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News
Joetsu Bronz1 Corporation and Sambo signed license agreement for ECO BRASS®
On July 31, 2007, Joetsu Bronz1 Corporation (Head office: Niigata, Japan)
and Sambo signed a license agreement on a non-exclusive basis for the alloy and trademark
"ECO BRASS®", lead-free brass, within the territory of Japan.
Joetsu Bronz1 Corporation is one of the largest maker of copper alloy casting products in Japan.
Adding ECO BRASS® to their product lineup will complement existing products
with a new alloy that has good strength, corrosion resistance, as well as being lead-free.
With this agreement the total number of Japanese ECO BRASS® licensees is 6
(2 casting companies, 4 extrusion rod companies.). The total number of ECO BRASS®
licensees worldwide is 11. ECO BRASS® is the global standard lead-free material
for the water supply industry. ECO BRASS® has wide acceptance in the electric and
electronic device industry as well as with the automotive parts industry.
Marue Shindo Co., Ltd. and Sambo signed license agreement for ECO BRASS®
On May 31, 2007, Marue Shindo Co., Ltd. (Head office: Kyoto, Japan) and
Sambo signed a license agreement on a non-exclusive basis for the alloy and trademark
"ECO BRASS®", lead-free brass, within the territory of Japan.
Marue Shindo has advanced technical capabilities for copper water supply products.
Marue Shindo is also working to develop new lead-free copper alloy applications.
The Japan Water Works Association in March 2007 confirmed the use of ECO BRASS®
in cock valves. Sambo and Marue Shindo are going to promote the good characteristics of
ECO BRASS® such as good machinability, safety and economical efficiency.
Sambo announces December 2009 medium-range plan
On May 24, 2007, Sambo announced the December 2009 medium-range plan. Sambo targets 3.3 billion jpy
for 2009 consolidated profit. Sambo plans to invest 9 billion jpy for equipment and improvements.
The investment is mainly used for a new strip rolling line, a new melting and casting machine
for ECO BRASS®, and improvements in a subsidiary that processes copper tubes for
air conditioning. About half of the allotment will be consumed for the new rolling line.
Improvements in the rolling line are for quality improvement and production efficiency
as well as preparing for OEM production of Mitsubishi Shindoh products.
According to Sambo's 2006 non-consolidated accounting, net sales were 92.1 billion jpy
and non- consolidated profit was 2.1 billion jpy.
Sambo perfects fine-grain technology
On November 2, 2006, Sambo announced perfection of fine grain technology with ECO BRASS®
castings (crystal grain size: 10μm) by adding minute quantities of zirconium and phosphorus.
ECO BRASS® is one of many materials that Sambo's fine grain technology can be applied to.
Most castings have a crystal grain shaped dendrite that can result in various defects. Sambo's patented
technology makes a 10μm grain instead of a dendrite. ECO BRASS® combined with this technology
results in better tensile strength and elongation of the metal, there is less cast product shrinkage,
and there are less product defects.
Chase Brass & Copper Company, Inc. sublicenses ECO BRASS® to Concast Metal Products Co.
On September 4, 2006, Sambo announced that Chase Brass & Copper Company, Inc.
(Head office: Ohio, U.S., hereinafter "Chase Brass") and Concast Metal Products Co.
(Head office: Pennsylvania, U.S., hereinafter "Concast Metal") signed license agreement
on a non-exclusive basis for the alloy and trademark "ECO BRASS®", lead-free brass,
within the territory of North America.
Concast Metal is one of the largest makers in U.S. producing wide range of round rods, profiles and pipes.
Concast Metal currently produces bismuth bearing products. Adding ECO BRASS®
to their product lineup will strengthen Concast Metal's position in the growing lead-free market.
Sambo Copper Alloy to enter business relationship with Mitsubishi Materials Corporation and Mitsubishi Shindoh Co., Ltd.
On July 28, 2006, Mitsubishi Materials Corporation (Head office: Tokyo, Japan, hereinafter
"Mitsubishi Materials"), Mitsubishi Shindoh Co., Ltd. (Head office: Tokyo, Japan, hereinafter
"Mitsubishi Shindoh") and Sambo agreed to consider the possibility of business partnership of production,
R&D and other items.
The 3 companies will strengthen their mass-production systems by exchanging products and effective use
of equipment become more competitive in the global market by focusing on quality, cost and delivery.
