Industrial ceramics are essential in many high-performance applications due to their exceptional hardness, thermal stability and chemical resistance. However, hardness up to 1800 Hv makes machining after sintering nearly impossible except by grinding, which is a relatively expensive process and limits the geometric complexity of components.

BCE Special Ceramics GmbH in Mannheim has now successfully broken this barrier using a high-speed (42,000 rpm) Roeders RXP 501 DS trunnion-type five-axis machining centre. It is achieving the required micron-levels of precision by both milling and grinding, reducing cost and allowing more sophisticated machined features. Hurco Europe is the UK and Ireland agent for the German machine manufacturer.

Founded in 1986, BCE specialises in high-precision components made from ceramics such as aluminium oxide, zirconia and composite ceramics like ATZ and ZTA. The company serves industries ranging from medical to aerospace, producing custom parts from single prototypes to medium-size series. Larger volumes are outsourced to specialist partners.

Dr Torsten Prescher, application engineer at BCE, says: “When we researched the market for machining centre platforms able to mill as well as grind our ceramic materials, Roeders stood out for its in-house development of control systems and machine components, which allow unmatched contouring accuracy. The roundness of our machined holes is to within 1 µm, for example.”

Roeders machining centres use direct drives, linear guideways and protective sealing to avoid ingress of abrasive ceramic dust. Both manual and CADCAM programming is supported, allowing operators to choose the most efficient workflow. The machine is supplied with built-in grinding cycles, a dressing spindle and acoustic sensors for process monitoring.

BCE’s managing director Dr Torsten Weiss says: “We can now machine sintered ceramics into geometries previously unheard of, with high precision and lower production costs.”

More information www.hurco.com/gb