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.

In this study, two types of thick steel plates are prepared by controlling carbon equivalent and nickel content, and their microstructures are analyzed. Tensile tests, Vickers hardness tests, and Charpy impact tests are conducted to investigate the correlation between microstructure and mechanical properties of the steels. The H steel, which has high carbon equivalent and nickel content, has lower volume fraction of granular bainite (GB) and smaller GB packet size than those of L steel, which has low carbon equivalent and nickel content. However, the volume fraction of secondary phases is higher in the H steel than in the L steel. As a result, the strength of the L steel is higher than that of the H steel, while the Charpy absorbed energy at -40 °C is higher than that of the L steel. The heat affected zone (HAZ) simulated H-H specimen has higher volume fraction of acicular ferrite (AF) and lower volume fraction of GB than the HAZ simulated L-H specimen. In addition, the grain size of AF and the packet sizes of GB and BF are smaller in the H-H specimen than in the L-H specimen. For this reason, the Charpy absorbed energy at -20 °C is higher for the H-H specimen than for the L-H specimen.

In this study, three kinds of metal chills such as SS400, AC4CH and brass, with different thicknesses of 40 ~ 80 mm, were applied for low pressure casting of Al-Si alloy to control cooling rate. The microstructural characteristics with increasing cooling rate were represented using factors including D1, D2, size of primary α phases and shape factor and size of eutectic Si. The tensile properties were investigated and additionally analyzed based on the microstructural characteristics. As the cooling rate increased, D1, D2, and sizes of primary α phases and eutectic Si apparently decreased and the shape factor of eutectic Si increased to over 0.8. The ultimate tensile strength (UTS) and yield strength (YS) increased with decreasing D1, D2, and size of primary α phases, while elongation increased with decreasing size of eutectic Si and concurrently increasing shape factor of eutectic Si. This indicated that the primary α phases and eutectic Si in Al-Si alloy were refined with increasing cooling rate, resulting in improvement of UTS and YS without sacrificing elongation. After the tensile test, preferential deformation of primary α phases was observed in the Al-Si alloy produced at higher cooling rates of more than 0.1 K/s.

This study deals with the effects of austempering time on the microstructure and mechanical properties of ultrahigh strength nanostructured bainitic steels with high carbon and silicon contents. The steels are composed of bainite, martensite and retained austenite by austempering and quenching. As the duration of austempering increases, the thickness of bainitic ferrite increases, but the thickness of retained austenite decreases. Some retained austenites with lower stability are more easily transformed to martensite during tensile testing, which has a detrimental effect on the elongation due to the brittleness of transformed martensite. With increasing austempering time, the hardness decreased and then remained stable because the transformation to nanostructured bainite compensates for the decrease in the volume fraction of martensite. Charpy impact test results indicated that increasing austempering time improved the impact toughness because the formation of brittle martensite was prevented by the decreased fraction and increased stability of retained austenite.

BiFeO3 with perovskite structure is a well-known material that has both ferroelectric and antiferromagnetic properties called multiferroics. However, leaky electrical properties and difficulty of controlling stoichiometry due to Bi volatility and difficulty of obtaining high relative density due to high dependency on the ceramic process are issues for BiFeO3 applications. In this work we investigated the sintering behavior of samples with different stoichiometries and sintering conditions. To understand the optimum sintering conditions, nonstoichiometric Bi1±xFeO3±δ ceramics and Ti-doped Bi1.03Fe1-4x/3TixO3 ceramics were synthesized by a conventional solid-state route. Dense single phase BiFeO3 ceramics were successfully fabricated using a two-step sintering and quenching process. The effects of Bi volatility on microstructure were determined by Bi-excess and Ti doping. Bi-excess increased grain size, and Ti doping increased sintering temperature and decreased grain size. It should be noted that Ti-doping suppressed Bi volatility and stabilized the BiFeO3 phase.

In this study, we report the microstructure and characterization of Ta20Nb20V20W20Ti20 high-entropy alloy powders and sintered samples. The effects of milling time on the microstructure and mechanical properties were investigated in detail. Microstructure and structural characterization were performed by scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction. The mechanical properties of the sintered samples were analyzed through a compressive test at room temperature with a strain rate of 1 × 10−4 s−1. The microstructure of sintered Ta20Nb20V20W20Ti20 high-entropy alloy is composed of a BCC phase and a TiO phase. A better combination of compressive strength and strain was achieved by using prealloyed Ta20Nb20V20W20Ti20 powder with low oxygen content. The results suggest that the oxide formed during the sintering process affects the mechanical properties of Ta20Nb20V20W20Ti20 high-entropy alloys, which are related to the interfacial stability between the BCC matrix and TiO phase.

