The growing significance of sustainable energy technologies underscores the need for safe and efficient management of spent nuclear fuels (SNFs), particularly via deep geological disposal (DGD). DGD involves the long-term isolation of SNFs from the biosphere to ensure public safety and environmental protection, necessitating materials with high corrosion resistance for DGD canisters. This study investigated the feasibility of a Cu–Ni film, fabricated via additive manufacturing (AM), as a corrosion-resistant layer for DGD canister applications. A wire-fed AM technique was used to deposit a millimeter-scale Cu–Ni film onto a carbon steel (CS) substrate. Electrochemical analyses were conducted using aerated groundwater from the KAERI underground research tunnel (KURT) as an electrolyte with an NaCl additive to characterize the oxic corrosion behavior of the Cu–Ni film. The results demonstrated that the AM-fabricated Cu–Ni film exhibited enhanced corrosion resistance (manifested as lower corrosion current density and formation of a dense passive layer) in an NaCl-supplemented groundwater solution. Extensive investigations are necessary to elucidate microstructural performance, mechanical properties, and corrosion resistance in the presence of various corroding agents to simplify the implementation of this technology for DGD canisters.

This work describes Ni–Ce–Cu metallic–organic framework (MOF) for the detection of non-essential amino acid l-cysteine. The tri-metallic Ni–Ce–Cu MOF was synthesized via a solvothermal method. The cyclic voltammetry and the differential pulse voltammetry techniques were used to examine the electrochemical detection of l-cysteine. The Ni–Ce–Cu MOF shows an oxidation peak in PB solution at pH 3.0 between the potential range of 0.0 and 0.7 V and strong electro-catalytic activity toward the oxidation of l-cysteine across a wide linear range of 0.1 to 250 nM and low detection limit (LOD) was calculated of 1.56 nM. The analysis of l-cysteine in milk and egg yolk samples showed with recovery range of 96.75–103.5% and 97.78–99.43% with RSD% of 2.3–3.2% and 2.7–7.2%, respectively. These results show the Ni–Ce–Cu MOF has high selectivity for l-cysteine detection in milk and egg samples.

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.

Effects of annealing temperature on the microstructure and mechanical properties through thickness of a Cu-3.0Ni- 0.7Si alloy processed by differential speed rolling are investigated in detail. The copper alloy with a thickness of 3 mm is rolled to a 50 % reduction at ambient temperature without lubricant and subsequently annealed for 0.5 h at 200-900 oC. The microstructure of the copper alloy after annealing is different in the thickness direction depending on the amount of the shear and compressive strain introduced by the rolling; the recrystallization occurs first in the upper roll side and center regions which are largely shear-deformed. The complete recrystallization occurs at an annealing temperature of 800 oC. The grain size after the complete recrystallization is finer than that of the conventional rolling. The hardness distribution of the specimens annealed at 500-700 oC is not uniform in the thickness direction due to partial recrystallization. This ununiformity of hardness corresponds well to the amount of shear strain in the thickness direction. The average hardness and ultimate tensile strength has the maximum values of 250 Hv and 450 Mpa, respectively, in the specimen annealed at 400 oC. It is considered that the complex mode of strain introduced by rolling directly affects the microstructure and the mechanical properties of the annealed specimens.

Effects of annealing temperature on the microstructure and mechanical properties through thickness of a cold-rolled Cu-3.0Ni-0.7Si alloy were investigated in detail. The copper alloy with thickness of 3 mm was rolled to 50 % reduction at ambient temperature without lubricant and subsequently annealed for 0.5h at 200~900 oC. The microstructure of the copper alloy after annealing was different in thickness direction depending on an amount of the shear and compressive strain introduced by rolling; the recrystallization occurred first in surface regions shear-deformed largely. The hardness distribution of the specimens annealed at 500~700 oC was not uniform in thickness direction due to partial recrystallization. This ununiformity of hardness corresponded well with an amount of shear strain in thickness direction. The average hardness and ultimate tensile strength showed the maximum values of 250Hv and 450MPa in specimen annealed at 400 oC, respectively. It is considered that the complex mode of strain introduced by rolling effected directly on the microstructure and the mechanical properties of the annealed specimens.

In this study, Fe-Cu-Ni-Mo-C low alloy steel powder is consolidated by spark plasma sintering (SPS) process. The internal structure and the surface fracture behavior are studied using field-emission scanning electron microscopy and optical microscopy techniques. The bulk samples are polished and etched in order to observe the internal structure. The sample sintered at 900oC with holding time of 10 minutes achieves nearly full density of 98.9% while the density of the as-received conventionally sintered product is 90.3%. The fracture microstructures indicate that the sample prepared at 900oC by the SPS process is hard to break out because of the presence of both grain boundaries and internal particle fractures. Moreover, the lamellar pearlite structure is also observed in this sample. The samples sintered at 1000 and 1100oC exhibit a large number of tiny particles and pores due to the melting of Cu and aggregation of the alloy elements during the SPS process. The highest hardness value of 296.52 HV is observed for the sample sintered at 900oC with holding time of 10 minutes.

