The surface of railway wheels running on rails is subject to damage due to rail and frictional wear, damage from wheel tread and flange wear caused by curved track operations, and damage from flats and concave wear due to braking friction heat from brake shoes. Although the surface of wheels is regularly reprofiled through periodic grinding cycles, damage occurring to the wheel surface during operation can lead to deteriorated ride quality and potential failure due to crack propagation. In domestic railway components technical standards, wheel integrity is mandated to be demonstrated through non-destructive testing. To prevent and detect failures caused by damage occurring on railway wheels, it is necessary to develop methods that could detect and evaluate surface damage. The present study investigated a method for detecting and evaluating surface damage on railway wheels using electromagnetic imaging. Results demonstrated that defects with a length of 10 mm, a width of 0.8 to 1.0 mm, and a depth of 0.2 to 1.0 mm could be adequately detected using electromagnetic scan images.

Exteriors of structures (apartments, buildings, bridges, dams, power plants, etc.) are subject to deterioration and damage (cracks, rust, etc.), mainly due to thermal expansion/contraction and environmental humidity. The damages shorten the lifespan of structures and cause unnecessary reconstruction, increasing social costs. The existing damage maintenance methods, which are directly constructed by the workers, have problems such as reduced work efficiency, increased work cost, lack of timely maintenance, and high work risks. In this paper, a spraying device attached to a drone for active and flexible maintenance of structures is developed. To simplify maintenance, the device consists of a solenoid motor, detachable parts for maintenance agent, and a lightweight-designed frame, manufactured with a 3D printer. In particular, the lever mechanism that amplifies the pushing force of the solenoid motor is designed to spray the maintenance agent when a switch comes into contact with the exterior of the structure. The prototype of a spraying device is attached to a commercial drone (Mavic3, DJI) and tested for effectiveness in structure maintenance. It demonstrates successful, cost-effective maintenance of structural damages in less than 10 minutes.

Interest in the use of thin film of Ruthenium-Samaria doped ceria cermet (Ru-SDC) as anode in solid oxide fuel cells is increasing due to its high oxygen storage capacity and high chemical and thermal stability. To have enough structural integrity between sputtered Ru-SDC films and underlying substrates, good adhesion property is required. In this work, scratch resistance and failure mode for Ru-SDC films with various SDC composition were investigated using a scratch test method employing linearly increasing load from 1 to 50 N using a 200 μm radius Rockwell C indenter. Scratched surfaces were examined with a field emission scanning electron microscope. Chemical compositions in scratch tracks were analyzed by energy dispersive X-Ray spectroscopy. Critical loads for films with different SDC ratios were assessed and associated failure modes were identified. The highest scratch resistance among tested film compositions was the one that contained 50% of SDC. Failure modes of tested films regardless of the ratio of SDC were identified to be the initiation of tensile cracks with rapid increase of friction coefficient followed by chipping, and eventually the generation of a severe crack network.

Micro hole drilling in precision production industries requires smaller holes, higher aspect ratios, and higher working speeds. However, the undesirable characteristics of micro drilling are small signal to noise ratios, wandering drill motion, high aspect ratio, and increasing cutting quality as cutting depth increases. In this study, two different types of experiments are performed on single crystal silicon to decrease crack formation. The first experiment compares the efficiency of various micro hole machining processes using ultrasonic impact grinding and micro drilling. The second experiment suggests optimum conditions for the micro drilling process. The experimental results show that micro drilling technology can be effectively used for drilling single crystal silicon.