Won Yoon Jeong, a student in the integrated master's and doctoral program in the research team of Professor Cho Ki Sup at the Department of New Materials Engineering (AI Material Design Laboratory), won the Best Paper Award (Jungin Award) at the recent Spring Conference of the Korean Society of Heat Treatment Engineering.

In her paper, 'Effect of W addition on carbide precipitation behavior of AISI H13 hot tool steel', Won Yoon Jeong investigated the correlation between precipitation behavior and mechanical properties of various alloy carbides in Q/T treated martensitic bases. 

This study reported on the improvement of the structural and chemical stability of V-rich MC carbides in AISI H13 by replacing Mo, which acts as a carbide-forming element, with W, and showed that the precipitation of Cr-rich M23C6 carbides, which deteriorates the high-temperature properties of the alloy, can be effectively suppressed by W addition. 

The results of this study are expected to significantly improve the service life of various tool materials used in mold making and hot working processes in the future.