NITE Cooperation (Headquarters: Muroran, Japan) provides the Know-How and technical guidance of NITE to AXIOM in response to AXIOM’s acquisition of the permission to use the NITE Law Patent (owned by JST), whose CEO Akira Kohyama is the inventor. On June 11, 2020, the technical cooperation agreement to develop green sheets (Green-sheet) and prepreg sheets (Prepreg-sheets), which are intermediate materials for C/SiC and SiC/SiC composite, was established.
Under this agreement, AXIOM will develop the production and development of green sheets and prepreg sheets, which are intermediate materials for C/SiC, SiC/SiC composites under the NITE method, based on NITE’s technical disclosures.
The large-scale production line has already been almost completed, and we plan to start the production line operation in the 4th quarter of 2020 when it is expected that some delivery delays due to the Covid-19 pandemic will be resolved.
AXIOM has a dominant market share of oxide-based ceramic composite prepregs in the United States and is a major contributor to the global market share of the parent company Kordsa (Headquarters Istanbul, Turkey). With this agreement, Kordsa and AXIOM are very close to realizing their global strategy as the world’s No. 1 manufacturer in the field of ceramic composite materials.
NITE Co., Ltd. has secured exclusive sales rights in Japan, China, South Korea, and Taiwan, and aims to actively expand its business in the next fiscal year and beyond.
Nite products SiC/SiC composite materials have been developed with the support of public funds from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, and the NITE Act was developed and patented by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry’s CREST project “Development research on composite functional materials for low environmental impact energy” (1997-2002: Kyoto University Institute of Energy Science and Technology, Research Representative: Akira Kayama). Major support has continued with research funds for innovative nuclear system development-related budgets and new energy material development, such as geothermal development. The practical application of the NITE method was promoted through the activities of IEST Co., Ltd, a spin-off company in the Kyoto University era, and with the support of Gunze. NITE Co., Ltd. was established in 2017.
During this period, the Organization of Advanced Sustainability Initiative for Energy System/Material (OASIS)） was established at Muroran Institute of Technology in 2010, and large-scale research and development has been carried out in parallel based on public funding.
Breakthrough of Advanced Ceramic Matrix Composites