Sumitomo’s ITO (In2O3-SnO2) powder is characterized by its very narrow particle size distribution, high crystallinity, and high purity. ITO powders are manufactured by co-precipitation of an aqueous mixed solution containing indium and tin with alkaline solution, followed by calcination. The resulting ITO powders have BET surface areas of 3 to 6m2/g and primary particle size of around 0.1 to 0.3μm. The mean secondary particle size (agglomerate size) is about 2-6μm. The agglomerate size can be easily reduced to about 0.6μm by milling because of loose agglomeration. In conclusion, by optimizing shaping and sintering conditions, ultra high dense sintered bodies having density of 99.5% or more can be easily obtained as low sintering temperature as 1500°C.
(by Shinji FUJIWARA, Yoshiki KUROTOBI, Yoshinari SAWABE, Kunio SAEGUSA )

Today, market of Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) is growing rapidly, especially, in a field of application like Note PC, monitor, Flat Panel Display TV set, and PDA (Portable Data Assistant). Also further growth of LCD market is expected. To meet the market requirement, to improve productivity, and to have a flexible price decision, we had decided to construct a 5th Generation line, where more than 1m2 of glass substrate is treated. In this report, development of Capillary Coater System using capillarity of color resist, which can be applied to the 5th Generation line, is introduced.
(by Rikiya MATSUMOTO, Akio SAKAI, Kazushi TAKAHASHI, Norio MURAKAMI )

Recent developments of polymethyl methacrylate and its molding technique for light guides in LCD back light systems will be reported in this paper. Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) is one of key materials making up backlight systems for LCDs. For lap top computers or monitors, exceptionally transparent PMMA is used as a material for light guides in their backlight systems. On the other hand, opaque PMMA sheet that diffuses light from light sources is used for large size LCD-TVs. In this paper, our developments of materials for light guides and diffuse sheets will be outlined, then our novel molding technique that is quite suitable to mold large size light guide plates in back light system of large monitors will be described.
(by Kenji MANABE, Kazuhiro YAMASAKI, Yoshiki NISHIGAKI, Tomohiro MAEKAWA )

Dichroic Dyes have optical anisotropy character and they have become one of the key compounds for polarizing films on Liquid Crystal Display (LCD)s. We have been developping new Dichroic Dyes which show high performance, such as polarizability, stability for light and heat and so on ,in order to meet the requirements in this application. In this paper, we describe the scheme for designing dyes for polarizing films and new Dichroic Dyes for the Guest-Host LCDs. Dioxazine Dyes we have developed for the Guest-Host LCDs show the highest order parameter.
(by Yutaka KAYANE, Kazuya OGINO, Yoshiteru OHTA, Toru ASHIDA,Toshihiko TANAKA )

High efficiency of Flux Cored Arc Welding (FCAW) extends its application to the every joint of the steel facilities and constructions due to economical benefit. Recently, some inconveniences such as low charpy impact energy, cracking in bending test of FCAW joints were experienced and a distinguished creep ductility loss for Type 304H was reported. Metallurgical examination revealed that high density of oxide inclusion in weld metal of FCAW resulted in a relatively inferior mechanical properties compared with other welding process. Welding test results are reviewed and the characteristics with application limits depended on welding conditions of FCAW are discussed.
(by Takahisa HOSHIKA, Hisakazu MORI )

Sumitomo Chemical successfully developed the novel high performance processing stabilizer (Sumilizer GP), which improves processing stability of polyolefins, especially polyethylene. Sumilizer GP is a first phosphite type stabilizer in the world, which has phosphite moiety and phenolic moiety to gain intramolecular synergism. The details of development and properties based on its chemical structure are introduced.
(by Fumitoshi KOJIMA, Kanako FUKUDA, Kunihito MIYAKE )

For the automotive interior applications, polypropylene (PP) of a high moldability and a high impact strength has been required to achieve the global uinified material of high performances. We concluded, based on the theoretical background, that the particular micro-structure of the PP composite with finely dispersed elastomer is necessary to obtain the required performances. In order to attain this structure, stabilization of the interface between PP matrix and elastomer domain is the most siginificant, and we eventually found the specific SEBS was effective as a compatibilizer for this composite. The developed PP composite shows not only an improved mechanical properties but also the high flowability and the good appearance of the molded parts.
(by Moriyasu SHIMOJO, Kenichi HIGASHI, Kenichi OHKAWA, Shinichi KONDO )