The Fe-22wt.%Cr-6wt.%Al foams were fabricated via the powder alloying process in this study. The structural characteristics, microstructure, and mechanical properties of Fe-Cr-Al foams with different average pore sizes were investigated. Result of the structural analysis shows that the average pore sizes were measured as 474 μm (450 foam) and 1220 μm (1200 foam). Regardless of the pore size, Fe-Cr-Al foams had a Weaire-Phelan bubble structure, and α-ferrite was the major constituent phase. Tensile and compressive tests were conducted with an initial strain rate of 10−3 /s. Tensile yield strengths were 3.4 MPa (450 foam) and 1.4 MPa (1200 foam). Note that the total elongation of 1200 foam was higher than that of 450 foam. Furthermore, their compressive yield strengths were 2.5 MPa (450 foam) and 1.1 MPa (1200 foam), respectively. Different compressive deformation behaviors according to the pore sizes of the Fe-Cr-Al foams were characterized: strain hardening for the 450 foam and constant flow stress after a slight stress drop for the 1200 foam. The effect of structural characteristics on the mechanical properties was also discussed.

Phosphorus is an element that plays many important roles in powder metallurgy as an alloy element. The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of phosphorus addition on the microstructures and mechanical properties of sintered low-alloy steel. The sintered low-alloy steels Fe-0.6%C-3.89%Ni-1.95%Cu-1.40%Mo-xP (x=0, 0.05, 0.10, 0.15, 0.20%) were manufactured by compacting at 700 MPa, sintering in H2-N2 at 1260℃, rapid cooling, and low-temperature tempering in Ar at 160℃. The microstructure, pore, density, hardness, and transverse rupture strength (TRS) of the sintered low-alloy steels were evaluated. The hardness increased as the phosphorus content increased, whereas the density and TRS showed maximum values when the content of P was 0.05%. Based on microstructure observation, the phase of the microstructure changed from bainite to martensite as the content of phosphorus is increased. Hence, the most appropriate addition of phosphorus in this study was 0.05%.

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.

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.

Effect of heat treatment on microstructure and mechanical properties of an Fe-6.5Mn-0.08C medium-manganese steel is investigated in this study. Three kinds of medium-manganese steel specimens are fabricated by varying heat treatments of intermediate quenching (IQ), step quenching (SQ), and intercritical annealing (IA). Hardness and tensile tests are performed to examine the correlation of microstructure and mechanical properties for the Fe-6.5Mn-0.08C medium-manganese steel specimens. The IQ and SQ specimens have microstructures of martensite matrix with ferrite, whereas IA specimen exhibits microstructure of acicular ferrite matrix with martensite. The tensile test results show that the SQ specimen with martensite matrix has the highest yield strength and the lowest elongation. On the other hand, the SQ specimen has the highest hardness due to the relatively lower reduction of carbon content in martensite during intercritical annealing. According to the fractography of tensile tested specimens, the SQ specimen exhibits a dimple and quasi-cleavage fracture appearance while the IQ and IA specimens have fully ductile fracture appearance with fine-sized dimples caused by microvoid coalescence at ferrite and martensite interface.

In order to observe the microstructure and morphology of porous titanium -oxide thin film, deposition is performed under a higher Ar gas pressure than is used in the general titanium thin film production method. Black titanium thin film is deposited on stainless steel wire and Cu thin plate at a pressure of about 12 Pa, but lustrous thin film is deposited at lower pressure. The black titanium thin film has a larger apparent thickness than that of the glossy thin film. As a result of scanning electron microscope observation, it is seen that the black thin film has an extremely porous structure and consists of a separated column with periodic step differences on the sides. In this configuration, due to the shadowing effect, the nuclei formed on the substrate periodically grow to form a step. The surface area of the black thin film on the Cu thin plate changes with the bias potential. It has been found that the bias of the small negative is effective in increasing the surface area of the black titanium thin film. These results suggest that porous titanium-oxide thin film can be fabricated by applying the appropriate oxidation process to black titanium thin film composed of separated columns.

