Sooho Kim, Yeonsik Kang, Gi-Suk Chung, Sang-Kwon Wee

 

Steel has superior lightweight cost competitiveness (excellent physical properties in strength, formability, weldability and corrosion resistance with lower cost) compared to other alternative materials. With the opening of the new era of mass-production for electric vehicles (EVs), POSCO is a global leader in providing a broad range of advanced high strength steel (AHSS) solutions. Recently POSCO has developed the "POSCO Body Concept for Electric Vehicle (PBC-EV)," which achieved over 20% weight reduction by the use of AHSS grades (>64%). A total life cycle emission of PBC-EV is reduced by ~50% comparing to the benchmarking ICE vehicle. These are accomplished while meeting an extensive list of global safety requirements such as US FMVSS, IIHS and EuroNCAP. POSCO has also developed the concept of a steel-intensive lightweight, "POSCO Battery Pack for Electric Vehicle (PBP-EV)," which has an energy capacity of 60kWh and crash protection. The safety of a battery pack against vehicle collision is enhanced using Giga-strength steels comprising ~40% of total weight for reinforcements and brackets.

Dr. Sang-Kwon Wee is a principal researcher of Materials Forming Research Group at POSCO in Incheon, Korea. He is currently responsible for the lightweight design and safety assessment of EV battery packs. He also has R&D experience in development of efficient cooling technology for steelworks. Before joining POSCO in 2008, he worked as a research engineer for development of inkjet printing technology for manufacturing of flat panel displays at Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology. He received his Ph.D. degree in mechanical engineering from Texas A&M University. He holds 15 U.S./Korean patents and over 10 publications and conference proceedings.

POSCO, the World's fifth largest steelmaker, produced 42M tons of crude steel from two major integrated steel mills in Korea last year. In order to increase customers' competitiveness, POSCO recently introduced a new strategy "Solution Marketing," which provides integrated technology, marketing support and solutions for problems faced by its clients. For the last 8 consecutive years, POSCO has been named as the world's most competitive steelmaker and is the first steel maker in the world to be selected as 'An Outstanding Company in Sustainability Management' for 13 consecutive years. Declaring a new grand vision, "POSCO the Great," POSCO is expanding its business areas from steel to non-steel, from manufacturing to services, and from traditional to future-oriented company, balancing and maintaining businesses old and new.