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Retaining magnets from JW Winco: Universal and clever

JW Winco has expanded its magnet line to support more applications with new materials, shapes, systems, and even raw magnets. Learn about their latest offerings, including retaining magnets designed for corrosive environments (GN 50.8), encapsulated magnets designed for sensitive or painted surfaces (GN 51.8), handle magnets (GN 53.3), and powerful magnets designed to handle challenging environs (GN 52.6).
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New polymer bearings are PFAS- and PTFE-free

igus has developed a new polymer bearing material called iglide JPF that is free of both per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE). This innovation marks an important step in the company's efforts to create sustainable alternatives to conventional plain bearings. JPF is a dry-running, wear-resistant polymer that offers comparable friction and wear performance to iglide J. It delivers high wear resistance and durability.
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New high-speed PSLA 270 printer from 3D Systems

The all-new PSLA 270 projector-based polymer 3D-printing platform and associated new materials from 3D Systems enable faster production times for a wide range of applications. This machine's high throughput and accuracy make it ideal for industries like healthcare, aerospace, automotive, and manufacturing, where precise and durable components are critical. Complementary Wash and Cure systems streamline post-processing and ensure high-quality finished parts.
Learn more including materials and build sizes.

New slim and ergonomic compression latch

Southco has launched the E3 Compact MIM compression latch, bringing new ergonomic and safety features to its durable family of latches in a low-profile package. The E3 Compact MIM compression latch is metal injection molded and has a shorter head (4 mm vs. the normal 6.4 mm), 180-degree ergonomic actuation, and visual indicators machined into the latch and color coded to easily show when it is open or closed. Features a sleek, low-profile, polished look.
Learn more.

Optimizing seal selection: From O-rings to press-in-place

What is the right seal for my application? The Sealing & Shielding Team at Parker Hannifin is looking to help you out in this blog. Learn some basics and possible modifications, including application and manufacturing considerations, gland options, mating hardware, and more. They are always very helpful over there at Parker.
Read the Parker blog.

Adjustable Spot Cooler provides precise industrial cooling

EXAIR's Adjustable Spot Cooler System offers a low-cost, reliable, and maintenance-free solution for industrial spot cooling needs. This tool offers precision control, versatility, and ease of use for a variety of applications including milling, machining, soldering, gas sampling, welding, and more. Utilizing cool and clean compressed air, the Spot Cooler allows users to precisely adjust temperatures from as low as -30°F (-34°C) to room temperature with the simple turn of a knob.
Learn more.

What can you secure with a retaining ring? 20 examples

From the watch dial on your wrist to a wind turbine, no application is too small or too big for a Smalley retaining ring to secure. Light to heavy-duty loads? Carbon steel to exotic materials? No problem. See how retaining rings are used in slip clutches, bike locks, hip replacements, and even the Louvre Pyramid.
See the Smalley design applications.

Fastest large-format SLA 3D printer in the world

Built on Formlabs' next-generation Low Force Display print engine, the new Form 4L SLA 3D printer delivers unmatched reliability with a 99% print success rate compared to other SLA 3D printers. These benefits, combined with a build volume nearly 5x the size of Form 4, allow Form 4L users to solve big problems and print smaller parts at high volume. Large-scale prints finished in under six hours.
Learn more.

SOLIDWORKS catch up: What's new in Assemblies?

The last couple of major releases of SOLIDWORKS each introduced significant new Assembly modeling features and workflows. Want to know what's new? Catch up on what you might have missed out on since your last upgrade -- and get a first look at highlights from the upcoming SOLIDWORKS 2025. Some very useful changes!
View the video.

Did you know you can 3D print rubber?

3D-printing materials just keep getting better -- and now there are more choices than ever. Watch as Walter Voit, SVP Polymer Materials, Desktop Metal, describes the 3D printing of DuraChain Elastic ToughRubber photopolymers, which produce tough and resilient end-use parts while eliminating the need for a two-part resin. DuraChain photopolymers also demonstrate a long pot life of roughly one year, depending on environmental conditions, making them more suitable for volume production and reducing waste from spoiled, unused material. These materials are offered exclusively on the ETEC Xtreme 8K top-down DLP systems. ETEC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Desktop Metal.
Learn about this exciting material.
Learn about the ETEC Xtreme 8K DLP systems -- and what makes them so much better.

Best high-speed rotary bearing in THK history

THK has developed its best-performing, high-speed rotary bearing ever: the High-Speed, Double-Row Angular Contact Ring BWH. This rotary bearing has balls aligned inside a cage between the inner and outer rings and is part of the THK Rotary Series, along with the cross-roller ring. The main features of this product are its ability to receive loads in all directions as well as its high rigidity and rotational accuracy, which are equal to that of cross-roller rings. By adopting a new structure to change the rolling elements from rollers to balls, this product achieves the greatest high-speed performance ever offered by THK.
Learn more.

Large bore zero-backlash jaw couplings from Ruland

Ruland Manufacturing has expanded its jaw coupling line to meet the demands of high-torque applications, now offering bore sizes up to 1-3/4 in. or 45 mm and torque capacities of 2,655 in.-lb (300 Nm). Target uses are in precision systems with high deceleration and acceleration curves, such as semiconductor, solar, conveyor, and warehouse automation applications. Features include zero-backlash, industry-leading misalignment capabilities, and a balanced design that reduces vibration at speeds up to 8,000 rpm.
Learn more.

