Ceramic Industry articles from April 2003

Ceramic Industry archives from April 2003

New products, new possibilities. (Inside CI).
April 1, 2003... As we were putting together the table of contents for this issue, I noticed something out of the ordinary--the word "new" appears in almost every description for both the printed articles and our online exclusives. Granted, Ceramic Industry has...

Wacker Ceramics and Unifrax Corp. form distribution partnership. (In the News).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... Wacker Ceramics, one of four business divisions that comprise Wacker-Chemie GmbH, has named Unifrax Corp. as its exclusive North American distributor for its WDS[R] Microporous Insulation products. Unifrax, which is headquartered in Niagara...

Southeast Section to hold golf outing. (In the News).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... The Southeast Section of the American Ceramic Society will hold its second annual summer golf outing on June 17, 2003, in Cumming, Ga. For additional information, contact Alex Beltzhoover at (704) 542-1213 or abeltzhoover@carringtoninc.com, or...

RAK Ceramics chooses Sacmi Whiteware for expansion in UAE. (In the News).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... The RAK Ceramics sanitaryware division has selected Sacmi Whiteware as its main partner for its plant expansion in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Sacini has provided RAK with support for nearly 10 years, developing solutions for RAK in every...

ZIRCAR establishes European operations. (In the News).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... ZIRCAR Ceramics, Inc. recently announced that it has entered into a strategic alliance with I.B.Kracht b.v. Based in Voorburg, The Netherlands, I.B. Kracht will manage ZIRCAR Ceramics' European stock of high-performance, high-temperature...

Control Instruments offers online Tutorial. (In the News).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... Control Instruments Corp. has added an Education Tutorial to its website to provide customers with enhanced knowledge of the gas detection industry. Located at www.controlinstruments.com/edu.html, the new tutorial is designed to provide solid...

JEOL opens new facility. (In the News).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... With the opening of a new office in Pleasanton, Calif., JEOL USA, Inc. offers locations on both the East and West Coasts for applications, training, service and demonstration support. Headquartered in Peabody, Mass., JEOL is a supplier of...

Superconductive Components selected for partnership initiative. (In the News).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... Superconductive Components, Inc. was recently selected to participate in a team led by Oxford Instruments, Superconducting Technology in conjunction with a grant awarded by the U.S. Department of Energy. Oxford Instruments, Superconducting...

Allied Mineral receives patent. (In the News).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... Allied Mineral Products, Inc. recently announced that it has received a patent for its lightweight dry refractory and is currently marketing this technology under the DRI-LITE[R] and LADLE-LIGHT[R] trade names. DRI-LITE products provide...

CeramTec identity implemented at Ceramaseal Division. (In the News).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... CeramTec North America Corp. has announced that its Ceramaseal Division in New Lebanon, N.Y., will use the CeramTec corporate identity and logo. "This change in corporate identity is in an effort to unify the global CeramTec brand and family of...

CoorsTek signs license agreement with Ball Aerospace. (In the News).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... CoorsTek, Inc. recently announced that it has entered into an agreement with Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. to license Ball's U.S. patent number 5,245,745, which relates to the production of ceramic patch antennae. This patent covers the...

Durr Environmental announces focus on Energy Management. (In the News).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... Durr Environmental, Inc. has initiated a new Energy Management focus for its business. Because the efficient use of energy is important to both reducing operating costs as well as protecting the environment, the entire customer base of the Durr...

Machining for the future: with original founder and owner Mike Cromer back at the helm, MTI is once again positioning itself for success in the machining industry. (Investing in Ceramics).
April 1, 2003... Four years ago, Manufacturing Technology Inc. (MTI), Ventura, Calif., seemed poised for enormous success. Founded by Michael I. Cromer in 1979, the supplier of high-performance, ultra-precision machine systems for slicing, slotting, dicing,...

Proving a new pin disc design: field tests have shown that a new pin disc design for fine media mills can reduce processing time and energy requirements while providing an enhanced dispersion. (Case Study).
April 1, 2003... Fine media mills achieve product dispersion by creating shear between adjacent spherical media moving at a differential velocity. Conventional disc mills comprise an agitator system on which a number of discs are mounted on a rotating shaft....

