Ceramic Industry articles from September 2008

Ceramic Industry archives from September 2008

Procrastination doesn't pay.(INSIDE CI)
September 1, 2008... The front right tire on my car has been nearly flat for going on a year now. Whenever I go to get my oil changed, the attendant always very kindly reminds me that I need to get it checked out. I don't know why I'm so reticent to look into it....

International calendar.(IN THE NEWS)(Calendar)
September 1, 2008... Sept 8-13 National Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS) 2008 ** Chicago, III., www.imts.com Sept 9-11 TriStar 3000 Training Course ** Norcross, Ga., www.micromeritics.com Sept 10-12 Spray Finishing Technology Workshop ** Toledo, Ohio,...

Saint-Gobain to construct third flat glass production line in India.(IN THE NEWS)
September 1, 2008... To meet the increasing demand of its Indian customers, Saint-Gobain has announced plans to build a new flat glass plant in India. This latest investment will be located in the north of India, about 65 km from Delhi. The plant will operate a...

Acme Brick receives brick in architecture award from BIA.(IN THE NEWS)
September 1, 2008... Acme Brick's new Fort Worth, Texas, headquarters topped the Brick Industry Association's (BIA) recent Brick in Architecture awards competition. The building, designed by architects at Gideon Toal Inc., was the first-place winner in the...

Ceralink, Thermex Thermatron and Harrop announce full-scale MAT operation.(IN THE NEWS)
September 1, 2008... Ceralink Inc., Thermex Thermatron, LP and Harrop Industries have completed a cooperative effort to design, build and successfully operate a full-scale, 30 [ft.sup.3], 1600[degrees]C microwave assist technology (MAT) elevator kiln. Located at...

Corning sells Steuben Glass to Schottenstein Stores.(IN THE NEWS)
September 1, 2008... Corning Inc. has sold its Steuben[R] Glass Division to Steuben Glass LLC, a newly formed affiliate of Schottenstein Stores Corp. (SSC). SSC is a multi-billion-dollar private equity company focused on retail and luxury holdings. Steuben Glass...

Rio Tinto moves toward Australian bauxite expansion.(IN THE NEWS)
September 1, 2008... Rio Tinto has approved a $30 million feasibility study to develop a new bauxite operation to the south of the existing Weipa bauxite mine and port in Cape York, Queensland, Australia. With the approval of the new operation, Weipa's total...

Riedhammer supplies equipment for Ceramica Blanca.(IN THE NEWS)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... Located in San Jose, Cuba, whitewares manufacturer Ceramica Blanca recently embarked on a complete renewal of its production facilities and turned to Riedhammer, a German member of the Sacmi Group. The supply includes all of the plant's in-line...

PPG to sell controlling interest in auto glass business to Kohlberg.(IN THE NEWS)
September 1, 2008... PPG Industries has signed an agreement with an affiliate of funds managed by Kohlberg & Co., LLC, under which PPG will divest its automotive glass and services business, recently renamed as Pittsburgh Glass Works, to a new company formed by...

New opportunities.(KILN CONNECTION)(Column)
September 1, 2008... My readers often e-mail me about the content of my columns, sometimes with technical comments or questions, and occasionally with regard to my sentiments on foreign trade, energy or political issues. (Bill Harasty, are you out there?) I have...

Efficient firing solution: Kromschroder burners and controls are meeting the expanding needs of a fused silica crucible manufacturer.(CASE STUDY)
September 1, 2008... A division of Ceradyne, Inc., Ceradyne Thermo Materials, located in Clarkston, Ga., is a world leader in providing fused silica products for high-tech industries. A recent facility expansion was undertaken in response to the solar energy...

Ride the wave: high-temperature microwave processing can be a faster, greener and cheaper alternative to conventional electric- and gas-based heating technologies.
September 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The high-temperature microwave processing of materials is becoming an industrial reality with the availability of commercial microwave furnaces and the successful efforts to develop process know-how by several...

