Showa Denko Meets Higher Demand for Aluminium Alloy

Showa Denko’s Sakai plant enjoys favorable demand for primary alloyed aluminium flat product, ST60 series when the sales increased by 50% to more than 300 tonnes per month from a year earlier. The firm tries to expand the sales more under the firm demand. ST60 grade is heat treated aluminium-magnesium-silicon alloy, which has high thermal conductivity and high strength. The thermal conductivity is as high as pure aluminium. The firm tries to meet higher demand for better thermal diffusivity in electronics and machinery industries. The application is mainly for electronic parts and other applications with higher exothermic performance. The demand increases for flat display panels including plasma display panel and liquid crystal display when the applications need more heat releasing parts for better brightness and preciseness. Showa Denko increased the aluminium flat products sales by 7.6%b to 7,956 tonnes in January-June from same period of 2005 thanks to higher sales of ST60 series. The firm tries to double the operating profit to 17 billion yen for aluminium unit for 2008 from 2005 under the new mid-term plan to 2008. The firm expands the sales of higher valued aluminium products including ST60.