About our functional chemistry business / R&D
Overview of functional chemistry business
Since the postwar period, Mikasa Sangyo has developed as a company providing agricultural materials and expertise to those engaged in agriculture. As part of this agriculture support, we began producing agricultural chemicals including pesticides and herbicides essential for crop cultivation, this was the foundation of our current fine-pulverization technology.
Through application of fine pulverization our Functional Chemical Division handles manufacturing of recycled cartridge toner and OEM manufacturing of agricultural chemicals, while also focusing efforts on R&D in new fields. Selection of equipment to meet various requirements
About fine pulverization processing
Features of fine pulverization processing
The level of precision required in material processing has become increasingly demanding due to the remarkable technological developments in recent years.
Against this backdrop, Mikasa Sangyo has focused on fine pulverization technology for over 30 years, cultivating cutting-edge precision and advanced technology while working to acquire expertise.
Based on long years of R&D and an extensive track record of contract work, Mikasa Sangyo utilizes various pulverizers, classifiers, and analyzers to provide higher-precision products by establishing pulverizing conditions that match needs, selecting appropriate machinery to be used, and applying utilization techniques.
[Equipment used to meet various requirements]
Based on physical properties such as raw material shape, melting point, glass transition point, hardness, molecular weight, and required product standards, we capitalize on our long years of experience to select the most suitable system for processing from our state-of-the-art machinery and equipment and thereby achieve efficient and economical processing.
- Processing
- Equipment
- Mixing
- High-speed flow-type mixers
- Kneading
- Small to large twin-screw extrusion kneaders
- Fine pulverization
- Jet-type and mechanical fine pulverizers
- Classification
- Mechanical and air-type classifiers
- Spheroidization
- Hot-air spheroidization equipment
Quality control
By leveraging technology cultivated through our many years of in-house product development, production, and contract processing, we carry out strict process management and promise reliable quality control.
Confidentiality
Based on strict confidentiality management, we take full responsibility for protecting all confidential information, technologies, and other material provided by the customer for contract processing or development of various products, as well as all confidential matters including novel technologies and know-how newly developed through contract processing.
We believe contract processing is work built upon mutual trust between our customers and ourselves.
Enhancement of product functionality
We enhance product functionality by employing powder processing technologies such as mixing, fine pulverization, and classification. We will pursue even higher functionality by pioneering new applications of these added-value products.
About R&D
Powder surface treatment
At Mikasa Sangyo, we are focusing on future-oriented R&D based on pulverization technology cultivated through many years of development.
[Regarding our efforts and techniques for surface treatment of heat dissipating fillers]
In the final process of toner manufacturing, we control physical properties by adding fine-particle-size silica, titanium oxide, and other materials to the toner surface using a dry method. We focused on the fact that surface treatment can improve and modify the physical properties of powders, and can favorably contribute to adhesion and other properties through control of the interfacial conditions between materials. We believe that the control of functional groups is particularly important and can serve as a key to understanding interfacial states.
Silane coupling agents are the primary option used for surface treatment, but there are also cases where favorable treatment cannot be achieved, depending on the specific substance. For such cases, substances called heat-dissipating fillers—typically aluminum nitride, boron nitride, aluminum oxide, and magnesium oxide— have shown very favorable physical properties, but carry a critical disadvantage in that surface modification cannot be performed well due to their deficiency of functional groups.
Understanding that surface treatment is essential for exhibiting functionality as a heat-dissipating material through more efficient dispersal in resin, we successfully performed surface treatment on heat-dissipating fillers – which are in high – demand by utilizing toner surface treatment technology.
Heat dissipation in semiconductor devices has become essential amid the current trend of increasingly high integration. In the present power device market, high thermal conductivity is required to prevent thermal runaway and degradation of electronic devices in next-generation automotive, energy, and communication applications. To dissipate heat from semiconductor devices, it is common to use a heat-dissipating sheet inserted as a single layer between the device and the heat sink (shown in the schematic diagram below). This sheet is composed of resins such as epoxy, silicone and grease, and is designed to dissipate heat by incorporating thermal conductive filler (inorganic powder) into the resin.
