Comments Off on Advanced Ceramics Manufacturing was awarded more than $1 million by the National Science Foundation
Written by Ashley Powell, Arizona Daily Star
Research into new composite materials to store energy, build better rocket-launch pads and make special underwater tools is underway on the Tohono O’odham Nation, after an aerospace company there received multiple federal grants.
Advanced Ceramics Manufacturing was awarded more than $1 million by the National Science Foundation, NASA, a Navy agency and the Naval Sea Systems Command earlier this year.
Washout mandrels have been a traditional choice, but Advanced Ceramics Mfg. (Tucson, Ariz.) says it has taken them to the next level, with its RapidCore mandrel manufacturing process, which eliminates mandrel tooling. A mandrel is “printed” directly from the customer’s CAD file, using an additive manufacturing process (see “The rise of rapid manufacturing,” under “Editor’s Picks,” at top right) and material system, based on the company’s water-soluble materials.
When it is complete, the mandrel is coated with a fluoropolymer tape to protect it from water and is then used for part layup. Mandrels can be created in a fraction of the time required for plaster or eutectic salts and possess a compressive strength greater than 100 psi/6.89 bar and a thermal degradation temperature of approximately 350°F/177°C, which is consistent with industry-standard autoclave parameters. After part cure, the RapidCore material is simply washed out with water.
Comments Off on Firm’s ceramics discover myriad uses in aerospace
Written by Dan Sorenson, Arizona Daily Star
When you look up “counterintuitive,” there should be a picture of Robert Doucette, production manager of Advanced Ceramics Manufacturing, making one of the company’s ceramic forms – known as a mandrel in the tool and die business – disappear in a gentle stream from a garden hose.
These water-soluble ceramics, which can be turned into a drain-safe soup, are the backbone of this local company’s business.
“It’s virtually food grade; you can wash it down the drain,” says ACM president Steve Turcotte, watching the demonstration on ACM’s loading dock in the San Xavier Development Authority’s Hi:kdañ Business Park.
