• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.25 no.11
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• pp.617-623
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• 2013

This study is to draw thermal property data during long-term aging, by testing the thermal conductivity of building insulation materials in Korea. The thermal resistance of extruded insulation within 3 days from manufacture performed well over the KS Standard. After 50 to 110 days, however, the thermal performance had deteriorated to the level of the KS standard. Eventually, after 4,000 days, the insulation performance had deteriorated to about 25.4~41.8% of the initial performance. Therefore, this research will be utilized as a reference for thermal properties during long-term aging, in order to improve standards and regulations related to building insulation materials.

• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.11-23
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• 2020

The application of the high-performance insulation materials for buildings seems to be an essential measure for reducing energy use in buildings. Phenolic foam is a readily available insulation material with thermal conductivity of about 0.018 to 0.020 W/(mK). It has the advantage of higher thermal resistance and better fire resistance compared to other conventional building insulation materials. Insulation material used for building envelope is regarded as one of the decisive factors for building's energy load. Furthermore, the degradation of its thermal performance over time increasingly affects the building's energy use demand. Generally, the life span of conventionally built buildings is expected to be more than 50 years, so the long-term performance of insulation materials is critical. This paper aims to evaluate the long-term performance of phenolic form boards through an accelerated aging test. The tests were conducted according to BS EN 13166 and KS M ISO 11561. Based on the results of the accelerated aging test, the thermal performance variation of the material was analyzed, and then its aged value after 25 years was computed. Also, the characteristics of the phenolic foam board's long-term performance were also examined based on the standard testing methods adopted.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.41-48
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• 2016

To investigate the effect of long-term thermal aging on the microstructural and mechanical characteristics of weldment made of nickel base alloy and its weld metal, an accelerated heat treatment was applied to simulate the process of long-term thermal aging in the operating condition of nuclear power plant. A representative nickel-based weldment with Alloy 600 and Alloy 182 was fabricated and heat-treated at $400^{\circ}C$ for 1,713 h and 3,427 h to simulate the thermal aging for the period equivalent to 15 and 30 years in operating pressurized water reactors, respectively. The microstructural and mechanical characteristics were analyzed by using optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and Vickers microhardness measurement. Changes were observed in precipitation behavior and microhardness of each specimen, and these changes were mainly attributed to the change in precipitated morphology and residual stress across the weld during the thermal aging process.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.31-37
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• 2019

This study investigates the effects of long-term artificial-aging on hardness variation in the dissimilar metal weldments for nuclear power plant facilities. These dissimilar welds are inevitably required to join the components in nozzle parts of pressurized vessels, such as austenitic stainless steels and ferritic steels. A artificial thermal aging was conducted in an electrical furnace to simulate material degradation at high temperatures. The test materials were held at the temperature of $600^{\circ}C$ for 10000 hours and interrupted at various levels of degraded specimens. The degradation of hardness is a well-known phenomenon resulting from long-term aging or high-temperature degradation of structural materials. In this study, the variation of hardness at each position was different, and complicated in relation to microstructures such as twins, grains, precipitates, phase transformations, and residual stresses in dissimilar weldments. We discussed the variation of hardness in terms of microstructural changes during long-term aging.

• The KSFM Journal of Fluid Machinery
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.18-23
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• 2013

Thermal aging test is performed to qualify the life time of equipment in thermally aged condition. Due to long life time more than 10 years like as in power plant, the equipment is subjected to the accelerated thermal aging condition which is able to shorten the long aging test period by increasing aging temperature. Normally, conservatism of thermal aging test causes to impose unbalanced and excessive thermal load on components of the equipment, and deformation and damage problems of the components. Additionally, temperature rise of each component through heat generation of the electric equipment leads to long-term problem of the test period. Multi-phase accelerating aging test is to perform thermal aging test in multiple aging conditions after dividing into groups with various components of equipment. The groups might be classified considering various factors such as activation energy, temperature rise, glass transition temperature and melting temperature. In this study, we verify that the multi-phase accelerating aging test method can reduce and equalize the thermal over load of the components and shorten aging test time.

