Nack Kim

Abstract:

The world currently faces significant challenges in energy conservation and environmental protection. Materials and their manufacturing processes have a pivotal and ubiquitous impact on meeting these global challenges. Among various end-use sectors of energy, the transportation sector is the second in energy consumption and the first in the energy-related CO2 emissions. Therefore, there exists a strong need for the significant improvement in fuel economy and reduction in pollutants emissions of the transportation systems. One of the most effective ways to overcome such problems associated with transportation systems is the use of high strength, lightweight alloys, i.e., high specific-strength alloys, as structural components of vehicles. High specific strength alloys are also important for improving the efficiency of hybrid-type vehicles because they offset the weight of power systems such as batteries and electric motors. This presentation discusses the recent progress in the development of high specific strength alloys, with particular examples on newly developed lightweight steels and Mg alloys.