Hyung Ho Jo

A Study on the Development of Environment-Friendly Ag-SnO2 Electric Contact Materials through a Powder Metallurgy

It is generally known that Ag-CdO electric contact material excels others in characteristics. Thus, the contact material has been widely used, regardless of current strength. However, in a view point of environment, the advanced electric contact material without environmental load element such as cadmium has to be developed. Extensive studies have been carried out on Ag-SnO2 electric contact material as a substitute of Ag-CdO contact materials. In the manufacturing process of Ag-SnO2 electric contact material, it can be mentioned that typical internal oxidation process is not suitable to produce Ag-SnO2 electric contact material because the Sn located around surface may interrupt oxidation of Sn in the middle of material. Therefore, in the present study, powder metallurgy including compaction and sintering is introduced to solve the incomplete oxidation problems in manufacturing process of Ag-SnO2 electrical contact material. The formation of the blends was manufactured by wet blending of powders of Ag and SnO2. The quantity of SnO2 powder was 15wt.%, with intent to optimize the powdering process for the minute powder of which diameter is less than 5μ m. Particle size and grain distribution of Ag powder and SnO2 powder by powder metallurgy were measured by image analyzer. In order to estimate the properties of specimen tested with a variation of mixed time, the micro-hardness measurement was carried out. The Ag-SnO2-based contact material, which was produced through this study, was actually set in an electric switchgear of which working voltage is 462V and current is between 25 and 40A, for the purpose of testing its performance. As the result, it excelled the existing Ag-CdO-based contact materials in terminal-temperature ascent and main contact resistance.

Microstructural Control of 7075 Al Wrought Alloys through Thixoextrusion Route

Thixoextrusion, one of the thixoforming processes, has advantages of high productivity, reduction of the extrusion pressure, extension of the die life, and cost saving owing to its low energy consumption compared with the conventional extrusion processes. Especially, thixoextrusion process is expected to be very effective for hard-to-form materials with high strength. The present study focuses on 7075 Al wrought alloy to investigate the potential industrial applications of the thixoextrusion process. The microstructural evolution of 7075 Al wrought alloy for thixoextrusion was investigated with respect to isothermal holding temperature and time in the partially remelted semisolid state. The results showed that the liquid fraction increased with increasing isothermal holding temperature and time while the average grain size was inversely proportional to isothermal holding temperature and time up to 5min. However, there was no big change of liquid fraction and average grain size with respect to isothermal holding temperature and time. The important fact that the liquid fraction and average grain size were almost uniform after 5 min holding time is considered very useful for thixoextrusion in terms of process control.

An Empirical Method to Evaluate the In-Flight Particle Behaviors within a Cross Section of Mass Flux during Atmospheric Plasma Spraying

In order to enhance understandings of the coating formation in the plasma spraying, an empirical method known as the spot spraying bead formation, was designed. This study is focused on the applicability of the proposed empirical method to explain the microstructural inhomogeneity during the process. Based on the in-flight particle diagnostics using DPV-2000, two different plasma gas compositions were chosen to evaluate the plasma gas effect on the microstructural evolution of Al2O3-TiO2 composite feedstock. A blended NiCr-Cr2O3-Ag-Ca/BaF2 feedstock was sprayed in order to examine the effects of particle parameters on the particle trajectory and the coating microstructures. Through the empirical approach, impacting particle properties and particle trajectory depending on process parameters could be directly shown and coating microstructures could be deduced from the characteristics of the spot spraying bead.

Development of Thixoextrusion Process for 7000 Series Al Wrought Alloys

Thixoextrusion for 7003 and 7075 Al wrought alloys with different content of Cu was carried out with respect to isothermal holding temperature in the partially remelted semisolid state. Especially, despite higher extrudability index of 7075 Al wrought alloy compared with the extrudability index of 7003 Al wrought alloy, the maximum extrusion pressures of 7075 Al wrought alloy were about the same as the maximum extrusion pressures of 7003 Al wrought alloy at temperature with the liquid fraction 10% (7003-624, 7075-609). The hardness values of thixoextruded specimens were higher than that of as-quenched specimens only after partial remelting. The microstructures of thixoextruded specimens did not show any dendrites or rosette-like structures. The average grain sizes of thixoextruded specimens were smaller than average grain sizes of homogenized specimens.

Effect of Partial Remelting Procedure on the Microstructural Evolution of 7075 Al Wrought Alloy for Thixoextrusion

The feasibility study for thixoextrusion of 7075 Al wrought alloys was carried out with respect to reheating profile, isothermal holding temperature and time during the partial remelting through simple partial remelting. The reheating rates were 40/min and 60/min. The isothermal holding temperatures were controlled at 609, 622, 628 and 632 for 0, 2, 5, 10 and 30 min. The interesting point of this study was that the thixotropic structures of 7075 Al wrought alloy without additional pretreatment could be obtained through simple partial remelting. The average grain size was significantly smaller in the quickly heated specimen. The liquid fraction was increased with increasing isothermal holding temperature and time while the average grain size was inversely proportional to isothermal holding temperature and time. However, there was no big change of liquid fraction and average grain size with respect to isothermal holding time. The important fact that the liquid fraction and average grain size were almost uniform after 5 min is considered very useful for thixoextrusion in terms of actual extrusion time.

