The research team of POSTECH has developed new steel materials capable of challenging the position of titanium for the first time in the world. The new steel materials can significantly improve the gas mileage of automobiles by reducing their weight by 15%, as well as being twice as stretchable as titanium with one-tenth of the production cost.
Reducing density through an increase in aluminium content within steel leads to the creation of intermetallic compounds, which makes the steel rather easy to break. The research team led by Professor Kim Nak Joon, with Kim Han Soo and Kim Sang Hun, who is studying for a doctoral degree in the Steel Graduate School in POSTECH, applied reverse logic, using a small sized intermetallic compound that is unbreakable. Reducing intermetallic compounds to an extremely small size allows them to be evenly distributed within the alloy. This innovation effectively turned the intermetallic compounds from being an obstacle to strengthening to enabling an increase in strength.
These new materials provide 50% enhanced strength with features that are light and soft. Its strength is similar to titanium. It is lightweight, making it much more economical than titanium, with a production cost that can be reduced by as much as 90%.
