Industrial Diamond and CBN - Technology and Technique
2007 marks the 50th anniversary of the introduction of manufactured industrial diamond as well as the discovery of CBN. These milestones have led the manufacturing industry into a new era of process excellance. As a result, new process technology, machines, and supportive equipment have been developed to take advantage of these now widely-available tool materials. Their introduction has also led to the development and application of stronger, lighter, and more-cost-effective materials for use in a variety of industries including electronics, medical, ceramics, aerospace and automotive, just to name a few. However,even after 50 years, superabrasive products and tools maintain an aura of mystery and mis-understanding. They are still often thought of as too expensive and/or too difficult to use.
This presentation will cover the various types of diamond and CBN abrasives as well as factors affecting tool (grinding wheel, etc.) manufacture and performance. It will help in the understanding of:
What is the real difference between diamond and CBN and other (conventional) abrasives?
What is the best tool for my application?
What I need to know to optimize my tool’s performance?
What related factors can affect part quality and process costs?
Biography
For more than 35 years, Alan Carius has held positions responsible for the development and manufacture of industrial diamond and CBN products as well as the evaluation and development of worldwide superabrasive markets and application technology. Alan is a member of SME, ASM, ACerS and AES and has authored numerous articles and technical papers on subjects relating to the superabrasives industry. Currently, he is a consultant to abrasives, tool and metalworking industries in the US and overseas.
Irvin L. Kaage
President, Transor Filter USA
Irvin L. Kaage is a veteran of the machine tool industry for nearly 30 years. During that time he has held positions as EDM Sales Manager for EX-Cell-O Corporation and Sales Manager for Sodick, a manufacturer of CNC EDM machines, before joining Transor in 1984. He became involved in the grinding field in 1998 when Transor entered a relationship with those involved in the cutting tool field. Since then he has traveled the world meeting with customers and OEM's explaining the benefits of One Micron Filtration. Operating out of their Elk Grove Village, Illinois office Transor has placed units in over 30 countries, and since 2000, satisfies the needs of over 1000 tool and cutter grinders.
Kris Zacny
Born in Poland and educated in South Africa, Dr. Zacny spent his first few years as a mechanical engineer in the South African gold, diamond and coal mines overseeing production sections and managing various projects.
In 2001, Dr. Zacny received an Engineering Masters degree from UC Berkeley and in 2005 he graduated with PhD in Mars drilling from Berkeley. For the past few years he has been working as a Senior Research Scientist at Honeybee Robotics Spacecraft Mechanisms Corporation initially at their West Coast office at Nasa Ames and currently in their Head Office in Manhattan.
Dr. Zacny is currently working on autonomous grinding instruments to be flown to Mars onboard of Mars Science Laboratory Rover in 2009, as well as novel planetary drilling and mining techniques for both science applications and for In Situ Resource Utilization.
Dr. Zacny has over 3 0 publications and few inventions related to drilling and mining (terrestrial and extraterrestrial) and participated in two Arctic drilling expeditions.
Dr. Gabriel Dontu
Dr. Gabriel Dontu is the Technical Support Manager for Diamond Abrasives Corporation.
He received his Master in Mechanical Engineering and PhD in Material Sciences from The Technical University “Gh. Asachi”, in Iasi, Romania, and PhD in Manufacturing Processes from The University of Toledo.
From 1997 to 1999 he worked as a cutting tool design engineer for a precision tool manufacturer in Romania. In 1999 he was offered a position of assistant professor at the Technical University “Gh. Asachi”, where he taught cutting tool design and heat treatments.
Between 1996 and 2000 he managed the Abrasive Micro-Machining Center associated with the University of Toledo, where he focused on the application of superabrasive materials. During this period he started his collaboration with D.A.C. which sponsored some of the research programs.
In 2000 he signed with D.A.C., where his main focus is providing technical support for tool manufacturers using superabrasive materials.
Juanita Harthun
Juanita Harthun is a Senior International Trade Specialist at the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Charlotte Export Assistance Center in Charlotte, NC. She has worked for over seven years for the U.S. Commercial Service, helping U.S. companies find and develop export markets for their products and services, navigate through international logistical considerations, and understand and implement U.S. Government export regulations. She serves as a local North Carolina resource for all export related questions and issues. Juanita’s primary industry concentrations are; healthcare industries, processed food, information and communication technologies, furniture and general industrial equipment and supplies. However, she is well equipped to help companies involved in any other industry sectors as well.