Development of In-Ladle Direct Thermal Control (DTC) Rheocasting Process

In recent year, various rheocasting methods, other than stirring in the semisolid state, have been developed to produce a fine globular primary phase in cast alloys. These new methods, called as slurry-on-demand, involve the controlled nucleation and growth/ripening of primary phase during partial solidification. In-Ladle direct thermal control (DTC) rheocasting has been competitively and successfully developed. It requires no processing equipment outside of the casting machine, no grain refinement procedure and no additional cycling time except for cooling down to the desired casting temperature. Process concept of In-Ladle DTC rheocasting is simply based on the fact that there is slurry and mush transition in the range of liquid fraction of 0.1 to 0.6 and the fact that the transition could be controlled by controlling the shape of solid and the relative energy. This study is mainly concerned about the feasibility to achieve semisolid slurry during partial solidification only through thermal and time control, this is, by In-Ladle DTC rheocasting. Based on the optimum conditions obtained by thermal modeling, microstructural evolution of Al alloys was carried out by In-Ladle DTC rheocasting. The fluidity was also investigated by In-Ladle DTC rheocasting for Al alloys.

Development of a Magnesium Alloy Rotor with a Pin-Point Gate Mold

The rotor is a key determinant of the performance of a compressor and many attempts have been made to improve the efficiency of compressors by optimising rotor design. Rotors are usually made of several layers of steel sheets with thin cavities through the steel sheets, and aluminium alloys are used to fill the cavities by high pressure die casting process, and so bind the steel sheets together. Because of their high fluidity and good damping ability, magnesium alloys can be a good alternative for a high efficiency rotor. In this study, magnesium alloys were used for manufacturing rotors by high pressure die casting process using pin-point gate mold. By adopting a pin-point gate system, additional machining was eliminated and casting defects were reduced due to good castability of magnesium alloys.

Development of A3003 alloy tube for eco-friendly refrigerant application

The influence of extrusion temperature and Ti content was investigated by observing the microstructure and determining the mechanical strength of A3003 alloy tube. The A3003 alloy was modified by inoculation in terms of addition of Ti and then extruded at the various extrusion temperatures. In case of A3003 alloy tube without addition of Ti, the yield strength was slightly improved with decreasing extrusion temperature. On the other hand, the yield strength was improved markedly in A3003 alloy tube with small addition of Ti, and also ductility was slightly reduced. Grain size distribution from observing the microstructure was different with addition of Ti. Coarse grains were formed on the outer and inner parts of the alloy tube without addition of Ti, whereas the finer grains were uniformly distributed in the alloy tube with addition of Ti. Thus the microstructure and mechanical strength of A3003 alloy tube could be controlled by addition of Ti. Threefore, optimum Ti content and extrusion temperature to fabricate high yield strength and ductility A3003 alloy tube (σy=60 MPa, ε=30%) for eco-friendly refrigerant application are above 0.05wt.Ti and below 480 °C, respectively. Introduction

Anisotropy Control of Cold Rolled Cu-Ag Alloys

The anisotropy in mechanical strength and electrical conductivity in Cu-Ag alloy during cold rolling were investigated. The anisotropy in tensile strength and electrical conductivity was significant with increasing Ag content in Cu-Ag alloy. The cold rolled Cu-Ag alloys with higher Ag content have filamentary structure, which is composed of elongated eutectic phase and Cu matrix. In addition, the eutectic phase in Cu-Ag alloys with higher Ag content has a strong α-fiber texture. It can be mentioned that the eutectic phase in filamentary structure is promotes the anisotropy of electrical conductivity of Cu-Ag alloys. This strong a-fiber texture of eutectic phase was decreased by annealing process (300 OC for 1h), and the anisotropy in strength and conductivity was decreased.

Influence of Reheating Profile on Microstructural Evolution of 2024 Al Wrought Alloy for Thixoextrusion

Thixoextrusion, one of the thixoforming processes, has advantages of high productivity, reduction of the extrusion pressure and cost saving because of the low energy consumption compared with the conventional extrusion processes. For the thixoextrusion, the low liquid fraction (fL<0.3) should be achieved and also the liquid fraction and average grain size should be uniform according to the reheating profile at the desired low liquid fraction. The main emphasis of this study is to investigate the feasibility of thixoextrusion for 2024 Al wrought alloy without additional pretreatment. The results show that the liquid fraction and average grain size were almost uniform with respect to isothermal holding temperature and time. It was very useful for thixoextrusion in terms of process control such as billet temperature control and actual extrusion time.