Features of manufacturing
Key materials for the advancement of electronic devicesPioneer
What does it mean to be a pioneer in magnetic materials?
TDK was the first company in the world to commercialize ferrite.
Ferrite was invented in 1930 by Drs. Yogoro Kato and Takeshi Takei of the Department of Electrochemistry at the Tokyo Institute of Technology. TDK was founded in 1935 to develop industrial methods of producing ferrite. (The current company name is derived from the original Tokyo Denki Kagaku Kogyo.)
What properties does ferrite have?
Ferrite is an intriguing type of ceramic that sticks to magnets even though it is not a metal.
Like iron, ferrite is a magnetic substance that is attracted to magnets. However, it is made by sintering in much the same way as china, meaning it has higher electrical resistance than metal and conducts almost no electric current. For this reason, it has lower power loss due to generated heat than metallic magnetics, even when a high-frequency electricity is applied. It is widely used in cores for transformers and many types of coils for all kinds of electronic devices.
What benefits come from having strength in magnetic material?
Thorough knowledge of the material enables manufacturing that fully capitalizes on its strength.
Ferrite is an electronic material with excellent properties, but needs to be engineered to become useful. TDK's strength is in using its entire manufacturing capacity to turn the ferrite material into electronic components. Engineers with a thorough knowledge of the material's properties participate in manufacturing to enable high efficiency and to create products with higher performance. This in itself provides TDK with a major advantage over component manufacturers that procure materials from other companies.
