Corporate Profile

Management Philosophy of the Toho Titanium Group

The Toho Titanium Group pursues the infinite possibility of titanium and related technologies, and contributes to building a sustainable society by continuously supplying excellent products and services.

We contribute to work to help realize a sustainable society by pursuing the ultimate potential of titanate materials and continuously supplying excellent products that are manufactured with environmentally friendly processes.

Corporate Mission of Toho Material

Introduction

Toho Material Co., Ltd. April 1, 2009¥ 200 million (as of January 1, 2020) Manufacture and sale of potassium titanate and other titanate-based materials3-3-5 Chigasaki, Chigasaki-City, Kanagawa 253-8510, Japan

Company NameDate of EstablishmentCapitalMain Business

Headquarters

692-1 Tokiguchi, Tokitsu-cho., Toki-City, Gifu 509-5122, Japan

Ken-ichi Yamaguchi

Toho Titanium Co., Ltd. (80%)Morimura Bros., Inc. (15%)Nakashima Sangyo Co., Ltd. (5%)

Main Manufacturing Plant

President and Representative DirectorStockholders (Percentage of shares held)

Top Message

Ken-ichi Yamaguchi

Corporate Data

2 0 0 92 0 1 22 0 1 9

Toho Material was founded and began operations under a outsourcing manufacturing scheme.

The Gifu Plant (Toki-City, Gifu) was completed, and the in-house manufacturing scheme was established.

Manufacturing lines at the Gifu Plant were extended.

Company History

Toho Material Co., Ltd. was founded in 2009 as a titanate manufacturing and sales company. We utilize the technologies for synthesizing various titanium-related products evolved by Toho Titanium Co., Ltd, one of the leading manufacturers in the world. In 2012, we constructed our own factory and made a full-scale entry into the titanate market.

Our product with the name of TOFIX series is a raw material for friction materials mainly used for the braking components of automobiles and is manufactured with unique dry processes. Through these environmentally friendly and efficient processes, we are able to supply our customers with stable, high-quality products.

The world is continuously changing and new market demands are emerging one after another. Within this environment, we make efforts daily to realize our mission to

“contribute to work to help realize a sustainable society by pursuing the ultimate potential of titanate materials” and to secure our supply of stable, high-quality products.

President and Representative Director

01

Major Products and Their Manufacturing Process

Base Process of Manufacturing Our Titanate Products

Products

● Almost completely automated continuous processes from the input of raw materials to final packaging / bag-filling of the products. The processes enable us to manufacture the products with stable and homogeneous quality.

● An environmentally friendly processes with little amount of waste and no polluted water. This is achieved through our complete dry processes without the use of water.

Titanate products are generally synthesized through wet processes, and many of those processes are rather complicated. However, we employ completely dry processes for manufacturing our titanate products, in which blended raw materials such as titanium dioxide are synthesized at high temperature in the calcination furnaces. The process offers various features, explained below.

For small volume products, semi-continuous or batch type furnaces are used. We can flexibly respond to the customer requests. In addition, in cooperation with Toho Titanium Co., Ltd., we are working aggressively to realize energy savings and reduced CO2 emission. We are also aiming to achieve even more environmentally friendly manufacturing processes.

We produce potassium hexatitanate with various morphologies. These are our major products, and they are mainly used for friction materials in automotive brake pads. In addition, we also produce other titanate materials including sodium hexatitanate and titanate-based products with high function depending on applications and purposes of use. Those products are known as our TOFIX series and are extremely popular with our customers.

Raw materials blending

Disintegration Classification PackingSynthesis with calcination furnace

▲ No.1~3 furnaces at the Gifu Plant

02

Product Introduction

Potassium hexatitanate has a base composition of K2Ti6O13 and contains K inside TiO2 with a tunnel structure. We produce several kinds of potassium hexatitanate with different particle sizes. The features of those products are, for example, that intended brake performances can be obtained when the proper amount of our products are added to brake pads with other additives, our products contain almost no sulfate radical anions (SO42-) which are a strong oxidizer, and WHO fiber＊1 content in some products (TOFIX-SNR) is less than 0.1mass%.