Kaimei Shindo Co., Ltd. and Sambo signed license agreement for ECO BRASS®
On April 25, 2006, Kaimei Shindo Co., Ltd. (Head office: Kyoto, Japan, hereinafter "Kaimei Shindo")
and Sambo signed a license agreement on a non-exclusive basis for the alloy and trademark
"ECO BRASS®", lead-free brass, within the territory of Japan.
Kaimei Shindo has the largest share of brass small diameter rod and profiles in Japan.
Kaimei Shindo has developed its own bismuth brass. Adding ECO BRASS®
to its lineup will make Kaimei Shindo better capable to response varied customer's needs.
Chase Brass & Copper and Sambo Copper Alloy sign license agreement for lead-free ECO BRASS®
Chase Brass & Copper obtained ECO BRASS®
exclusive rights for North America
On April 28, 2005, Sambo Copper Alloy Co., Ltd. (Head Office: Sakai-ku,Sakai-City,
Osaka, Japan, President: Takao Hashida) and Chase Brass & Copper Co., Inc.
(Head office: Montpelier, Ohio) signed a license agreement for lead-free
ECO BRASS®. Chase Brass obtained exclusive rights for the
production and sale of ECO BRASS® rod and ingot in North America.
ECO BRASS® is a lead-free brass material commercially developed
by Sambo Copper Alloy Co., Ltd., a leading Japanese manufacturer of brass mill products.
Chase Brass & Copper Company, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Olin Corporation,
is the largest brass rod manufacturer in North America. The company selected
ECO BRASS® to meet the needs of the marketplace requesting a
lead-free brass alternative. This lead-free alloy has physical and mechanical
properties that provide excellent strength and corrosion resistance characteristics
while still maintaining good machinability.
This partnership with Chase Brass finalizes Sambo's strategy to establish marketing
and sales efforts globally, including Asia, Europe and North America.
Chase Brass & Copper :
http://WWW.Chasebrass.com/
Ohki Shindo and Sambo Copper sign license agreement for ECO BRASS®
On March 23, 2005, Ohki Shindo (Head office: Tokyo, Japan) and
Sambo Copper signed a license agreement on a non-exclusive basis for the
alloy and trademark "ECO BRASS®", lead-free brass, within
the territory of Japan.
Ohki Shindo is a leading manufacturer of brass rod in Kanto area with a monthly
production of 2,500-2,700 tons. They also supply Bi added lead-free brass.
By adding "ECO BRASS®", Si added lead-free brass with high strength
and excellent stress corrosion cracking resistance to their products lineup,
they will advance customer development further.
By grant of the license to Ohki Shindo, the "ECO BRASS®" family now consists of four companies, including Sambo Copper, Dowa Mining and Nippon Shindo. We plan to expand the "ECO BRASS®" family further in the future.
Nippon Shindo and Sambo Copper sign license agreement for ECO BRASS®
On March 5, 2004, Nippon Shindo (Head office: Osaka, Japan)
and Sambo Copper signed a license agreement on a non-exclusive basis for the alloy
and trademark "ECO BRASS®", lead-free brass, within the territory of Japan.
In Japan, this is the second agreement after signing with Dowa Mining in December 2003.
Nippon Shindo also supplies Bi added lead-free brass. With the license agreement for "ECO BRASS
®", Si added lead-free brass, Nippon Shindo will produce and sell "ECO BRASS®" to meet customer's needs.
ECO BRASS® is officially registered by the CDA as UNS Alloy No. C69300 and C87850
The Copper Development Association (CDA),
Technical Service and Standards Advisor Committee, in
its December 10, 2003 meeting approved the registration
of ECO BRASS as UNS Alloy Nos. C69300 and C87850.
The
compositions and associated data are now added to the
Copper Page Website, properties Section.
C69300 is
for Wrought Copper Alloy and C87850 is for Casting
Alloy.
ECO BRASS is a new lead-free Copper alloy
leading the way towards a Lead-Free global standard.