The heat is on: many options are available for improving the performance of high-temperature kiln furniture systems.
September 1, 2008... Manufacturers of advanced ceramics are undoubtedly aware of the important role that kiln furniture plays in the quality and economics of the finished product. As we sit here today, with an economic downturn staring us in the face, it is an...

Worldwide innovations: Tecnargilla 2008 will feature a comprehensive range of offerings for the ceramic and heavy clay industries.(special report: Tecnargilla preview)
September 1, 2008... Tecnargilla 2008 will be held September 30-October 4 in Rimini, Italy. The biennial show offers industry professionals a showcase of technology and a preview of the ceramics of the future. Tecnargilla 2008 will feature a comprehensive range of...

Mission to mars: a tungsten carbide-based coating could help NASA establish manned oxygen-extraction stations on the moon and even Mars.(CASE STUDY)
September 1, 2008... "Imagine this scenario. The year is 2030 or thereabouts. After voyaging six months from Earth, you and several other astronauts are the first humans on Mars. You're standing on an alien world, dusty red dirt beneath your feet, looking around at...

NexTech and Plug Power complete 2-kw solid oxide fuel cell demonstration project.(ADVANCED CERAMICS NEWS)
September 1, 2008... NexTech Materials, Ltd. and Plug Power Inc. have concluded their two-year collaboration to develop a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) power system. The two companies completed a number of joint activities, including market research, fuel cell stack...

Kyocera reduces solar cell thickness, acquires OTM.(ADVANCED CERAMICS NEWS)
September 1, 2008... Kyocera recently announced a new achievement in its solar cell manufacturing process that offers higher efficiency in the consumption of multicrystalline silicon, the essential raw material used to make photovoltaic solar cells and modules. The...

Ceradyne acquires SemEquip, expands in semiconductor industry.(ADVANCED CERAMICS NEWS)
September 1, 2008... Ceradyne, Inc. recently announced that it has acquired SemEquip, Inc. for approximately $25 million in cash at closing, plus contingent payments of up to $100 million during the 15-year period following completion of the merger based on...

Wacker Schott Solar commissions new solar wafer facility.(ADVANCED CERAMICS NEWS)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... WACKER SCHOTT Solar GmbH, a joint venture of Wacker Chemie AG and SCHOTT Solar GmbH, has officially commissioned a new factory in Jena, Thuringia, Germany, for the production of silicon wafers for the solar industry. After six months of...

H.C. Starck sells silica sol business to Akzo Nobel.(ADVANCED CERAMICS NEWS)
September 1, 2008... The H.C. Starck Group has sold its silica sol business in Leverkusen, Germany, to Akzo Nobel Chemicals GmbH, Duren, Germany. The acquisition price was not disclosed. "We are convinced that the silica sol business continues to have very...

Poco Graphite to be acquired by Entegris.(ADVANCED CERAMICS NEWS)
September 1, 2008... Entegris has signed a definitive agreement to acquire privately held Poco Graphite, Inc. in an all-cash transaction valued at $158 million. Based in Decatur, Texas, Poco is a leading provider of graphite-based consumables and finished products...

sp3 receives orders for Diamond deposition tool.(ADVANCED CERAMICS NEWS)(India Institute of Technology)(sp3 Diamond Technologies, Inc.)
September 1, 2008... Gaining momentum from recent orders and installations, sp3 Diamond Technologies, Inc. recently announced two new orders for its model 650 hot filament chemical vapor deposition (HFCVD) diamond reactor. The first order was received from the...

Global Solar Energy chosen by Dow Building Solutions for BIPV development initiative.(ADVANCED CERAMICS NEWS)
September 1, 2008... Global Solar Energy, a manufacturer of thin film solar cells for glass modules or flexible material products, recently announced that Dow Building Solutions, a business unit of The Dow Chemical Co., invited Global Solar to participate in its...

AVX named to Fortune 40.(ADVANCED CERAMICS NEWS)
September 1, 2008... AVX Corp. was named to Fortune's "Fortune 40: Best Stocks to Retire On" in the magazine's June 23, 2008, issue. The annual list credits AVX as a company with no debt that has consistently used available cash to boost its dividend and buy back...

