Hydrogen, the cleanest future fuel, can replace fossil fuel based on carbon. During the past decades, many methods for hydrogen production and storage have been studied for practical use. In particular, storage and transport of hydrogen has recently become a focus of intensive research for large-scale application of hydrogen energy systems.

One of the major challenges in the quest for feasible hydrogen-fueled vehicles is to develop lightweight materials with high hydrogen densities (>5wt %) which can absorb and release hydrogen in the range of 1-10 bar and 298-473 K.

Recently, perovskite materials have emerged as a multifunctional material for photovoltaics, luminescence, photocatalytics and hydrogen storage applications.

Ri Sol Hyang, a lecturer at the Faculty of Online Education, theoretically investigated the materials properties such as structural, electronic and lattice dynamics properties and mechanical and dynamical stabilities of the hydride perovskites ACaH₃ (A = Li, Na) in cubic phase for its application as a hydrogen storage material by using the first-principles calculations.

The results show that cubic LiCaH₃ is regarded as a potential H₂ storage material due to its high H₂ storage capacity, stability and suitable dehydrogenation temperature.

For more information, please refer to her paper “Perovskite-type hydrides ACaH₃ (A = Li, Na): computational investigation on materials properties for hydrogen storage applications” in “RSC Advances” (SCOPUS).

Aluminium is widely used as a core material in the production of various kinds of cables, and the problem of improving its structure and properties is widely discussed.

In order to use aluminum wires, it is important to improve their mechanical properties. Therefore, pure aluminum is not used as a core, but increasing the properties of the core by alloying, complexing, coating, and adding trace elements has become a worldwide trend.

Currently, there is a growing worldwide interest in the preparation of composites with enhanced carbon nanotubes with excellent mechanical, thermal and electrical properties, and a number of researchers have achieved some successes.

According to previous reports, carbon nanotube reinforced aluminum matrix composites have been prepared by powder metallurgy, in situ synthesis, deposition, etc., and these techniques have the disadvantage of complex manufacturing processes and low productivity.

Jon Song Won, a researcher at the Faculty of Material Science and Technology, prepared CNT-Al composite wires by a novel method of direct addition of carbon nanotubes to aluminum molten steel, rather than conventional powder metallurgy and in situ synthesis. Then, he investigated the effects of carbon nanotubes on the microstructure and mechanical properties of CNT-Al composites and the dispersion properties of carbon nanotubes.

The results show that increase in the CNT content improves the mechanical properties of the composite and decreases the particle size of the composite, and that the carbon nanotubes were co-injected with inert gas (N₂) to achieve the best performance with a strength limit of 250MPa, elongation of 4.2% and bending number of 6 times.

For more information, please refer to his paper “Effect of Carbon Nanotubes on Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Carbon Nanotube Reinforced Aluminum Composites” in “Russian Journal of Non-Ferrous Metals” (SCI).

Enamel is widely used in various industrial fields because it has excellent properties such as beautiful color, gloss, excellent corrosion resistance, wear resistance and fire resistance, high temperature stability, etc. Enamel is a composite material consisting of glass coating that is melted and chemically bonded on a metal or its alloy. The physicochemical and mechanical properties of enamel coatings including corrosion resistance and wear resistance are mostly determined by enamel material called frit. The most widely used enamel frit is a glass material composed of inorganic materials that are added to the borosilicate-based glass material to provide physical properties such as acid resistance, alkali resistance, heat resistance and wear resistance.

The final physicochemical and mechanical properties of material are controlled by the crystallization process occurring during the calcination process. Therefore, it is important to know crystallization kinetics well in order to optimize the parameters affecting the properties.

The crystallization kinetics of different silicate-based glasses has been studied much in several methods. However, few investigations have been done on the crystallization kinetics of sodium borosilicate-based glass.

Kim Kwang Myong, a researcher at the Institute of Nano Science and Technology, investigated the non-isothermal crystallization behavior of sodium borosilicate-based glass materials used as a bottom material of low carbon steel enamel by DSC method.

In order to study the crystallization process of Na₂O-B₂O₃-SiO₂ based materials, he prepared sodium borosilicate-based glass materials used as ground coating material of steel enamel by melting and quenching.

He analyzed the experimental data by the methods proposed by preceding researchers to provide theoretical support for the preparation of good-quality sodium borosilicate-based glasses and to design a practical procedure.

You can find the details in his paper “Non-isothermal crystallization kinetics of sodium borosilicate-based glass” in “Reaction Kinetics, Mechanism and Catalyst” (SCI).