The following icon is linked to theCDA
Copper Page Website Properties Section.
http://www.copper.org/resources/properties/db/CDAPropertiesSelectionServlet.jsp
| Chemical Composition, Percent Maximum (Unless shown as a Range or Minimum) | ||
 |
C69300 | C87850 |
| Copper(incl Ag) | 73.0 - 77.0 (x) | 74.0 - 78.0 |
| Lead | 0.10 | 0.10 |
| Iron | 0.10 | 0.10 |
| Tin | 0.20 | 0.30 |
| Zinc | Rem. | Rem. |
| Nickel(incl Co) | 0.10 | 0.20 |
| Manganese | 0.10 | 0.10 |
| Silicon | 2.7 - 3.4 | 2.7 - 3.4 |
| Phosphorus | 0.04 - 0.15 | 0.05 - 0.20 |
| Antimony | -- | 0.10 |
| (x) Cu + Sum of Named Elements, 99.5% min |
Dowa Minig and Sambo Copper sign license agreement for ECO BRASS®
On December 22, 2003, Dowa Mining (Head
office: Tokyo,Japan. President: Hirokazu Yoshikawa) and
Sambo Copper signed a license agreement on a
non-exclusive basis for the alloy and trademark
"ECOBRASS", lead-free copper, within the territory of
Japan.
Sambo Copper has already concluded a
license agreement for "ECOBRASS" with Wieland-Werke AG
(Head office: Ulm, Germany) on November 1, 2003 within
the territory of Europe. However, this is the first
agreement within the domestic market.
Sambo Copper
has a plan to grant the same License Agreements to more
companies both in Japan and foreign countries as part of
it's strategy to establish "ECOBRASS" as the global
standard for Lead-Free brass.
Dowa Mining also
supplies Bi added lead-free brass. By adding "ECO BRASS®"
to their products lineup, they will be able to widely
comply with customer's lead-free needs and expand sales
of lead-free brass.
The production of "ECO BRASS"
will eventually be carried out by their 100% owned
subsidiary, Shin Nihon Brass (Head office: Asahi-city,
President: Yasuharu Fujita). In the initial stages, they
will buy rod from Sambo Copper for resale or
processing.
The Japan Copper and Brass Association establishes a Technical Standard for Lead-Free Brass
Growing environmental problems has
increased the demand for Lead-Free Brass at various
industries. Reflecting these demands, the Japan Copper
and Brass Association established a Technical Standard
for Lead-Free Brass (JCBA T204), Which includes 4 Bi
added alloys and 2 Si added alloys.
These 6 lead-free
alloys meet the new Japanese drinking water regulations
enforced from April 1, 2003. That requirement stipulates
the amount of lead leaching from water supply devices
should be less than 0.01mg/L. In addition to being
lead-free, these materials have good machinability and
forgeability. The Japan Copper and Brass Association
will work to promote this technical standard to a JIS
standard.
"ECO BRASS" is registered as alloy
numbers C6931 and C6932. ECO BRASS has high strength
equal to stainless steel, good abrasion resistance and
solves the problems of dezincification corrosion and
stress corrosion cracking both, which are characteristic
problems of traditional brass.
Alloys and Chemical composition
| AlloyNo. | Chemical composition (%) | ||||||||
| Cu | Bi | Si | Sn | P | Pb | Zn | Fe | Others | |
| C6801 | 57.0~64.0 | 0.5~4.0 | - | 0.2~2.5 | 0.2Max. | 0.01Max. | Rem. | 0.5Max. | |
| C6802 | 57.0~64.0 | 0.5~4.0 | - | 0.2~2.5 | 0.2Max. | 0.01< 0.1Max. |
Rem. | 0.7Max. | |
| C6803 | 57.0~64.0 | 0.5~4.0 | - | 0.2~2.5 | 0.2Max. | 0.01Max. | Rem. | 0.5Max. | Se+Al+Sb+Te 0.02~0.6 |
| C6804 | 57.0~64.0 | 0.5~4.0 | - | 0.2~2.5 | 0.2Max. | 0.01< 0.1Max. |
Rem. | 0.7Max. | Se+Al+Sb+Te 0.02~0.6 |
| C6931 | 69.0~80.0 | - | 2.0~4.0 | 0.2Max. | 0.02~0.15 | 0.01Max. | Rem. | 0.3Max. | Mg 0.1Max. |
| C6932 | 69.0~80.0 | - | 2.0~4.0 | - | 0.02~0.15 | 0.01< 0.1Max. |
Rem. | 0.3Max. | Mg 0.1Max. |
Wieland-Werke and Sambo Copper sign license agreement for Europe
Sambo Copper Alloy Co., Ltd.