• Journal of Electrical Engineering and Technology
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.103-108
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• 2012

The present study describes the considerations on the long-term reliability of the on-line partial discharge (PD) ceramic sensor for thermal power generators. Voltage acceleration aging tests were carried out under continuous and impulsive thermal aging at more than $100^{\circ}C$, considering the practical service environment. Experimental results show that the sensors have a life that could last for more than 100 years, excellent dielectric characteristics, and insulation strength. In addition, the ceramic on-line PD sensors were installed in a thermal power generator in Korea for demonstration. The results of the PD calibration and test voltage application prove that the on-line ceramic sensors have satisfactory performances for on-line PD measurement.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.2
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• pp.709-731
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• 2022

Loss of fracture resistance due to thermal aging degradation is a potential limiting factor affecting the long-term (80+ year) viability of nuclear reactors. To evaluate the effects of decades of aging in a practical time frame, accelerated aging must be employed prior to mechanical characterization. In this study, a variety of chemically and microstructurally diverse austenitic stainless steels were aged between 0 and 30,000 h at 290-400 ℃ to simulate 0-80+ years of operation. Over 600 static fracture tests were carried out between room temperature and 400 ℃. The results presented include selected J-R curves of each material as well as K_0.2mm fracture toughness values mapped against aging condition and ferrite content in order to display any trends related to those variables. Results regarding differences in processing, optimal ferrite content under light aging, and the relationship between test temperature and Mo content were observed. Overall, it was found that both the ferrite volume fraction and molybdenum content had significant effects on thermal degradation susceptibility. It was determined that materials with >25 vol% ferrite are unlikely to be viable for 80 years, particularly if they have high Mo contents (>2 wt%), while materials less than 15 vol% ferrite are viable regardless of Mo content.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.92-100
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• 2017

Due to the presence of ferrite phase in the finished welds, austenitic stainless steel welds (ASSWs) are considered susceptible to the thermal aging embrittlement during long-term service in light water reactor environment. In this study, the thermal aging embrittlement of typical ASSWs, E308 and ER316L welds, were evaluated after the long-term exposure up to 20,000 h at $400^{\circ}C$, which is considered as an accelerated thermal aging condition. After thermal aging, the decrease of tensile ductility and fracture toughness was observed. The microstructure observation with high resolution transmission electron microscopy revealed that spinodal decomposition in ferrite phase of both E308 and ER316L welds would be the main cause of the degradation of mechanical properties. Also, it was shown that the difference of thermal ageing embrittlement between ER316L and E308 welds was significant, such that the reduction of fracture resistance for ER316L weld was much larger than that of E308 weld.

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.45-50
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• 2004

Thermal degradation of PVC which used for insulator of 600V vinyl insulated wire has been studied by thermo gravimetry analysis and accelerated thermal aging test. The activation energy using thermo gravimetry analysis was determined by the kinetic methods, such as Kissinger and Flynn-Wall-Ozawa. The activation energy was determined to from 89.29 kJ/mol to 111.39 kJ/mol in 600V PVC insulated wire and from 97.80 kJ/mol to 119.25 kJ/mol in 600v heat-resistant PVC insulated wire. And also, the activation energy through a long-term thermal aging test was calculated by using Arrhenius equation In the low temperature of 8$0^{\circ}C$, 9$0^{\circ}C$, 10$0^{\circ}C$. The results showed that 600V PVC insulated wire was 92.16 kJ/mol, and 600v heat-resistant PVC insulated wire was 97.52 kJ/mol. Consequently, the activation energy of 600V heat-resistant PVC insulated wire is larger than 600V PVC insulated wire. Therefore, it can be predicted that 600V heat-resistant PVC insulated wire has a long-term stability relatively.

• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.35-47
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• 2017

Energy efficiency solutions are being pursued as a sustainable approach to reducing energy consumption and related gas emissions across various sectors of the economy. Vacuum Insulation Panel (VIP) is an energy efficient advanced insulation system that facilitates slim but high-performance insulation, based on a porous core material evacuated and encapsulated in a barrier envelope. Although VIP has been applied in buildings for over a decade, it wasn't until recently that efforts have been initiated to propose and adopt a global standard on characterization and testing of VIP. One of the issues regarding VIP is its durability and aging due to pressure and moisture dependent increase of the initial low thermal conductivity with time; more so in building applications. In this paper, the aging of commercially available VIP was investigated experimentally; thermal conductivity was tested in accordance with ISO 8302 standard (guarded hot box method) and long-term durability was estimated based on a non-linear pressure-humidity dependent equation based on study of IEA/ECBCS Annex 39, with the aim of assessing durability of VIP for use in buildings. The center-of-panel thermal conductivity after 25 years based on initial 90% fractile with a confidence level of 90 % for the thermal conductivity (${\lambda}90/90$) ranged from 0.00726-0.00814 (W/m K) for silica core VIP. Significant differences between manufacturer-provided data and measurements of thermal conductivity and internal pressure were observed.