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Bioplastics for Electronic Equipment

About Myself

Dr. Masatoshi Iji

In "About Myself," we will be introducing the life and research activities of leading researchers at NEC as told in their own words. It is our sincere hope that their message will help familiarize our readers with science and technology and deepen their interest in these fields. In this profile, we hear from Masatoshi Iji, Research Fellow at Fundamental and Environmental Research Laboratories.

Childhood

I was born and raised in the Tokyo suburb of Mitaka city. In my early childhood Mitaka was still blessed with a rich natural environment, so I was able to come in contact with a wealth of plants and animals (insects, fish, dogs, cats, chickens, cows, etc.). During my early elementary school years, I was struck by a severe illness, which restricted my movement for a period of time. This gave me the chance to spend a lot of time staying at home, during which I came to enjoy reading, watching TV, and daydreaming. I became particularly fond of biographies, and I was fascinated by how people managed to get through the different kinds of situations they were put in and finally achieve success. I also got very absorbed in the animations of Osamu Tezuka, and ended up watching almost all of his works. I would often get engrossed in fantasizing, plotting in detail the journey of invented characters to their ultimate success, for example, stories of how a very ordinary boy overcame various difficulties to end up as a superstar of professional baseball pitcher.

Setting out to be an environmental researcher

In my early years of high school I really liked humanities subjects, like history and Japanese, so at that time I never thought of pursuing science studies. Yet, I was had a vague urge to become a specialist who could make some kind of contribution to society. I decided to take up science studies after I became interested in environmental problems and chemistry. At that time, the natural environment in the suburb where I lived was being rapidly lost to urbanization, and worsening pollution was becoming a serious social problem. All this provoked in me a strong interest in environmental issues. At the same time, I was also influenced by the high school (Tokyo Metropolitan Mitaka High School) chemistry classes I was taking. The teacher (Mr. Orui) was quite unique, always conducting an experiment on his desk as he proceeded with the class. I was fascinated by how the chemical equations he wrote on the blackboard were taking place right before our eyes in the experiment. I became deeply interested in chemistry. So when I finished high school I decided to become a chemical researcher, so that I could work to solve environmental problems. This was where my path as an environmental scientist began.

Thus, I enrolled in the Faculty of Engineering at Chiba University, in the Dept. of Industrial Chemistry, and studied applied chemistry. I also joined the mountain climbing club, and became very enthusiastic about getting to know real natural environments as closely as possible. I got to know and spend time with interesting people from many of the different faculties of the university, which helped to broaden my mind with new ideas and values. After completing my undergraduate studies, I wanted to specialize further in environmental chemistry, so I went to study in the Department of Environmental Chemistry and Engineering of the Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Environmental Science and Engineering, at the Tokyo Institute of Technology. The graduate school had only recently been set up, so there were only a few students in my department. This meant that I was able to receive practically one-on-one guidance from my adviser, Prof. Masami Ichikuni (now Prof. Emeritus). As a result I learned the fundamentals of pursuing research thoroughly. One thing that was particularly useful to me in my subsequent career as a researcher was my teacher's principle of letting me think things through as much as possible by myself.

Experience in materials development and commercialization before joining NEC

Naturally, when I finished my graduate studies I looked for a job where I could pursue R&D in environmental engineering. Ironically, however, environment- pollution problems had become less severe, and the big global environmental issues had not yet emerged. There were only a very few job openings in the environmental field, and these too were fairly minor positions, so my ambitions were frustrated

I had no choice but to alter my expectations, so I took a job with Denki Kagaku Kogyo, a materials maker, and set to work on the development of plastics for use in advanced device packages. By good fortune, however, this job brought me in contact with Dr. Shinichiro Asai (then a chief researcher at the central research lab, later general manager and director of the lab, and fellow before leaving the company), my boss, with whom I remain in contact to this day.

Dr. Asai was one of the company's leading researchers, who had achieved international results in research on plastics for packages. He set very high goals, insisting that research should be both highly practical and theoretically solid. He believed that while research goals should be high, if the mechanisms are not elucidated the research is only half done, even if the results are good. And while battling persistently and uncompromisingly on his research projects, he always maintained a vibrant sense of humor. He taught me both the tough discipline and the enjoyment of research.

Like this, under the guidance of Dr. Asai, I took up the challenge of the new research tasks assigned to me. After five years of various successes and failures, I managed to develop a new plastic for electronics packages that was considered groundbreaking, offering more than twice the durability of previous products. The material was commercialized and shipped to major device makers both in Japan and internationally. When control of the product was transferred to the production plant for manufacturing, I too was transferred from the research department to the production development department, where I was able to engage in technical development and sales promotion as a key player in a pioneering field. Serving as the leader of the development group, I flew around to Europe, North America, and Southeast Asia to provide the world's leading electronics manufacturers with technical explanations and follow-up support. It was in my seventh year in the company that my efforts had borne fruit. It was my most fulfilling period at the company.

