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Weldcote Metals, a division of Zika Group, announced the availability of a comprehensive line of metalworking abrasives, many of which will be made in the U.S. at Weldcote’s production facility in Niles, Illinois. The entire line includes more than 900 new SKUs.
Leading the new offering is a line of flap discs, all made in the U.S. With multiple bonding and backing systems, backing plates and design shapes, the discs will handle a wide variety of applications. The flap disc materials, formulated for a variety of metals, include ceramic (C-Prime and C-Prime Plus), zirconia (Z-Prime and Z-Solid), aluminum oxide (A-Prime) and aluminum (ALU-Prime).
Rounding out the new offering is U.S.-made quick change discs, as well as Korner flap discs, resin fibre discs and flap wheels. High-quality, resin-bonded abrasives are now available in the U.S. due to an exclusive relationship with a Italian abrasives manufacturer (PRIME brand), as well as a partnership with a Chinese supplier (SOLID brand). Finally, the Weldcote abrasive program also covers a full line of cutting wheels (branded as SLITTER), Notch pipeline wheels and grinding wheels.
“Our new product team has over 90 years of experience in the abrasives industry,” said Joe O’Mera, CEO of Weldcote. “It was only natural for us to take that experience and use it to create an abrasive line that increased performance and functionality for users. The fact that we were able to make the majority of the line right here in the U.S. is a huge bonus.”
Related Glossary Terms
- abrasive
abrasive
Substance used for grinding, honing, lapping, superfinishing and polishing. Examples include garnet, emery, corundum, silicon carbide, cubic boron nitride and diamond in various grit sizes.
- aluminum oxide
aluminum oxide
Aluminum oxide, also known as corundum, is used in grinding wheels. The chemical formula is Al2O3. Aluminum oxide is the base for ceramics, which are used in cutting tools for high-speed machining with light chip removal. Aluminum oxide is widely used as coating material applied to carbide substrates by chemical vapor deposition. Coated carbide inserts with Al2O3 layers withstand high cutting speeds, as well as abrasive and crater wear.
- backing
backing
1. Flexible portion of a bandsaw blade. 2. Support material behind the cutting edge of a tool. 3. Base material for coated abrasives.
- grinding
grinding
Machining operation in which material is removed from the workpiece by a powered abrasive wheel, stone, belt, paste, sheet, compound, slurry, etc. Takes various forms: surface grinding (creates flat and/or squared surfaces); cylindrical grinding (for external cylindrical and tapered shapes, fillets, undercuts, etc.); centerless grinding; chamfering; thread and form grinding; tool and cutter grinding; offhand grinding; lapping and polishing (grinding with extremely fine grits to create ultrasmooth surfaces); honing; and disc grinding.
- metalworking
metalworking
Any manufacturing process in which metal is processed or machined such that the workpiece is given a new shape. Broadly defined, the term includes processes such as design and layout, heat-treating, material handling and inspection.
