Ube Industries Ltd. (TYO:4208) is gearing up to expand its Thai and Spanish production of polycarbonate diol (PCD), a raw material for polyurethane. With plans to bring in new technologies to increase productivity without increasing facilities, Ube Industries is seeking to increase its total capacity by roughly 30 percent, from 11,000 tons per annum at...
Materials
Toyo Tanso Graphitizes Porous Carbon for Improved Oxidation Resistance, Conductivity
Toyo Tanso Co. Ltd. (TYO:5310) is moving up a gear in the application of its CNovel porous carbon. The firm has used its proprietary graphitization technology to develop graphitized CNovel. Toyo Tanso has succeeded in creating a graphite particle structure that retains the nanopores in CNovel while offering improved conductivity and oxidation resistance. CNovel normally...
Denka to Boost Acetylene Black Production in Singapore by 50%
Denka Co. Ltd. (TYO:4061) plans to ramp up production of high-purity acetylene black used in power cables by 50 percent in Singapore. The decision is in response to growing demand for high-voltage and extra-high-voltage power cables in Europe, which is aggressively introducing renewable energy such as offshore wind power, and in China, a country actively...
Taiyo Holdings Develops Stretchable Conductive Paste
Taiyo Holdings Co. Ltd. (TYO:4626) is rapidly bringing new products to market in the field of conductive paste for wearable devices. One such product is the company’s new Elepaste NP1, a conductive paste able to maintain one of the industry’s highest levels of electrical conductivity even when the elastic film — onto which circuits are...
Needle Coke Prices Shoot up Amid Surging Chinese Demand
Supply for needle coke is growing tight. This comes amid healthy demand in China for the product as an anode material for batteries in electric vehicles (EVs) and the country’s tighter clampdown on illegal iron and steel production. The result has been overseas market conditions trending upward, with needle coke prices rising by over 50...
Chinese VOC Regulations for New Cars Could Mean AD Duty on POM Imports
Regulations in China now require low levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) inside all new cars sold in January of this year onward. The new regulations were put into effect based on the previously recommended VOC criteria by the Chinese government. Cars sold before January of this year will also be required to meet the...
Japanese Chemical Giants to Leverage AI, Big Data for Joint Research Into Polymer Materials
Mitsubishi Chemical Corp., Sumitomo Chemical Co. Ltd. (TYO:4005), Asahi Kasei Corp. (TYO:3407) and Mitsui Chemicals Inc. (TYO:4183) plan to work with the National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) on basic research into polymer materials. The four firms have agreed to contribute both basic research data on polyolefins and researchers in the hope of developing data...
Kaneka to Acquire Applied Poleramic for Full-Scale Entry Into Aerospace
Kaneka Corp. (TYO:4118) recently announced that it will acquire California-based Applied Poleramic Inc., a manufacturer and vendor of compounded resin used in aerospace components and carbon fiber composites. Kaneka will purchase 100 percent of Applied Poleramic’s shares, making it a consolidated subsidiary for an approximate amount of 1.5 billion yen ($13.46 million). In order to...
Teijin to Supply Polycarbonate Resin for GLM Electric Car Windshield
Teijin Ltd. (TYO:3401) has announced that its polycarbonate (PC) resin has been selected for use in the pillarless front windshield of the Tommykaira ZZ, a sports electric vehicle (EV) manufactured by GLM Co. Ltd., a Kyoto University-spawned automaker. This represents the world’s first production model road car windshield to be made of resin. Teijin uses...
Key to the Car of Tomorrow: V2X – Part 2
When it comes to the connected car and other next-generation automobiles, attention has mostly focused on fuel and driving innovations. Yet improving comfort is also an important factor. New technologies are coming in light of a variety of objectives, such as drivability and ride quality. In addition to air conditioning and lighting, there is growing...
Key to the Car of Tomorrow: V2X – Part 1
The situation surrounding advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), the connected car, autonomous driving and automobiles has been changing at a rapid pace. These changes concern not just in-vehicle electronics but also infrastructural aspects such as communications and electricity supply. As such, many companies are beginning to draft growth strategies that account for these changes in...
NIMS and NUT Develop Strong, Moldable Magnesium Alloy
A research team from the National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) and Nagaoka University of Technology (NUT) has developed a magnesium alloy rolled material that has a level of strength and moldability comparable to that of aluminum alloy used in automobiles. The new alloy is age hardened and, through solution treatment, achieves the same level...
Toagosei First to Commercialize Process Making Acrylic Acid From Propane
Toagosei Co. Ltd. (TYO:4045) has success in its sights with a new process for directly manufacturing acrylic acid from propane on an industrial scale. The new process achieves yields comparable with the existing two-step method of oxidizing naphtha-derived propylene, raising the prospect of cutting CO2 emission intensity by 30 percent or more. Demand for acrylic...
Key to the Car of Tomorrow: In-Vehicle Displays – Part 2
With the field of automotive displays showing continued growth, material and component manufacturers join display manufacturers in their hope for the future of this market, which has different requirements than that of displays for smartphones and other consumer devices. In addition to high durability and long lifespan, there is the need for high image quality...
Taiyo Holdings Develops World’s First CNF-Based Insulating Material
Taiyo Holdings Co. Ltd. (TYO:4626) plans to lose no time in commercializing an insulating material made from cellulose nanofiber (CNF). With optimized hydrophobicity and concentration levels, the company’s recently developed CNF-based insulating material combines higher strength and low thermal expansion. This is the world’s first example of CNF being used in an insulating material. Solder...
Key to the Car of Tomorrow: In-Vehicle Displays – Part 1
The automotive display market continues to grow. Increasing at a rate of 10 percent per year, the market is said to reach the 1 trillion yen ($90.21 billion) mark in 2020. Not limited just to car navigation systems, vehicle meters and standard switches are being replaced by center information displays. This presents increasing business opportunities...
Tosoh Considers Expanding Chloroprene Rubber Supply
Tosoh Corp. (TYO:4042) has begun looking into the possibility of boosting its chloroprene rubber (CR) capacities. Amid a tightening global demand–supply balance for the material, the company’s production continues to run at full capacity. Unable to answer all business inquiries, Tosoh has postponed shipments in part, primarily in relation to those for export. As a...
China Eager to Move Toward OLED as LCD Replacement
China is the world’s largest producer of liquid crystal displays (LCDs) but is now actively investing in organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) as a means to replace LCD technology. OLED production lines with Japanese manufacturing equipment have been established in the country, as China hopes to improve yield, productivity and quality to make a full-scale entry...
LiB Materials Hold Key to EV Market Prospects – Part 2
China is getting on the high-capacity lithium-ion secondary battery (LiB) bandwagon as the country’s government pushes to popularize EVs. This shift makes for business opportunities for Japanese manufacturers. One executive at a Japanese maker of separators identified LiBs using ternary cathodes as one such opportunity. Why would the use of these components prove beneficial to...
LiB Materials Hold Key to EV Market Prospects – Part 1
Automakers around the world are stepping up their efforts to develop electric vehicles (EVs). In Europe, manufacturers have released plans to have EVs account for roughly 25 percent of total automobile sales by 2025. In the U.S., Tesla Inc. has exceeded General Motors Co. in terms of market value. Meanwhile, Toyota Motor Corp. (TYO:7203) is...
