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Please
tell us about your company’s activities, including uses
for copper alloys. |
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Metals Company
uses the highly efficient, non-polluting Mitsubishi
Process to produce a wide range of high-performance
copper products that we supply worldwide.
The
Mitsubishi Materials Group currently manufactures some
340,000 tons of electrolytic copper annually at smelting
and refinery facilities in Kagawa Prefecture and Fukushima
Prefecture. The electrolytic copper, which we use to
manufacture oxygen-free copper, is 99.99% pure and of
the highest quality in the world. This enables us to
maintain a 30% share of the world market for oxygen-free
copper and oxygen-free copper-base alloys.
Major
Japanese copper rolling companies, including our Group
company, Mitsubishi Shindoh Co., Ltd., use our ingots
to produce 70,000 tons of high-performance copper alloys
annually. These alloys are widely used |
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there’s electronics, there’s copper; the
lead frames (pictured) where computer chips
sit are often made of copper |
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in semiconductor
lead frames and terminal connectors.
Copper
is easy to process and has excellent thermal conductivity,
characteristics that make it an excellent material for
a wide variety of applications. It is widely used in
pipes for refrigerators, air conditioners, radiators
and other heat-exchange devices, as well as in water
supply systems, water heaters and heating and cooling
systems.
Based
on composition and ingot size, Mitsubishi Materials
currently produces around 100 different types of copper
alloys. Here, we have a domestic market share of 25%,
and are keenly aware of our responsibility to supply
products reliably. |
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What
challenges have you faced in developing new copper alloys? |
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In 1983,
we began to use a full continuous casting method based on
oxygen-free copper. However, it took two years from the start
of production to stabilize production of certain types of
alloys, especially those used for lead frames and other applications
with demanding quality requirements. During that time only
about 20% of our output was usable, and the major losses incurred
caused considerable concern to our management.
Previously,
most copper alloys were manufactured in semi-continuous casting
systems, using scrap copper melted in batch furnaces. We wanted
to develop a new method to produce the highly reliable alloys
needed for electronic materials. Fortunately one of our subsidiaries,
Onahama Smelting & Refining Co., Ltd., had been producing
oxygen-free copper since the second half of the 1960s, while
another Group company, Mitsubishi Shindoh Co., Ltd., was one
of the first companies in Japan to manufacture strips for
lead frames in Japan. These factors contributed to our success
as a manufacturer of high-performance copper alloys.
We
successfully developed high-performance, high-quality copper
alloys by adding substances such as chromium, zirconium and
magnesium to oxygen-free copper. Today we are widely known
as a manufacturer of these products. |
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What
are your future plans for copper alloys? |
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In recent years, there has
been an accelerating trend toward lighter and more compact
products. Until a few years ago, there were only 500
terminals and connectors in one motor vehicle. Now there
are 2,000. Higher device densities mean higher temperatures,
and in addition to strength and electrical conductivity,
devices also need the ability to withstand heat. Our
copper alloys offer increasingly important advantages
in this context.
Manufacturers
are also becoming increasingly reliant on the high quality
of our copper alloys, since the purity of the materials
used has an important bearing on the performance of
the final products.
Large-scale
production in China has intensified the global competition
for general rolled copper products. Despite this, our
rolled copper companies, Mitsubishi Shindoh Co., Ltd.
and Sambo Copper Alloy Co., Ltd., continue to perform
strongly. We anticipate further growth in global markets,
accompanied by a further escalation of competition.
We aim to support the Japanese rolled copper industry
and manufacturers of electronic materials, including
Mitsubishi Cable Industries, Ltd. by developing products
that are far ahead of those of our competitors. |
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