In order to analyze the effect of hot asymmetric rolling on the microstructure and texture of aluminum alloy and to investigate the effect of the texture on the formability and plastic anisotropy of aluminum alloy, aluminum 6061 alloy is asymmetrically rolled at room temperature, 200 ℃, 350 ℃, and 500 ℃, and the results are compared with symmetrically rolled results. In the case of asymmetric rolling, the equivalent strain (εeq) is greatest in the upper roll part where the rotational speed of the roll is high and increases with increasing rolling temperature. The increase rate of the mean misorientation angle with increasing temperature is larger than that during symmetrical rolling, and dynamic recrystallization occurs the most when asymmetrical rolling is performed at 500 ℃. In the case of hot symmetric rolling, the {001}<110> rotated cube orientation mainly develops, but in the case of hot asymmetric rolling, the {111}<110> orientation develops along with the {001}<100> cube orientation. The hot asymmetric rolling improves the formability (r) of the aluminum 6061 alloy to 0.9 and reduces the plastic anisotropy (Δr) to near zero due to the {111}<110> shear orientation that develops by asymmetric rolling.

In this study, the formation, microstructure, and wear properties of Colmonoy 88 (Ni-17W-15Cr-3B-4Si wt.%) + Stellite 1 (Co-32Cr-17W wt.%) coating layers fabricated by high-velocity oxygen fuel (HVOF) spraying are investigated. Colmonoy 88 and Stellite 1 powders were mixed at a ratio of 1:0 and 5:5 vol.%. HVOF sprayed selffluxing composite coating layers were fabricated using the mixed powder feedstocks. The microstructures and wear properties of the composite coating layers are controlled via a high-frequency heat treatment. The two coating layers are composed of γ-Ni, Ni3B, W2B, and Cr23C6 phases. Co peaks are detected after the addition of Stellite 1 powder. Moreover, the WCrB2 hard phase is detected in all coating layers after the high-frequency heat treatment. Porosities were changed from 0.44% (Colmonoy 88) to 3.89% (Colmonoy 88 + ST#1) as the content of Stellite 1 powder increased. And porosity is denoted as 0.3% or less by inducing high-frequency heat treatment. The wear results confirm that the wear property significantly improves after the high-frequency heat treatment, because of the presence of wellcontrolled defects in the coating layers. The wear surfaces of the coated layers are observed and a wear mechanism for the Ni-based self-fluxing composite coating layers is proposed.

The hydrogen reduction behavior of the CuO-Co3O4 powder mixture for the synthesis of the homogeneous Cu-15at%Co composite powder has been investigated. The composite powder is prepared by ball milling the oxide powders, followed by a hydrogen reduction process. The reduction behavior of the ball-milled powder mixture is analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and temperature-programmed reduction at different heating rates in an Ar-10%H2 atmosphere. The scanning electron microscopy and XRD results reveal that the hydrogen-reduced powder mixture is composed of fine agglomerates of nanosized Cu and Co particles. The hydrogen reduction kinetics is studied by determining the degree of peak shift as a function of the heating rate. The activation energies for the reduction of the oxide powders estimated from the slopes of the Kissinger plots are 58.1 kJ/mol and 65.8 kJ/mol, depending on the reduction reaction: CuO to Cu and Co3O4 to Co, respectively. The measured temperature and activation energy for the reduction of Co3O4 are explained on the basis of the effect of pre-reduced Cu particles.

In this study, the effect of carbon equivalent and cooling rate on microstructure and hardness of A516 steels for pressure vessel is investigated. Six kinds of specimens are fabricated by varying carbon equivalent and cooling rate, and their microstructures and hardness levels are analyzed. Specimens with low carbon equivalent consist of ferrite and pearlite. As the cooling rate increases, the size of pearlite decreases slightly. The specimens with high carbon equivalent and rapid cooling rates of 10 and 20 oC/s consist of not only ferrite and pearlite but also bainite structure, such as granular bainite, acicular ferrite, and bainite ferrite. As the cooling rate increases, the volume fractions of bainite structure increase and the effective grain size decreases. The effective grain sizes of granular bainite, acicular ferrite, and bainitic ferrite are ~20, ~5, and ~10 μm, respectively. In the specimens with bainite structure, the volume fractions of acicular ferrite and bainitic ferrite, with small effective grains, increase as cooling rate increases, and so the hardness increases significantly.

