The Graduate Institute of Ferrous Technology (GIFT POSTECH) is an institute for graduate-level education and research in the field of iron and steel technology at Pohang University of Science and Technology

Pohang University of Science and Technology

Pohang University of Science and Technology or POSTECH is a private university, based in Pohang, South Korea, which is dedicated to research and education in science and technology...

, South Korea. It has nine specialized laboratories covering all sides of metallurgy.

History

POSCO

POSCO

POSCO is a multinational steel-making company headquartered in Pohang, South Korea. It is the world's third-largest steelmaker by market value and the most profitable Asia-based steelmaker....

, one of the world's biggest steel production companies, in 1986, initiated a founding of a science and technology university in the city of Pohang

Pohang

Pohang is a city in North Gyeongsang Province, South Korea, and a main seaport in the Daegu-Gyeongbuk region. The built-up area of Pohang is located on the alluvium of the mouth of the Hyeongsan River...

, about 200 miles southeast of Seoul

Seoul

Seoul , officially the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea. A megacity with a population of over 10 million, it is the largest city proper in the OECD developed world...

, the capital city of Korea. Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) has now become one of the top research universities in Asia. GIFT was founded to provide an academic environment for education and research on ferrous materials.

Month	Year	Fact
November	1993	The Graduate School of Iron & Steel Technology (GSIST) Foundation Committee was formed.
October 21	1994	The Ministry of Education approved the establishment of GSIST.
February	1995	Dr. Kyoo Young Kim was appointed as the first Dean of GSIST.
March	1995	GSIST opening; Admission of 54 students to the M.S. degree program.
February	1997	Commencement ceremony for the first 52 graduates was held.
June	1999	English was adopted as the official language of instruction by the Graduate School Committee.
December	1999	The Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy selected the Technology Innovation Center for Metals and Materials (TICM) at GSIST for local area technology innovation.
February	2000	Dr. Hae-Geon Lee was appointed as Dean of GSIST.
March	2000	The Technology Innovation Center for Metals and Materials (TICM) was created.
April	2001	GSIST long-term development program was established for globalization in education and research.
November	2004	POSTECH and POSCO approved the New Ferrous Technology Innovation Program.
February	2005	GSIST celebrated its 10th anniversary. Since 1997, GSIST had produced 336 graduates including 43 foreign students.
July	2005	The Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development approved the foundation of the Graduate Institute of Ferrous Technology (GIFT).
September 9	2005	Graduate Institute of Ferrous Technology (GIFT) opening; Admission of 9 students (Master's: 7, Doctoral: 2).
March	2006	Admission of 11 students (Master's: 10, Doctoral: 1).
September	2006	Admission of 11 students (Master's: 10, Doctoral: 1), Appointment of 3 Research Faculty.
December	2006	The proposal on the construction of a new GIFT building was approved.
March	2007	Admission of 16 students (Master’s: 11, Doctoral: 5)
September	2007	Admission of 9 students (Master’s: 5, Doctoral: 4)
September	2007	The new GIFT Building Ground-breaking Ceremony was held.
June	2009	The new GIFT Building completed. Opening ceremony held.

Structure

The Graduate Institute of Ferrous Technology has nine laboratories with key areas of expertise:

• Alternative Technology Lab:
  • Continuous casting
    Continuous casting
    Continuous casting, also called strand casting, is the process whereby molten metal is solidified into a "semifinished" billet, bloom, or slab for subsequent rolling in the finishing mills. Prior to the introduction of continuous casting in the 1950s, steel was poured into stationary molds to form...
    
    -related innovation
  • Texture
    Texture (crystalline)
    In materials science, texture is the distribution of crystallographic orientations of a polycrystalline sample. A sample in which these orientations are fully random is said to have no texture. If the crystallographic orientations are not random, but have some preferred orientation, then the...
    
     control
  • Alternative alloying and processing
• Control and Automation Lab:
  • Computer control system
  • Process automation
  • Control theory
    Control theory
    Control theory is an interdisciplinary branch of engineering and mathematics that deals with the behavior of dynamical systems. The desired output of a system is called the reference...
    
     & Applications
  • Measurement
    Measurement
    Measurement is the process or the result of determining the ratio of a physical quantity, such as a length, time, temperature etc., to a unit of measurement, such as the metre, second or degree Celsius...
    
    
• Clean Steel Lab:
  • Thermochemistry
    Thermochemistry
    Thermochemistry is the study of the energy and heat associated with chemical reactions and/or physical transformations. A reaction may release or absorb energy, and a phase change may do the same, such as in melting and boiling. Thermochemistry focuses on these energy changes, particularly on the...
    
