The interface-precipitation has been observed as row carbide arrange since 1960’s. Whereas the interface-precipitated carbides in steels were NbC, TiC, VC and Cr₂₃C₆ in the early stage, composite TiC containing Mo and W has been also become to observe recently. Several kinds of the mechanism of the interface-precipitation have been suggested and ledge mechanism and bowing mechanism which combined interface barging and carbide precipitation are widely accepted since the mechanisms successfully explained a large amount of the experimental results. Fine interface-precipitates in low carbon steel realize high strength steel sheets, plates, bars and rods which are non-quenched and tempered. Especially, in sheet products, in which fine carbides can be easily generated, ferritic steel of 1180 MPa in tensile strength is successfully obtained by dispersing fine carbides with the diameter of several nano-meters.

The viscosities of the lead-free solders are important to simulate the process of the manufacturing process. In this article, current status of the viscosity measurements for the lead-free solders are reviewed. In addition, we introduced the current work of the viscosity measurements for the lead-free solders by using the rotational viscometer with concentric cylinder spindle geometry.

Most of the refineries for platinum group metals (PGMs) in Japan have adopted solvent extraction methods for mutual separation of PGMs. Few effective extractants for industrial use have been found although some industrial processes were established in 1970's. Recently, some compounds have been reported as candidates for practical PGM extractants in addition to new concepts for PGM extraction mechanisms. In this review article, we present well-known PGM recovery processes based on solvent extraction, industrial extractants and their properties, and conventional extraction mechanism for PGMs. Additionally, we discuss recent interesting extraction systems (amide-type compounds and ionic liquid) and then introduce new extraction concepts based on the specific interactions at the outer-sphere of a metal complex in the organic phase.

Recycling of precious metals from scraps generated from manufacturing process have been widely done. The recycling process calls for maintenance of confidentiality of the scrap, use of isolated lots for the recycling operation, high recovery rates, short operation time and low treatment costs. In recent years, the recycling process has been facing three additional problems. The first is the reduction in the precious metal content in the scraps because of their substitution by other non-ferrous metals. The second is the contamination of metals that are never contained in natural ores. They have been used for upgrading the product performance, but those contaminations make it difficult to extract and purify precious metals. The third is the enforcement of stringent environmental regulations in Japan, which prohibits the continuous use of certain chemicals such as nitric acid. This paper describes the work carried out by a precious metals recycling company to solve the aforementioned problems.

Magnesium (Mg) alloys are suitable materials for weight reduction in vehicles because of their low densities and high specific strengths. However, rolled Mg alloy sheets generally exhibit a poor formability at room temperature and thus their applications are restricted. This poor formability is originated from basal slip dominated deformation as well as strong basal texture. It is known that the formability can be improved by suppression of basal texture formation. Thus, large efforts have been devoted to texture control for the purpose of enhancing the room temperature formability. In this paper, recent researches for texture control of rolled Mg alloy sheets are reviewed.0