However, two years later, the situation had changed. Our competitors had caught up with us and we had to respond. We made an intense effort to improve our materials, but things didn't go well, and sales fell dramatically. Mentally too I was up against the wall. For this reason, I was reassigned to the management position of the materials production site. I had enjoyed the challenge of being a key person in leading-edge technical development, so this transfer came as a shock. On the other hand, though, I was now free from the pressure of fierce development competition, so to be honest, a part of me was relieved.

After transferring to the manufacturing site, with the help of the dependable foreman, who was exactly two cycles (24 years) older than me, and the good-hearted workers, I soon got used to the management job, and I was at last able to live a settled lifestyle. But, gradually, I started to ask myself if that was what I really wanted to do. Before long I decided that I wanted to return to research and development, even if it meant I might fail. And since going back to research would be difficult in any case, I thought that I might as well try and do what I was always interested in. A strong desire arose in me to work on environmental research. It so happened that just at this time there was renewed interest in the environment, with the emergence of global environmental issues. I felt very restless inside.

Joining NEC

So I went to pay a visit to my former gradual school teacher, Dr. Masami Ichikuni, at his home. When I announced to him that I wanted to do environment-related research, he informed me that NEC was looking for researchers for environmental fields. I quickly found out more details from the then general manager of the Environment Technology Laboratory, Mr. Matsumi. I thought that if the work involved development of materials recycling technology or advanced environment-friendly materials, then they could make use of my strengths. So after a letter of recommendation from my former teacher, and a job interview, I found myself reemployed at NEC.

Incidentally, Professor Ichikuni happened to live in the same apartment building as Mr. Okuda, the then fellow of NEC's Environment Technology Laboratory. It appears that it was from Mr. Okuda that the professor heard that NEC was looking for researchers. This made me feel that I have some mysterious connection with NEC.

Research into environment-friendly materials

Summer holidays at Hakuba(1994)Summer holidays at Hakuba(1994)

When I joined NEC, the main focus of research was recycling technology for electronic equipment, and I was put to work on research into recycling parts such as printed circuit boards. At that time, full-scale efforts to recycle electronic equipment were just beginning, so I changed the relatively crude processing methods used to then, to more precise, well-thought-out separation methods, resulting in a dramatic improvement in recycling rates. My efforts were recognized, and I won awards from both NEC and from outside the company (jointly with Mr. Yokoyama). Still, my heart was set on researching environment-friendly materials. However, the lab had virtually no track record in this kind of research, and the development risks were also high, so I had no choice but to focus on recycling.

Yet, the more I worked on recycling research, the more I realized that regardless of how far we developed our recycling technology, if we continued using conventional environmentally harmful materials, the amount of energy needed for processing would just keep piling up, making it impossible to construct a true recycling system. This made me feel sure that the time was inevitably approaching when we would need to make genuine environment-friendly materials that offer both low environmental impact and easy recycling. So, as I continued with my recycling research, in my spare time (what I could scrape together) I started to study environment-friendly materials too. I focused my attention on plastics, because although they are the most commonly used materials for electronic equipment, relatively little environmental improvements have been achieved with them, and also because I was able to make use of my specialist training in this field. I was particular interested in developing a kind of material that no materials manufacturer in the world had yet been able to make: an environmentally safe flame-retardant plastic without any halogens or phosphorus.

The majority of plastics used in electronic equipment at that time contained halogen compounds, as flame retardants, but these compounds were damaging to the environment when burned. Thus waste processing was a serious environmental problem. In view of this, the world's leading materials manufacturers developed flame-retardant plastics using phosphorus compounds as flame retarding agents instead of halogen compounds, and they tried to expand the market for these. But, the phosphorus compounds were not environmentally safe either. However, the development of flame-retardant plastics that were free of phosphorus too was highly risky at that time, and commercialization would have been difficult. Still, I started to set my sights on the idea of a high-safety flame retardant plastic that was free not only of halogen compounds, but also phosphorus compounds.

From that time, after a long process of trial and error, certain ideas led me to some evident breakthroughs. At this point the effort was formally approved as a research project, and we were able to devote more personnel and facilities to it. Then, with the cooperation of joint research team members (Mr. Serizawa, and Mr. Kuichi) we achieved a series of development successes, such as flame-retardant polycarbonate (EKOPORIKA), utilizing a safe flame retarding agent of new-structured silicone, and self-extinguishing epoxy resin compound made without any flame retarding agent. After this, various problems arose in the process of commercialization, but in collaboration with my boss, the operations division, and materials manufacturers, we managed to commercialize these products before anyone else in the world. Currently, EKOPORIKA is the main material used for the casing of NEC's environment-friendly product line of personal computers. It is also being widely used by other companies. The self-extinguishing epoxy resin compound is being used for the molding compounds for IC packages, not only by NEC, but also a wide range of other world-leading IC makers. These products have been acclaimed for their great ingenuity and innovation, and earned several awards, both from inside and outside the company.

