Sumitomo Metals Research Articles

Integrated dry granulation – possibility of reducing environmental pollution and valorization of Fe-Ni slag

Purpose.The aim of our research consists in argumentation of the possibility of transformation of slag from potential pollutants into a new material used and its promotion as an alternative raw material for the production of consumable layers of asphalt concrete for highway. Methodology.The research on the possibility of using the slag of the electric furnace in Ferronickel Foundery is based on the practice of CISRO and Sumitomo Metals Industri in Japan, while the products of this process, in accordance with the standards EN12697-1:2006, EN12697-23, EN12697-12, EN 12697-27 dhe DD226-26/2004, have been used as aggregates for the production of asphalt concrete in the AHN Group-Kosovo. Findings.This paper presents the results from a study program related to minimizing the pollution impact of Fe-Ni slag landfill in Drenas, through valorization and improvement of physical-mechanical properties of slag according to the method of integrated dry granulation and using it afterwards as aggregate for the production of AC11 surf. Originality.Laboratory analyses were conducted in specialized laboratory and data presented are achieved through the use of devices and equipment that are necessary for experimental research, thus the obtained results are original data presented in this paper. Practical value.From the research data it has been proved that the conversion of Fe-Ni slag from wastes with high pollutant potentials into aggregates valuable for industry would express significant economic and environmental effects.

住友金属工業（株）における体験型安全教育

住友金属工業（株）における体験型安全教育

Improvement of Stainless Steel Making Operation Adapting Instable Raw Material Price

Sumikin Iron and Steel Corporation (SISC) is the main manufacturing base of seamless tube materials in Sumitomo Metals group, and stainless steel making plant is in charge of semi-manufactured special steel products such as stainless and high alloy steel. Total manufacturing costs of these special steels are heavily dependent on the price of raw material. Therefore, reduction of its usage and optimizing operation process in order to absorb influence of its unstable price are important issues. In this report, we introduce three cases as following: yield improvement in order to reduce raw material usage, optimization of the steel dust usage, and active use of low-price raw material through dividing refining process.

Sociopsychological Analysis of Japanese Industrial Policy: The Sumitomo Metals Incident

Abstract: In the 1960s, the former Japanese Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) controlled key industries through its industrial policy. It is commonly believed that this policy was based on an economic rationale. In particular, the MITI justified what are known as recession cartels on the grounds that reducing production volume would prevent destructive competition. Our purpose is to go beyond this current economic understanding via a sociopsychological analysis. We focus on the so‐called Sumitomo Metals incident of 1965 when the Sumitomo Metals Company refused to follow the MITI guideline demanding a reduction in steel production. This was the first such incident in which a private company explicitly refused to abide by MITI administrative guidance. We hold that the industrial policy was not necessarily based on an economic rationale. Sumitomo was alone enjoying profit while all other companies were suffering loss. The MITI and major steel manufacturers insisted, without economically sound reasoning, that Sumitomo should reduce its steel exports. On an economic basis, however, steel exports should have been promoted, not restricted, to counterbalance the domestic recession. The whole incident was a sociopsychological battle disguised as an economic debate, and the economic argument of the MITI and other steel manufacturers was actually an elaborate scheme of psychological rationalization. Their severe denouncement of Sumitomo is best explained by the psychological defense mechanisms of projection and displacement. Furthermore, the recession cartel in this case was essentially a ritual of collective suffering under the orchestration of state authority.

Gasification and smelting system using oxygen blowing for plastic waste including polyvinyl chloride

A new type of waste gasification and smelting system using oxygen blowing based on high-temperature metallurgy, was developed by Sumitomo Metals, Japan. This system can steadily gasify and melt not only municipal waste, but also plastic waste and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) waste by using a top-blow oxygen lance together with sideways-blow oxygen lances. As a result of gasification in the high-temperature reducing atmosphere and rapid gas cooling, dioxin-free, high-calorie purified gas was produced. Ash components in the wastes were smelted in a high-temperature reducing atmosphere, and high-quality slag free of heavy metals was produced. Most of the chlorine in the wastes was converted into hydrogen chloride in the off gas. The hydrogen chloride can be recovered as hydrochloric acid or chlorine, which are recyclable to PVC manufacturing.

