Speed and cost the targets for Sumitomo

Speed and cost the targets for Sumitomo Higher productivity, lower costs and faster delivery are among the objectives of work being carried out by Sumitomo Electrical in the development of microcircuitry and new hardmetal grades and coatings… SILVER powders are widely used as pastes to form fine printed circuits for electronic devices. But while printing allows low-cost, high-productivity fine line formation, it is difficult to form patterning lines less than 100µm wide with acceptable conductivity. Sumitomo Electric Industries (SEI) has developed a hightemperature sintering silver paste containing nanoparticles for fine line formation on glass and ceramic substrates. The company's Seintronics paste, which can be sintered at 450°C, has optimised rheological properties to enable line printing at widths of less than 100µm and with high conductivity close to that of bulk silver. The silver nanopowders used increase packing density and this results in improved sintering and electrical conductivity. Higher production efficiency, shorter delivery times and lower costs are also preoccupations in manufacturing industry more widely. With direct milling of hardened die moulds and machine parts increasing, demand for highspeed cutting tools is also rising. Sumitomo and NachiFujikoshi have developed a new carbide grade and coating technology which, they say, improves wear resistance and lengthens tool life. The highly aluminium-rich Al-Ti-Cr-based laminated coating - GS Hard Coating - has superior oxidation resistance at 1100°C, about three times that of conventional products. Heat resistance and high-speed cutting are improved. • Sumitomo researchers have succeeded in synthesising a high-purity nano-polycrystalline diamond by direct conversion from high-purity graphite under static pressures above 15GPa and temperatures above 2300°C. It has a fine mixed homogenous texture and a lamellar structure. The fine structure and high hardness auger well for future tools.

metal-powder.net

March 2005 MPR

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