Papers by Author: Joon Hyun Lee

Abstract: High strength materials have been used for critical components in order to ensure the reliability of aircraft gas turbine engine. But it usually costs high to maintain their premium quality. Therefore, the optimum quality level of materials should be defined under operating condition by material property estimation technique in order to meet the requirement of reliability and economical efficiency. Most cast rotating parts of gas turbine engine have casting defects caused during the casting process. The casting defects less than certain acceptable limit can be permissible for usage. So, it is very important to understand material defect shape and distribution, and its effect on mechanical properties exactly. In this study, 17-4PH stainless steel specimens with variable internal casting defects were prepared to investigate the fatigue property characteristics. The defect fraction and condition were estimated in microstructure by statistical analysis. The correlation between estimated defect condition and fatigue property was discussed.

Abstract: For improving quality of a carbon fiber reinforced composite material (CFRP) by preventing defects such as delamination and void, it should be inspected in fabrication process. Novel non-contacting evaluation technique is required because the transducer should be contacted on the CFRP in conventional ultrasonic technique during the non-destructive evaluation and these conventional contact techniques can not be applied in a novel fiber placement system. For the non-destructive evaluation of delamination in CFRP, various methods for the generation and reception of laser-generated ultrasound are applied using piezoelectric transducer, air-coupled transducer, wavelet transform technique etc. The high frequency component of laser-generated guided wave received with piezoelectric sensor disappeared after propagating through delamination region. Air-coupled transducer was tried to be adopted in reception of laser-generated guided wave generated by using linear slit array in order to generate high frequency guided wave with a frequency of 1.1 MHz. Nevertheless, it was failed to receive high frequency guided wave in using air-coupled transducer and linear slit array. Transmitted laser-generated ultrasonic wave was received on back-wall and its frequency was analyzed to establish inspecting technique to detect delamination by non-contact ultrasonic method. In a frequency spectrum analysis, intensity ratio of low frequency and center frequency was approvable parameter to detect delamination.

Abstract: The mechanical property of sintered MoSi2 materials has been investigated, based on the detailed examination of their microstructures. The nondestructive technique by an ultrasonic wave was also used for evaluating the damage behaviors of MoSi2 materials suffered from the cyclic thermal shock. MoSi2 materials were sintered at the temperature of 1723 K. The flexural strength of MoSi2 materials gradually decreased with increasing the thermal shock cycle, accompanying the extensive creation of surface cracks. The increase of thermal shock cycles resulted in a great decrease of ultrasonic wave velocity and a linear increase of attenuation coefficient for MoSi2 materials.

Abstract: The fracture behavior of Nicalon fiber reinforced calcium aluminosilicate (CAS) glass-ceramic matrix composites (Nicalon/CAS) was investigated with the aid of a nondestructive evaluation (NDE) technique. Infrared (IR) thermography was employed for unidirectional Nicalon/CAS composite specimens. During tensile testing, an IR camera was used for in-situ monitoring of progressive damages of Nicalon/CAS samples. The IR camera provided the temperature changes during tensile testing. Microstructural characterization using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was performed to investigate the fracture mechanisms of Nicalon/CAS composites. In this investigation, the thermographic NDE technique was used to facilitate a better understanding of the fracture mechanisms of the Nicalon/CAS composites during tensile testing.

Abstract: This study presents a feasibility of using guided waves for a long-range inspection of pipe through investigation of mode conversion and scattering pattern from edge and wall-thinning in a steel pipe. Phase and group velocity dispersion curves for reference modes of pipes are illustrated for theoretical analyses. Predicted modes could be successfully generated by controlling frequency, receiver angle and wavelength. The dispersive characteristics of the modes from and edge wall-thinning are compared and analyzed respectively. The mode conversion characteristics are distinct depending on dispersive pattern of modes. Experimental feasibility study on the guided waves was carried out to explore wall thinning part in pipe for data calibration of a long range pipe monitoring by comb transducer and laser.