A uniform surface condition is created by adding a pre-treatment agent that has undergone pH adjustment, modification, or other similar treatment to the few hydroxyl, amino or other groups on the filler surface, and orienting the hydroxyl groups with each other. Furthermore, the terminal portion of the pre-treatment agent reacts with the post-treatment agent, making it possible to achieve the desired surface status.
Conventional technology has low thermal conductivity due to low filling rates, our patented technology achieves dramatically improved thermal conduction through high filling rates (thermal conduction simulation)
* Ideal curve for a case with a true spherical shape, fixed particle size and no voidsoids
This innovation enables efficient thermal conductivity as voids (cavities) within the hybrid material are reduced and thermal conduction paths are more easily formed. This not only improves the resin’s filling properties, but also enhances its surface water resistance.
The above graph shows that the reaction MgO+H2O→Mg(OH)2 progresses easily, and in untreated cases, magnesium ions are produced – resulting in high electrical conductivity. Our treatment, however, can keep electrical conductivity low better than silane coupling agents.
Other patents:
Patent No. 7376024 “Manufacturing Method of Water-Resistant Powder”
Patent No. 7468841 “Manufacturing Method of Boron Nitride Resin Composition”
Specifics of other research
[UVC wave absorbers / Inorganic oxide ultraviolet absorbers / Near-infrared shielding agents / Carbon dioxide absorbers]
Having gone through the COVID-19 pandemic, virus elimination and sterilization have become extremely important aspects of modern-day life.
Products that can be effective at the DNA-damaging wavelength of 254 nm are being marketed and installed for use in indoor spaces, but due to the short wavelength and high energy output, these systems create problems such as yellowing of indoor walls.
While there are various ultraviolet absorbers and yellowing prevention agents that utilize UVA (ultraviolet A) and UVB (ultraviolet B) waves there have not been any products specifically designed to use UVC (ultraviolet C) waves. Our company has achieved yellowing prevention effects through ultraviolet absorption with polytungstate (see figure 1 below).
The ultraviolet absorber that is the subject of our company’s R&D is tungsten-based, and α-tungsten oxide can be produced through a special method. Furthermore, this oxide is a UV absorber with an absorption edge at 450 nm, and research results show it is capable of absorbing UVA, UVB, UVC and below, making it highly promising for industrial and cosmetic applications (see figure 2 below).
Furthermore, hexagonal crystal tungsten oxide can be produced by simply changing the manufacturing method of the ultraviolet absorber, and since this oxide has outstanding near-infrared absorption capability, we believe this is a field that will expand in the future for applications such as heat-shielding paints.
1. Patent No. 7280647 “UV-C Absorber, Manufacturing Method of Its Main Agent, and Anti-yellowing Paint”
Patent No. 7280647 “UV-C Absorber, Manufacturing Method of Its Main Agent, and Anti-yellowing Paint”
2. Patent pending “Ultraviolet Blocking Agent Using Amorphous Tungsten Oxide”
3. Patent pending “Manufacturing Method of Near-Infrared Shielding Fillers”
[Carbon dioxide absorbers]
Existing carbon dioxide absorbers include amine-based liquids, amine-based solids and alkaline aqueous solutions, each with their own advantages and disadvantages. The table below summarizes the advantages and disadvantages of each carbon dioxide absorber.
Our own developed carbon dioxide absorber is a safe substance with a core of iron oxide. Its absorption and emission amounts are on a par with amine-based solids, making it highly useful. Carbon dioxide is indispensable for photosynthesis in plants and along with water and nutrients; is key to promoting growth. The typical usage amount in greenhouses is approximately 1 cylinder (30 kg) per day. The absorbed carbon dioxide can be released by heating to 80–90°C, enabling supply as a cyclical system.
Patent licensing agreement concluded with the Yamaguchi Prefectural Industrial Technology Institute
