Designfax weekly eMagazine

Subscribe Today!

Archives

View Archives

Partners

Manufacturing Center
Product Spotlight

Modern Applications News
Metalworking Ideas For
Today's Job Shops

Tooling and Production
Strategies for large
metalworking plants

SOLIDWORKS 2026 assembly updates: GoEngineer

In this GoEngineer video, you can learn how SOLIDWORKS 2026 is making assembly workflows smarter, faster, and more efficient. Explore the latest enhancements to assemblies, including: streamlined display and configuration tables, AI-assisted fastener mating, improved performance for lightweight components, and more.
View the GoEngineer video.

How to select a linear bearing pillow block

When it comes to choosing a pillow block style to help provide a secure foundation for a rotating shaft, the engineers at Lee Linear suggest using something called "P.O.S.T.L.U.D.E.S" as your guide: Precision, Orientation, Speed, Travel, Load, Unknowns, Duty Cycle, Environment, and Safety. Learn all about pillow block types, construction, and applications.
Read the Lee Linear blog.

3D-printed aftermarket carburetor

Faced with increasing international competition, Tecron, a provider of manufacturing and engineering services to automotive companies across Europe, began researching ways to defend its market position -- and found that metal additive manufacturing was key to their success. Learn how the company used Markforged 3D-printing equipment to make discontinued automotive parts.
Read the Markforged blog.

Stratasys launches iAM Marketplace

Stratasys' iAM Marketplace is an independent new platform set to accelerate adoption of additive manufacturing as a core manufacturing capability. The hardware-agnostic marketplace offers the polymer additive manufacturing industry's widest selection of high-quality polymer materials, engineering services, and products to scale AM-enabled production across a wide variety of applications. It unites under one umbrella the materials expertise of iSQUARED, Forward AM, and assets from Nexa3D. The platform aims to streamline purchasing and support more agile and robust supply chains.
See what iAM Marketplace offers.

New laser-weldable PPS plastic

Polyplastics has launched a laser weldable DURAFIDE^® PPS grade with high transmittance. DURAFIDE PPS 1120LW1 (tentative name) utilizes a unique transmittance improvement technology. Although PPS has traditionally been considered difficult to use for laser welding, this new material expands the possibilities for applying laser welding to parts that previously had limitations in terms of heat and chemical resistance. This material is so new you may want to talk to someone at the company.
Learn more.

Expert design tips and tricks for 3D printing

Join Xometry's 3D-printing experts, Greg Paulsen and Matt Schmidt, as they reveal practical strategies to help you optimize your designs, improve print quality, and reduce costs across your 3D-printing projects. Learn about file-prep best practices, how to reduce costs on 3D prints, key design considerations when working on tolerance or resolution, and much more. Lots to learn here.
View the video.

New sheet metal capabilities for faster, cost-efficient builds

meviy, the on-demand custom parts manufacturing service developed by MISUMI Group, has expanded its sheet metal processing capabilities -- a game-changer for engineers and designers working under tight timelines and budgets. The upgrade includes support for thicker materials (up to 0.5"), bending up to 0.25", and new tapped and countersunk hole options -- all while maintaining meviy's trademark speed and simplicity. From fixture plates to machine frames, this opens the door for faster, low-precision structural builds.
Learn about meviy's many new service offerings.

Keep a firm footing with JW Winco

Every machine, every test system, and every filling station -- none of them floats suspended in the air. They all rest on specific, functionally optimized elements like leveling feet or, if mobility is required, casters. Leveling feet support loads both statically and dynamically, while wheels and casters support units on the move. JW Winco has a huge selection, from light-duty to high-load, available from different material types and loaded with different features. See all your options, including new hybrid units such as EN 22882, which combines a polyamide caster and leveling foot into a single component.
Learn about JW Winco leveling feet, casters, and hybrid solutions.

What's a SLIC Pin^®? Pin and cotter all in one!