Abstract: Pipelines of nuclear power plants undergo high pressure and temperature. Thermal stratification typically occurs in the surge line and the main feed water lines by flow and this stratification will initiate and propagate thermal fatigue cracks. This may cause rupture and leakage and it is a serious problem to nuclear power plants operation. Therefore it is very important to detect and measure thermal fatigue cracks. In this study, thermal fatigue cracks were generated in austenitic stainless steel specimens by a thermal cycle in notched pipes and weld jointed pipes. Ultrasonic techniques were used to evaluate the thermal fatigue crack depth. When ultrasonic waves propagate from an angle beam probe to thermal fatigue cracks, waves are reflected and diffracted. Crack depth was evaluated by the reflected signals from back wall and diffracted signals from the crack tip, but diffracted signals were too weak to detect so the reflected signals were more useful. The TOFD and dB drop methods were used in this study. The TOFD method is uses a time delay of diffracted signal from the crack tip. The dB drop method is an application of an amplitude decreasing rate by a probe moving distance.

Abstract: In carbon steel pipes of nuclear power plants, local wall thinning may result from erosion-corrosion or flow-accelerated corrosion(FAC) damage. Local wall thinning is one of the major causes for the structural fracture of these pipes. Therefore, assessment of local wall thinning due to corrosion is an important issue in nondestructive evaluation for the integrity of nuclear power plants. In this study, laser-generated ultrasound technique was employed to evaluate local wall thinning due to corrosion. Guided waves were generated in the thermoelastic regime using a Q-switched pulsed Nd:YAG laser with a linear slit array. . In this paper, time-frequency analysis of ultrasonic waveforms using wavelet transform allowed the identification of generated guided wave modes by comparison with the theoretical dispersion curves. Modes conversion and group velocity were employed to detect thickness reduction.

Abstract: Damages in nuclear facilities during the operation of the Reactor Coolant System (RCS) are caused by cyclic loadings due to mechanical or thermal fatigue. Therefore, the development of an integrated technology including fabrication of standard specimens and their practical usage is needed to enhance the reliability of nondestructive testing for surge lines or main feed water lines. In this study, thermal fatigue cracks on STS 304 plates (t = 6mm) and tubes (O.D = 89.7mm. t = 7.7mm) for performance demonstration inspection were fabricated for the Reactor Coolant System (RCS) in nuclear power plants. In case of plates, cyclic thermal changes, from 20
to 450
, were loaded on the V-notched specimens under tensile stressed conditions. The applied tensile stress was 1,700MPa at the notch portion. In the case of tubes, cyclic thermal changes, from 35
to 355
, were applied on the V-notched specimens under compressive stressed conditions. In the case of plates, the initial crack was generated at 17,000 cycles and the depth of crack was 2.54mm at 22,000 cycles. Unlike the plates, in the case of tubes, the initial crack formed at 14,000 cycles and the crack penetrated the tube at 25,000 cycles. In this paper, shapes and fractographies of fabricated thermal fatigue cracks, and the used cyclic thermal loads are presented.

Abstract: A modified one-sided measurement technique is proposed for Rayleigh wave (R-wave) velocity measurement in concrete. In this study, the maximum energy arrival concept is adopted to determine the wave velocity by employing its continuous wavelet transform. Experimental study was performed to show the effectiveness of the proposed method. Results reveal that the proposed method can be effectively used to measure the R-wave velocity in concrete structures.

Abstract: Tensile residual stress happen by difference of coefficients of thermal expansion between fiber and matrix is one of the serious problems in metal matrix composite (MMC). TiNi alloy fiber was used to solve the problem of the tensile residual stress as the reinforced material. TiNi alloy fiber improves the tensile strength of composite by occurring compressive residual stress using shape memory effect in the matrix. A hot press method was used to create the optimal condition for the fabrication of shape memory alloy (SMA) composite. The bonding effect between the matrix and the reinforcement within the SMA composite was strengthened by the cold rolling. The fabricated composite by these processes can be applied as a part of the aircraft, and this part is operated under severe flying condition such as low temperature and high pressure. In this study, an acoustic emission technique was used to quantify the microscopic damage behavior of cold rolled TiNi/Al6061 SMA composite at low temperature condition. The results showed that the tensile strength of the TiNi/Al6061 SMA composite increased with the TiNi reinforcement at low temperature condition, but the strength for the specimen subjected to the cold rolling decreased. AE parameters of AE counts, amplitude and energy were useful to evaluate the microscopic damage behavior of the composite.