(head office: Sakai-ku,Sakai-City, Osaka, Japan. president: Mr.
Tosiki Takeiri) announces that Sambo entered into a
license agreement for the alloy and trademark "ECO BRASS"
with Wieland-Werke AG (head office: Ulm, Germany). Sambo
grants on an exclusive basis a lead-free copper alloy
under the trademark "ECOBRASS" to Wieland within the
territory of Europe.
Sambo has already acquired
CDA alloy number for "ECO BRASS" and has granted patents
for this alloy in the U.S.A., Australia, Taiwan, and
South Korea. Sambo has an European patent application
for "ECOBRASS" and expects that it will be granted soon.
This License Agreement is part of the strategy of Sambo
to establish "ECOBRASS" as the global standard of
Lead-Free brass in the near future.
Wieland is a
major producer of copper and copper alloys in Europe and
has a capacity of 500,000 t/year
worldwide.
"ECO BRASS" is one of the leading
Lead-Free brass in the world. Next year, Wieland will
start production and sales of "ECOBRASS" in Europe based
on this License Agreement.
Sambo and Wieland also
agreed to develop the market for "ECOBRASS" worldwide.
Sambo believes this as a first step toward overseas
presence of "ECOBRASS".
Wieland-Werke AG :
http://www.wieland.de/internet/
ECO BRASS® US patent received July 2002, prepares for CDA and ASTM registrations
We received patent number
6413330 for EcoBrass entitled "Lead-free free cutting
copper alloys" in the United States on July 2,
2002.
 |
 |
| Patent No.6,413,330 (Click for Enlargement) |
Patent Description (Click for Enlargement) |
Following the US patent, application for an alloy number was sent to the Copper Development Association (CDA). The CDA number should be registered by end of 2002. EcoBrass rod will be registered as C69300 and the castings will be registered as C99200. We also are applying to the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) for a Standard listing.
| Country | Patent Date | Patent Number |
| USA | 2002/07/02 | 6,413,330 |
| Australia | 2001/12/30 | 738301 |
| Australia | 2002/06/06 | 744335 |
| Taiwan | 2001/06/14 | 127567 |
ECO BRASS® complies with new Japanese lead leaching standard of 0.005mg/L set to be enforced April 1, 2004
The Japanese Ministry of Health, labor
and Welfare will revise the drinking water law on April
1, 2004. With the new law, lead content in drinking
water will be decreased to a maximum of 0.01mg/L from a
maximum of 0.05mg/L. The amount of lead leaching from
water supplying devices will also be reduced to one
fifth of the current standard. EcoBrass contains less
than 0.1% lead and drinking water supplying devices made
from EcoBrass have a lead leaching amount of less than
0.005mg/L. By using EcoBrass faucet, valve, fitting
makers and other drinking water supply device makers can
easily comply with the new standard.
Lead was not detected in the lead leaching test performed by the Japan Food Research Laboratories. (detection limit 0.005mg/L)
Lead leaching comparative
graph
Sample chemical composition & test results
Sample: Cast & machined
EcoBrass
(wt%)
|
Cu |
Si |
Pb |
Zn | |
| (1) 0.03% Pb EcoBrass |
75.56 |
3.05 |
0.036 |
Rem |
| (2) 0.1% Pb EcoBrass |
75.34 |
3.10 |
0.107 |
Rem |
|
Pb Leaching
（mg/L） | |
| (1) 0.03% Pb EcoBrass |
Undetectable* |
| (2) 0.1% Pb EcoBrass |
Undetectable* |
| (3) 2% Pb CAC203 |
0.20 |
| (4) 5% Pb CAC406 |
0.39 |
Test Method: JIS S 3200-7:1997 (no surface conditioning)
Tested by: The Japan Food Research Laboratories
Test results published: March 10, 2000
Document control number: 200021557-001,002,006,007
ECO BRASS® receives "New Technical
Innovation"
award from the Japan Institute of
Metals
Click Image for an
Enlargement
EcoBrass received the "New Technical
Innovation" award from the Japan Institute of Metals
November 1, 2000. This award is given to those who
create new products or technical developments that are
considered innovative. (Japanese text)
ECO BRASS® water meter certified by the Japan Water Works Association (JWWA)
An EcoBrass water meter produced by
Kimmon Co., Ltd. was the first lead-free water meter
certified by the Japan Water Works Association.
