An Introduction to Precision Machining of Technical Ceramics - An Interview with Scott D. Mittl

AZoM talks to Scott D. Mittl, Sales Engineer at Insaco, regarding the applications and benefits of diamond grinding technical ceramics.

How would you describe the type of machining operations Insaco can currently provide?

Insaco fabricates precision parts to customer specifications from most technical ceramics, by use of both fixed diamond abrasive wheels as well as free abrasives for lapping/polishing.

Insaco is a diamond grinding house, so we can work on any materials that are suitable for this technology.  Since we don’t produce materials, we will normally source what we need from the most appropriate producer, which might be governed by part size and volume capability, as well as lead time and price. This is an advantage to our customers, as our discussion about the merits and concerns with some materials for their application is not biased by our own preference.

Can you machine all brittle materials or are you focused on a specific subset of materials?

Insaco will consider fabricating from both oxide and non-oxide ceramics and crystal materials.  We avoid metallics generally because they don’t respond as well to our diamond wheels.

Because diamond grinding wheels are so fine, we do not work with metals or plastics. There are also some technical ceramics that we try to avoid, such as BeO, AlN, Boron Nitride and some glasses due to environmental hazards with handling, swarf treatment or softness. 

When customers are providing you with drawings and designs are there common mistakes that are made, for example design features that apply to a metal component that are difficult to replicate in Engineering Ceramics?

Insaco fabricates by diamond grinding and metals are usually fabricated by single point cutting.  A fillet radius when grinding is practically limited to no sharper than around .006” since wheels can’t be dressed much sharper and will immediately start to wear away upon touching ceramic.  Sharp internal corners can also be a spot where stresses concentrate that can lead to early failure in brittle ceramics.

Sometimes a drawing calls for a sharp fillet in order to accommodate a sharp mating part.  In this case Insaco will propose some design alternates for our customer to consider such as designing an undercut for clearance, or perhaps chamfering the mating part.--iAbrasive report

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