Major Activities

• Development of aerospace material database for aircraft design
• Development of three types of Ni bolts for aerospace industry
• Development of two types of prototypes using superplastic forming and diffusion bonding
• Development of residual stress prediction program
• Hydrogen fuel cell-based unmanned aerial vehicle successfully flew for 8 hours

Major Research Area

• Aerospace materials and process development
• Design allowable development for aerospace materials
• Analysis for the effect of crack growth retardation used for design verification of aerospace
• Highly efficient fuel cell stack development for drone

Future Research Plan

• Aerospace materials database development for aircraft design
• Building materials database for domestic sources of supply of light materials
• Development of manufacturing technique for the aerospace standard product (fastener)
• Development of 1 kW fuel cell system and UAVs for 12 hours

Major R&D Activities

Development of design allowable for 15 kinds of aerospace materials

[Project Overview]

• To localize aerospace materials that depend on imports from abroad, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy supports design allowable database development project for a total of 15 types of Korean aerospace materials. Aerospace materials center has organized and led this project since 2021.

[Achievement]

• Development of 15 types of Korean aerospace materials
• Verification of Korean aerospace material characteristics through the manufacture of aviation parts
• Reinforcement of aviation material test and evaluation capabilities

Development of Ni fastener manufacturing and evaluation technology for aerospace

[Project Overview]

• For the localization of bolts for aerospace, MS14181 tension bolt manufacturing technology that requires the highest load is developed and the tests are conducted to satisfy the bolt test requirements. In addition, we support domestic bolt manufacturers to produce Ni fastener through technology transfer.

[Achievement]

• Development of manufacturing process of Ni fastener
• Development of test procedures and jigs for the evaluation of high-strength Ni fastener
• Transfer of Ni fastener manufacturing technology to domestic bolt manufacturers

Development of Fuel Cell System for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

[Project Overview]

• This project is to develop the UAVs and electric propulsion systems composed of polymer electrolyte fuel Cells and Li-pol battery. Fuel cell and battery hybrid power system is packaged to the UAV fuselage and tested in the air. The hybrid power system showed the good response to the need for the power for the UAV propulsion during the autopilot flight of the UAVs.

[Achievement]

• Development of 800 W polymer electrolyte fuel cell system for UAVs
• Hybrid power system composed of fuel cell and Li-pol battery showed good response for the UAV propulsion during the autopilot flight
• Successful automatic pilot flying by developing a source of power for 490 minutes(8 hours and 10 mins)