In this study, the correlation between microstructure and Charpy impact properties of FCAW(Flux cored arc welding) HAZ(Heat affected zone) of thick steel plates for offshore platforms was investigated. The 1/4 thickness(1/4t) location HAZ specimen had a higher volume fraction of bainite and finer grain size of acicular ferrite than those of the 1/2 thickness (1/2t) location HAZ specimen because of the post heat effect during the continuous FCAW process. The Charpy impact energy at -20 oC of the 1/4t location HAZ specimen was lower than that of the 1/2t location HAZ specimen because of the high volume fraction of coarse bainite. The Charpy impact energy at -40 and -60 oC of the 1/2t location HAZ specimen were higher than those of the 1/2t location HAZ specimen because the ductile fracture occurred in the fine acicular ferrite and martensite regions. In the ductile fracture mode, the deformed regions were observed in fine acicular ferrite and martensite regions. In the brittle fracture mode, long crack propagation path was observed in bainite regions.

TiO2-particles containing Co grains are fabricated via thermal hydrogenation and selective oxidation of Ti- Co alloy. For comparison, TiO2-Co composite powders are prepared by two kinds of methods which were the mechanical carbonization and oxidation process, and the conventional mixing process. The microstructural characteristics of the prepared composites are analyzed by X-ray diffraction, field-emission scattering electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. In addition, the composite powders are sintered at 800℃ by spark plasma sintering. The flexural strength and fracture toughness of the sintered samples prepared by thermal hydrogenation and mechanical carbonization are found to be higher than those of the samples prepared by the conventional mixing process. Moreover, the microstructures of sintered samples prepared by thermal hydrogenation and mechanical carbonization processes are found to be similar. The difference in the mechanical properties of sintered samples prepared by thermal hydrogenation and mechanical carbonization processes is attributed to the different sizes of metallic Co particles in the samples.

A cold roll-bonding process is applied to fabricate an AA6061/AA5052/AA6061 three-layer clad sheet. Two AA6061 and one AA5052 sheets of 2 mm thickness, 40 mm width, and 300 mm length are stacked, with the AA5052 sheet located in the center. After surface treatment such as degreasing and wire brushing, sample is reduced to a thickness of 1.5 mm by multi-pass cold rolling. The rolling is performed at ambient temperature without lubricant using a 2-high mill with a roll diameter of 400 mm at rolling speed of 6.0 m/sec. The roll bonded AA6061/AA5052/AA6061 complex sheet is then hardened by natural aging(T4) and artificial aging(T6) treatments. The microstructures of the as-roll bonded and age-hardened Al complex sheets are revealed by optical microscopy; the mechanical properties are investigated by tensile testing and hardness testing. After rolling, the roll-bonded AA6061/AA5052/AA6061 sheets show a typical deformation structure in which grains are elongated in the rolling direction. However, after T4 and T6 aging treatment, there is a recrystallization structure consisting of coarse equiaxed grains in both AA5052 and AA6061 sheets. The as roll-bonded specimen shows a sandwich structure in which an AA5052 sheet is inserted into two AA6061 sheets with higher hardness. However, after T4 and T6 aging treatment, there is a different sandwich structure in which the hardness of the upper and lower layers of the AA6061 sheets is higher than that of the center of the AA5052 sheet. The strength values of the T4 and T6 age-treated specimens are found to increase by 1.3 and 1.4 times, respectively, compared to that value of the starting material.

This study deals with the microstructure and tensile properties of 600 MPa-grade seismic reinforced steel bars fabricated by a pilot plant. The steel bar specimens are composed of a fully ferrite-pearlite structure because they were air-cooled after hot-rolling. The volume fraction and interlamellar spacing of the pearlite and the ferrite grain size decrease from the center region to the surface region because the surface region is more rapidly cooled than the center region. The A steel bar specimenwith a relatively high carbon content generally has a higher pearlite volume fraction and interlamellar spacing of pearlite and a finer ferrite grain size because increasing the carbon content promotes the formation of pearlite. As a result, the A steel bar specimen has a higher hardness than the B steel bar in all the regions. The hardness shows a tendency to decrease from the center region to the surface region due to the decreased pearlite volume fraction. On the other hand, the tensile-to-yield strength ratio and the tensile strength of the A steel bar specimen are higher than those of the B steel bar with a relatively low carbon content because a higher pearlite volume fraction enhances work hardening. In addition, the B steel bar specimen has higher uniform and total elongations because a lower pearlite volume fraction facilitates plastic deformation caused by dislocation slip.