We developed an on-line sample enrichment system for mass spectrometry to analyze the impurities of pharmaceutical drugs or agrochemicals less than 0.1%. The system consists of conventional LC, micro LC, a parking loop, and a precolumn, which are connected through one eight-port switching valve. An analyte peak of interest detected on the conventional LC is stored with adding appropriate amount of water in the parking loop. It is directly transferred to the precolumn in order to concentrate, and then eluted from there with linear gradient and concentrated by the microcolumn. The microcolumn being combined with ESI-TOFMS, some structural information including accurate molecular weight could be obtained with pmoL amount of the analyte.
(by Kazuko YAMASHITA, Masahiko OKAMOTO, Kiyoshi NAKAI )

Several new preparation techniques for structure analysis and characterization of newly developed synthetic polymer materials which have high performance (i.e. (super) engineering plastics) were established. We report i) polymer degradation technique for polymer composition analysis by the use of supercritical fluid and ii) the application of accelerated solvent extraction (ASE) technique for efficient extraction of monomers and oligomers of engineering plastics. We also refer to the nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques to assign the NMR peaks of polymer terminal and the sequence-related NMR peak splitting.
(by Akihiko OKADA, Hiroshi TAKIGAWA, Nobuchika IWATA, Mika SHIRASAKI, Yutaka FUJIWARA, Toshio SASAKI )

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is one of the most widely available analytical methods for the elucidation of chemical structures and reaction mechanisms. Recently, much effective chemical information has been obtained, due to advances and development in hardware (high performance super conducting magnets and computers; speedup and capacity enlargement) and software (measuring techniques, such as 2D-NMR spectroscopy).
In this paper, we discuss the following items that we are investigating for the purpose of improving the efficiency of R&D.
[Automated and centralized NMR measurement using the automatic sample preparation robotic system (AutoPrep)]
[Introduction and development of the automated structure elucidation systems for NMR spectra]
(by Kunihiko FUJITA, Hideyuki MASUI, Shinji MORIMOTO )

For analyzing structures of various materials with certain regularity, we developed quite a new microscope, which we call a convergent beam optical microscope (CBOM). CBOM makes it possible to obtain both a diffraction (or scattering) pattern and a corresponding real space image of a sample using a convergent beam as illuminating light. By setting a suitable spatial filter on the diffraction pattern, we can obtain the corresponding real space image formed by the light passed through it.
In this report, we summarized principles, features, and applications of CBOM.
(by Shinya UTSUMI, Takeshi FUJII, Masao MINOBE )

In our research to find new pesticides, we found out a novel compound, [1 (2H)-3,3'-dichloro-5,5'-bis (trifluoromethyl)-2'-bipyridin]-2-one, showed insecticidal activity, which was isolated as an unusual by-product during the reaction of 2,3-dichloro-5-trifluoromethylpyridine with sodium acetate.
This result prompted us to apply some structural modifications to the compound to yield several promising compounds. We developed an efficient synthetic method for their compounds, and moreover, we could find, during the above modifications, some interesting chemical reactivities of them and a new perfluoroalkylation reaction.
(by Noriyasu SAKAMOTO, Noritada MATUO )

The Monte Carlo method with multi site model was proposed to calculate the solubility of aromat ic compounds and their isomers in supercritical carbon dioxide. The calculated solubility is in good agreement with the experimental data by using common potential parameters without any binary interaction parameters. The solubility of isomers also can be distinguished by this model.
It is shown that multi site model can be utilized as one of the group contribution method.
(by Yasuhiko MORI )

Developmental neurotoxicity (DNT) is an adverse effect of xenobiotics on morphology and neurobehavioral functions of the developing nervous system before or after birth. In 1991, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) first issued a standard protocol for evaluation of DNT in human health risk assessment. Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has been now refining the new guideline for DNT testing. Last decade, there are increasing social concerns about the effect of environmental chemicals on children health, including the reproductive and neurobehavioral functions. Evaluation of the developmental neurotoxicity of chemicals will be close up as an important issue for human health risk assessment. It is, however, evident that the developmental neurotoxicity study is still now immature and growing with progress of neuroscience study. In these conditions, we make up our test procedures for the guideline study and try to establish more reliable assessment of chemical effects for children health with a current scientific level of neuroscience.
(by Takafumi YOSHIOKA, Kumiko KOBAYASHI, Masahiko KUSHIDA, Maya IKEDA, Madoka SASAKI, Ryozo TSUJI )