The research of the Korea Institute of Materials Science, a government-funded research institute under the Ministry of Science

and ICT, was selected as one of the “100 most outstanding national R&D achievements” in 2021. The selected technology is

“alloy design strategies to increase strength and its trade-offs together” by Dr. Seung Zeon Han.

The developed technology, converging processing, and computerized design technology, dramatically improve strength and

ductility or strength and conductivity at a time by inducing a microstructure in copper and aluminum alloys which is different

from an existing structure. When the strength of a metal is increased, the opposite characteristics of the strength such as ductility,

toughness, and conductivity are inevitably reduced. However, with the technology developed by Dr. Han, it is possible to

dramatically improve strength and various properties only by changing the alloy composition.

The general process to develop a metal material costs a lot of money, time, and effort due to repeated experiments and

analysis. However, by utilizing computational design to improve the material's characteristics, the number of experiments can

be dramatically reduced and the outcomes can be put into effect within a short time.

Dr. Seung Zeon Han, the principal researcher at KIMS, said, “It's meaningful that our questioning on the classical research

field related to metals strengthening and our efforts to solve it was recognized. I will continue to conduct my research

with new perspectives and methods in structural metals, etc.”

The 100 most outstanding national R&D achievements have been selected every year since 2006 to enhance the general

public's understanding and interest in the role of science and technology and to inspire the confidence of scientists and engineers.