How Nord-Lock washers work

Can you get a design and functional edge with a wedge? In this animated video, Nord-Lock explains the principle behind their original wedge-locking technology, which secures bolted joints even when exposed to severe vibration and dynamic loads. The company says it is impossible for this washer type to loosen unintentionally, due to the wedge created underneath the bolt head and nut.
View the video.

Copper foam -- so many advantages

Copper foam from Goodfellow combines the outstanding thermal conductivity of copper with the structural benefits of a metal foam. These features are of particular interest to design engineers working in the fields of medical products and devices, defense systems and manned flight, power generation, and the manufacture of semiconductor devices. This product has a true skeletal structure with no voids, inclusions, or entrapments. A perennial favorite of Designfax readers.
Learn more.

New patented wave spring engineered for EV market and more

Rotor Clip has just launched its new, patented InterShim™ Wave Spring design, which has been engineered for high-acceleration electric motor applications. It features alternating turns between inactive (flat) and active (waved) turns to ensure reliable performance under torsional loads and precise rotational movement. The highly customizable wave spring's advanced design addresses physical challenges such as extreme forces and vibrations, making it a versatile solution for high-speed and high-stress applications across various industries.
Learn more.

Researchers make nanodiamonds and graphene in a flash

Diamond may be just a phase carbon goes through when exposed to a flash of heat, but that makes it far easier to obtain.

The Rice University lab of chemist James Tour is now able to "evolve" carbon through phases that include valuable nanodiamond by tightly controlling the flash Joule heating process they developed 18 months ago.

Best of all, they can stop the process at will to get the product they want.

In the American Chemical Society journal ACS Nano, the researchers led by Tour and graduate student and lead author Weiyin Chen show that adding organic fluorine compounds and fluoride precursors to elemental carbon black turns it into several hard-to-get allotropes when flashed, including fluorinated nanodiamonds, fluorinated turbostratic graphene, and fluorinated concentric carbon.

With the flash process introduced in 2020, a strong jolt of electricity can turn carbon from just about any source into layers of pristine turbostratic graphene in less than a second. ("Turbostratic" means the layers are not strongly bound to each other, making them easier to separate in a solution.)

The new work shows it's possible to modify, or functionalize, the products at the same time. The duration of the flash, between 10 and 500 milliseconds, determines the final carbon allotrope.

The mechanism used by Rice University chemists for the phase evolution of fluorinated flash nanocarbons shows stages with longer and larger energy input. Carbon and fluorine atoms first form a diamond lattice, then graphene, and finally polyhedral concentric carbon. [Credit: Illustration by Weiyin Chen]

 

 

 

 

The difficulty lies in how to preserve the fluorine atoms, since the ultrahigh temperature causes the volatilization of all atoms other than carbon.

To overcome the problem, the team used a Teflon tube sealed with graphite spacers and high-melting-point tungsten rods, which can hold the reactant inside and avoid the loss of fluorine atoms under the ultrahigh temperature. The improved sealed tube is important, Tour said.

"In industry, there has been a long-standing use for small diamonds in cutting tools and as electrical insulators," he said. "The fluorinated version here provides a route to modifications of these structures. And there is a large demand for graphene, while the fluorinated family is newly produced here in bulk form."

Nanodiamonds are microscopic crystals -- or regions of crystals -- that display the same carbon-atom lattice that macro-scale diamonds do. When first discovered in the 1960s, they were made under heat and high pressure from detonations.

In recent years, researchers have found chemical processes to create the same lattices. A report from Rice theorist Boris Yakobson last year showed how fluorine can help make nanodiamond without high pressure, and Tour's own lab demonstrated using pulsed lasers to turn Teflon into fluorinated nanodiamond.

Nanodiamonds are highly desirable for electronics applications, as they can be doped to serve as wide-bandgap semiconductors, important components in current research by Rice and the Army Research Laboratory.

The new process simplifies the doping part, not only for nanodiamonds but also for the other allotropes. Tour said the Rice lab is exploring the use of boron, phosphorous, and nitrogen as additives as well.

At longer flash times, the researchers got nanodiamonds embedded in concentric shells of fluorinated carbon. Even longer exposure converted the diamond entirely into shells, from the outside in.

"The concentric-shelled structures have been used as lubricant additives, and this flash method might provide an inexpensive and fast route to these formations," Tour said.

An electron microscope image shows a late stage in the evolution of carbon and fluorine atoms under flash Joule heating. The carbon atoms form concentric shells around a nanodiamond core. As heating proceeds, the diamond phase is replaced by the shell. [Credit: Courtesy of the Tour Group]

 

 

 

 

Co-authors of the paper are Rice graduate students John Tianci Li, Zhe Wang, Wala Algozeeb, Emily McHugh, Kevin Wyss, Paul Advincula, Jacob Beckham and Bo Jiang, research scientist Carter Kittrell, and alumni Duy Xuan Luong and Michael Stanford. Tour is the T.T. and W.F. Chao Chair in Chemistry as well as a professor of computer science and of materials science and nanoengineering at Rice.

The Air Force Office of Scientific Research and the Department of Energy supported the research.

Source: Rice University

Published July 2021

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