Of all the tools used for cutting ferrous metals and nonferrous metals, about 90% are cemented carbide or coated cemented carbide tools. Cemented carbide (WC-Co) is a composite material of a tungsten carbide (WC) phase and a cobalt (Co) binder phase. It was invented in Germany in 1923 and put on the market in 1927 by the German corporation Krupp AG under the trade name “WIDIA.” Subsequently, Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd. succeeded in its test manufacture of a cemented carbide wire-drawing die in 1928, and commercialized a cemented carbide tool in 1931. This tool has been marketed under the brand name of “IGETALLOY” ever since. In 2011, Sumitomo Electric celebrated 80 years of marketing this product. In the early 1900s, high-speed steel tools were used for steel cutting operations. The invention of cemented carbide tools have since enabled higher-speed cutting than high-speed steel tools. In the late 1970s, coated cemented carbide tools, which were made by coating cemented carbide with aluminum oxide and titanium carbonitride, were developed for use in even higherspeed cutting operations. Thus, 80 years after its invention, cemented carbide is the mainstream material for cutting tools. A cermet tool made from TiCN-Ni, a material originally developed for jet engine components, is suitable for finishing steel workpieces because of its low affinity with steel. Ceramic tools, whose principal components are aluminum oxide (Al2O3) and silicon nitride (Si3N4), are used for high-speed cutting of cast iron because of its high resistance to heat.

Coated inserts are used in the cutting of automotive and other machine components. For the reduction of the environmental impact and efficient use of resources, these components have increasingly thin walls and complex designs, using high-strength, difficult-to-cut materials. Meanwhile, there is also a strong demand from machining sites for cutting tools that have a long tool life and exhibit stable performance. To satisfy these demands, Sumitomo Electric Hardmetal Corporation has developed new coated carbide grades “ACE COAT” AC405K/415K for cast iron turning. This paper describes the features and cutting performance of the new products.

“SUMIBORON” PCBN (polycrystalline cubic boron nitride) tools are widely used in the cutting of hard-to-cut ferrous materials, such as hardened steel, cast iron and ferrous powder metal (PM), and contribute to productivity growth and cost reduction for metalworking. In the recent growing automotive industry, the machining of cast iron and ferrous PM parts has been increasingly required. However, the machinability of these parts has been degraded because of their high functionality. Therefore, the demand has increased for PCBN cutting tools that enable efficient machining over an extended duration. The authors have developed SUMIBORON BN7000, which has the highest CBN contents among the present production line and excellent binding force between CBN particles. BN7000 ensures higher efficiency and longer tool life in cast iron and ferrous PM machining than any other conventional PCBN grades. This paper describes the development process and performance of BN7000.

The authors have succeeded in the production of single-phase (binderless) nano-polycrystalline diamond (NPD) by the direct conversion sintering of graphite at ultra-high pressure and temperature. NPD, consisting of diamond grains of several tens of nanometers, having fine texture, extreme hardness, and high strength without showing cleavage features and anisotropy of mechanical properties. These salient characteristics indicate that NPD has outstanding potential as industrial material suitable for cutting tools and wear-resistant tools. To evaluate the cutting performance of NPD tools, the authors conducted precision cutting tests using various work materials such as Al-Si alloy, ceramics, and cemented carbides in the respective conditions. NPD tools demonstrated significantly high cutting performance in each test compared with both conventional polycrystalline diamond tools and single-crystal diamond tools, indicating that NPD holds great promise in applications for various cutting and processing tools.

General-purpose face milling cutters are widely used in metal machining. These tools are required to reduce machining cost and offer a wide range of applications. Furthermore, they need to ensure excellent surface finish for highly functional parts. To address these challenges, Sumitomo Electric Hardmetal Corporation has developed a new milling cutter “SEC-Dual Mill DGC” series for general-purpose face milling. This series employs negative inserts which can be used on both sides to enable cost effective machining. Moreover, the cutter body can use both square inserts with 8 cutting edges and octagonal inserts with 16 cutting edges. A variety of breakers, including burr-reducing breakers, are also available to provide a broad range of applications.

