Magnesium Materials
Renault Samsung Motors announced on August 28 that they succeeded in developing magnesium-based sheet metal for vehicles together with POSCO, and will be the first car company in the world to use this new type of sheet metal to mass produce automobiles.
Many countries are tightening emissions regulations, so automobile manufacturers are trying very hard to develop technologies to lighten vehicles in order to improve fuel efficiency. To keep pace with the current trends, Renault Samsung Motors and POSCO have invested 2 billion won (US$1.9 million) in joint research from Jan. 2012 to Aug. 2014, and finally succeeded in developing magnesium sheet metal that can be used in a car body.
Magnesium is the lightest of commercial metals, and strong enough to be developed as an automobile material. Best of all, magnesium is the only usable natural resource with large reserves in Korea.
The weight of the magnesium sheet metal components developed was only 1.4kg, 2.2kg lighter than an equivalent steel component, a 61 percent decrease in weight. Although magnesium sheet metal is relatively expensive, POSCO has developed new mass production capabilities to make the process cheaper. Integrated with the component design and processing technologies of Renault Samsung Motors, magnesium sheet metal now has the appropriate qualities and standards to be automobile component.
Renault Samsung Motors plans to use magnesium sheets for the very first time for the walls of VIP back seats and the trunks of an upgraded SM7 to be introduced this coming September. This proof of the applicability of magnesium sheet metal will help expand its applications throughout the automobile component market.
Renault Samsung Motors is currently cooperating with major subcontractors in Korea to develop many other components in order to expand the use of magnesium components in the medium and long term.