---
title: "Scientists Invent a New Steel as Strong as Titanium"
description: "Scientists are finally discovering new secrets to make the material better, lighter, and stronger."
date: "2015-02-05"
modified: "2015-08-13"
authors:
  - name: "Matthew Lincoln"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/justmatt"
url: "https://futurism.com/scientists-invent-a-new-steel-as-strong-as-titanium"
categories:
  - "Future Materials"
  - "Science & Energy"
tags:
  - "materials"
---

# Scientists Invent a New Steel as Strong as Titanium

![Default Futurism featured image](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Futurism-Filler-Image.jpg>)

- A team of material scientists at Pohang University of Science and Technology in South Korea announced what they're calling one of the biggest steel breakthroughs of the last few decades: an altogether new type of flexible, ultra-strong, lightweight steel.
- This new metal has a strength-to-weight ratio that matches even our best titanium alloys, but at one tenth the cost, and can be created on a small scale with machinery already used to make automotive-grade steel.
- Before the new material can be mass-produced, researchers must confront a tricky production issue: currently, steelmakers use a silicate layer to cover and protect mass-produced steel from oxidation with the air and contamination from the foundry. This silicate can't be used for Kim's steel because it has a tendency to react with the cooling aluminum, compromising the final product.