JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #42 - July/August 2008 - 12

COMPANIES COMPANIES Hankuk Fiber Group, one man’s determination The history of Hankuk Fiber Group in South Korea is closely linked to the history of its Chairman and CEO, Yong Jun Cho. Mr. Cho has shaped his company to give it broader scope without losing its coherence as a whole, helping it to forge ahead into some preferred target markets. “Hankuk Fiber has captured the spirit of the future by expanding its business scope to include composite products and processing, from raw materials to new composite applications in various fields such as aerospace, construction, electronics, sporting goods, transportation and environmental protection.” In these few words, Mr. Yong Jun Cho succinctly summarizes his company and corporate philosophy. Mr Cho created Hankuk in 1972, when he was about 40 years of age, and the company rapidly grew into South Korea’s largest composite company. The company is now a group with five major business lines: - GRP pipes for applications in drinking water, sewerage, marine and chemicals; - weight-saving, frame retardant materials for rolling stock; - insulation panels for cryogenic LNG carriers and above-ground storage tanks; - composite materials for civil engineering, construction and architectural applications; - advanced composite parts for the aerospace and defence industries. All these activities are quite complementary and form a coherent whole for the domestic and foreign markets where the group operates. This is a case where vertical integration would seem to make sense. Retrospectively, the company’s different development stages and successive investment choices were apropos, and the results are there to show it. The group hasn’t yet completely won over the railway industry, however, and still needs to prove that it is capable of massproducing for that promising market. More information Hankuk Timeline 1972: Hankuk Fiber Glass Co., Ltd. established 1978: Appointed as a "Defense Industrial Company" by Korean government 1984: Hankuk Carbon Co., Ltd. established 1984: Appointed as a "Special Aerospace Industrial Company" by Korean government 1992: Boeing BMS8-79 qualified 2006: Completion of the Hamyang pipe plant Broad range of high-quality products Before launching a possible vertical integration process or into processing activities, Hankuk Fiber has first broadened its range of products to include the following families: - glass fibre produced in uniquely designed direct melt furnaces and processed into different types of reinforcement, including woven and non-woven materials; - prepregs using glass, carbon and aramid fibre with resin systems that are customformulated to meet specific application requirements; - the first resinless carbon composite material for construction reinforcements, Carbonex, which is comprised of unidirectional carbon fibres heat-bonded with net or woven materials. The material retains its superior static and dynamic properties after long-term exposure to fatigue and corrosive environments; - Fiber-X aluminium honeycomb sandwich panel, where the hexagonal honeycomb structure provides excellent load transfer over the skin surfaces. FiberX’s outstanding mechanical properties and low weight open the way to a new generation of container structure materials. It is also used as an exterior panel for building applications; - 3X-Board, an insulating panel with an FRP surfaced urethane foam structure for which Hankuk Fiber’s unique process is used to give a threedimensional FRP structure; - glass paper that is manufactured in a wet process combining inorganic glass fibre and specially treated raw materials, and which can be applied onto PVC decoration flooring (tile carpets) to provide dimensional stability, flame and abrasion resistance, and better printability. It can also be used as a surfacing veil to give FRP products a soft, smooth surface; - insulation panels to maximize cargo storage efficiency in containment systems for vessels that transport liquefied natural gas (LNG). The panels, made of reinforced polyurethane foam (R-PUF) and composite gas barrier produced by Hankuk Carbon, are used by many shipyards worldwide. They are quality approved by technology licensor GTT (Gaz Transport & Technigaz) and by classification societies. JEC Composites Magazine / No42 July-August 2008
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #42 - July/August 2008

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #42 - July/August 2008
