The international scientific-practical conference "Fluoropolymers: research, production problems, new fields of application", the third day held at the Flagship University of the Kirov region, attracted researchers from different countries. The most powerful typhoon Hagibis, raging in Japan, did not stop the Asahi Glass Company employees Shin Tatematsu and Shotaro Beppu to get to Kirov!
Why are they, representatives of the world's largest glass production, interested in fluoropolymers?
This story is more than a hundred years old, -
said Shin Tatematsu, the Deputy General Manager of Asahi Glass Company. -
Then the founder of the company, Toshiya Iwasaki, a graduate of the Department of Chemistry of the University of London, decided that glass production in Japan would be in demand. Fortunately, the country also had raw materials. After a while, he, along with associates, fellow chemists, began to show interest in other materials.
Active use of fluoride in the company began in the 60s: they began to use it instead of chlorine. At that time, giants such as DuPont entered the market - a practically new era began in the production of materials, which was also reflected in the activities of the Asahi Glass Company.
At the conference, my colleague Mr. Beppu demonstrated slides reflecting the vast amount of products and materials produced by the company today.