SECGrooving is widely applied in the machining of various machine parts including automotive components. However, compared with general cutting, grooving is subject to problems such as difficulty in chip evacuation, which can result in defects on metal surfaces, and tool vibration due to the high load operation with the entire cutting edge. To improve processing efficiency and accuracy while minimizing the cost of grooving tools, Sumitomo Electric Hardmetal Corporation has developed new grooving tools “SEC-GND” series. This series reduces machining vibration by 30% compared with the conventional models, ensures better chip control, and saves tool costs.

In recent years, mold manufactures have been prompted to provide low-cost, high-precision products and shorten the delivery time in response to the miniaturization of products and price competition in the global market. Due to this trend, mold manufactures desire to shift their manufacturing method of hardened steel from electric discharge processing with copper electrodes to direct cutting. Sumitomo Electric Hardmetal Corporation has newly released the cubic boron nitride (cBN) BNBR endmills to expand its product lineup for direct cutting. The company has also developed cBN BNBC endmills and diamond-like carbon coated (DLC COAT) SNB2 endmills for copper electrode processing. This paper describes their features and improved performance.

Tungsten, the main component of cemented carbide tools, is subject to supply risk. This work considered two countermeasures: recycle and saving. For recycling, hydrometallurgy process was investigated in order to use all applications of tungsten resources. Although the hydrometallurgy process requires large-scale production facilities for cost effectiveness, we have solved the problem by developing high efficiency and low cost technique specializing for recycling cemented carbide. For tungsten saving, a composite structure of cemented carbide and cermet was developed to reduce tungsten usage. We report the cutting performance and breakage resistance of the composite structured tool.

Radiation chemistry is commonly used in the manufacturing of various industrial products including heat resistant electrical wires, rubber materials, heat shrinkable tubings and films, foamed materials, and battery separators. In radiation chemistry, electron beams are more widely used than gamma rays because of the good handling and operational characteristics. NHV Corporation has been concentrating its efforts on the development of high power electron beam processing systems. This report describes the technology and application examples of these systems.

Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd. has developed magnetic powder core materials for power inductors used in eco-friendly vehicles. Pure iron based powder cores with an operating frequency range from 10 kHz to 30 kHz have been used for boost converter reactors in hybrid-electric vehicles (HEVs), while low-loss Fe-Si-Al alloy powder cores with an operation range of several hundred kHz have shown the potential to replace ferrite cores for buck converter choke coils. Our lowloss alloy powder cores are also a competitive alternative for choke coils in plug-in HEV and EV on-board chargers, which generally operate in a range from 50 kHz to 200 kHz. This paper compares differences in size, weight, power loss, and DC-bias characteristics between E-type choke coils that are respectively designed with the Fe-Si-Al alloy powder cores and ferrite cores for the power factor correction (PFC) of the charger. The simulation results show that alloy powder cores significantly reduce the size and weight of choke coils compared with ferrite cores. This paper also describes a new choke coil structure that we have developed to improve the heat dissipation of E-type choke coils. The experimental results indicate that the newly designed coil has a lower operating temperature than that of E-type choke coils.

In recent years, electrification of automobiles is in progress. Following the advent of passenger electric vehicles, large size commercial vehicles with electric drive are also being developed. One of the problems in the development of large electric vehicles is the heavy weight which leads to short driving distances. Energy saving by the use of high-efficiency motors will be a solution. The authors have developed a prototype electric vehicle equipped with a high-temperature superconducting motor and a refrigerator. The test results showed that the motor has torque of 136 Nm and an output of 30 kW, and the prototype vehicle obtains the maximum speed of 80 km/h.

Sumitomo Wiring Systems, Ltd. designs and develops rubber grommets used for the protection and sealing of automotive wiring harnesses. These grommets are required to have good sealing properties, reduce the insertion force, and increase the pull-out force. To evaluate the insertion and pull-out forces, we use computer-aided engineering (CAE), in which the calculation results conform to the experimental results by reflecting the frictional force and material properties. We can also evaluate the change of the forces according to the surface roughness of grommets by CAE. For the sealing properties, we investigate water intrusion paths and the relations between water quantity, pressure, and leaks. This Paper reports on the results.

As the optical access network expands, there is an increasing demand for optical fiber cables that improve the efficiency of Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) network installation and maintenance. To meet this demand, we have fabricated the single-mode hole-assisted fiber (SM-HAF) that satisfies low bending loss requirements of ITU-T G.657.A2 and B3 as well as other specifications of G.652. We have also developed an SM-HAF optical fiber connector, cord and cable, and confirmed their excellent bend insensitive characteristics.

