018 - Smart Inspection System for Powder Metallurgy Gears with AI Defect Detection
Chang Kenghao, Industrial Technology Research Institute
Powder metallurgy offers several advantages in gear manufacturing, including the ability to produce complex shapes, flexible material selection, minimal cutting operations, high precision dimensional control, and suitability for mass production, making it one of the key methods for manufacturing high-performance gears. However, powder metallurgy gears often exhibit porous surfaces after sintering, which appear rough and granular under high-resolution cameras. Traditional machine vision inspection methods are prone to errors and missed detections in such cases. To address this issue, this system was developed in collaboration with the Industrial Technology Research Institute and Chin Chih Metal, incorporating advanced artificial intelligence defect detection technology to significantly improve inspection accuracy and efficiency. Through deep learning and advanced image processing techniques, the intelligent inspection system can accurately identify surface defects in gears and provide high-precision inspection results, even when faced with challenges such as porous or rough surfaces. This system not only measures the dimensions and geometry of gears with precision but also provides timely defect warnings, significantly improving product yield. Its efficient inspection process and reliable defect identification capabilities make it a critical technology in the powder metallurgy gear manufacturing process, effectively reducing the costs and time of manual inspection. It is especially suitable for large-scale production environments, enhancing production line efficiency and product quality.
033 - Effect of Rapid Cooling on Thermoelectric Properties of (BiSb)₂Te₃ Alloys Fabricated via Cold-Water Assisted Atomization
Ha Jiwon, Kongju National University
This study systematically investigates the influence of cooling rates on the thermoelectric properties of BiSbTe alloy powders prepared through a water atomization process. By rapidly cooling molten BiSbTe with high- and low-temperature water, powders were produced, screened to 75-125 µm, and their morphology analyzed using SEM. Powders cooled with low-temperature water displayed finer, irregular particles with a higher oxygen content, attributed to the rapid cooling and resulting increase in specific surface area. This structural change led to a significant reduction in thermal conductivity, measured at 0.91 W/m·K, which contributed to an improvement in the thermoelectric figure of merit (ZT) to 1.3—an enhancement of approximately 6% compared to powders processed with high-temperature water. These results indicate that rapid solidification via low-temperature water cooling effectively reduces thermal conductivity and enhances thermoelectric efficiency, supporting its potential scalability in manufacturing processes for large-scale thermoelectric device applications.