Juanita has a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Washington in Seattle and an MBA from Wake Forest University. She lives in Charlotte with her husband, Daniel, two sons, Eli and Isaac, and her dog, Joe.
Dave Rankin
Moulder Services
Dr. Rankin, also known as "The Moulder Doctor"™, has 25 years of experience with moulders and grinders. During this time, his experience includes several hundred machine installations, over five hundred machine reworks and rebuilds as well as training thousands of operators and maintenance personnel. Dr. Rankin has written frequently for Wood Digest magazine for over 20 years and is the advisor for the Solid Wood Machinery Forum at www.woodweb.com.
He is developed many new products related to the moulder and grinder industry including DGK-ACT coating (a heat reflective coating that extends the life of tooling), RAAS (rotational accident avoidance system, a visual means of identifing the rotation of cutting tools) and several cutting tool designs.
Dr. Rankin founded Moulder Services, Inc. after training with Michael Weinig for several years. He was witnessed many changes in the woodworking industry. The improvement of new machine designs, new cutting tool technologies and safer machines are just a few.
Dr. Rankin was the founder and Director of Technical Training for The Grinderman's Association, which operated from 1997-2002. In this training center, there were over 1,000 persons trained. The courses included basic machine operation and advance machine maintenance.
Dr. Rankin continues to develop new products, provide machine training and repair and prepare articles for several publications. Moulder Services website is setup with a new Tech Talk section where past articles and a moulder forum is in place.
John Schultz
Super Thin Saws
John Schultz graduated cum laude from MIT in 1971 with a BS in Pure Math. He founded Schultz Tool Sharpening in 1975 which became STS in the mid ‘80s and Super Thin Saws in the early ‘90s. He is a frequent collaborator with various universities on research projects in the area of wood machining.
John Ferriola
Advanced Technologies International
John started his journey as a shop teacher. After realizing where schools were headed, he took a position running a manufacturing plant. It provided hydraulic and pneumatic components to the military and industrial customers.
In 1982 he joined Ernst Winter & Son. As a senior technical person, he oversaw the business in both the grinding and stationary dressing markets. Developed Winter’s products sold in the USA and the marking materials need by the distribution channels. Technical presentations were provided to company employees, distributors and customers to assure success in their application.
After 21+ years with Ernst Winter, he started his own business, Advanced Technologies International Inc. This is a distributorship that specializes in abrasives. Manufacturers he represents include ASI, Hermes, Arc, Bullard, CGW, as well as J.C. Williams (Snap-on’s industrial division).
Karen Fender
CRI
Karen has been in the centerless machine tool business for over 15 years working with manufacturers to improve processes and productivity of grinding operations.
CRI remanufactures Cincinnati centerless grinders, retrofitting the machines to improve capability for beyond OEM original design. CRI customizes the machine for optimum production.
Chris Mckenna
Global Sales & Marketing Manager; Sandvik Hard Materials
Chris is responsible for Global Sales of Cemented Carbide and Cermet materials used in the manufacture of Circular Saws for Wood, Ferrous and Non-ferrous cutting applications. He has worked for Sandvik for approximately 28 years, having originally started with the Company in 1979 studying Metallurgy. He is based in the UK.
As many people know, the Sawing market is rapidly changing, with many sections of the market now at very low cost levels, e.g. large volume DIY blades. We have seen many of our customers starting to diversify their production towards Metal sawing where performance is measured.
The Sandvik product strategy is to become an “innovative partner” to its key customers, offering improved product performance. With this in mind the focus over the last 2 years has been to develop “new generation” materials for Metal cutting. These include a number of new Cubic carbide based grades and Cermet.
In order to get the best performance from these new generation materials, many factors need to be considered. These will form the theme for the Sandvik seminar presentation:
- The importance of Application Mapping – Selection of the best grade
- Brazing: Good braze practice; surface treatments for brazing; what’s new?