This study investigates the influence of sintering temperature on the magnetic properties and frequency dispersion of the complex permeability of Ni–Zn–Cu ferrites used for magnetic shielding in near-field communication (NFC) systems. Sintered specimens of (Ni0.7Zn0.3)0.96Cu0.04Fe2O4 are prepared by conventional ceramic processing. The complex permeability is measured by an RF impedance analyzer in the range of 1 MHz to 1.8 GHz. The real and imaginary parts of the complex permeability depend sensitively on the sintering temperature, which is closely related to the microstructure, including grain size and pore distribution. In particular, internal pores within grains produced by rapid grain growth decrease the permeability and increase the magnetic loss at the operating frequency of NFC (13.56 MHz). At the optimized sintering temperature (1225-1250°C), the highest permeability and lowest magnetic loss can be obtained.

Effects of conventional rolling(CR) and differential speed rolling(DSR) on the microstructure and mechanical properties of Cu-Ni-Si alloy were investigated in detail. The copper alloy with thickness of 3 mm was rolled to 50 % reduction at ambient temperature without lubricant with a differential speed ratio of 2:1. The conventional rolling in which the rolling speed of upper and lower rolls is identical was performed under identical rolling conditions. The shear strain introduced by the CR showed positive values at positions of upper roll side and negative values at positions of lower roll side. However, it showed zero or positive values at all positions for the samples rolled by the DSR. The microstrucure and texture development of the as-rolled copper alloy did not show any significant difference between CR and DSR. The tensile strength of the DSR processed specimen was larger than that of the CR processed specimen. The effects of rolling methods on the microstructure and mechanical properties of the as-rolled copper alloy are discussed in terms of the shear strain.

The effect of sublimable vehicle composition in the camphor-naphthalene system on the pore structure ofporous Cu-Ni alloy is investigated. The CuO-NiO mixed slurries with hypoeutectic, eutectic and hypereutectic compo-sitions are frozen into a mold at -25oC. Pores are generated by sublimation of the vehicles at room temperature. Afterhydrogen reduction at 300oC and sintering at 850oC for 1 h, the green body of CuO-NiO is completely converted toporous Cu-Ni alloy with various pore structures. The sintered samples show large pores which are aligned parallel to thesublimable vehicle growth direction. The pore size and porosity decrease with increase in powder content due to thedegree of powder rearrangement in slurry. In the hypoeutectic composition slurry, small pores with dendritic morphologyare observed in the sintered Cu-Ni, whereas the specimen of hypereutectic composition shows pore structure of plateshape. The change of pore structure is explained by growth behavior of primary camphor and naphthalene crystals dur-ing solidification of camphor-naphthalene alloys.

In this study, the effect of the friction stir welding (FSW) was compared with that of the gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW) on the microstructure and microhardness of Cu-Ni alloy weldment. The weldment of 10 mm thickness was fabricated by FSW and GTAW, respectively. Both weldments were compared with each other by optical microstructure, microhardness test and grain size measurement. Results of this study suggest that the microhardness decreased from the base metal (BM) to the heat affected zone (HAZ) and increased at fusion zone (FZ) of GTAW and stir zone (SZ) of FSW. the minimum Hv value of both weldment was obtained at HAZ, respectively, which represents the softening zone, whereas Hv value of FSW weldment was little higher than that of GTAW weldment. These phenomena can be explained by the grain size difference between HAZs of each weldment. Grain size was increased at the HAZ during FSW and GTAW. Because FSW is a solid-state joining process obtaining the lower heat-input generated by rotating shoulder than heat generated in the arc of GTAW.

The monolayer engineering diamond particles are aligned on the oxygen free Cu plates with electroless Ni plating layer. The mean diamond particle sizes of 15, 23 and 50 μm are used as thermal conductivity pathway for fabricating metal/carbon multi-layer composite material systems. Interconnected void structure of irregular shaped diamond particles allow dense electroless Ni plating layer on Cu plate and fixing them with 37-43% Ni thickness of their mean diameter. The thermal conductivity decrease with increasing measurement temperature up to 150oC in all diamond size conditions. When the diamond particle size is increased from 15 μm to 50 μm (Max. 304 W/mK at room temperature) tended to increase thermal conductivity, because the volume fraction of diamond is increased inside plating layer.

