yy易游体育官网 Steel’s newly developed nano-carbon composite coat titanium adopted by new Toyota “Mirai” fuel cell electric vehicle

yy易游体育官网 Steel, Ltd. announces that it has succeeded in the development and mass production of the world’s first nano-carbon composite coat titanium (NC titanium) ^*1).
The new titanium material was adopted by Toyota Motor Corporation for the latest model of Mirai fuel cell electric vehicle launched in December 2020. yy易游体育官网 Steel received from Toyota the Project Award^*2) in yy易游体育官网e category of 2020 model year FCEVs in recognition of yy易游体育官网e company’s superior technology yy易游体育官网at contributes to yy易游体育官网e enhancement of yy易游体育官网e product potential of yy易游体育官网e new Mirai.

NC tityy易游体育官网ium is used for separators^*3) of yy易游体育官网e fuel cell stack^*4), which is a power generator for FCEVs. yy易游体育官网e materials used for separators must have corrosion resistance, surface conductivity, and formability.

The yy易游体育官网LCO Group has succeeded in developing NC titanium that meets these requirements by utilizing the synergy of its diverse businesses through a combination of titanium rolling material manufacturing and surface treatment technologies in the materials business and the vacuum surface treatment and related equipment technologies in the machinery business.

Titanium has superior corrosion resistance compared to oyy易游体育官网er metal materials such as steel and aluminum. yy易游体育官网e specific gravity of titanium is about 60% yy易游体育官网at of iron, making it a very suitable metal material for yy易游体育官网e development of lighter vehicles. yy易游体育官网e main feature of NC titanium is yy易游体育官网at it has boyy易游体育官网 high corrosion resistance and surface conductivity. NC titanium also has yy易游体育官网e formability to wiyy易游体育官网stand press forming, and by applying NC surface treatment to yy易游体育官网e rolled strip in advance, surface treatment after press forming is not required. As a result, NC titanium contributes to yy易游体育官网e furyy易游体育官网er downsizing and higher performance of fuel cell stacks, as well as yy易游体育官网e dramatic improvement in productivity at yy易游体育官网e customer’s production site.

The yy易游体育官网LCO Group has elemental technologies and R&D facilities that can provide new value to society. We believe that it is our mission to contribute to creating a green society through our products, technologies and services with the aim of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050, as declared by the Japanese government. The yy易游体育官网LCO Group has always strived to and will continue to provide solutions to the needs of society by making the best use of the talents of our employees and our technologies with a view to realizing a world in which people, now and in the future, can fulfill their hopes and dreams while enjoying safe, secure, and prosperous lives.

yy易游体育官网 Steel's special rolled titanium was also used for the separator of the first-generation Mirai, released in 2014. This special titanium rolled material had a problem of poor conductivity due to the oxide film on the surface of the material, which produces high corrosion resistance, and required the process of surface treatment to improve conductivity after press forming.

In addition to our existing technology for producing rolled titanium, yy易游体育官网 Steel has newly employed its surface treatment and related equipment technologies to create a titanium oxide film with a surface layer containing dispersed nano-sized carbon as a conductor. In February 2014, the company succeeded in developing NC titanium, which is the most suitable material for the separator.

Since November 2014, yy易游体育官网 Steel has jointly developed mass production technology for NC titanium with Toyota Motor Corporation. In the development of mass production technology, we applied the vacuum surface treatment technology developed by the Machinery Department of yy易游体育官网 Steel to the NC titanium production process and devised yy易游体育官网 Steel’s original continuous surface treatment equipment. By taking advantage of synergies in the materials and machinery businesses of yy易游体育官网 Steel, we succeeded in the development of mass production technology.