Next, we set ourselves the goal of creating materials that were even more environment-friendly, by tackling the development of bioplastics made from plant-derived materials (biomass), as a substitute for petroleum-based materials. This time, on the basis of the unlikely idea of using the plant fiber, kenaf, which is well known for its global-warming prevention capacity, as a stiffening agent, our group succeeded in developing a kenaf-reinforced bioplastic with a biomass content of 90%, the highest ever achieved (other companies had achieved approx. 50%). Nobody would have thought to use such a substance as a material for electronic equipment! Through the collaboration of materials manufacturers and our operations division, this material was originally commercialized for use in the casing of an "eco" mobile phone (March 2006). The group then proceeded to work on research to enhance the bioplastic even further, by endowing it with flame retardancy, which is needed for application to personal computers, as well as new properties not seen in conventional plastics (e.g. "rewritable" shape memory).

Message for young researchers

Despite the many frustrations and failures in life as a researcher, I believe it's important to have a dream and to maintain the passion to fulfill that dream.

Having a "dream" is the most important thing of all I think. Personally, if I am interested in an area of research and consider it valuable, and if I get a thrill imagining my success, then even if the work is difficult and does not progress well, I can somehow stick with it. In other words, if I pursue the research with a "dream" then I can overcome all hurdles. By turning over the problems in my head for a long time, and continuing to gather detailed information, I am usually able to keep tackling the work with passion. As a result, the possibility of success keeps growing.

In a company, the most important thing is that the fruits of research contribute to the company. However, since companies are influential elements of society, it is possible through a company to take up technology and research themes that are capable of making big contributions to society. If you take up such a theme and set your own goals high, you can pursue a wonderful "dream," and this will help to raise your motivation level.

The second important factor is "passion." This too is vital. After finding myself out of the research world at one point, I created an opportunity to get involved in the environmental engineering research I had set my heart on since I was young. With a strong desire to pursue what I wanted to do, no matter what, I somehow succeeded despite the setbacks. This kind of passion also infects the people around you, and helps to persuade your boss and other sections of the company, and it serves as a driving force to help overcome the difficulties confronted together with the people around you.

If I had to go on, I would say that "receptiveness" and "experience" are also important qualities. It may be a generalization, but it's said that creative researchers get a "flash" of inspiration, in a similar way to the creativity of artists. This kind of flash often seems to arise from the receptiveness of the person, or in other words, from having a fresh and flexible mind that is moved by something and becomes absorbed in it. To put it another way, while studying specialist disciplines is obviously important, someone with a stiff mind that holds on too tightly to the "common sense" of that discipline will find it difficult to do any creative research. For this reason, I believe it is important to come in contact with art and nature, to cultivate a rich receptiveness, and to pursue research by developing ideas freely and getting absorbed in them. It's also important to face many different experiences; not just success, but also failure. The more experience you have, the greater the diversity of ideas that are available to you. It's important though to carefully analyze the causes of your successes and failures, and to make the effort to assimilate all your precious experience.

Future research plans

My goal is to develop the "ultimate environmentally friendly plastic," or in other words a plastic that combines both "high environment-friendliness" with "high performance," and inspires the affection and interest of users, and even their amazement. More hard work lies head to develop this kind of material, but my heart's desire is to contribute to the development of the NEC Group's world-leading eco-products, to help diffuse the use of environment-friendly materials around the world, and to contribute to the realization of a real recycling society.

(Extra) A few words about my life as a researcher to now

Q. It seems that often in the process of R&D, the researcher repeatedly runs into a wall. How have you managed to get over the walls in your work to date?

[Iji] I think it's important to keep a positive outlook even in adversity, to keep your feelers out for information and not let any hint of a solution escape you, and also to have a good system of cooperation with fellow researchers.

There will certainly be tough times when results absolutely will not come, and no matter how much you think it through a solution cannot be found. At these kinds of times, while taking care not to let yourself get depressed, check out as much related information as possible (not only through research papers and Internet searches, but also by uncovering less conspicuous information through your personal contacts). And discuss your issues with all your colleagues and collaborators from other sections of the company, and all kinds of other people. If you do all this you are likely to come across a hint to the solution of your problem. Another approach is to divert yourself and "reset your head." If you do this, you will often find that a good idea unexpectedly comes to mind.

Difficult problems seem to crop up, one after the other, particularly at the finishing stages of research (product development and commercialization). When this happens, it's important not to take on the burden of the problems alone. If you respect the diverse skills and opinions of your collaborators, and combine your efforts, you will be able to overcome the difficulties. When I was young I used to battle problems alone, and fail, but as I got older I learned the importance of communication with collaborators.

Q. It seems you started to work full-scale on environmental engineering research as soon as you joined NEC. What's the research environment like at NEC?

[Iji] NEC offers all the necessary conditions: people, facilities, and research funds. A particularly important factor is the excellent people, which I think is vital for success in leading-edge research.

Nonetheless, in addition to individual talent, the quality of the entire research group and system of collaboration are also vital in getting the most out of people and achieving good research results. While respecting each other's individuality and ideas, it's vital that group members also learn from each other by engaging in serious debate, and maintain good communication amongst themselves. It seems that these aspects, including management, require some further improvement in NEC.

References