an average particle size of 125 μm. To identify the microstructural and mechanical properties, OM, SEM, XRD, room and high temperature hardness, and wear tests are implemented. Microstructural observation of the initial powder and LC coating layer confirm the layer is composed mainly of γ-Ni phases and WC and Cr23C6 carbides. The measured hardness of the LC coating and Ni electroplating layers are 653 and 154 Hv, respectively. The hardness measurement from room up to high temperatures of 700°C result in a hardness decrease as the temperature increases, but the hardness of the LC coating layer is higher for all temperature conditions. Room temperature wear results show that the wear loss of the LC coating layer is 1/12 of the wear level of the Ni electroplating layer. The measured bond strength is also greater in the LC coating than the Ni electroplating.

Fe-Si-Cr ferroalloy is predominantly produced by carbothermic reduction. In this study, silicothermic and carbothermic mixed reduction of chromite ore to produce Fe-Si-Cr alloy is suggested. As reductants, silicon and silicon carbide are evaluated by thermochemical calculations, which prove that silicon carbide can be applied as a raw material. Considering the critical temperature of the change from the carbide to the metallic form of chromium, thereduction experiments were carried out. In these high temperature reactions, silicon and silicon carbide act as effective reductants to produce Fe-Si-Cr ferroalloy. However, at temperatures lower than the critical temperature, silicon carbide shows a slow reaction rate for reducing chromite ore. For the proper implementation of a commercial process that uses silicon carbide reductants, the operation temperature should be kept above the critical temperature. Using equilibrium calculations for chromite ore reduction with silicon and silicon carbide, the compositions of reacted metal and slag were successfully predicted. Therefore, the mass balance of the silicothermic and carbothermic mixed reduction of chromite ore can be proposed based on the calculations and the experimental results.

Spatial distributions of alloying elements of an Fe-based amorphous ribbon with a nominal composition of Fe75C11Si2B8Cr4 were analyzed through the atom probe tomography method. The amorphous ribbon was prepared through the melt spinning method. The macroscopic amorphous natures were confirmed using an X-ray diffractometer (XRD) and a differential scanning calorimeter (DSC). Atom Probe (Cameca LEAP 3000X HR) analyses were carried out in pulsed voltage mode at a specimen base temperature of about 60 K, a pulse to base voltage ratio of 15 %, and a pulse frequency of 200 kHz. The target detection rate was set to 5 ions per 1000 pulses. Based on a statistical analyses of the data obtained from the volume of 59×59×33nm3, homogeneous distributions of alloying elements in nano-scales were concluded. Even with high carbon and strong carbide forming element contents, nano-scale segregation zones of alloying elements were not detected within the Fe-based amorphous ribbon. However, the existence of small sub-nanometer scale clusters due to short range ordering cannot be completely excluded.

One of the weak points of the Cr-doped SZO is that until now, it has only been fabricated on perovskite substrates, whereas NiO-ReRAM devices have already been deposited on Si substrates. The fabrication of RAM devices on Si substrates is important for commercialization because conventional electronics are based mainly on silicon materials. Cr-doped ReRAM will find a wide range of applications in embedded systems or conventional memory device manufacturing processes if it can be fabricated on Si substrates. For application of the commercial memory device, Cr-doped SrZrO3 perovskite thin films were deposited on a SrRuO3 bottom electrode/Si(100)substrate using pulsed laser deposition. XRD peaks corresponding to the (112), (004) and (132) planes of both the SZO and SRO were observed with the highest intensity along the (112) direction. The positions of the SZO grains matched those of the SRO grains. A well-controlled interface between the SrZrO3:Cr perovskite and the SrRuO3 bottom electrode were fabricated, so that good resistive switching behavior was observed with an on/off ratio higher than 102. A pulse test showed the switching behavior of the Pt/SrZrO3:Cr/SrRuO3 device under a pulse of 10 kHz for 104 cycles. The resistive switching memory devices made of the Cr-doped SrZrO3 thin films deposited on Si substrates are expected to be more compatible with conventional Si-based electronics.

