Saitama-based Porous Techno Co. Ltd. plans to commercialize easily tearable films for use in deposition processes. Using proprietary microporous technology, the company has developed an easy-to-unseal aluminum deposition film as well as a transparent deposition film, both of which it intends to market toward food and medical supply packaging applications. Porous Techno’s proprietary technology allows...
Innovation
Hitachi Zosen Achieves Thickness of 10 Micrometers for Super Engineering Plastic
Hitachi Zosen Corp. (TYO:7004) has developed a film-forming system that enables super engineering plastics to be processed at a thickness of 10 micrometers. While companies have conventionally struggled to make such films thinner than 20 micrometers, Hitachi Zosen’s proprietary system uses an elastic metal roll, vertical stretching machine and extruder with a maximum heating temperature...
Nagoya Research Lab Makes World’s First CFRTP-Only Car Chassis
The Nagoya University National Composites Center (NCC) announced on Oct. 16 the first-ever successful production of an automobile chassis using only carbon fiber reinforced thermoplastic (CFRTP). This was done by using the direct long fiber thermoplastic (D-LFT) molding process to knead thermoplastic resin with carbon fiber. This advance will enable integrated automated production, from supplying...
Teijin JV Develops Car Seat Capable of Providing Route Assistance
Teijin Ltd. (TYO:3401) has launched what can be described as a “smart car seat” service, using a vibration sensor to provide route assistance to the driver of an emergency vehicle. This past February saw Netherlands-based Teijin Aramid BV, which handles the Teijin Group’s aramid fiber operations, finish laying the groundwork with venture company Elitac BV...
Hokkaido Mitsui Chemicals to Produce Anti-Cancer Drug Ingredient From Plant Cell Culture
Mitsui Chemicals Inc. (TYO:4183) group plans to develop a plant cell culture technology for efficiently producing an ingredient in the anti-cancer drug paclitaxel, which is used to treat breast and other cancers. Making plant cells that efficiently generate useful components enables anti-cancer drug ingredients to be produced without the need to use plant resources, reducing...
Hitachi to Offer Materials Development Solution Using Materials Informatics
Hitachi Ltd. (TYO:6501) has created a new service that employs artificial intelligence to help cut the time and cost of new materials development. Hitachi will offer its “Materials Development Solution” as part of its Lumada IoT platform product. Materials informatics (MI) technology can be utilized to help make the search for and testing of new...
Murata Looks to Bolster LiB Business
Murata Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TYO:6981) plans to strengthen its position in batteries after acquiring a business from the Sony Group on Sept. 1. The Japanese components maker hopes to be back in the black in fiscal 2019 by focusing on the energy sector. Murata will execute a two-pronged strategy consisting of external sales of lithium-ion...
ITRI Taiwan to Begin Mass Production of Micro-LED Displays
Taiwan’s Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) recently announced that it will form partnerships to begin mass production next year for micro-LED displays, a type of flat-panel display (FPD). Yen-Hsiang Fang, manager at ITRI’s Electronic and Optoelectronic System Research Laboratories, says the institute is aiming both to create a global value chain spanning from raw materials...
Sumitomo Osaka Cement Develops High-Voltage Positive Electrode Material for LiBs
Sumitomo Osaka Cement Co. Ltd. (TYO:5232) has developed iron phosphate-based high-voltage positive electrode material for lithium-ion secondary batteries (LiBs). The firm successfully developed this by combining lithium iron phosphate (LFP) with manganese (M) to ensure both a high degree of safety and high voltage. Commercialization is aimed for 2019. The newly developed LFMP supports the...
Nippon Paint Industrial Coating Develops UV-Curable Coating With Shape Memory
Nippon Paint Holdings Co. Ltd. (TYO:4612) subsidiary Nippon Paint Industrial Coating Co. Ltd. has developed an UV-curable coating that has shape memory and fingerprint resistance. The coating has a defined level of hardness, elasticity and toughness, and is able to recover immediately from scratches. It can be used as a surface-protecting material for a number...
Risho Kogyo Develops 100% CNF Flat Plates
Risho Kogyo Co. Ltd. has developed technology for the industrial production of flat plates made 100 percent from cellulose nanofiber (CNF). The technology holds initial promise for use in plated through-holes in printed circuit boards, with potential applications down the road including such building materials as those for thermal insulation and damping. Working together on...
Shanghai Aims to Promote FCVs With New Development Plan
The Shanghai Municipal Government announced on Sept. 20 its Fuel Cell Vehicle Development Plan, which was formulated by the Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai and others to promote fuel cell vehicles (FCVs). Realizing that FCVs will be entering a stage of global commercialization moving into 2020, the municipal government intends to support the development...
Mitsubishi Chemical Develops Transparent Film with Epoxy Resin
Mitsubishi Chemical Corp. has developed a highly transparent film using special epoxy resin. In addition to full bendability and elasticity, the film’s surface can be etched with circuit patterns of silver, conductive polymers and other materials. Mitsubishi Chemical envisions applications such as substrate materials for flexible organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays and wearable devices. Thermosetting...
Toshiba Doubles LiB Energy Density With New Prototype
Toshiba Corp. (TYO:6502) has succeeded in producing a prototype lithium-ion secondary battery (LiB) that uses titanium niobium oxide as anode material. The SCiB LiB currently produced by the firm employs a lithium–titanium oxide (LTO) anode. While users have praised the SCiB for its high output, its energy density has been cited as an issue. The...
Sharp Develops Integrated Car Instrument Panel Using Free-Form Displays
Sharp Corp. (TYO:6753) plans to ramp up its efforts to find takers in the automotive market for its free-form LCD technology that enables non-rectangular and curved screen designs. The company has developed an integrated instrument panel that connects two in-vehicle displays and can be fitted entirely within the panel section. The connected free-form displays allow...
Kyushu University Announces Organic Phosphorescent System Without Rare Metals
A Kyushu University research group has announced the world’s first phosphorescent system to use organic materials. Leading this group are Assistant Professor Ryota Kabe and Professor Chihaya Adachi from the university’s Center for Organic Photonics and Electronics Research (OPERA). The light-absorbing system combines electron donor materials and electron acceptor materials in a fixed ratio, and...
Mitsui Chemicals Gets Ready to Bring Electronic Eyewear to Market
Mitsui Chemicals Inc. (TYO:4183) is gearing up to commercialize its next-generation of eyewear. Called TouchFocus, these electronic glasses come with an electronic circuit and battery built into the frame and a liquid crystal lens surface. When the user touches the sensor on the frame, voltage is applied to the liquid crystal area of the lenses...
NSK Develops 100% Food-Derived Grease Lubricant
NSK Ltd. (TYO:6471) has developed the world’s first grease lubricant derived entirely from food-grade ingredients. The firm has begun marketing it in the form of grease-filled stainless steel (SUS) bearings for processes and parts where safety is required. Using only vegetable oil and other food-grade ingredients, NSK has created a grease that demonstrates the necessary...
TIRI Finds New Functionality for CFRP
The Tokyo Metropolitan Industrial Technology Research Institute (TIRI) has developed a technology that gives carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) new functionality for use in apparel products using common screen printing methods. The Tokyo-based organization is the first to use printing technology for CFRP reforming and has shown that improvements can be made in impact resistance...
Taiwan’s ITRI Develops Cheaper, Higher-Capacity Aluminum Secondary Batteries
Taiwan’s Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) recently announced that it has made a number of improvements to its aluminum secondary battery technology. This includes the development of a proprietary process to cheaply mass-produce expensive battery materials. The process, which ITRI will carry out in the Tainan region of Taiwan, allows for major materials to be...