Major Products and Their Manufacturing Process

Potassium hexatitanate (K2Ti6O13)

＊1 WHO fiber : Particles with length of long axis≧5μm, length of short axis≦3μm, and aspect ratio (long axis/short axis)≧3

＊2 Typical values and not the values which guarantee the quality of the products

TOFIX-S

GradeParticle size image＊2

(Median size, Volume distribution D50)

SEMAppearance

30μm(Dynamic image analysis)

45μm(Dynamic image analysis)

90μm(Dynamic image analysis)

10μm(Dynamic image analysis)

2.5～6.5μm(Laser diffraction method)

TOFIX-SO

TOFIX-SNR(Small type)

TOFIX-SNR(Large type)

10μm

10μm

10μm

10μm

100μm

03

Sodium hexatitanate has a base composition of Na2Ti6O13 and contains Na inside TiO2 with a tunnel structure, which is similar to K in potassium hexatitanate. Sodium hexatitanate is not classified into H351 in the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS) and has a tendency not to become fibers. Actually, WHO fiber＊1 content of our product (TOFIX-NTO) is fully less than 0.1mass%.

Sodium hexatitanate (Na2Ti6O13)

Resign coated potassium hexatitanate

TOFIX-SNR-RC is a product consisting of particles of TOFIX-SNR (Small type) that have been coated with a small amount of phenolic resign. Tiny particles are condensed and become aggregates or agglomerates. The number of WHO fiber＊1, which are not contained so much in TOFIX-SNR (Small type), is further reduced. WHO fiber content is actually less than 0.01mass%.

As introduced in Research and Development on the following page, we conduct various development programs in addition to the abovementioned products. Our R&D team is ready to conduct test manufacturing of tinanate-based materials and evaluating their properties. It would be our great pleasure to assist customers with any requests they may have.

Others

TOFIX-SNR-RC

GradeMajor constituent substances

50μm(Dynamic image analysis)

TOFIX-SNR (Small type)

≦0.01mass%(Dynamic image analysis)

TOFIX-NTO

GradeParticle size image＊2

(Median size, Volume distribution D50)

WHO fiber＊1 content

80μm(Dynamic image analysis)

≦0.02mass%(Dynamic image analysis)

Appearance SEM

Appearance SEM

10μm

10μm

Particle size image＊2(Median size, Volume distribution D50)

WHO fiber＊1 content

3% phenolic resign (Resol type)

Major Products and Their Manufacturing Process

Product Introduction

＊1 WHO fiber : Particles with length of long axis≧5μm, length of short axis≦3μm, and aspect ratio (long axis/short axis)≧3

＊1 WHO fiber : Particles with length of long axis≧5μm, length of short axis≦3μm, and aspect ratio (long axis/short axis)≧3

＊2 Typical values and not the values which guarantee the quality of the products

＊2 Typical values and not the values which guarantee the quality of the products

04

Research and DevelopmentAnalysis Technology

Development of New Products and New Processes

Evaluation of powder properties with Dynamic Image Analysis (DIA)： We have studied a variety of evaluation methods for powder shape and size, and come to the conclusion that computer-aided DIA is one of the best methods from the viewpoints of accuracy and practicality1),2). In particular, this method is quite effective for the measurements of size distribution of elongated shape powder products and WHO fiber content. We employ this method for the actual evaluation of our products.

Analysis technologies： Through analyses using various methods such as Optical microscopy, Electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, X‐ray fluorometry, ICP atomic emission spectrophotometry, Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), Electron probe microanalyzer (EPMA), Glow discharge optical emission spectrometry (GDS), etc., we have identified a small amount of impurity substances contained in the products and obtained detailed information of the worn friction surfaces of tribology test pieces. The accumulated knowledge is offered to customers as the product information and is fully utilized to improve the product performance.

Toho Material is developing new products and new manufacturing processes in cooperation with Toho Titanium.

