POSCO Group's industrial gas specialist POSCO Air Solution has obtained international quality management system certification in the field of manufacturing high-purity rare gases for aerospace and defense.
POSCO Air Solution said on the 6th that it received the Aerospace and defense quality management system (AS9100D) certification from LRQA. It is the first in Asia to receive this certification in the rare gas manufacturing field.
AS9100D is an international standard that adds quality requirements for the aerospace and defense industry to ISO 9001, the international quality management system standard. Because even small quality deviations in aircraft, spacecraft, and defense products can affect safety, it strictly requires not only product safety but also consistency in production processes, traceability from raw materials to finished products, and risk management. It is used as a key quality certification that companies must have to enter the aerospace and defense supply chain.
Based on this certification, POSCO Air Solution plans to expand its business from high-purity rare gases for semiconductors and displays to the aerospace and defense sector. The main products are high-purity xenon (Xe) and krypton (Kr), which are used as propellants in electric thrusters for satellites and space probes.
In June, POSCO Air Solution completed a high-purity rare gas production plant with an annual capacity of 130,000 normal cubic meters (N㎥) at the Donghoan site of the Gwangyang Steelworks. Through this, it established a system to produce four types of rare gases domestically from raw material procurement to product output.
In technology development tests for propellants for electric thrusters used in satellites and space probes conducted by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) recently, POSCO Air Solution said its xenon and krypton showed performance equivalent to imported gases.
Kim Dae-yeon, president of POSCO Air Solution, said, "We will establish ourselves as a trusted core supplier in the aerospace and defense rare gas market based on the excellent quality demanded by global customers," and added, "By stably supplying high-quality rare gases, we will play a role as one pillar of POSCO Group's strategic resources portfolio."
POSCO Group announced in July that it would reorganize its business portfolio into a triple core system of industrial resources, strategic resources, and energy resources. It classified rare gases as strategic resources along with lithium and rare earths and plans to expand its materials business for the semiconductor and space and aviation industries.