POSCO said on the 12th that it has completed development of high-ductility steel for naval vessels and armor steel and obtained classification certification from KR. The certification was granted after the entire process, from steel development and weldability verification to securing protection performance for warships.
The high-ductility steel developed by POSCO this time is a steel that improves elongation by more than 35% compared with conventional shipbuilding thick plates. Elongation refers to the rate at which metal stretches without breaking in a tensile test. In a ship collision simulation, the material showed an approximately 58% improvement in shock absorption.
The armor steel developed this time is a material that reduces thickness by about 30% compared with conventional shipbuilding thick plates. It was created to enhance a ship's safety while improving maneuverability and efficiency, and it can be intensively applied to areas such as the wheelhouse, radar, and concentrated zones of advanced weapons systems on the upper part of the ship.
Through this, POSCO said it has secured protection performance against external threats while also improving resistance to hull sway by reducing the weight of the upper structure, which can greatly contribute to enhancing ship stability (the force by which a vessel returns to equilibrium after tilting under external force).
For this project, POSCO conducted joint research for years centered on its technical research institute, and all in-house departments, including production, quality, and marketing, worked together under a "One Team" system to complete the development of the new materials.
POSCO said, "We expect this to provide the foundation for improving the performance of the Republic of Korea Navy's next-generation ships and the competitiveness of domestic shipyards," adding, "Furthermore, it can be applied to a variety of overseas projects, including South American and Southeast Asian navy ships, U.S. Navy ship maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) and construction projects, and is expected to contribute to expanding K-defense exports and entering the global naval ship market."