Co-Fe-Ni-B-Si-Cr based amorphous strips containing nitrogen were manufactured via melt spinning, and then devitrified by crystallization treatment at the various annealing temperatures of for up to 30 minutes in an inert gas atmosphere. The microstructures were examined by using XRD and TEM and the magnetic properties were measured by using VSM and B-H meter. Among the alloys, the amorphous ribbons of containing 121 ppm of nitrogen showed relatively high saturation magnetization. The alloy ribbons crystallized at showed that the grain size of alloy containing 121 ppm of nitrogen was about f nm, which exhibited paramagnetic behavior. The formation of nano-grain structure was attributed to the finely dispersed Fe4N particles and the solid-solutionized nitrogen atoms in the matrix. Accordingly, it can be concluded that the nano-grain structure of 5nm in size could reduce the core loss within the normally applied magnetic field of 300A/m at 10kHz.

Fe계 합금의 적층결함에너지를 감소시키는 것으로 알려진 Mn이 Fe-20Cr-1C-Si 경면처리 합금의 변형유기 상변태거동과 상온 및 고온 마모저항성에 미치는 영향에 대하여 조사하였다. 15ksi의 접촉응력에 대하여 0~25wt.% Mn을 첨가한 시편은 모두 상온에서 마모손실량이 적은 우수한 마모저항성을 보였는데 Mn 첨가량이 5wt.% 이하인 시편의 경우 마모표면에서 γ→α'변형유기 상변태가 발생한 반면 15wt.% 이상 Mn을 첨가한 시편에서는 γ→ε변형유기 상변태가 발생하는 것으로 나타났다. 250˚C까지 고온 마모시험결과 γ→α'변형유기 상변태가 발생한 5wt.% 이하 Mn 첨가시편은 Mn 첨가량이 증가할수록 마모손실량이 증가하는 것으로 보아 Mn 첨가는 γ→α'변형유기 상변태에 있어서 고온 마모저항성을 저하시키는 것으로 생각되며 이는 Mn이 γ→α'변형유기 상변태의 M(sub)d 온도를 감소시키기 때문으로 생각된다. 반면에 γ→ε변형유기 상변태가 일어난 15wt.% 이상 Mn 첨가 시편의 경우 Mn 첨가량 증가에 따른 고온 마모손실량의 차이가 없는 것으로 보아 γ→ε변형유기 상변태는 γ→α'변형유기 상변태에 비해 온도의 존성이 적은 것으로 생각된다.

Fe 계 합금의 적층결함에너지를 감소시키는 거승로 알려진 vanadium이 Fe-20Cr-1.7C-1Si합금의 미세조직과 고온 마모저항성에 미치는 영향에 대하여 조사하였다. Fe-20Cr-1.7C-1Si-xV (x=0, 1, 3, 6, 10wt.%)조성에서 오스테나이트 기지상을 유지하면서 첨기될 수 있는 V의 최대 첨가량은 약 3wt.%이었으며 오스테나이트 기지상을 갖는 합금은 상온에서 낮은 적층결함에너지와 γ->α 변형유기 상변태에 의해 페라이트 합금보다 높은 마모저항성을 보인 것으로 생각된다.225˚C에서 α 생성량도 많은 것으로 보다 V은 Fe-20Cr-1.7C-1Si 합금의 온도에 따른 적층결함에너지 증가율를 억제하고 Md온도도 증가시킴으로써 고온 마모저항성을 증가시키는 것으로 생각된다.

자동차의 엔진밸브 스프링으로 사용되는 Si-Cr 스프링강의 영구 변형 저항성과 내피로성이 우수한 고강도강을 개발하기 위하여 탄소함량을 증대시키고 Mo, V, W와 같은 합금원소를 기존의 SAE 9254 스프링강에 첨가하여 개발강을 제조했다. SEM및 EDX가 부착된 TEM을 이용하여 미세조직을 관찰했고, 크립시험 및 피로시험기를 이용하여 스프림의 영구 변형 저항성 및 스프링의 내피로성을 조사했다. 실험결과, 개발강은 피로 특성치는 기존강과 동등 수준이면서 인장강도가 기존강의 것보다 10%가 더높은 2100MPa 급의 고강도를 나타내었으며 또한 영구 변형 저항성도 현저하게 개선되었는데 이는 W, Mo의 첨가로 인해 템퍼링시에 세멘타이트의 성장이 억제되어서 세멘타이트의 석출물이 미세하게 되었기 때문이다.