Adding to the products introduced above, several development programs on new products and their manufacturing processes are ongoing. For example, we are developing new synthesis technologies for various kinds of titanate-based materials including potassium tetratitanate, and are evaluating the properties of those materials. We are also making extensive efforts to develop technologies that control alkali metal ion dissolution from titanate and more environmentally friendly manufacturing processes with reduced CO2 emissions.

1) Comparison of Measurement Methods for Fiber Particle Content in Titanate, EuroBrake 2019, EB2019-MDS-0222) Practical Measurement of Fiber Particle Content in Titanate by Dynamic Image Analysis, EuroBrake 2020, EB2020-MDS-022 (to be published)

Sample (in suspension) Carrier liquid

Flow cell

Strobe lightCCD camera

Objective lens Sample

Image of measurement with DIA(Particle analyzer “PITA-3” manufactured by Seishin Enterprise Co., Ltd. was used)

Distribution of lengths of long and short axes of particles of 12μm or smaller in TOFIX-NTO. Around 15,000 particles were evaluated in only several minutes.

The measurement result was well consistent with that observed byScanning Electron Microscopy (SEM)

Identification of Fe-containing Freudenbergite phase in TOFIX-NTO by Transmission Electron

Microscope (TEM) observation

Example of analysis for worn surface of brake pad containing TOFIX-NTO after braking test (Glow Discharge Optical Emission Spectrometry).

Elements contained in the additives in the pad such as Ba, Ti, Na ,Cu, S etc. are condensed in the transfer film formed on the worn surface.

0.6µm of length of short axis

Length of short axis / µm

Leng

th o

f lon

g ax

is /

µm

DIA (PITA-3)

SEM

WHO fiber range

Scanning transmission electron microscope image

Scanning transmission electron microscope image

Electron diffraction pattern of a particle

surrounded by a circle

Electron diffraction pattern of a particle

surrounded by a circle1μm

Embedding resign

5μm

Inte

nsit

y （B

a ）

[a.u

.]

Depth [µm]

Specimen

Surface protective film

Inte

nsit

y （El

emen

ts e

xcep

t for

Ba ）

[a.u

.]

05

By making use of the continuous process, samples taken from the final product just before packing as well as samples taken from the various intermediate positions along the way while being manufactured are subject to on-site analyses (partially analyzed outside of the plant). The immediate feedback of the analysis results enables us to adjust the parameters of our manufacturing lines appropriately, resulting in the supply of stable, high-quality products.

At the Gifu Plant, various on-site measurements are carried out, such as specific surface area by the BET method, particle size and its distribution by the laser diffraction method and the Dynamic Image Analysis (DIA) method, WHO fiber content by the DIA method, particle size distribution by the sieve analysis method, moisture content by precise gravimetry, bulk and tapped densities, alkali metal dissolution measurement by the water dispersion slurry method, etc. Moreover, depending on the customer request, we conduct some special analyses outside the plant with support from Toho Titanium Co., Ltd. and Nakashima Sangyo Co., Ltd.

Major Bases and Contact Information

The products of Toho Material Co., Ltd. are available not only in Japan but all over the world through the sales network of Morimura Bros., Inc.

The Gifu Plant receives ISO 9001 certification and the quality of our products is managed under the strict quality management system.

Headquarters

Main Manufacturing Plant

R&D Base

Sales Base (on consignment)

3-3-5 Chigasaki, Chigasaki-City, Kanagawa 253-8510, Japan

Gifu Plant, 692-1 Tokiguchi, Tokitsu-cho, Toki-City, Gifu 509-5122, Japan

R&D Center of Toho Titanium Co., Ltd., 3-3-5 Chigasaki, Chigasaki-City, Kanagawa 253-8510, Japan

Chemicals Div., Morimura Bros., Inc., Toranomon Towers Office, 4-1-28 Toranomon, Minato-Ku Tokyo 105-8451, JapanMr.A.Kubota / kubota@morimura.co.jpMr.H.Kubo / h-kubo@morimura.co.jp

Sales Base (on consignment)

Headquarters / R&D Base

Main Manufacturing Plant

Gifu Plant

Products Quality Control

06