Light Metals history

Supplied with cheaper energy from five company-owned hydropower stations, the Kambara facility ran at the lowest production cost in Japan, turning out of 70,000 tons of aluminum by 1962.

To encourage importing from developing countries, part of these imports qualified for a reduced 1970 tariff rate of 4.5%, as against a 10.6% rate for other imports.

In November of 1973 the company announced that it would cut aluminum shipments to customers by 20%, as a result of the oil and electricity shortages.

Nippon Light Metal followed this path with the 1974 acquisition of both Nikkei Aluminium Rolling Company and the Nikkei Aluminium Company.

Undertaken along with Alcan Aluminium, one 1977 project involved the conversion of alumina into aluminum ingot.

In 1978 the company had acquired the Nikkei Aluminum Sales Company.

In 1983 this plan was refined to reduce the target capacity from 1.1 million tons to 700,000 tons.

Nippon Light Metal responded to these changes with further diversification, establishing a chemical division in 1984.

The company entered another field in 1986, when it established the cast and forge products division to manufacture electronic parts, parts for heat exchangers, components for motorcycles and automobiles, and connecting rods.

In 1988 a general company reorganization established five different headquarters: basic materials, light rolling, fabricated products, development, and production technology.

Sales income for the first half of the financial year reached ¥137 billion, rising to ¥270 billion by March 1990.

Since 2001, membership has grown from 3 to 11, and there have been numerous scientific exchanges yielding more than 50 co-authored publications and 8 LMT conferences.

Dahle A (ed) (2003) Proceedings of the first international light metals technology conference.

Yi S-B et al (2006) Deformation and texture evolution in AZ31 magnesium alloy during uniaxial loading.

Fragner W, Sadayappan K (2007) Effect of processing on the structure and properties of squeeze cast Al-7Si-0.3 Mg alloy.

Anopuo O, Shen G, Xu S, Hort N, Kainer KU (2009) Elevated temperature and varied load response of AS41 at bolted joint.

Dieringa H, Hort N, Kainer KU (eds) (2011) Proceedings of the fifth international light metals technology conference (LMT2011), vol 690.

Xu S, Shen G, Williams G, Anopuo O, Hort N, Kainer K-U, Staron P (2012) Development of a standard test to evaluate bolt-load retention of magnesium alloys.

He Y et al (2013) Thermomechanical simulation and experimental characterization of hot tearing during solidification of aluminum alloys.

Dieringa H et al (2015) Twin-roll casting after intensive melt shearing and subsequent rolling of an AM30 magnesium alloy with addition of CaO and SiC, vols 828–829.

Easton MA et al (2016) Evaluation of magnesium die-casting alloys for elevated temperature applications: castability.