- The influence of cutting tool grade on the grinding characteristics
- Failure modes for Metal sawing
Bruce Dibble
Schmitt Industries
Bruce Dibble has been involved with precision grinding for the past 25 years. During the 1980s he was a grinding specialist with the Torrington bearing company, now part of The Timken Company. During the early 1990s he worked for a rep organization in the Midwest selling grinding related products to the automotive industry. These products included SBS Balancing systems and precision diamond dressing tools. He has been employed as a marketing manager for Schmitt Industries for the past 11 years. Schmitt is the world leader in dynamic balancing systems and acoustic emission monitoring systems for all types of grinding and turning processes.
Tony Bolzani
PCD Division Manager, Vollmer of America
Antonio E.P. (Tony) Bolzani has supported the metal cutting and woodworking industry for over 49 years in North America, Europe, and South America. Tony worked for Christensen Roder (Brazil) as technical director and managed Wagner-Lennartz (Brazil) as commercial director.
He joined the VOLLMER Group in 1992 with the assignment to develop the North American PCD business division. In the following years, he provided start-up, application, and technical support to many customers in the woodworking and metal cutting industry with over 100 state-of-the-art VOLLMER PCD machines installed to date. He supports the industry to compete and grow in today’s global market place utilizing the latest in PCD machining and automation. Under Tony, VOLLMER changed it’s emphasize from a machine tool builder to a technology and service organization emphasizing excellence in customer service. VOLLMER is committed to building strong and extensive partnerships with distinguished tool manufacturing and sharpening service companies throughout the US, Canada, and Mexico.
In 2007, directed by Tony VOLLMER launched its latest business activities for HSS sharpening machines in North America.
Ralf P. Kraemer
President, Vollmer of America
Ralf P. Kraemer has supported the metal cutting and woodworking industry for over 10 years. During that time, Ralf managed operations at EROWA Technology in the Chicago area and set-up and developed the North American manufacturing facility and business operations for Schunk, Inc. near Raleigh, North Carolina. He joined the VOLLMER Group in 2003 responsible for all of Vollmer’s North American activities. His experience in customer service and in the erosion, machine tool accessories and automation industries benefits him in moving VOLLMER to a Technology & Service organization in North America. Vollmer places particular importance on industry leading customer service and technical support while serving the tool manufacturing, re-sharpening, and sawmill industry out of their Pittsburgh and Vancouver, WA locations. With several thousand machines in operation, VOLLMER is committed to provide continuous support for all North American customers.
Scott Staylor
President
Sonic Tools, LP
Scott Staylor graduated from ODU in 1997 with a BS in Mechanical Engineering. He started his grinding career as an Application Engineer for Walter Grinders in 1994. Together with Ludwig Preinesberger he founded Jabro Tools, USA in 1999. They later went on to start their own company, Sonic Tools, LP in 2003. Sonic Tools, LP is a CNC cutter grind shop in Ashland, Virginia specializing in the production of fully customized cutting tools, high performance cutting tools, and solid carbide parts.
Dr. Michael Magin
Ceratizit Luxembourg
Dr. Michael Magin has worked for Ceratizit Luxembourg for more than eleven years. In his current position, he is application engineering manager within Ceratizit’s wood & stoneworking business unit.
He received his master in mechanical engineering, majoring in aerospace technology, from the Aachen University of Technology (RWTH) in Germany. He graduated in 1995 with a PhD in shape optimization of brazed ceramic-metal joints, also from RWTH.
Since his start with Ceratizit, Dr. Magin has been working continuously in customer projects and has been specializing there in questions of geometry optimisation of hardmetal parts, FEM simulation and joining problems.
Dr. Sven Rassbach
Ceratizit Luxembourg
Dr. Sven Rassbach has been working for Ceratizit Luxembourg now for almost six years. He is application engineer in the R&D department within Ceratizit's wood & stoneworking business unit.
He received his master of science in materials science and materials technology, majoring in metal forming technology, from the Freiberg University of Technology (TU Bergakademie Freiberg) in Germany. He graduated in 2002 with a PhD in the fundamentals of deformation behaviour of gradient materials, also from TU Bergakademie Freiberg.
Dr. Rassbach started with Ceratizit as metallurgy manager in the production department for tungsten carbide parts for the wood and stone industry. For the last four years he has worked in metallurgical development of the R&D department where he has been specialising in metallurgical optimisation of hardmetal parts and joining problems in customer projects.
