Sumitomo Special Metals Co., Ltd.

Toyo Tire Rubber Co., Ltd.

Neomax Co., Ltd.

Osamu Yamashita

Tsunekazu Saigo

Ken Makita

Nobuhiro Sadatomi

Masao Noumi

Seiichi Kohara

Hirokazu Kitayama

Hiroshi Hashikawa

Wataru Takahashi

Hajime Watanabe

Masahiro Asano

Masakazu Ohkita

Nobushige Hiraishi

Yoshihisa Kishimoto

Kinya Moriguchi

Shunichi Haruyama

Yoshiyuki Hashimasa

An inspection method for inspecting beads provided on a tire building drum in process of production a pneumatic tire includes measuring a displacement amount in a radial direction on each of the beads lying axially on both sides of the drum with a distance sensor such as an eddy current sensor while rotating the drum, synthesizing displacement amounts so obtained on the beads on both the sides, calculating a harmonic of the displacement amounts in the radial direction of the beads by performing harmonic analysis on a resultant synthesized displacement amount, and determining whether the magnitude of the harmonic so calculated falls within a predetermined range.

Method and apparatus for inspecting pneumatic tire during production

An anisotropic thin-film rare-earth permanent magnet endowed with high magnetic characteristics by rendering a vapor-phase-grown thin film anisotropic in the layering direction. The atomic laminate units are formed by laminating a monoatomic layer of a rare earth element on a substrate of a non-magnetic material having, a flat smoothness and then by laminating an atomic laminate of a transition metal element having a plurality of monoatomic layers of a transition metal element, so that the atomic laminate units of a characteristic construction are laminated in a plurality of layers. As a result, each atomic laminate of the transition metal element has an easy magnetizable axis in the laminate direction of the monoatomic layers and which are sandwiched between a monoatomic layer of a rare-earth element so that an inverse magnetic domain is suppressed to establish a strong coercive force. Moreover, the content of the transition metal element to the rare-earth metal is raised to improve the residual magnetic flux density drastically.

Anisotropic thin-film rare-earth permanent magnet

Permanent magnets in which the ferromagnetic phase is matched with the grain boundary phase, and permanent magnets in which magnetocrystalline anisotropy in the vicinity of the outermost shell of the major phase is equivalent in intensity to that in the inside to suppress nucleation of the reverse magnetic domain, more specifically having a magnetocrystalline anisotropy not less than one-half the magnetocrystalline anisotropy of the interiors of the ferromagnetic grains, are disclosed.

Permanent magnets and R-TM-B based permanent magnets

A thermoelectric conversion material is formed of a polycrystal structure of crystal grains composed of a silicon-rich phase, and an added element-rich phase in which at least one type of added element is deposited at the grain boundary thereof, the result of which is an extremely large Seebeck coefficient and low thermal conductivity, allowing the thermoelectric conversion rate to be raised dramatically, and affording a silicon-based thermoelectric conversion material composed chiefly of silicon, which is an abundant resource, and which causes extremely low environmental pollution.

Thermoelectric conversion material and method of producing the same

A cuboid p-type and an n-type thermoelectric conversion material having a composite of an alloy powder for a rare earth magnet and a bismuth-based thermoelectric conversion material that has been rendered a p-type semiconductor or an n-type semiconductor by the addition of the required dopant, are arranged alternately with a material with low thermal conductivity and high electrical resistivity interposed between them. The low- and the high-temperature sides of these thermoelectric conversion materials are connected with wires, a magnetic field is applied in the x axis direction, a temperature gradient &nabla;T is imparted in the z axis direction a p-n junction is created, and thermoelectromotive force is extracted from the connection end in a plane in the y axis direction. There is a marked increase in the Seebeck coefficient even though no magnetic field is applied externally.

Thermoelectric conversion material, method for manufacturing same, and thermoelectric conversion element

A silicon-based polycrystal powder, which contains no more than 30 at % Ge, C, Sn, or another such element that does not generate carriers as well as an added element that does generate carriers, and which has a crystal structure including crystal grains made up of at least 80 at % silicon, and a grain boundary phase where at least one type of said added element is precipitated at the boundary of said crystal grains, is mixed with a clathrate compound powder with low thermal conductivity and electrical resistivity, and this mixture is subjected to hot compression molding, the product of which has a composite structure in which the particles of the clathrate compound polycrystals are disposed around the particles of the silicon-based polycrystals.

Thermoelectric conversion material, and method for manufacturing same

Permanent magnets in which the ferromagnetic phase is matched with the grain boundary phase, and permanent magnets in which magnetocrystalline anisotropy in the vicinity of the outermost shell of the major phase is equivalent in intensity to that in the inside to suppress nucleation of the inverse magnetic domain. Guideline for designing permanent magnets having high magnetic performance is provided.

A silicon based conductive material based on a semiconductor silicon and having an electric resistivity of 10 (&OHgr;&middot;m) or less at ambient temperature which has been unattainable heretofore, while facilitating production and handling. An electric resistivity of 10 (&OHgr;&middot;m) or less, which is common for conductors can be realized by adding relatively large quantities of various kinds of elements to silicon. The conductive material can be provided in a semiconductor silicon substrate in a desired pattern by ion beam implantation and patterning. It can be employed not only in the form of a substrate, a rod or a wire, but also in the form of fine particles dispersed in a resin or glass to be employed in various applications requiring conduction, including a conductive sheet material.

