Materials & Raw Stock

Ceramic composite cutting tools are effective for machining heat-resistant superalloys and other challenging materials.

Fast response, high bandwidth and force, and virtually unlimited resolution make piezoelectric transducers invaluable to modern high tech applications including flow measurement, distance gauging, bio-medical dispensing and aerosol generation, as well as metrology, semiconductor testing, and aerospace technology. PI offers value-added piezo components by adhering flexible printed circuits for easy application integration.

"The 30-foot-by-35-foot pit in a concrete floor is empty, shiny and immaculate as it awaits the arrival of a massive machine for use by Connecticut manufacturers to cut, shape and do a range of other tasks with composite materials," writes Stephen Singer in the Hartford Courant. "At the Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology in East Hartford, the large rectangular hole resembling a swimming pool and reaching a depth of 4 ft. in parts will be filled later this year by the 130,000-lb, high-speed industrial machine [that] will be used to shape, cut, grind and otherwise fashion aerospace and other industry components made of composites."

Raptor-ready dovetail blanks from TCI Precision Metals are custom produced to your specifications and are machine-ready—order from one to thousands with quick turnaround. Each Raptor-ready dovetail blank includes a dovetail feature to match your specified fixture model and arrives machine-ready to go from receiving directly into your CNC machining centers.

The Magswitch Integrated Solutions (MIS) division is introducing new end of arm tool (EOAT) degaussing technology for magnetic material handling in industrial automation. This reportedly allows for a whole new range of material handling applications.

Talk about composites in most machine shops usually refers to carbon-fiber material, though "composites" may refer to a variety of mixed materials going back to the mud-and-straw structures made in ancient times. The latest example: A new metal nanocomposite composed of magnesium infused with a dense and even dispersal of ceramic-silicon-carbide nanoparticles. It's a superstrong-yet-lightweight structural metal with record levels of specific strength and specific modulus, or stiffness-to-weight ratio, and was created by a team led by researchers from UCLA. The material also showed superior stability at high temperatures. It could be used to build lighter aerospace and automotive vehicles, helping to improve fuel efficiency, and for mobile electronics and biomedical devices, according to the researchers.

The National Center for Manufacturing Sciences is helping industry develop lightweight automotive parts from nontraditional materials.

Bunting Magnetics Co., Newton, Kan., named Wendy Doll territory manager for Oregon, Washington, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, and portions of California and Nevada. The company makes magnetic separation and material handling equipment.

Titanium is the leading material for artificial knee and hip joints, but a discovery by Rice University physicists shows that the gold standard for artificial joints can be improved with the addition of some actual gold.

EWI, a non-profit organization dedicated to innovating and implementing advanced manufacturing technologies for industry, soon will add an Electron Beam Additive Manufacturing (EBAM) system to its R&D toolbox. Chicago-based Sciaky Inc. announced the sale of its EBAM system in a news release issued July 20.

A team of engineers from several California colleges has developed and tested a type of steel with a record-breaking ability to withstand impacts without permanent deformation. The new alloy, named SAM2X5-630, could be used in applications from drills to body armor to meteor-resistant casings for satellites. The material is an amorphous steel alloy, a subclass of steel alloys made of arrangements of atoms that deviate from steel's classical crystal-like structure, where iron atoms occupy specific locations.