News Room 2007 (The former Furukawa-Sky)

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Developed KS Series Aluminum Alloy, Which is Environment-Responsive with High-Machinability

October 31, 2007

Furukawa-Sky has developed a full range of environment-responsive, high-machinability aluminum alloys under our KS Series product line.
The completion of this lineup enables customers to precisely select the high-machinability aluminum alloy that meets their needs. Each alloy comes in a round bar as standard (4 mm to 95 mm diameter), but other shapes are also available, such as a hexagonal bar.

Development Background

Chips generated during the machining process of a high-machinability aluminum alloy are microscopic, which prevents them from winding onto tools and damaging the product. In addition, the scrap itself features high-discharging efficiency, making it suitable for high-speed, automated machining. Therefore, the high-machinability aluminum alloys are widely used for various automobile parts, electric devices and precision machinery.
Conventional high-machinability aluminum alloys used 2011 alloy or 6262 alloy containing lead, and Furukawa-Sky already offered a lineup of KS21, KS62 and KS67 alloys. The use of lead and other specified hazardous substances, however, has become increasingly restricted under the RoHS Directive*1 and the ELV Directive*2, resulting in an urgent need to develop alloys with lead content below these regulatory limits.

Product Features

Furukawa-Sky has simultaneously developed five types of environment-responsive, high-machinability aluminum alloys with lead content below limits set by the RoHS and the ELV Directives, thus completing our KS Series lineup. Features of the five recently developed alloys are provided below.

1.KS26

Lead-free, featuring chip splitting performance roughly equivalent to conventional alloy (KS21) with improved hot-shortness resistance that enables use at temperatures above 120°C

2.KS28S

Lead-free, featuring chip splitting performance roughly equivalent to conventional alloy (KS21)

3.KS21L

Lead content below 0.4% as regulated under the RoHS and ELV Directives, featuring chip splitting performance roughly equivalent to conventional alloy (KS21)

4.KS69S

Lead-free, featuring chip splitting performance roughly equivalent to conventional alloy (KS62)

5.KS62L

Lead content below 0.4% as regulated under the RoHS and ELV Directives, featuring chip splitting performance roughly equivalent to conventional alloy (KS62)

*1

An EU directive limiting the use of specified hazardous substances contained in electric and electronic devices

*2

An EU directive concerning recycling and disposal of end-of-life vehicles