Various process technologies for manufacturing power inductors are under development. The core goal is to increase the mixing ratio of the soft magnetic powder in the epoxy, and to uniformly disperse it in a molding-type power inductor, manufactured by the injection molding method. In this study, we investigated the effect of dispersant and silane on the dispersion of soft magnetic metal powders in epoxy. We added 0.6 wt% of dispersant and 2.0 wt% of silane, and an excellent dispersibility resulted. Under the conditions of 0.3 wt% of dispersant and 0.5 wt% of silane, we added both dispersant and silane together to observe the effect of their interaction on dispersibility. Similarly, the addition of 0.3 wt% of dispersant and 0.1 wt% of silane resulted in a sharp increase in viscosity, considered to be due to the interaction of the dispersant and silane. The addition of 0.1 wt% of dispersant with 0.5 wt% of silane resulted in a sharp rise in viscosity, and sedimentation-height decreased sharply due to the dispersion optimization.
Recently, there has been an increasing interest in the use of graphene as electrode materials for supercapacitors. In this regard, graphene oxide (GO) films were prepared using GO slurry obtained by dispersing GO powder in deionized (DI) water. The degree of dispersion of GO powder in DI water depends on the concentration of GO slurry, pH, impurity content, GO particle size, types of functional groups contained in GO, and manufacturing method of GO powder. In this study, the dispersivity of the GO powder was improved by adjusting the pH using only DI water (without additives), and a uniform GO film was obtained. The GO film was reduced by exposure to xenon intense pulsed light for a few milliseconds, and the reduced GO film was used as electrodes of a supercapacitor. The supercapacitor was characterized using cyclic voltammetry (CV), charge-discharge cycle, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy measurements, and the specific capacitance of the supercapacitor was found to be ~140 F/g from the CV data.
A molding-type power inductor is an inductor that uses a hybrid material that is prepared by mixing a ferrite metal powder coated with an insulating layer and an epoxy resin, which is injected into a coil-embedded mold and heated and cured. The fabrication of molding-type inductors requires various techniques such as for coil formation and insertion, improving the magnetic properties of soft magnetic metal powder, coating an insulating film on the magnetic powder surface, and increasing the packing density by well dispersing the powder in the epoxy resin. Among these aspects, researches on additives that can disperse the metal soft magnetic powder having the greatest performance in the epoxy resin with high charge have not been reported yet. In this study, we investigated the effect of silanes, KBM-303 and KBM-403, and a commercial dispersant on the dispersion of metal soft magnetic powders in epoxy resin. The sedimentation height and viscosity were measured, and it was confirmed that the silane KBM-303 was suitable for dispersion. For this silane, the packing density was as high as about 72.49%. Moreover, when 1.2 wt% of dispersant BYK-103 was added, the packing density was about 80.5%.
It is necessary for ferrite sheets to be fabricated with high packing density for excellent electrical properties and high strength. In this study, the relationship between the warpage and the packing density of ferrite green sheet, was investigated with amount variation of organic additives. With 0.4 wt% of dispersant, the packing density was about 48% and warpage appeared 0.5~1.3 ㎜ high. With 1.4 wt% of dispersant, the packing density increased up to 57% and warpage appeared 0.8~2.1 ㎜ high. With high packing density, warpage appeared along the edges of specimen, while with low packing density, deformation appeared over whole specimen inhomogeneously. It is thought that inhomogeneous deformation after sintering came from the inhomogeneity in green sheet prepared with badly dispersed slurry. With good homogeneity in green sheet from well-dispersed slurry, isotropic shrinkage is thought to have occurred along the distance from center to edges of specimen during sintering.
With high integration of electronic components, power inductors are also miniaturized. Recently, thick film processes for small size power inductors were developed and commercialized. However, the thick film process to prepare soft magnetic green sheets was not reported enough. In this study, we used Fe-Si magnetic and CIP (carbonyl iron powders) as starting materials to lead to a bimodal particle size distribution in the sheet. We proposed a newly developed ‘Modified slurry preparation process’ to get well dispersed condition even at high solid contents. Using the new process, it was possible to prepare a well dispersed slurry over 70 vol% of solid. BYK-103 was better than BYK-111 as dispersant in this slurry and the optimum amount was 0.6 wt%. The optimized slurry was formed into a sheet by tape casting process and then the sheet was laminated. We conformed that small size powder, large size powder, and epoxy resin were well dispersed in the green sheet.