As of December 2011, the number of FTTH subscribers in Japan has reached 21 million and is forecast to increase at a consistent pace. To construct FTTH networks more economically, a distribution system using underground conduits has been proposed. In this system, distribution cables are installed in underground conduits and drop cables are routed to each subscriber’s home upon request for FTTH service at the midpoint of distribution cables. Here we have developed 40-fiber and 100-fiber cables as distribution cables which have good workability characteristics even in a dimly-lit and narrow space.

The authors have successfully developed a new ceramic package that features high heat dissipation for a cooled TOSA (Transmitter Optical Sub-Assembly) used for transmissions over 10 Gbit/s. This package enables a laser diode to emit light without a costly glass window.

As the amount of Internet traffic increases every year, expectation is growing for 10 Gigabit Ethernet passive optical network (10G-EPON) technology that enables high-speed data transmission. For a smooth replacement of the currentlyused GE-PON, 10G-EPON needs to support a maximum loss budget of 29 dB and to coexist with GE-PON in the same optical network. In addition, reduction in capital and operating expenditures is required. To meet these demands, optical transceivers can be a key component. The authors have developed small pluggable optical transceivers for 10G-EPON systems and confirmed their efficiency and power-saving operation.

The authors have successfully developed optical transceiver modules operating at 43 Gbit/s and 112 Gbit/s. They are compliant with the ITU-T (International Telecommunication Union Telecommunication Standardization Sector) standard and the CFP MSA (Centum gigabit Form factor Pluggable Multi-Source Agreement) specification and they showed excellent performance with lower power consumption by leveraging in-house optical devices, ICs and optical subassemblies. This paper describes the outline of optical transceiver development and evaluation result.

Conventional license plate detection methods have a good success rate in detecting one or a few fixed formats, however, they may fail in some cases such as motorcycles in Japan and foreign vehicles across national borders. The authors have developed a novel method to detect different types of license plates. This method employs Bag-of-Features based on Histogram of Oriented Gradients, which enables the detector to identify characters’ common curves on different types of plates. Moreover, this method reduces the computation time and false detection as used in combination with screening technology and edge distribution. The experiment results show that the method is effective for detecting motorcycle license plates in Japan.

In Japan, automatic license plate recognition systems have been used for more than ten years for measuring the vehicle travel time and other applications that require detailed plate information. To better respond to the requirements in these applications, we have developed an automatic license plate recognition device that features a high recognition rate, low error rate, compact design, high reliability, and low running and installation costs by incorporating innovations in both software and hardware such as new image-processing algorithms, an advanced camera unit, and an imageprocessing board. Drawing on this technology, we are currently working on the development of recognition systems for foreign license plates.

Flexible printed circuit (FPC) boards need to have fine pitch patterns for lighter, thinner, and smaller electronic equipment, and connection technology for metal layers (other than copper) is required for FPC diversification. Conductive paste via connection technology offers advantages for manufacturing fine pitch FPC boards and can be applied to non-copper metal layers. The authors have developed highly reliable via connecting technology using conductive paste containing silver nano particles.

To improve the luminous efficiency of white light-emitting diodes (LEDs) for general lighting, the InGaN-based-LEDs with thick quantum wells (QWs) were examined on our unique freestanding gallium nitride (GaN) substrates with lowthreading dislocation densities (TDDs). With LEDs grown on sapphire, which are commonly used, the crystalline quality of QWs was deteriorated and the luminous efficiency was degraded with the increase in the total thicknesses of InGaN QWs. On the other hand, on the GaN substrates with low TDD, the luminous efficiency at high current density was successfully improved without the deterioration of crystalline quality as the total thicknesses of InGaN QWs increased. Consequently, it was confirmed that the combination of thick InGaN QWs and low-TDD GaN substrates gives rise to highly efficient LEDs required for solid state lighting.

