Nippon Shinmetals doubles tungsten carbide capacity at Akita plant

Nippon Shinmetals (Headquarters: Toyonaka City, Osaka Prefecture) announced an increase in the production capacity of tungsten carbide (WC) powder at its Akita Plant (Akita City). The 'Second Tungsten Building' was constructed in the plant, and the completion ceremony was held on October 31, 2013, thereby doubling the production capacity of tungsten carbide. Tungsten carbide powder is mainly used as a material for superhard alloy cutting tools (hereinafter referred to as superhard cutting tools). Akita Factory is a factory that refines tungsten, and implements one-stop production. Using tungsten ore and superhard tool waste (raw material), it produces the intermediate material - ammonium paratungstate (APT) powder, and finally prepares tungsten carbide powder as the final product. . The enhancement this time is the 'post-process' part of obtaining tungsten carbide powder from APT powder. The 'pre-process' of obtaining APT powder from raw materials has a surplus in production capacity and is not the target of this enhancement. However, Nippon Shinkin did not announce the specific production capacity of the Akita plant. Nippon Shinkin also produces tungsten carbide powder at its headquarters factory (Toyonaka City, Osaka Prefecture). Strengthening the Akita plant in this case is on the one hand to reduce the risk of natural disasters by dispersing production bases, and on the other hand to meet the expanding demand for tungsten carbide powder. At present, with the increase in automobile production, the demand for superhard tools including export parts is high, and the demand for tungsten carbide powder also increases. Nippon Shinmetals is a consolidated subsidiary of Mitsubishi Materials.