Development of New AZ91 Magnesium Alloy Sheet by SUMITOMO Electric Industries
Magnesium, among the metal in use is the lightest, with specific gravity lower than quarter of iron and around two third of aluminum. Furthermore, it features an outstanding strength and rigidity per weight in comparison to iron and aluminum contributing in manufacturing strong and light products. Adding to this, the magnesium is considered to be an environmentally friendly metal due to its high energy efficiency and recyclable properties, not to forget its abundance in nature. Based on these properties , Sumitomo Electric has developed AZ91 magnesium alloy sheet and its commercial production through a unique continuous casting process for the first time in the world.
Up to now, AZ91 has been mainly used in the form of the cast material in spite its outstanding corrosion resistance, all due to the difficulty of rolling and forming the metal. The new AZ91 offers an improvement in terms of strength (380 MPa) and corrosion resistance in comparison to conventional AZ31 sheet. Furthermore, it provide a excellent design capability for application of more sophisticated coating and aesthetically appealing finishing such as metallic surface, making it ideal for such application as housing of portable electronic equipment and automotive interior trim components. The manufacturing process of AZ91 alloy sheet has been simplified in comparison to AZ31 sheet with aim of reducing cost as well as in promoting its wider use.
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[...] Sumitomo Electric made an announcement on development of PureAccess-R5, a bending loss insensitive single mode optical fiber that is fully compliant with the new ITU-T G.657.B3, a recommended standard for macrobend at a 5mm radius capable of efficiently routing optical drop cables as well as other applications inside the home and Multiple Dwelling Units (MDUs). Furthermore, the newly developed fiber is ideal for data center applications and central office (Co) routing. The new PureAccess-R5 achieves a lower attenuation and bending loss at the 1550 and 1625 nm wavelengths, plus a higher proof stress level, surpassing the requirements of the G.657.B3 standard. The company has tested the full fiber length if PureAccess-R5 at an elevated 200 kpsi tensile stress, making this proof test, twice that of other commercially available G.657 fibers. The design of PureAccess-R5 makes it backward compatible with G.652 single mode fiber, splicing and connectorization practices. source Share and Enjoy: [...]
[...] Magnesium alloys are inherently light weight structural materials, all due to their high specific strength, high specific stiffness, and not to forget their abundance of resources. Their utilization is expanding into areas of automobiles and consumer electronics industries such as laptop PC and mobile phones, however, rolled magnesium alloy sheets exhibit poor room temperature formability, forcing the press-forming process to be carried out at an elevated temperature above 250 degrees Celsius, where installation of additional equipment for heating the magnesium sheet and dies are required, resulting in significant cost increase in manufacturing. In response to lowering manufacturing cost of magnesium alloy sheet, AIST (Advanced Industrial Science and Technology) in Japan has developed a new rolling process for commercial magnesium alloy sheet with high room temperature formability. The new rolling process is characterized by high rolling temperature of about 100 degrees higher than that of a conventional rolling process (below 400 degrees Celsius). The magnesium sheet that has been manufactured using the new rolling process shows a significant weak crystal orientation, resulting in excellent room temperature formability comparable to those of aluminum alloy sheets. This will contribute to significant cost reduction, due to the fact that a conventional press-forming machine without using heating equipment can be used to press the new magnesium alloy sheets. Furthermore, since the composition of the new magnesium alloy sheet is the same as the commercial magnesium alloy sheet, conventional surface treatment and joining processes can be applied. AIST currently conducting studies on practical use of the new magnesium alloy sheet, aiming at its wider range of applications. Share and Enjoy: [...]