POSCO is pursuing growth in functional non-ferrous metals: carbon, lithium, magnesium, nanopowders said CEO Joon-yang Chung at a groundbreaking for a new 10,000 ton per year magnesium refinery.
On November 27th, POSCO CEO Joon-yang Chung, Gangwon Province governor Kim Jin-seon and Mayor of Gangneung City Choi Myeong-hui signed an MOU on the magnesium refinery business. The MOU signing, which was attended by Minister of Knowledge Economy Choi Kyung-hwan, was held at the POSCO Center.
According to the MOU, POSCO will build a magnesium refinery plant with annual production capacity of 10,000 tons in Gangneung City, Gangwon Province, while the province promises to exert all of the necessary financial and administrative support, including land and road construction.
At the signing ceremony, CEO Chung said: ``POSCO will be aggressively pursuing projects, including magnesium refinery and other functional non-ferrous metals like titanium, zirconium, and silicon, and future materials like lithium, carbon, nano powder, as the new growth engines for the next generation of the company.``
The new plant to be built is expected to save $30 million (35 billion KRW) each year by serving as an alternative to the annual import of some 14,000 tons of magnesium ingots from China. POSCO will also be improving its competitiveness by attaining an integrated manufacturing process for nonferrous metals such as magnesium, from refining to rolling.
POSCO is currently operating a magnesium metal sheet manufacturing facility with annual capacity of 3,000 tons in Suncheon City, South Jeolla Province. With the completion of the new plant, POSCO will be able to use the products for its own magnesium sheet plant and sell the rest to local businesses in need of the magnesium supply.
The new MOU is a win-win deal for Gangwon Province as well. It is expecting to be more aggressive in exploring its own mining resources and to strengthen the basis that will help the province grow as a locale for non-ferrous metal clustering.
On November 27th, POSCO CEO Joon-yang Chung, Gangwon Province governor Kim Jin-seon and Mayor of Gangneung City Choi Myeong-hui signed an MOU on the magnesium refinery business. The MOU signing, which was attended by Minister of Knowledge Economy Choi Kyung-hwan, was held at the POSCO Center.
According to the MOU, POSCO will build a magnesium refinery plant with annual production capacity of 10,000 tons in Gangneung City, Gangwon Province, while the province promises to exert all of the necessary financial and administrative support, including land and road construction.
At the signing ceremony, CEO Chung said: ``POSCO will be aggressively pursuing projects, including magnesium refinery and other functional non-ferrous metals like titanium, zirconium, and silicon, and future materials like lithium, carbon, nano powder, as the new growth engines for the next generation of the company.``
The new plant to be built is expected to save $30 million (35 billion KRW) each year by serving as an alternative to the annual import of some 14,000 tons of magnesium ingots from China. POSCO will also be improving its competitiveness by attaining an integrated manufacturing process for nonferrous metals such as magnesium, from refining to rolling.
POSCO is currently operating a magnesium metal sheet manufacturing facility with annual capacity of 3,000 tons in Suncheon City, South Jeolla Province. With the completion of the new plant, POSCO will be able to use the products for its own magnesium sheet plant and sell the rest to local businesses in need of the magnesium supply.
The new MOU is a win-win deal for Gangwon Province as well. It is expecting to be more aggressive in exploring its own mining resources and to strengthen the basis that will help the province grow as a locale for non-ferrous metal clustering.
In 2008, POSCO began construction on a Global R&D Center and is expected to be completed by June 2010. Once the Global R&D Center is established about 530 research personnel from the POSCO Technology Research Center & funded companies, POSTECH (Pohang University of Science & Technology), and Research Institute of Industrial Science & Technology (RIST) will be stationed permanently there for researching 8 categories including product usage, steel product usage in steel construction, steel fusion, intelligent automation, ubiquitous, non-ferrous materials, environment and new & regenerative energy, and advanced fusion of nano & biotechnology.
In July 2009, POSTECH`s research team, led by chemistry professor Kim Kwang-soo, said it has successfully synthesized lenses that are hundreds of times thinner than a single hair. The team discovered a new physics phenomenon. When the size of a lens shrinks to the level of the wavelength of light, it shows the ultra-resolution that thinner things than the half wavelength of light could be distinguished. The half-wavelength of light is the theoretically limiting value of diffraction in traditional geometrical optics.