In this study, nanocrystalline Cu-Ni bulk materials with various compositions were cold compacted by a shock compaction method using a single-stage gas gun system. Since the oxide layers on powder surface disturbs bonding between powder particles during the shock compaction process, each nanopowder was hydrogen-reduced to remove the oxide layers. X-ray peak analysis shows that hydrogen reduction successfully removed the oxide layers from the nano powders. For the shock compaction process, mixed powder samples with various compositions were prepared using a roller mixer. After the shock compaction process, the density of specimens increased up to 95% of the relative density. Longitudinal cross-sections of the shock compacted specimen demonstrates that a boundary between two powders are clearly distinguished and agglomerated powder particles remained in the compacted bulk. Internal crack tended to decrease with an increase in volumetric ratio of nano Cu powders in compacted bulk, showing that nano Cu powders has a higher coherency than nano Ni powders. On the other hand, hardness results are dominated by volume fraction of the nano Ni powder. The crystalline size of the shock compacted bulk materials was greatly reduced from the initial powder crystalline size since the shock wave severely deformed the powders.

Wastewater containing heavy metals such as copper (Cu) and nickel (Ni) is harmful to humans and the environment due to its high toxicity. Crystallization in a fluidized bed reactor (FBR) has recently received significant attention for heavy metal removal and recovery. It is necessary to find optimum reaction conditions to enhance crystallization efficacy. In this study, the effects of crystallization reagent and pH were investigated to maximize crystallization efficacy of Cu-S and Ni-S in a FBR. CaS and Na2S·9H2O were used as crystallization reagent, and pH were varied in the range of 1 to 7. Additionally, each optimum crystallization condition for Cu and Ni were sequentially employed in two FBRs for their selective removal from the mixture of Cu and Ni. As major results, the crystallization of Cu was most effective in the range of pH 1-2 for both CaS and Na2S·9H2O reagents. At pH 1, Cu was completely removed within five minutes. Ni showed a superior reactivity with S in Na2S·9H2O compared to that in CaS at pH 7. When applying each optimum crystallization condition sequentially, only Cu was firstly crystallized at pH 1 with CaS, and then, in the second FBR, the residual Ni was completely removed at pH 7 with Na2S·9H2O. Each crystal recovered from two different FBRs was mainly composed of CuxSy and NiS, respectively. Our results revealed that Cu and Ni can be selectively recovered as reusable resources from the mixture by controlling pH and choosing crystallization reagent accordingly.

Cu-Ni alloys with unidirectionally aligned pores were prepared by freeze-drying process of CuO-NiO/cam-phene slurry. Camphene slurries with dispersion stability by the addition of oligomeric polyester were frozen at -25˚C,and pores in the frozen specimens were generated by sublimation of the camphene during drying in air. The green bod-ies were hydrogen-reduced at 300˚C and sintered at 850˚C for 1h. X-ray diffraction analysis revealed that CuO-NiOcomposite powders were completely converted to Cu-Ni alloy without any reaction phases by hydrogen reduction. Thesintered samples showed large and aligned parallel pores to the camphene growth direction, and small pores in the inter-nal wall of large pores. The pore size and porosity decreased with increase in CuO-NiO content from 5 to 10 vol%.The change of pore characteristics was explained by the degree of powder rearrangement in slurry and the accumulationbehavior of powders in the interdendritic spaces of solidified camphene.

The influence of Cu and Ni on the ductile-brittle transition behavior of metastable austenitic Fe-18Cr-10Mn-N alloys with N contents below 0.5 wt.% was investigated in terms of austenite stability and microstructure. All the metastable austenitic Fe-18Cr-10Mn-N alloys exhibited a ductile-brittle transition behavior by unusual low-temperature brittle fracture, irrespective of Cu and/or Ni addition, and deformation-induced martensitic transformation occasionally occurred during Charpy impact testing at lower temperatures due to reduced austenite stability resulting from insufficient N content. The formation of deformation-induced martensite substantially increased the ductile-brittle transition temperature(DBTT) by deteriorating low-temperature toughness because the martensite was more brittle than the parent austenite phase beyond the energy absorbed during transformation, and its volume fraction was too small. On the other hand, the Cu addition to the metastable austenitic Fe-18Cr-10Mn-N alloy increased DBTT because the presence of δ-ferrite had a negative effect on low-temperature toughness. However, the combined addition of Cu and Ni to the metastable austenitic Fe-18Cr-10Mn-N alloy decreased DBTT, compared to the sole addtion of Ni or Cu. This could be explained by the fact that the combined addition of Cu and Ni largely enhanced austenite stability, and suppressed the formation of deformation-induced martensite and δ-ferrite in conjunction with the beneficial effect of Cu which may increase stacking fault energy, so that it allows cross-slip to occur and thus reduces the planarity of the deformation mechanism.