Momentive announces plans for new Technology Center, headquarters.(ADVANCED CERAMICS NEWS)(Momentive Performance Materials Inc.)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... Jonathan D. Rich, president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Momentive Performance Materials Inc., recently announced plans to build a state-of-the-art Technology Center and Global Headquarters in Rensselaer County, N.Y. The new facilities...

Sandvik acquires minority share in Precorp.(ADVANCED CERAMICS NEWS)(Sandvik Tooling acquires Precorp Inc.)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... Sandvik Tooling has reached an agreement to acquire 49% of the shares of Precorp Inc., based in Spanish Fork, Utah. Precorp is a developer, producer and supplier of polycrystalline diamond (PCD) and cemented-carbide tools for the machining of...

DOE announces effort to advance U.S. wind power manufacturing.
September 1, 2008... U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Assistant Secretary of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Andy Karsner recently announced a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the DOE and six leading wind industry turbine manufacturers: GE Energy,...

High-temperature, biosoluble insulation.(WHAT'S NEW)
September 1, 2008... Thermal Ceramics [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] This company has taken the next step forward in high-temperature, biosoluble insulation with the new Superwool[R] Plus, which retains the advantage of exoneration from any carcinogen...

Flash drying.(WHAT'S NEW)
September 1, 2008... Hosokawa Micron Powder Systems [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The Drymeister[R] model DMR-1 is one of the latest advancements in flash drying technology. The machine is available in a range of sizes from pilot to large-scale production with...

Molybdenum.(WHAT'S NEW)
September 1, 2008... Goodfellow Corp. This company offers molybdenum in small quantities for a range of research and industrial applications. Due to its high melting point, pure molybdenum is used for resistance heating elements in furnaces, filament supports...

Tellurium powder.(WHAT'S NEW)
September 1, 2008... Accumet Materials Co. Custom tellurium powder can be produced to customer specifications to meet a range of special requirements. The company uses commercially pure (99.7 to 99.999%) tellurium ingots and custom mills to powder form....

Height-restricted bulk bag discharger.(WHAT'S NEW)
September 1, 2008... Spiroflow Systems A new bulk bag discharger has the ability to discharge powder material in problematic height-restricted areas. The Type 5 bulk bag discharger utilizes a special removable flame design that reduces the necessary height for...

Turnkey diode laser system.(WHAT'S NEW)
September 1, 2008... Coherent, Inc. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] A new turnkey diode laser system offers higher output power and brightness than those systems previously available from this company. Specifically, the HB-diode system delivers 75 W of power at...

Tap sieve shaker.(WHAT'S NEW)
September 1, 2008... Retsch Inc. The AS 200 tap sieve shaker features a combination of horizontal circular sieving motion with vertical tapping motion as specified in various standards for particle analysis (i.e., abrasives). The uniform mechanical sieving...

SRM catalog.(WHAT'S NEW)
September 1, 2008... National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Standard Reference Materials[R] (SRMs[R]) are used by industry, government and academia to ensure the highest-quality measurements. A new catalog lists over...

Finishing pump.(WHAT'S NEW)
September 1, 2008... Binks [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The new stainless steel Exel[TM] pump is designed for high-flow circulation systems requiring moderate pressure with maximum durability and dependability. The pump works with water- and solvent-borne...

Industrial camera catalog.(WHAT'S NEW)
September 1, 2008... Imaging Source This company has extended its line of industrial cameras, and a new catalog contains the complete spectrum of products, including more than 100 new GigE, USB 2.0, FireWire and zoom cameras. The cameras are available with...

Strain transmitters.(WHAT'S NEW)
September 1, 2008... Kistler Instrument Corp. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] A new generation of strain transmitters with adaptation benefits for process monitoring is now available. Combining an advanced digital charge amplifier in a compact sensor housing, the...

WDXRF spectrometer system.(WHAT'S NEW)
September 1, 2008... Rigaku Americas Corp. The Supermini, a new high-power benchtop wavelength dispersive X-ray fluorescence (WDXRF) spectrometer system, delivers rapid, high-sensitivity, nondestructive analysis of elements from fluorine through uranium in...