    
  • Physico-chemical properties
  • Fluid dynamics
    Fluid dynamics
    In physics, fluid dynamics is a sub-discipline of fluid mechanics that deals with fluid flow—the natural science of fluids in motion. It has several subdisciplines itself, including aerodynamics and hydrodynamics...
    
    
  • Solidification and casting
    Casting
    In metalworking, casting involves pouring liquid metal into a mold, which contains a hollow cavity of the desired shape, and then allowing it to cool and solidify. The solidified part is also known as a casting, which is ejected or broken out of the mold to complete the process...
    
    
• Environmental Metallurgy Lab:
  • Reduction of CO₂
    Carbon dioxide
    Carbon dioxide is a naturally occurring chemical compound composed of two oxygen atoms covalently bonded to a single carbon atom...
    
     emission
  • Improvement of energy efficiency
  • Gas alloying technology
• Computational Metallurgy Lab:
  • Classical modeling
    Scientific modelling
    Scientific modelling is the process of generating abstract, conceptual, graphical and/or mathematical models. Science offers a growing collection of methods, techniques and theory about all kinds of specialized scientific modelling...
    
     and experiments
  • Phase field modeling
    Phase field models
    A phase field model is a mathematical model for solving interfacial problems. It has mainly been applied to solidification dynamics, but it has also been applied to other situations such as viscous fingering, fracture dynamics, vesicle dynamics, etc....
    
     and experiments
  • First principle calculation, quantum mechanical
    Quantum mechanics
    Quantum mechanics, also known as quantum physics or quantum theory, is a branch of physics providing a mathematical description of much of the dual particle-like and wave-like behavior and interactions of energy and matter. It departs from classical mechanics primarily at the atomic and subatomic...
    
     modeling
• Microstructure Control Lab:
  • Phase transformation / electron
    Electron
    The electron is a subatomic particle with a negative elementary electric charge. It has no known components or substructure; in other words, it is generally thought to be an elementary particle. An electron has a mass that is approximately 1/1836 that of the proton...
    
     microscopy
    Microscopy
    Microscopy is the technical field of using microscopes to view samples and objects that cannot be seen with the unaided eye...
    
    
  • Microscopic deformation behavior
  • Toughness
    Toughness
    In materials science and metallurgy, toughness is the ability of a material to absorb energy and plastically deform without fracturing; Material toughness is defined as the amount of energy per volume that a material can absorb before rupturing...
    
     enhancement via microstructure
    Microstructure
    Microstructure is defined as the structure of a prepared surface or thin foil of material as revealed by a microscope above 25× magnification...
    
     control
  • Innovative processing (e.g., twin-roll casting)
• Materials Design Lab:
  • Automotive Steels, Galvanized/Galvannealed Products
  • Electrical Steels
  • Stainless steels
  • Steel grades related to power generation
• Materials Mechanics Lab:
  • Net Shape Forming
    Near net shape
    Near net shape is an industrial manufacturing technique. The name implies that the initial production of the item is very close to the final shape, reducing the need for surface finishing...
    
     (sheet
    Sheet metal
    Sheet metal is simply metal formed into thin and flat pieces. It is one of the fundamental forms used in metalworking, and can be cut and bent into a variety of different shapes. Countless everyday objects are constructed of the material...
    
     forming, other forming)
  • Performance in service (fracture
    Fracture
    A fracture is the separation of an object or material into two, or more, pieces under the action of stress.The word fracture is often applied to bones of living creatures , or to crystals or crystalline materials, such as gemstones or metal...
    
    , crashworthiness
    Crashworthiness
    Crashworthiness is the ability of a structure to protect its occupants during an impact. This is commonly tested when investigating the safety of aircraft and vehicles. Depending on the nature of the impact and the vehicle involved, different criteria are used to determine the crashworthiness of...
    
    , fatigue
    Fatigue (material)
    'In materials science, fatigue is the progressive and localized structural damage that occurs when a material is subjected to cyclic loading. The nominal maximum stress values are less than the ultimate tensile stress limit, and may be below the yield stress limit of the material.Fatigue occurs...
    
    )
• Surface Engineering Lab:
  • Composite
    Composite material
    Composite materials, often shortened to composites or called composition materials, are engineered or naturally occurring materials made from two or more constituent materials with significantly different physical or chemical properties which remain separate and distinct at the macroscopic or...
    
     coatings
  • Corrosion mechanism
    Corrosion
    Corrosion is the disintegration of an engineered material into its constituent atoms due to chemical reactions with its surroundings. In the most common use of the word, this means electrochemical oxidation of metals in reaction with an oxidant such as oxygen...
    
    & lifetime prediction
  • Corrosion resistant alloy design
  • Metallic coatings