CTC Provides Design Services of New Materials with QuesTek

ITOCHU Techno-Solutions Corporation (Satoshi Kikuchi, President & CEO; headquartered in Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; hereinafter "CTC") announced that it will embark on a joint venture with QuesTek International LLC (Aziz Asphahani, Chairman and CEO; headquartered in Illinois, the United States; hereinafter “QuesTek”), which has advanced technologies including ones for developing new materials and improving properties of existing materials, on February 10.

The design of new materials with superior strength and durability is occurring worldwide, including Japan. Expected to lead to cost reduction and environmental protection, technologies for designing such new materials are advancing in a variety of applications and markets, such as automobiles, energy, aerospace, and health and medicine. Recently, attention is attracted to Integrated Computational Materials Engineering (ICME) technologies, with which comprehensive simulation is conducted at multiple length scales using a computer to predict properties of materials.

Established by Dr. Greg Olson (Thermo-Calc Professor of the Practice at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology [MIT] in the United States), a pioneer in ICME technologies, QuesTek is a leading company in innovative materials design and development. The company is developing highly durable steels and new alloys based on aluminum, titanium, copper, nickel, cobalt, and other materials by applying its unique tools and approach named Materials by Design®. The company designs materials by combining ICME technology with its proprietary materials property databases, mechanistic models, characterization tools and others.

CTC and QuesTek will jointly establish QuesTek Japan K.K. Based on technologies owned by QuesTek, they will provide ICME modeling service, as well as developing and designing novel materials, optimizing materials processes, and licensing of novel materials.

For more than 30 years, CTC has been selling a range of materials-related software products, including those for alloy design, materials process design, materials characterization, and related databases, while providing support and consulting services. Recently, the company has enhanced its nanoscale materials analysis services and offers multiscale calculation solutions. Moving forward, CTC will continue to contribute to cost reduction and environmental protection, through the development of new materials by working with QuesTek.