Kakehashi outline

かけはし

Kakehashi is a program in which the TIA’s six core organizations collaborate beyond their organizational boundary and support research and collaborative activities to explore new fields. Kakehashi promotes the fusion of different professional techniques and the knowledge of the TIA core organizations. Further, it aims at facilitating large-scale collaborative research and projects by conducting open study groups, seminars, and exhibitions, and by utilizing external human resources, know-how, research resources, and research funding outside TIA.

Various styles of collaboration

Integration of different fields or technology
Create, integrate, and develop technology seeds by collaboration among the TIA organizations.
Spread of technology seeds
Disseminate technology seeds through activities, such as study groups, workshops, consortia, and exhibitions.
Application and commercialization of technology seeds
Start-up R&D projects to advance technology seeds toward commercialization (acquire public budgets and launch joint development with private companies)
Matching of technology seeds with company needs
Conduct feasibility studies to start a joint research by matching technological challenges and company needs with TIA’s technology seeds.

kakehashi-outline

I. Integration and creation of technology seeds

Metal 3D printing creates a three-dimensional metal shape by selectively melting and solidifying a metal powder bed using laser and by stacking one layer over another; the process results in several dozens of microns in thickness. Because powder undergoes complex phase changes, including melting, vaporization, and solidification during laser irradiation, in-situ observation is indispensable for understanding the phenomenon of these phase changes. In the Kakehashi project, researchers involved in additive manufacturing (AIST) and those in metal materials and evaluation technology (NIMS) worked collaboratively and observed successfully the melting and solidification of metal powder during processes similar to those under actual printing.

Metal3Dprinting
In-situ observation of melting metal powder

The selective isolation and analysis of intracellular vesicles from living cells is expected to become an effective technology for understanding the mechanism of intercellular communication. In particular, exosomes in multivesicular bodies in intracellular vesicles have received attention as a material for cancer diagnosis and are expected to lead to minimally invasive examination. The Kakehashi project has succeeded in selectively removing intracellular vesicles through a combination of techniques: tagging endosomes with fusion proteins developed by NIMS and an AFM cantilever nanoneedle technique developed by AIST.

kakehashi(ナノニードル)
A nanoneedle

A fractional flux quantum proposed by AIST is an idea that involves splitting a quantum using phase-difference space. This process is expected to lead to increased memory capacity in low-power, high-speed superconducting computers and the foundation of quantum computers. The combination of superconducting devices fabricated at one of the TIA’s open research facilities, namely, CRAVITY at AIST and quantum measurement techniques at NIMS, enabled the experimental formation and observation of a fractional flux quantum vortex.

kakehashi(量子分割素子)
Fractional flux quantum device

III. Project development and commercialization

Recently, neutrons have become a well-known prove for a structural analysis of the advanced materials such as Hydrogen-fuels and lithium-ion batteries. However, to date, the use of neutrons has been limited only at large-scale experimental facilities such as nuclear reactors. A Kakehashi project has conducted a study to achieve a portable neutron structural analysis, which is available in small laboratories. This project has also launched the development of technology using a compact neutron source. As a starting point, the project succeeded in acquiring distinct neutron radiographs using a prototype of neutron flat panel detector. A collaboration network was established and gave rise to a project led by AIST, NIMS, KEK, and RIKEN. (NEDO project “Research and Development on Innovative Structural Materials”)

kakehashi(xray画像) kakehashi(neutron画像)
Radiographs of 2.5’’ HDD by X ray (left) and by neutron (right)