Papers by Author: Hoon Cho

Abstract: The development trend for diagnostics is reducing the diameter of coaxial signal cables that comprise the probe cable. The thinner super-fine coaxial cable which is offering superior electronic and mechanical properties, such as 75 %IACS(International Annealed Copper Standard, electrical conductivity) and 700 ~ 800 MPa in tensile strength has to be developed. Cu-Ag based system is one of the most promising systems for high strength and high conductivity Cu alloys. In order to find the optimum conditions to obtain Cu-Ag-Zr-Co alloy with high strength and high electrical conductivity, the aging characteristics including work hardening of micro-Vickers hardness, tensile strength and electrical conductivity of this alloy were systematically measured at room temperature. Also the influence of aging treatment was investigated by transmission electron microscopy(TEM) and scanning electron microscopy(SEM) in this study. The aging treatment for precipitation was divided into two steps and carried out at various time and at different temperature and the multi-step aging treatment coupled with cold rolling was proposed for realizing Cu-Ag-Zr-Co alloys with high strength and high electrical conductivity. The electrical conductivity was improved from 31 %IACS to 91 %IACS remarkably and the tensile strength was increased from 230Mpa to 690Mpa greatly by an optimization of alloy composition and manufacturing process including aging.

Abstract: Cu-2wt.Ag-2wt.%Zr alloy was directionally solidified with different growth rates(V=10-200 um/s) at a constant temperature gradient(G=3.1 K/mm) in a modified Bridgman furnace. The influence of growth rate was investigated by observing the microstructure and measuring the solutes’ compositions within the Cu-matrix and dendrite boundaries. The experimental results show that increasing the growth rate, decreased both the primary and secondary arm spacing and increased micro-Vickers hardness. The solutes’ concentration also increased as a result of the back diffusion caused by a decreasing growth rate. The electrical conductivity depends on the solutes’ distribution.

Abstract: Eco-friendly grain refinement of A3003 alloy was studied by addition of non-toxic Al-Ti alloy because of toxic-fluorine in Al-Ti-B alloys which used as a representative grain refiner for aluminum and its alloys. TiAl3 phase in Al-Ti alloy bring to decrease grain size of A3003 alloy. But, grain growth occurred with prolonged holding time due to the solution of Ti into aluminum matrix. In contrast, lasting grain refinement of A3003 alloy was occurred in graphite crucible. It can be mentioned that carbon comes from graphite crucible was combined with Ti solute in aluminum melt and then TiC acts as a heterogeneous nucleation for A3003 alloy.

Abstract: Energy requirement and yield for production of aluminum wirerods manufactured by continuous casting process were investigated to enhance yield of aluminum wiredrods. Also, it was compared with conventional process including extrusion process. The enhancement of yield more than 30% could be accomplished through the continuous casting process. The conventional process including extrusion process for production of wirerods consumes more energy compared to continuous casting. In addition, a number of intermediate annealing may be introduced during wiredrawing process of wirerods manufactured by conventional process including extrusion process. It can be mentioned that continuous casting process is suitable process for wiredrawing process because it can save energy requirement not only during manufacturing process of wirerods but also during following wiredrawing process.

Abstract: 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

Abstract: The influence of annealing atmosphere on mechanical and wear properties of free-cutting phosphor bronze alloy was investigated. After annealing in vacuum, the mechanical properties of the alloy decreases due to vaporization of alloying element. In addition, the softening of matrix induces decreasing the wear resistance dramatically. In contrast, high mechanical properties were observed in the alloy annealed in air and in nitrogen atmosphere. In particular, a large smearing of lead in the alloy annealed in air atmosphere was observed and was affected on the enhancement of wear resistance. Consequently, annealing in vacuum atmosphere is not suitable for high mechanical properties and wear resistance.

Abstract: The microstructures and mechanical properties of unidirectional deformation structured Al alloy during ECAP with various deformation routes were investigated. In order to fabricate unidirectional deformation structure for Al alloy, hot extrusion was carried out. It was found that the deformation route A in ECAP routes is the dominant route for the grain refinement and strengthening. In deformation route A, the high strength ultra-fine grained Al alloy with a grain size of ~ 200 nm was obtained due to the accumulation of consecutive strain process. In contrast, the strength of ECAP’ed Al alloy produced via deformation route C was greatly increased after one pass because the grains were strained and cancelled each pass. By contrast, the equiaxed grains were obtained in deformation route BC because the sample was rotated 90 O in the same sense in each pass. The deformation route BC was superior to the deformation route C because the deformation route BC was more favorable than the deformation route C in the accumulation of consecutive strain. It is also found that unidirectional deformation structured Al alloy via hot extrusion shows similar grain refinement tendency with equiaxed structured Al alloy during ECAP processing.

Abstract: The strength of aluminum alloys was improved by a severe deformation process while the decrease of elongation leads to the defect. Modification of A3003 alloy was attempted in order to develop a high strength and high formability Al alloy tube for the application of air-conditioning systems in transportation, such as passenger planes and automobiles. An A3003 alloy was modified by Ti addition, grain refiner. As a result of modification, the modified A3003 alloy was able to suitably satisfy the mechanical strength requirements, including elongation. Grain size and secondary dendrite arm spacing of A3003 alloy decreased by as much as 50 % by Ti addition. The finer grains were uniformly distributed in the modified A3003 alloy billet. The yield strength of the modified A3003 alloy was improved by 30 % without decreasing elongation.

Abstract: The proper control of total impurities and oxygen contents of oxygen-free high conductivity (OFHC) copper prepared by vacuum high-frequency melting technique was studied using Mahalanobis-Distance (MD) outlier detection method as functions of raw material purities, vacuum pressure, melting temperature and holding time. The properties of vacuum-melted OFHC copper was examined by thermo-gravimetric analysis, differential scanning calorimetry, hardness test, macro and optical microstructure analyses and ultimate tensile test. In multivariate systems, the existence of outlier makes it difficult to analyze the system and oultier detection belongs to the most important tasks in experimental data analysis. Mahalanobis Distance is most commonly used as a diagnosis of existance of outlier in multivariate system. The relationship between experiment conditions and total impurities and oxygen contents can be defined with the regression analysis results. At this research, our desirable manufacturing conditions is to obtain the total impurities under 40 ppm and oxygen contents under 5 ppm. After this statistical approach, the suggested minimum maufacturing conditions are the purity of raw material was 4N, vacuum pressure was 10-1 torr, melting temperature was 1150°C and melt holding time was 20 minutes.

Abstract: Free-cutting phosphor bronze alloy (ASTM C54400) was used as a material for automotive parts and industrial valve parts for its high strength, machinability and excellent corrosion resistance. To obtain desired mechanical strength of the alloy, the process parameters including continuous casting speed, reduction in area and annealing temperature have to be controlled. In this study, we investigated the effect of annealing on the mechanical property and machinability of free-cutting phosphor bronze alloy fabricated by continuous casting with different casting speeds of 80, 100, and 120 m/min, respectively. After annealing, the tensile strength of the alloy decreased with increasing annealing time owing to the occurrence of recrystallization and grain growth. In the cast and swaged alloy produced at casting speed of 120 m/min, the grain growth occurred rapidly. In contrast, in the alloy produced at the casting speed of 80 m/min, the grains growth rate was low. Furthermore, the effect of Pb particle in the alloy on machinability was also investigated by using a tool dynamometer installed force sensor.