This paper proposes use of polycrystalline spinel for the temperature compensation of radio frequency (RF) surface acoustic wave (SAW) devices. Spinel can be bonded with LiTaO3 (LT) and LiNbO3 (LN) wafers by using adhesive and direct bonding techniques. A series of RF SAW resonators were fabricated on the LT(LN)/spinel structure, and their performance, including the temperature coefficient of frequency (TCF), was measured. For comparison, SAW resonators employing Si and sapphire in place of spinel were also fabricated. The result indicated that the polycrystalline spinel offers TCF improvement better than other materials.

Thunderbolt is an innovative high-speed input/output (I/O) technology developed by Intel Corporation. It enables 10Gbp/s transmission between a computer and peripheral devices. Based on Intel's technical specifications, Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd. developed a Thunderbolt electrical cable by combining its advanced cable and high-speed transmission technologies. The Thunderbolt cable utilizes differential data transmission technology using pairs of coaxial cables that boast excellent signal integrity, low skew and low attenuation. The cable has advanced signal processing circuits in the connectors at both ends for signal compensation. This paper describes the results of signal integrity evaluation and reliability tests.

With a record-low birthrate and rapidly-growing elderly population, Japan faces a severe demographic challenge compounded by a chronic lack of nursing-care staff. High-function welfare apparatuses are attracting attention as effective tools to reduce the burden of caregivers and to compensate for the lack of nursing care staff. Related research and development have been widely conducted, and as a result, the necessity of flexible tactile sensors as humanmachine interfaces is increasing. We have developed a smart rubber tactile sensor sheet made entirely of rubber, to achieve a soft and easy contact with humans. The sensor sheet, which uses electric capacitance to measure pressures, consists of a three-layered structure, with a dielectric layer sandwiched by two electrode layers. Each electrode layer has a number of parallel ribbon-like electrodes and the electrodes on the two layers are oriented orthogonally to form a sensor sheet. This paper describes the sensing principle and the manufacturing method of the sensor sheet, and the development of its microcontrollers, as well as applications in nursing-care assistant robot RIBA-II, and pressure ulcer prevention mattresses.

A DC micro grid system has been proposed as a power network that enables the introduction of a large amount of solar energy using distributed photovoltaic generation units. To test the feasibility of the system, we have developed a demonstration facility consisting of silicon photovoltaic (Si-PV) units, copper indium gallium (di)selenide photovoltaic (CIGS-PV) units, concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) units, an aerogenerator, and a redox flow battery. The redox flow battery, a key component for supply-demand adjustment in the micro grid system, successfully balanced supply and demand in the grid by its rapid charge-discharge ability even under the fluctuating condition of power generation and consumption.

The authors have developed a novel porous metal with high corrosion resistance. Porous materials are used in fuel cells as the current collector and gas diffusion layer of the electrode. Typical porous materials include carbon sheet, molded carbon and porous metals such as stainless used steel (SUS) and nickel chrome (Ni-Cr) alloys. Among these materials, porous metals are preferable because of their high gas diffusion performance. Because of the highly oxidizing atmosphere in fuel cells, porous metals are required to have a high corrosion resistance, and for this purpose, chromium is generally added. However, the use of chromium has recently been regulated according to environmental protection regulations. Therefore, the authors have focused on Tin (Sn), which shows a high corrosion resistance in a fuel cell atmosphere, and developed Ni-Sn alloy Celmet. This new Celmet has achieved a current density comparable to that of Ni-Cr alloy. Overall, the Ni-Sn alloy Celmet is highly resistant to corrosion in a fuel cell atmosphere and environmentally friendly.

High-carbon steel wires, such as piano, hard-drawn, or oil-tempered wire, are used for automotive and electronic parts. Despite their outstanding advantages in strength, ductility, and fatigue resistance, these wires are susceptible to fracture due to the brittle as-quenched martensite structure formed by welding. To overcome this problem, we have developed a high-strength steel wire that consists of a bainitic matrix phase to enhance weldability, by adding carbide former elements to low-carbon steel. The developed wire features 1) a finely recrystallized bainite phase in place of the brittle martensite phase even after welding treatment, 2) work hardening behavior and tensile strength equal to and 3) a softening resistance superior to those of a piano wire, 4) a low degradation in the tensile strength (approx. 4%) after welding, and 5) a fatigue limit equivalent to that of a piano wire after 2 × 106 rotational bending. Sumitomo (SEI) Steel Wire Corp. has already started supplying the wire and is currently working to broaden its application field.