Norton technical advantage supports UK aerospace business

UK Aerospace company Saint-Gobain logo
 
We’ve proven our technical expertise in the engineering market once again working with a leading UK aerospace company. Our expert engineers worked closely with the customer’s team to propose the best way to improve its grinding processes to save time and money.

 

UK aerospace expertise

The customer offers a broad portfolio of engineering machining processes, supplying companies across a wide range of market sectors, with particular expertise in aerospace components, industrial gas turbines and automotive turbochargers.

Their engineering team outlined its objectives to our experts ahead of the test, which included increasing wheel life to generate cost savings, optimising manufacturing and maintaining (or improving) part quality. Understanding what was at the heart of the customer’s needs and how to exceed their expectations stood Saint-Gobain Abrasives apart from the rest, including the incumbent grinding supplier.

Aerospace turbine

 

Our application engineer, Chris Taylor benchmarked their existing process, which the customer had believed could not be improved. However, using our cut strategy and incorporating our Norton Vitrium3 revolutionary bond platform he proved that we could, and subsequently did, achieve all the targets that had been set for us, demonstrating our technical expertise.

 

Norton Vitrium3

Optimised bond technology

Norton Vitrium3 features an exclusive chemistry for optimised grain adhesion, which achieves a lower bond-to-abrasive ratio to expose a larger grain surface area. This enables the wheel to cut freely for an improved cut rate, while thinner bond posts allow better coolant flow and chip clearance for a cooler cut and better part quality. The reduced bond-part interaction also minimises heat build-up to significantly decreased burn and power consumption as well as lowering residual stress on the part.

The superior grain holding properties also significantly improve wheel form and corner holding to maintain a precise profile. This lowers costs through extended wheel life and optimises productivity thanks to reduced dressing frequency and better cycle and process time. The Norton Vitrium3 bond also provides the ultimate wheel strength, allowing for lighter construction so machines can work at higher feed rates, speeds and pressures to significantly increase production with existing equipment. All of these factors proved vital to achieve the customer’s objectives.

 

First rate results

Result highlights included increasing table speed, reducing wheel wear and improving surface roughness. Additional savings included annual wheel cost reduction of almost a quarter, and a reduction in process time per part of over 30%. We also achieved fewer wheel changes saving a significant amount of time and money for the customer’s annual operations.

Mick Ing, UK Engineered Sales Manager, Saint-Gobain Abrasives, comments, “It was a great opportunity to work with such a prestigious company to understand their operations and show them potential improvements. Using our technical expertise, we were able to assess the team’s processes and design a cut strategy that met all of their objectives. By achieving the same results in a faster time, it ensures our customer can continue to deliver solutions that will delight its clients too.”

Thanks to these amazing test results, the customer has chosen to continue to work with Saint-Gobain Abrasives, highlighting our technical know-how as the deciding factor in switching supplier. Saint-Gobain Abrasives works hard to find solutions to increase output, decrease costs and make sure that your investment is utilised to its full potential.

For more information on our aerospace solutions or if you are interested in conducting a test to see if we can improve your processes, please contact us or speak to your local sales representative.