In this paper, we investigated the relations between dispersion of CNTs (carbon nanotubes) and electrical conductivity in the CNT/PVDF (polyvinylidene fluoride) composite film. By adding hydrophobic CNTs as filler into the PVDF matrix, we fabricated hydrophobic and electrically conducting polymer coating film. Dispersion of CNTs in the CNT/PVDF composite film plays a significant role in terms of electrical conductivity and wetting property. Spray coating method was used to form the CNT/PVDF composite films by injecting the dispersed CNTs in the PVDF solution with different weight ratios from 0.7 wt% to 7 wt%. We investigated the electrical properties and contact angles of the CNT/PVDF composite films with the CNT concentration. Finally we discussed the conducting mechanism and feasibility of the CNT/PVDF composite film for the conducting polymer films.
In this paper, a measurement method to obtain the optical properties of a liquid base on a side-polished single mode fiber was proposed and demonstrated. The device showed periodic resonance coupling against wavelengths. The refractive index and dispersion characteristics of a liquid were calculated by use of the spacings of periodic resonance wavelengths of the device. The thermo-optic coefficient of the liquid was obtained by monitering the shift of resonance wavelengths of the devices with change of environmental temperature.
In this study, the capacitance and dielectric loss tangent of the silicone rubber which is combined with filler (30 phr∼50 phr) have been measured on the range of 100 Hz∼100 kHz and 30∼170℃. It was found that when the frequency is 0.1 kHz∼100 kHz and the silicone rubber is combined with 30 phr to 50 phr of filler, the capacitance of silicone rubber has increased by about 28.6 pF to 33 pF in 30 phr of filler, about 20 pF to 46.1 pF in 40 phr of filler and about 36.4 pF to 44 pF in 50 phr of filler. It seems that the volume of dielectric loss has gradually increased due to the temperature rise and the rotating of dipole in electric field through the electric dipole generated by the Si-O group which is induced by adding of filler, or the carbonyl group which is caused by oxidation. It seems that the dielectric dispersion in 0.1 kHz is caused by molecular motion of Siloxane group in main chain, and the dielectric dispersion in 10 kHz is caused by molecular motion of Methyl group in side chain.
This paper presents a study on the dispersion effect of the X-Ray diffraction, glass transition and DIMA properties of organic modifier clay/epoxy nanocomposites produced in a homogenizer. Several experiments were conducted including different types of dispersion condition with varying processing conditions such as homogenizer rotor speed and applied time of homogenizer. The effects of these variables on the dispersion properties of nanocomposites were then studied. In order to fully understand the experimental results, a X-ray diffraction, DSC and DMA were used to investigate the effect of above mentioned variables on microstructure and intercalation/exfoliation of organic modifier clay/epoxy nanocomposites. The results from this work could be used to determine the best processing condition to obtain appropriate levels of d-spacing, glasss transition temperature and storage modulus in organic modifier clay/epoxy nanocomposites.
In order to application for high voltage heavy electric equipments, epoxy/microsilica 60 wt%/nano layered silicate composites (EMNC_60) and epoxy/microsilica 65 wt%/nano layered silicate composites (EMNC_65) respectively was synthesized by our electric field dispersion method and the result was obtained completely dispersion state. Thermal properties such as glass transition temperature (Tg) and thermal expansion coefficient, and DMA characteristics were studied, and mechanical properties such as tensile and flexural tests were performed. AC electrical insulation strength was also tested. The study on thermal property, EMNC_65 was better than EMNC_60 and mechanical ,electrical properties much improved EMNC_60 compared with EMNC_65.
An engine oil sensor based on multiwall carbon nanotubes was fabricated with screen printing method. Since carbon nanotubes are generally intertwined, dispersion of the carbon nanotubes in the binding agent (ethyl cellulose, a-terpineol, frit) is a key factor for large yield of engine oil sensor. By conventional dispersion method, a hand-mill method, the maximum yield was 80% at most. However, we used the hand ultrasonic, in order to increase the yield of the sensors. As a results, our engine oil sensor fabricated by the screen printing method shows excellent yield rate of 97%, when we dispersed a paste by the hand ultrasonic method.