[en] The discharge characteristics and factors related to the luminous efficacy of mercury-free flat fluorescent lamps (MFFLs) with three different types of coplanar, counter and combination electrode configurations were studied via a two-dimensional numerical simulation. The spatiotemporal distributions of the potential, electric field, electron density, Xe** density and current waveforms of the MFFLs were obtained and analysed. The MFFL with the combination electrode configuration shows the highest vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) efficacy value. The vertical electrode in the MFFL with the combination electrode configuration prevents the electric field at the gap space from decreasing rapidly, and extends the discharge path. The effects of the vertical electrode help one to increase the Xe excitation efficacy. In addition, a new auxiliary electrode was proposed in the original MFFL with the combination electrode configuration. The MFFL with the new auxiliary electrode has broader distributions of electrons and Xe** species, and a higher VUV efficacy value than the original MFFL with the combination electrode configuration at the same voltage. (paper)

[en] The mechanism to realize high luminous efficacy in a plasma display panel fabricated with a cathode material possessing a high secondary electron emission coefficient (γ) for Ne and Xe ions was studied via three-dimensional numerical simulation. When a high γ cathode material is used, the increased electron heating efficacy is responsible for increasing vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) efficacy with 10% Xe content gas. However, the continued availability of sufficient secondary electrons during the dynamic moving phase of the cathode sheath in which the electric field remains weakened causes increasing VUV efficacy with 30% Xe content gas. It was found that the improvement of the luminous efficacy of the plasma display panel with a high γ cathode material is maximized under the condition of high Xe content gas because of the simultaneous increase of the electron heating efficacy and Xe excitation efficacy.

[en] The discharge characteristics of He-Ne-Xe gas mixture in the plasma display panel were investigated using a two-dimensional numerical simulation to understand the effects of adding He and varying the Xe contents in the gas mixture, and also varying sustain electrode gap. With 5% Xe content and 60 μm sustain electrode gap, decreased ionization led to the improvement of the vacuum ultraviolet (vuv) efficacy at increasing He mixing ratios. However, at 20% Xe content and 60 μm sustain electrode gap, increased electron heating improved the vuv efficacy until the He mixing ratio reached 0.7, but the efficacy decreased beyond the ratio of 0.7 due to the increased ionization of Xe atoms. At 5% Xe content and 200 μm sustain electrode gap, the vuv efficacy increased as a result of increased electron heating at the gap space at increasing He mixing ratios.

[en] Highlights: • The range of SLM process condition to achieve over 99.5% relative planar density of SUS316L. • Correlation study between microstructural, mechanical and chemical properties of SUS316L according to the high density process conditions for SLM. • Locally property tuning of SUS316L part by controlling the process condition of SLM selectively. The effects of laser energy density on microstructural, mechanical properties, and chemical composition of stainless steel 316 L (SUS316L) parts fabricated by selective laser melting (SLM) technology were studied. Total 36 specimens were fabricated under the range from 1.3 to 46.7 J/mm³. The process conditions to achieve over 99.5% ± 0.1% relative planar density were obtained, and the mechanism of tunable mechanical properties was investigated by understanding the correlation between the microstructure and chemical composition according to the energy density. As the energy density increased, tensile properties were decreased with grain growth and the concentrations of light elements were increased by accelerating dissolution. As the concentrations of light elements increased, the mechanism of destructive behavior changed from ductile fracture to brittle fracture and it caused that the hardness was improved. Consequently, it was necessary to control the energy density from 9.34 to 23.98 J/mm³ in order to fabricate SUS316L parts of high strength and high elongation characteristics by SLM method.

[en] Highlights: • The hardness and strength of pure titanium fabricated by SLM were increased with increasing the laser power. • During the SLM processing, the concentrations of oxygen and nitrogen in the SLM parts were increased. • The oxidation and nitriding were thermodynamically possible under SLM. - Abstract: This study analyzed the variation of mechanical properties and its causes with increasing the laser power in the fabrication of pure titanium by selective laser melting (SLM). SLM samples were fabricated using commercially pure titanium grade 1 powder when the scan speed was 1000 mm/s and the laser power as 120, 200, 280, 360, and 440 W, respectively. As the laser power increased, the hardness and strength of the samples increased gradually. During the SLM processing, the concentrations of oxygen and nitrogen in the SLM samples were increased, which resulted in the increase of hardness and strength. The SLM equipment used in this study removed oxygen in the chamber by flowing high purity argon gas and fabricates the sample while preserving the oxygen concentration in the atmosphere to 0.2%. Evaluating the possibility of oxidation and nitriding during the SLM process by thermodynamic analysis, it was found that the process occurred under conditions in which temperature and residual oxygen and nitrogen partial pressure led to oxidation and nitriding.