Mirka Receives Award for Production Technique

Sometimes it’s the gaps, the absence of something, that hold a whole together. This is particularly true in the manufacture of bonded abrasives. Bonded grinding wheels for industrial use usually have small cavities, or ‘porosity’, in their grinding surface. These cavities are critical to the functioning of the grinding wheels; amongst other things, they carry cooling lubricant, decrease unnecessary process friction and remove chips from the grinding zone.

The porous structure is indispensable, but what manufacturers and legislators have long wanted to eliminate is the method used to achieve it. The problem with the conventional method is its reliance on naphthalene, a carcinogenic and potentially explosive substance that is easily inhaled, as it evaporates at room temperature.

A few years ago, the current team at Mirka Abrasives Germany, which was then Hermes Schleifmittel GmbH, developed a safe method for naphthalene-free production of grinding wheels. André Wagner, managing director of Mirka Abrasives Germany, describes the advantages with the new production technique:
 
‘In our method, naphthalene is substituted with fumaric acid, a much less hazardous substance widely used as a food additive. With this, we’re able to improve the safety of our colleagues and also benefit our end customers, as the new method allows the creation of larger pores than were possible with the naphthalene method.’
 
The transition to the new, patented method is a practical measure that supports the manufacture of specialised products for industrial applications, but it is also part of a broader renewal process within the abrasives industry. Mirka is leading the way in this industrial renewal, with several projects focusing on, amongst other things, formaldehyde-free production methods and abrasives with recycled grains.