Daido Steel to Increase Ti Sales in Medical Field

Daido Steel, Japanese major special steel maker, aims to increase the titanium sales in medical field. The firm currently ships titanium products at 600-700 tonnes per year while the sales rate for medical applications represents only 30%, mainly for European market. Daido Steel projects the export increase to Asia. In recent years, the firm has developed beta titanium alloy products adoptable to both consumer use and medical application.

Daido Steel produces titanium products at Hoshizaki plant, pumping and welding sponge titanium, melting materials in vacuum arc furnace and producing ingot. The firm developed new technology to melts titanium scrap by unique plasma melting furnace. In 2008, the firm installed high quality large isothermal furnace (LIF) which can melt materials homogeneously and produce titanium alloy uniformly.

The firm installed accurate inspection apparatus for medical industry. This is supersonic flaw detector which corresponds for AMS 2631 of aerospace material standard. Meanwhile, the firm is developing beta titanium alloy for medial cares, containing titanium, chrome, niobium and zirconium. The alloy represents low elastic modulus compared with existing titanium alloy.