Capitalist Politicians, Socialist Bureaucrats? Legends of Government Planning from Japan

The debate over the role bureaucrats played in the postwar Japanese economy has been the wrong debate. To date, it has been a debate about effectiveness: the government tried to promote growth through interventionist policies, but did it succeed? In fact, the government never tried. Majority voters did not want interventionist bureaucrats, and consistently rejected communist and socialist candidates offering interventionist approaches. Instead, they chose candidates from the centrist, decidedly non-interventionist party. Reflecting those electoral market exigencies, politicians in power seldom gave their bureaucrats the authority to alter market investment and production decisions. To explore these issues, we first investigate the tools Japanese politicians gave their bureaucrats. We find that bureaucrats lacked the mechanisms they would have needed to shape significantly production or investment. Second, we reexamine the central anecdote behind the legend of Japanese bureaucratic power: the 1965 showdown between Sumitomo Metals and MITI. We find that Sumitomo rather than MITI won the battle. Last, we survey the case law on bureaucratic power, and find that Japanese courts strictly restricted bureaucratic discretion. There is a broader moral here, and it goes to the perils of relying on secondary research. For obvious reasons, Japanese politicians and bureaucrats encouraged stories that disguised ordinary pork-barrel policies as growth-enhancing intervention. Although the tales they told differed little from the self-serving accounts politicians tell everywhere, in the 1960s most Japanese social scientists were Marxists. Understandably, they had little sense of how markets worked, and no skepticism at all about the powers of governments to plan. Yet it is their accounts on which modern observers rely for their picture of the postwar Japanese political economy. Had modern scholars done more than recount the conclusions in the secondary literature, they would have noticed that they were merely adding academic gloss to political sloganeering. Unfortunately, they never tried.

New stainless steel for head gaskets to be introduced

Sumitomo Metals (Naoetsu) Ltd, a subsidiary of Sumitomo Metal Industries Ltd, will soon begin marketing a type of stainless steel that it claims is twice as hard as existing products. This is a short news story only. Visit www.worldpumps.com for the latest pump industry news

Sumitomo Metals signs technical cooperation agreement with Xingcheng Special Steel

Sumitomo Metals signs technical cooperation agreement with Xingcheng Special Steel

Capitalist Politicians, Socialist Bureaucrats? Legends of Government Planning from Japan

The debate over the role bureaucrats played in the postwar Japanese economy has been the wrong debate. To date, it has been a debate about effectiveness: the government tried to promote growth through interventionist policies, but did it succeed? In fact, the government never tried. Majority voters did not want interventionist bureaucrats, and consistently rejected communist and socialist candidates offering interventionist approaches. Instead, they chose candidates from the centrist, decidedly non-interventionist party. Reflecting those electoral market exigencies, politicians in power seldom gave their bureaucrats the authority to alter market investment and production decisions. To explore these issues, we first investigate the tools Japanese politicians gave their bureaucrats. We find that bureaucrats lacked the mechanisms they would have needed to shape significantly production or investment. Second, we reexamine the central anecdote behind the legend of Japanese bureaucratic power: the 1965 showdown between Sumitomo Metals and MITI. We find that Sumitomo rather than MITI won the battle. Last, we survey the case law on bureaucratic power, and find that Japanese courts strictly restricted bureaucratic discretion. There is a broader moral here, and it goes to the perils of relying on secondary research. For obvious reasons, Japanese politicians and bureaucrats encouraged stories that disguised ordinary pork-barrel policies as growth-enhancing intervention. Although the tales they told differed little from the self-serving accounts politicians tell everywhere, in the 1960s most Japanese social scientists were Marxists. Understandably, they had little sense of how markets worked, and no skepticism at all about the powers of governments to plan. Yet it is their accounts on which modern observers rely for their picture of the postwar Japanese political economy. Had modern scholars done more than recount the conclusions in the secondary literature, they would have noticed that they were merely adding academic gloss to political sloganeering. Unfortunately, they never tried.

Quality strip production with a high speed medium thick slab caster

A high quality strip production process has been established, using the high speed medium thickness slab caster developed by Sumitomo Metals and Sumimoto Heavy Industries. North Star/BHP Steel and TRICO Steel in the USA have successively started up a machine in 1997. Stable casting of 900-1650 mm wide and 70-90 mm thick slabs at 5.0 m/min has been achieved. Thin gauge strip with excellent surface quality has been obtained.

Creep-fatigue life prediction based on a new damage rule : Tokimasa, K. and Miyahara, M. Sumitomo Metals (1996) 48 (2), 20–29

Creep-fatigue life prediction based on a new damage rule : Tokimasa, K. and Miyahara, M. Sumitomo Metals (1996) 48 (2), 20–29

An expert system of automatic slab assignment for hot strip mill.

