In this study, acoustic and viscosity data are collected in real time during the ball milling process and analyzed for correlation. After fast Fourier transformation (FFT) of the acoustic data, changes in the signals are observed as a function of the milling time. To analyze this quantitatively, the frequency band is divided into 1 kHz ranges to obtain an integral value. The integrated values in the 2–3 kHz range of the frequency band decrease linearly, confirming that they have a high correlation with changes in viscosity. The experiment is repeated four times to ensure the reproducibility of the data. The results of this study show that it is possible to estimate changes in slurry properties, such as viscosity and particle size, during the ball milling process using an acoustic signal.

Macro-porous carbon foams are fabricated using cured spherical phenolic resin particles as a matrix and furfuryl alcohol as a binder through a simple casting molding. Different sizes of the phenolic resin particles from 100–450 μm are used to control the pore size and structure. Ethylene glycol is additionally added as a pore-forming agent and oxalic acid is used as an initiator for polymerization of furfuryl alcohol. The polymerization is performed in two steps; at 80°C and 200°C in an ambient atmosphere. The carbonization of the cured body is performed under Nitrogen gas flow (0.8 L/min) at 800°C for 1 h. Shrinkage rate and residual carbon content are measured by size and weight change after carbonization. The pore structures are observed by both electron and optical microscope and compared with the porosity results achieved by the Archimedes method. The porosity is similar regardless of the size of the phenolic resin particles. On the other hand, the pore size increases in proportion to the phenol resin size, which indicates that the pore structure can be controlled by changing the raw material particle size.

This study demonstrates the effect of addition of Fe particles of different sizes on the critical properties of the superconductor MgB₂. Bulk MgB₂ is synthesized by ball milling Mg and B powders with Fe particles at 900°C. When Fe particles with size less than 10 μm are added in MgB₂, they easily react with B and form the FeB phase, resulting in a reduction in the amount of the MgB₂ phase and deterioration of the crystallinity. Accordingly, both the critical temperature and the critical current density are significantly reduced. On the other hand, when larger Fe particles are added, the Fe₂B phase forms instead of FeB due to the lower reactivity of Fe toward B. Accordingly, negligible loss of B occurs, and the critical properties are found to be similar to those of the intact MgB₂.

In this study, a process is developed for 3D printing with alumina (Al₂O₃). First, a photocurable slurry made from nanoparticle Al₂O₃ powder is mixed with hexanediol diacrylate binder and phenylbis(2,4,6-trimethylbenzoyl) phosphine oxide photoinitiator. The optimum solid content of Al₂O₃ is determined by measuring the rheological properties of the slurry. Then, green bodies of Al₂O₃ with different photoinitiator contents and UV exposure times are fabricated with a digital light processing (DLP) 3D printer. The dimensional accuracy of the printed Al₂O₃ green bodies and the number of defects are evaluated by carefully measuring the samples and imaging them with a scanning electron microscope. The optimum photoinitiator content and exposure time are 0.5 wt% and 0.8 s, respectively. These results show that Al₂O₃ products of various sizes and shapes can be fabricated by DLP 3D printing.