Better quality through finer milling: a successful fine grinding mill combined with an advanced classifier is providing new opportunities for producing extremely fine, high quality ceramic pigments and powders.
April 1, 2003... Several years ago, Eirich Machines Inc., based in Hardheim, Germany, introduced a new agitated media mill * to improve the efficiency of fine grinding operations. The mill has since been successfully used to grind glazes, frits, pigments,...

A vertical grinding solution: a new mill design can grind even high solids, abrasive slurries to a submicron particle size while minimizing wear on the mill components.
April 1, 2003... Horizontal bead mills have been used for a number of years in applications ranging from de-agglomerating and dispersing tableware and sanitaryware glazes to grinding alumina, silica, silicon carbide, silicon nitride, zirconia and other...

Today's research for tomorrow's technology: the American ceramic society's 105th annual meeting and exposition will focus on research that has the potential to significantly impact the technologies of the future. (Special Section: Show Previews).
April 1, 2003... The 105th Annual Meeting of The American Ceramic Society (ACerS) will be held April 27-30, 2003, in Nashville, Tenn. Exhibiting companies will display a variety of products, including raw materials/minerals; manufactured materials; testing and...

Advancing the science of Porcelain Enameling: the 65th PEI Technical Forum will provide an opportunity for porcelain enamel suppliers and end users to learn how to improve their formulations and application techniques.
April 1, 2003... Porcelain enamel suppliers and end users from around the world will gather in Nashville, Tenn., May 12-15, 2003, for the 65th PEI Technical Forum, hosted by the Porcelain Enamel Institute (PEI). The forum will include a small exhibition,...

Countering the China threat. (International Business).
April 1, 2003... I was recently invited to address a conference for small- to medium-sized manufacturers that are considering how to cope with low-cost competition from China. These companies are too small to easily build a presence overseas but must still face...

The control chart. (Process Control).
April 1, 2003... The human mind is highly visual in its perception of the world. That is especially true when we try to convert data to understandable information. Very few of us can grasp the significance hidden in columns of numbers on paper. We need visual...

Improving powders with freeze granulation: freeze granulation can help ceramic manufacturers achieve powder formulations with superior homogeneity, pressing performance and dispersibility. (Special Section: Powder Processing Technology).
April 1, 2003... Powder properties, processing procedures and requirements vary widely between industries and applications. However, all powder processing operations share a common goal--to effectively process the powder to ensure the quality and/or performance...

Ensuring quality in particle size distribution analysis: the quality of analysis results is key to ensuring accurate particle size distribution measurements. (Special Section: Powder Processing Technology).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... Quality departments and laboratories use a variety of particle size analyzers and analytical techniques to determine millions of particle size distributions per year. This information is a key indicator of a material's quality--knowing the...

Tape caster. (New Products).
April 1, 2003... Richard E. Mistier, Inc. Designed for process and product development, the TTC-1200 tabletop tape casting machine can be used for prototyping, new products, research and small volume casting. A stationary blade and moving carrier...

Zinc oxide nanoparticles. (New Products).
April 1, 2003... Nanophase Technologies Corp. This company's line of high-purity zinc oxide nanoparticles is primarily targeted for electronic, personal care and other applications requiring UV protection combined with a very high degree of transparency....

Vibratory separators. (New Products).
April 1, 2003... Russell Finex According to the company, its high-performance vibratory separators offer improved separation and quality, increased capacity, and reduced noise at a competitive price. The separator has been designed to handle wet or dry...

Screen. (New Products).
April 1, 2003... Sweco Designed for increased strength and reliability, the patented Magnum[TM] screen reportedly reduces downtime and lowers maintenance costs for most users. Evolving from the company's ATS[TM] (Advanced Technology Screen[TM] development...

Porometer. (New Products).
April 1, 2003... Porous Materials, Inc. According to the company, the unique feature of its online, multi-chamber porometer is its ability to perform fast tests on a filter material without the need to cut out a sample. The filtration medium simply slides...

Digital camera. (New Products).
April 1, 2003... Carl Zeiss MicroImaging, Inc. The AxioCam digital camera was reportedly designed to meet a wide variety of customer requirements with an excellent cost/benefit ratio. The AxioCam MRc color camera uses a 12-bit digitization process for...