Silicon based conductive material and process for production thereof

Manufacture by rolling silicon steel having a silicon content of 3 wt % or greater and by rolling thin sendust sheet is implemented by powder metallurgical fabrication using powder as the starting raw material, and the average crystal grain size of the sheet-form sintered body or quick-cooled steel sheet is made 300 pm or less, whereby intra-grain slip transformation occurs after slip transformation in the grain boundaries, wherefore cold rolling is rendered possible. In addition, a mixture powder wherein pure iron powder and Fe&mdash;Si powder are mixed together in a prescribed proportion is fabricated with a powder metallurgy technique, and an iron-rich phase is caused to remain in the sintered body, whereby cold rolling is possible using the plastic transformation of those crystal grains. Furthermore, when a minute amount of a non-magnetic metal element such as Ti, V, or Al, etc., is added beforehand, it becomes easy to make the iron-rich phase and silicon-rich phase enter into solid solution during annealing, crystal grain growth can be promoted, the magnetic properties of the fabricated steel sheet become roughly equivalent to those of conventional ingot material, and silicon steel sheet exhibiting outstanding magnetic properties can be fabricated.

Method for producing high silicon steel, and silicon steel

A forming apparatus comprises a die formed with a through hole for provision of a cavity. A feeder box stored with a raw material powder having an average grain diameter of 0.1 &mgr;m&tilde;500 &mgr;m is positioned above the cavity of the die, and the raw material powder is allowed to fall into the cavity while an inside of the feeder box and an inside of the cavity are each maintained at a pressure not greater than 10 kPa. During the supply of the raw material powder, the feeder box may be vibrated, or the supply may be made via a hose. The raw material powder may be a granulated powder or a rare-earth alloy powder. The raw material powder supplied in the cavity is pressed by an upper punch and a lower punch into a compact.

Forming method and forming apparatus

With the thermo-electric conversion element according to the present invention, the power generating efficiency (in other words, the conversion efficiency) can be improved by inserting as metallic film made of either Ag, Al, or silver soldering material for the PN junction formation between the Si based P type and N type semiconductors and inserting a metallic film made of either Zn, Ni, Cu, Ag, Au, or Cu-30Zn at a connecting portion between the semiconductors and lead wires, so that the electromotive power and the thermo-electromotive force are not cancelled each other due to the Schottky barrier which is generated at the interfacial area between the metals and semiconductors. The desired thermo-electric conversion efficiency can be achieved by the material presented in this invention without any deterioration of the original thermo-electric properties.

Thermo-electric element

The object of the present invention is to provide rare-earth system sintered magnets such as R&mdash;Fe&mdash;B system or R&mdash;Co system having excellent magnetic properties, unique configuration of a small size, thin wall thickness and intricate geometry. With the method for preparing the present invention, a granulation of alloy powders can be achieved easily, a chemical reaction between rare-earth system and binder substances can be suppressed, so that the residual oxygen and carbon levels in the sintered products can be reduced. Moreover, by this production method, the flowability and lubricant capability during the forming process can be improved. The dimension accuracy and productivity are also enhanced. A certain type of binder is added to rare-earth alloy powders and kneaded into a slurry state. The slurry is then formed into granulated powders by spray-dryer equipment. The thus granulated powders are molded, and sintered through a powder metallurgy technique.

Method for preparing rare-earth system sintered magnet

The purpose of this invention is to present fabrication methods and equipment for granulated powders whereby, the reaction between the R--Fe--B-type or R--Co-type rare earth containing alloy powders and the binder is controlled, the residual oxygen and carbon content of the sintered products after sintering is reduced, and whereby it is possible to obtain isotropic or anisotropic granulated powders having good powder flowability and lubrication properties when molding. After stirring a slurry of rare earth containing alloy powders formed by adding a binder consisting of water and at least one of either methyl cellulose, polyacryl amide or polyvinyl alcohol, and mixing, oriented liquid droplets are formed by applying a magnetic field to the slurry to orientate the said powder particles and spraying within the chamber of a spray dryer apparatus. By instantaneously dry solidifying these anisotropic granulated powders, it is possible to fabricate spherical granulated powders with good magnetic properties and a high flowability whereby the flowability and lubrication properties of the powder at the time of compression molding are improved, as well as improving the molding cycle and the dimensional precision of the molded product.

Fabrication methods and equipment for granulated powders

The purpose of this invention is to present fabrication methods and equipment for granulated powders whereby, the reaction between the R-Fe-B-type or R-Co-type rare earth containing alloy powders and the binder is controlled, the residual oxygen and carbon content of the sintered products after sintering is reduced, and whereby it is possible to obtain isotropic or anisotropic granulated powders having good powder flowability and lubrication properties when molding. After stirring a slurry of rare earth containing alloy powders formed by adding a binder consisting of water and at least one of either methyl cellulose, polyacryl amide or polyvinyl alcohol, and mixing, oriented liquid droplets are formed by applying a magnetic field to the slurry to orientate the said powder particles and spraying within the chamber of a spray dryer apparatus. By instantaneously dry solidifying these anisotropic granulated powders, it is possible to fabricate spherical granulated powders with good magnetic properties and a high flowability whereby the flowability and lubrication properties of the powder at the time of compression molding are improved, as well as improving the molding cycle and the dimensional precision of the molded product.

Growing community of inventors

Osaka, Japan

Osamu Yamashita