In this study, Cu-5Ni-10Sn(wt%) spinodal alloy was manufactured by gas atomization spray forming, and the microstructural features and mechanical properties of Cu-5Ni-10Sn alloy have been investigated during homogenization, cold working and age-hardening. The spray formed Cu-5Ni-10Sn alloy consisted of an equiaxed microstructure with a mixture of solid solution -(CuNiSn) grains and lamellar-structure grains. Homogenization at and subsequent rapid quenching formed a uniform solid solution -(CuNiSn) phase. Direct aging at from the homogenized Cu-5Ni-10Sn alloy promoted the precipitation of finely distributed ' or phase throughout the matrix, resulting in a significant increase in microhardness and tensile strength. Cold working prior to aging was effective in strengthening Cu-5Ni-10Sn alloy, which gave rise to a maximum tensile strength of 1165 MPa. Subsequent aging treatment slightly reduced the tensile strength to 1000-1100 MPa due to annealing effects.

In this study, Cu-10Sn and Cu-10Sn-2Ni-0.2Si alloys have been manufactured by spray casting in order to achieve a fine scale microstructure and high tensile strength, and investigated in terms of microstructural evolution, aging characteristics and tensile properties. Spray cast alloys had a much lower microhardness than continuous cast billet because of an improved homogenization and an extended Sn solid solubility. Spray cast Cu-Sn-Ni-Si alloy was characterized by an equiaxed grain microstructure with a small-sized (Ni, Si)-rich precipitates. Cold rolling of Cu-Sn-Ni-Si alloy increased a tensile strength to 1220 MPa, but subsequent ageing treatment reduced a ultimate tensile strength to 780 MPa with an elongation of 18%.

The recirculating electrochemical flow reactor developed at UCLA has been employed to fabricate nanostructured GMR multilayers. For comparison, Ni/Cu multilayers have been electrodeposited from a single bath, from dual baths and from the recirculating electrochemical flow reactor. For a magnetic field of 1.5 kOe, higher GMR (Max. -5%) Ni/Cu multilayers with low electrical resistivity (< 10 μΩ·cm) were achieved by the electrochemical flow reactor system than by the dual bath (Max. GMR = -4.2% and< 20 μΩ·cm) or the single bath (Max. GMR = -2.1% and< 90 μΩ·cm) techniques. Higher GMR effects have been obtained by producing smoother, contiguous layers at lower current densities and by the elimination of oxide film formation by conducting deposition under an inert gas environment. Our preliminary GMR measurements of Ni/Cu multilayers from the electrochemical flow reactor obtained at low magnetic field of 0.15 T, which may approach or exceed the highest reported results (-7% GMR) at magnetic fields > 5 kOe.

The electrocatalytic characteristics of oxygen reduction reaction of the PtxM(1-x) (M = Co, Cu, Ni) supported on multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) have been evaluated in a Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC). The PtxM(1-x)/MWNTs catalysts with a Pt : M atomic ratio of about 3 : 1 were synthesized and applied to the cathode of PEMFC. The crystalline structure and morphology images of the PtxM(1-x) particles were characterized by X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy, respectively. The results showed that the crystalline structure of the Pt alloy particles in Pt/MWNTs and PtxM(1-x)/MWNTs catalysts are seen as FCC, and synthesized PtxM(1-x) crystals have lattice parameters smaller than the pure Pt crystal. According to the electrochemical surface area (ESA) calculated with cyclic voltammetry analysis, Pt0.77Co0.23/MWNTs catalyst has higher ESA than the other catalysts. The evaluation of a unit cell test using Pt/MWNTs or PtxM(1-x)/MWNTs as the cathode catalysts demonstrated higher cell performance than did a commercial Pt/C catalyst. Among the MWNTs-supported Pt and PtxM(1-x) (M = Co, Cu, Ni) catalysts, the Pt0.77Co0.23/MWNTs shows the highest performance with the cathode catalyst of PEMFC because they had the largest ESA.

The amorphization process and the thermal properties of amorphous TiCuNiAl powder during milling by mechanical alloying were examined by X-ray diffractometry (XRD), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The chemical composition of the samples was examined by an energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDX) facility attached to the scanning electron microscope (SEM). The as-milled powders showed a broad peak (2 = 42.4) with crystalline size of about 5.0 nm in the XRD patterns. The entire milling process could be divided into three different stages: agglomeration (0 < t 3 h), disintegration (3 h < t 20 h), and homogenization (20 h < t 40 h) (t: milling time). In the DSC experiment, the peak temperature T and crystallization temperature T were 466.9 and 444.3, respectively, and the values of T, and T increased with a heating rate (HR). The activation energies of crystallization for the as-milled powder was 291.5 kJ/mol for T.