Miniaturization in the automotive and industrial markets is what drives State College's Super Abrasive Machining Innovation (SAMI).
“In the automotive business, for example, innovative technologies are ever increasing vehicle power and performance,” explains CEO Rocco Petrilli. “[This allows] for smaller and more compact components and systems whose lighter weight drives further fuel economies.”
The result is a growing demand for complex precision components — many formed with powdered metal and other metal-forming technologies — that maintain tight tolerances. Over the past 30 years, the weight of powdered metal parts in the average car has grown from about eight pounds to more than 50.
But powdered metal technology and other metal forming processes like forgings and castings will not reach their fullest potential without “a truly disruptive material removal process application that parallels the net shaping advantages proliferated by these… advancements,” explains Petrilli.
Thus the development of super abrasive machining, a novel process that combines the capabilities of grinding with the speed, precision and cost productivity of machining.
“Whereas the established culture would lead design engineers and procurement professionals to specify a complicated subassembly requiring several parts that are separately machined, ground, finished and assembled, the use of super abrasive machining can reduce the number of parts and the number of assembly steps,” says Petrilli.
With a Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Central & Northern Pennsylvania investment made in September, SAMI is undertaking a marketing campaign to tout super abrasive machining as a disruptive technology that achieves cost savings, boosts productivity and insures quality control for the industry.
Source: Rocco Petrilli, Super Abrasive Machining Innovation
Writer: Elise Vider