Brass Bar Manufacturing Business

Manufacturing and selling Brass Bar

KITZ Group operates a brass bar manufacturing business, manufacturing and selling brass bars and other fabricated brass products (cut and forged brass products). Brass bars are widely utilized for machines, construction materials and other applications.

What is Brass?

Brass is an alloy of copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn). Modifying the percentages of copper and zinc contained in the alloy and adding various other metallic elements makes it possible to produce numerous superb characteristics, such as electrical and thermal conductivity, corrosion resistance, plastic workability and machinability.

Brass Bar Manufacturing Business

KITZ Metal Works Corporation, which handles the KITZ Group’s copper products business, develops and supplies the materials for brass valves, and also manufactures and sells high-quality brass bars and fabricated items, which are used widely as materials for faucet metal fittings, and components in gas supply equipment, home appliances and auto parts.
Hokuto Giken Kogyo Corporation manufactures and sells cut parts and brazed workpieces.

Development of Environmentally Friendly New Materials

In recent years, stricter regulations concerning substances that impact the environment have been introduced around the world. In Europe, in particular, lead regulations have become increasingly strict, and the demand for lead-free brass bars is expected to expand in the future.

In addition to the KEEPALOY series of bismuth-based lead-free brass bars it has already been selling, KITZ Metal Works Corporation has also released KEEPALOY II, a series with high recyclability. In 2019, the company entered into a licensing agreement with Mitsubishi Shindoh Co., Ltd. (currently Mitsubishi Materials Corporation) for the ECO BRASS® series of silicon-based lead-free brass bars. ECO BRASS® is a global material registered under JIS, EN and ASTM, and demonstrates high corrosion resistance and strength properties.

Initiatives as a Company Promoting the SDGs

KITZ Metal Works Corporation is registered as a company promoting the SDGs in Nagano Prefecture and pursues a number of initiatives to achieve the SDGs. As one of these efforts, since April 2022 we have adopted CO2-free electric power utilizing environmental value derived from hydroelectric and solar power generation (non-feed-in-tariff/ non-fossil-fuel certified ), and expect to reduce CO2 emissions by roughly 85% compared with before introduction.

In addition, a feature of the brass products manufactured by KITZ Metal Works Corporation is the ease of recycling. By promoting even greater recycling, the company will strive to reduce its environmental impact.

Brass Bar Manufacturing Process

(1)Composition and melting of raw materials

The raw materials are melted in an induction furnace.
(2)Continuous casting

The molten alloy is cast into large ingots (called “slabs” or “cakes”) using either a water-cooled horizontal continuous casting machine or a vertical semi-continuous casting machine.
(3)Cutting

The slabs are cut into billets (intermediate products) of predetermined length ready for extrusion, using a large-scale cutting machine.
(4)Heating and extrusion

The billets are heated to the prescribed temperature, and extruded into rods or coils using an extruder.
(5)Continuous pickling

Oxides that have become attached to the surface of the alloy during the extrusion processes are removed by pickling.
(6)Cold drawing

The rods and/or coils are passed through the die of a drawing machine to finish them into brass bars with accurate shapes and dimensions.
(7)Straightening and cutting

Bends or curvature in the bars are straightened out using a straightener. The bars are then cut to the prescribed length.
(8)Low-temperature annealing

The bars are subjected to low-temperature annealing at the prescribed temperature in order to remove residual stress and to adjust their hardness.
(9)Measurement, packing and shipping

Completed bars are bundled and packed to the prescribed weight and/or quantity, before being delivered to customers.