A fully automatic assignment system of slabs for hot strip mill has been developed by using an expert system building tool SMI/Marks-II. This tool is an original software by Sumitomo Metals and has some types of linkage function. The linkage functions are very useful to develop a hybrid computer system, where ordinary language systems and an expert system can cooperate effectively. The automatic slab assignment system is installed in a mainframe IBM 3090, as an alternative to the conventional system which consists of the ordinary language system and the manual assignment job by an expert. Selection or assignment of stocked slabs for the products orders can be performed automatically. As the result of evaluation, this system has the following capabilities.(1) The number of assigned pairs is almost equal to that by the expert.(2) Assignments of slabs with excessive upper grades can be eliminated.(3) Job time is reduced from 6 to 1 h.This expert system can be easily maintained for environmental changes. The development period is reduced by the prototyping method.

Shape Meter Using Image Processing Technology for Hot Rolling

Recently development of new type rolling mills has made it possible to dynamically control the profile and the shape of hot rolled strips. In order to improve the performance of new type mills, profile and shape meters are required. The profile meter with high accuracy has been put to practical use, on the other hand the shape meter has not been widely used because of strip fluttering and the poor atmospheric conditions for example steam, dust and high temperature. Sumitomo Metals succeeded in developing a new shape meter with high accuracy applying laser and image processing technology. This system eliminates the measurement errors caused by the strip fluttering. Furthermore, it can be used even in the hot, steamy and dusty stomosphere. This system has been put into operation in the finishing mill of Kashima Steel Work’s hot strip mill and it has contributed to the improvement in the quality of hot strip coil.

Computer Systems Communication in a Steel Works with a Standardized Network Technology

In a steel works, every facility in connected with each other in a complex way in terms of energy material and product flow. All the processes in these facilities are automatized with administration computers, production control computers and process control computers. Therefore, the computer network system is indispensable f their efficient operation, The Kashima steel Works of Sumitomo Metals has a computer system hierarchy, whose component computer systems are supplied by various manufacturers and the difference of their specifications makes the communication among each computer system difficult. Sumitomo Metals has developed a standardized multipurpose computer network system “S-NET” with N:N communication capability, and it has realized not only the automation of production cat also the rationalization of informtion communication.

Network System in an Integrated Steel Plant

In a steel plant, each facility is connected in a complex way with each other facility in terms of energy, material and product flow. For the efficient operation of these facilities, an information network is indispensable for the three different level of organization - the plant operational, the production control and administration control levels. The Kashima Steel Works has a computer system hierarchy, whose component computer systems are supplied by various manufacturer, and therefore have their own architectures, operation systems and communication protocols. Standardization of interface and protocol is very important in order to realize high speed real time communication with high reliability and to make it easy to develop and maintain the systems. Sumitomo Metals has developed a new information network system with n : n communication capability for the medium size local area network in Kashima Steel Works. The network system (“S-NET” = Simple Network.) ties not only the information processing computers system but also process control and DDC computers together

Automatic Welding Control System for Electric-resistance Weld Tube Mill

Recently, high quality Electric Resistance Welded Tubes (ERW Tubes) have been requested by the customers. To meet this demand, the Sumitomo Metals has successfully developed an Automatic Welding Control System, using Pattern Thermometer, Upset Gauge, etc., which were newly developed for this system. The results obtained by applying this system to a small size ERW tube mill are as follows:(1) Welding temperature was stabilized by computer according to the conditions of the tube size, material and welding speed.(2) This system has been found to be useful for welding low alloy steel and high carbon steel which have more severe welding conditions.

Visit to Sumitomo Metals Central Research Laboratories - Amagasaki - Osaka

At a time when most of the Western World's Metals producers are in the depths of recession and decreasing their efforts on R & D it is interesting to examine the activity of one of Japan's largest Metals Companies. This report describes the flourishing organisation and successful activities of the Central Research Laboratories of Sumitomo Metals.

Coal gasification using a molten iron bath

A coal gasification process using a molten iron bath as reactor has been developed by Sumitomo Metals. Pulverized coal is blown onto this molten iron together with oxygen and steam as gasification agents. Tests using a pilot plant having a capacity of 60 t (coal) day −1, has shown that a sulphur-free carbon monoxide and hydrogen-rich gas can be generated at high coal conversion efficiency.

Eight-year operational experience with a 13,400 M 3/d reverse osmosis desalination plant at Kashima works of Sumitomo metals

Recently, the reverse osmosis has been applied widely to industrial water purification and accepted commercially. A large number of RO systems are now in operation all over the world. Sumitomo Metals adopted the first 3,000 m 3/d (800,000 gpd) reverse osmosis system as pretreatment for ion exchange equipment in 1971, which was expanded to a combined capacity of 13,400 m 3/d (3.54 mgpd). Since its start up of operation, various operational problems have been experienced at Kashima and cured to establish a stablized modes of operation. This paper presents a comprehensive review of the operation, maintenance, steps taken for trouble-shooting, and performance data of the world's largest reverse osmosis desalination plant operating now in Kashima Steel Works of Sumitomo Metals, Japan.