The research paper which Lee Joo-young, who is currently in a doctoral program, and Hong Byunghee, an assistant professor in Sungkyunkwan University`s Chemistry Department, wrote together was supported by the Global Research Lab Project sponsored by the Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology and the National Research Foundation of Korea. The paper was published in the world-renowned science journal Nature on July 23.
Kim`s team found that the organic matter Calix Hydro Quinon can shape a nanometer-thin cross-sectioned convex lens. The team found an ultra-refraction for the first time in which a light-wavelength-thin lens makes the light draw a curve through diffraction and interference and makes the nano-lens have a very short focal distance. The team proved the intriguing optical phenomenon of the nano-lens through the precise simulation of electromagnetic waves and established a new physical phenomenon theory.
The optical features of a nanometer-thin lens can be used to analyze structures of nano and micro-bio substances, to improve technologies for the development of nano components, and to integrate light that is impossible to observe with traditional optical microscopes. Nanometerthin lenses can be also used for the development of next-generation nano-optical memories and detection components.
The success of the research resulted from cooperation between academics in chemistry, physics, and mechanical and electronic engineering. Their research will serve as a role model for interdisciplinary work for local and overseas researchers.
The research paper which Lee Joo-young, who is currently in a doctoral program, and Hong Byunghee, an assistant professor in Sungkyunkwan University`s Chemistry Department, wrote together was supported by the Global Research Lab Project sponsored by the Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology and the National Research Foundation of Korea. The paper was published in the world-renowned science journal Nature on July 23.
Kim`s team found that the organic matter Calix Hydro Quinon can shape a nanometer-thin cross-sectioned convex lens. The team found an ultra-refraction for the first time in which a light-wavelength-thin lens makes the light draw a curve through diffraction and interference and makes the nano-lens have a very short focal distance. The team proved the intriguing optical phenomenon of the nano-lens through the precise simulation of electromagnetic waves and established a new physical phenomenon theory.
The optical features of a nanometer-thin lens can be used to analyze structures of nano and micro-bio substances, to improve technologies for the development of nano components, and to integrate light that is impossible to observe with traditional optical microscopes. Nanometerthin lenses can be also used for the development of next-generation nano-optical memories and detection components.
The success of the research resulted from cooperation between academics in chemistry, physics, and mechanical and electronic engineering. Their research will serve as a role model for interdisciplinary work for local and overseas researchers.
On May 24 2009, a research team, led by Jo Moon-ho, a professor in Postech's Materials Science and Engineering Department, and Park Hong-kun, a professor in Harvard University's Chemistry/ Physics Department, published its findings on "Near-field electrical detection of optical plasmons and single-plasmon sources" in the internationally prominent science journal Nature Physics on May 24.
Optoelectronic devices using photoelectric elements, which use light as the medium of processing and delivering information, are faster and more effective in dealing with information than those using electrons, but the diffraction of light has long prevented scientists from developing nano-scale optoelectronic devices using photoelectric elements.
Through the joint research, the two scientists developed a photoelectric element that changes light signals from surface plasmons (quantum of plasma oscillation) into electric signals in a near-field through nanowire transistors. At the same time, the scientists also proved that a single surface plasmon produced from single light quanta can also be changed into an electric signal.
Optoelectronic devices using photoelectric elements, which use light as the medium of processing and delivering information, are faster and more effective in dealing with information than those using electrons, but the diffraction of light has long prevented scientists from developing nano-scale optoelectronic devices using photoelectric elements.
Through the joint research, the two scientists developed a photoelectric element that changes light signals from surface plasmons (quantum of plasma oscillation) into electric signals in a near-field through nanowire transistors. At the same time, the scientists also proved that a single surface plasmon produced from single light quanta can also be changed into an electric signal.
Opening new possibilities for developing a solid optoelectronic device that can change a light signal such as a plasmon into an electric signal, the research is widely recognized as a stepping stone for developing futuristic nanomaterials that can be used for such scientific breakthroughs as a quantum computer.
"The research is highly evaluated in academic circles as it has opened ways to develop nano-scale optoelectronic devices, which had long been believed to be almost impossible to develop," Jo Moon-ho said.
"The research is highly evaluated in academic circles as it has opened ways to develop nano-scale optoelectronic devices, which had long been believed to be almost impossible to develop," Jo Moon-ho said.
