Release: January 27 , 2000
NGK Insulators, Ltd. (President: Masaharu Shibata, Head Office: Nagoya) has agreed to license PowderFlo® Injection Technology using a water/polysaccharide binder from Honeywell International Inc.
This water-based powder injection molding technology uses a binder made from water and agar (a seaweed-derived polysaccharide not unlike JELL-O) instead of a wax-based binder for ceramic injection molding. The main features are:
NGK signed the license agreement with Honeywell on December 31, 1999. Since we believe that this technology improves our ceramic manufacturing process significantly, we intend to employ this technology in our insulators and other ceramic products and will develop complex-shaped products which have traditionally been limited. In addition, we intend to commence a sublicense business with domestic ceramic manufacturers.
Honeywell and AlliedSignal Inc. merged on December 1, 1999 and became a new company under the name Honeywell. (Merging ratio is AlliedSignal : Honeywell = 7 : 3) Honeywell is a US$24-billion diversified technology and manufacturing leader, serving customers worldwide with aerospace products and services; control technologies for buildings, homes and industry; automotive products; power generation systems, specialty chemicals; fibers; plastics; and electronic and advanced materials. The company employs approximately 120,000 people in 95 countries. It is one of the 30 stocks that make up the Dow Jones Industrial Average and is also a component of the Standard & Poor's 500 Index. PowderFlo was originally patented by AlliedSignal.
A photo of ceramic products using PowderFlo Technology.