The SLIC Pin (Self-Locking Implanted Cotter Pin) from Pivot Point is a pin and cotter all in one. This one-piece locking clevis pin is cost saving, fast, and secure. It functions as a quick locking pin wherever you need a fast-lock function. It features a spring-loaded plunger that functions as an easy insertion ramp. This revolutionary fastening pin is very popular and used successfully in a wide range of applications.
Learn more.

Oxygen analyzer optimizes combustion systems

The new Rosemount CX2100 In Situ Oxygen Analyzer from Emerson is designed to provide the critical info needed to optimize combustion processes and help manufacturers meet emissions standards, reduce energy costs, and increase safety. The CX2100 is simple to install with a transmitter that can be mounted up to 300 ft away from the probe. Its guided setup and commissioning are a snap, and maintenance is easy due to the probe's quick connect/disconnect feature. Autocalibration features regularly measure analyzer accuracy. Industries include power and utilities, chemicals, petroleum and refining, metals and mining, and more.
Learn more.

NEW! Smalley debuts Nestawave™ Compression Spring: Redefines performance in compact applications

Smalley's new Nestawave™ product is a breakthrough in spring design. It combines the space-saving deflection of a Crest-to-Crest^® wave spring with the high-force output of a Spirawave^® nested spring. In one application, Smalley engineers helped a customer streamline their design by replacing a stack of 24 Belleville washers with a single Nestawave spring!
Read the full article.

New Ultra Duty Line Vac for maximum wear resistance and throughput

EXAIR's new Ultra Duty Line Vacs™ offer the most powerful and durable pneumatic conveyors yet. Engineered specifically to withstand highly abrasive conveying tasks, the Ultra Duty Line Vac's design combines a hardened alloy and ceramic material that provide exceptional resistance to wear over extended periods of time. This makes it the ideal choice for moving abrasive materials such as peat, sand, glass, powders, and other fine media commonly found in blasting, grinding, and finishing operations. Three sizes available to fit standard hose or tube diameters.
Learn more.

MATLAB Copilot: Generative AI-powered assistant

MathWorks has launched MATLAB Copilot, a generative AI assistant for MATLAB that enhances productivity and accelerates development for engineers, scientists, and researchers. Available in the latest MATLAB and Simulink Release 2025b (R2025b), the new product is designed to streamline coding, debugging, and learning within the MATLAB environment. MATLAB Copilot offers intelligent features that support users throughout their development workflows, including: Chat and Learn, Code Smarter, and Understand and Improve.
Learn more.

Stainless steel press-in inserts for casting and soft metals

Manufacturers working with soft metals and die-cast alloys now have an innovative time- and labor-saving solution to create strong, durable metal threads. PEM^® 300 series stainless steel CASTSERT^® inserts are designed for quick, reliable, and cost-effective installations by pressing into an "as-cast" or drilled hole. This rapid installation method, using a flat punch and anvil, outpaces traditional methods by approximately 80%.
Learn more.

New steel alloy for 3D printing features ultra-high strength, exceptional weldability

Sandvik has introduced Osprey MAR 55, a highly versatile tool steel powder for 3D printing that bridges the gap between maraging steels and tool steels. With this new alloy, manufacturers no longer have to choose between good weldability of carbon-free maraging steels and the performance of carbon-bearing steels. It provides good mechanical properties and wear resistance. This alloy could be considered for general tooling applications. The exceptional fracture toughness at ultra-high-strength levels also paves the way for use in defense and aerospace.
Learn more.

Scientists discover clean and green way to recycle Teflon

But do we want recycled Teflon in ingestible products?

Scientists from Newcastle University and the University of Birmingham (both in the UK) have developed a clean and energy-efficient way to recycle Teflon (PTFE), a material best known for its use in non-stick coatings and other applications that demand high chemical and thermal stability.

The researchers discovered that waste Teflon can be broken down and repurposed using only sodium metal and mechanical energy (movement by shaking) at room temperature and without toxic solvents.

Publishing their findings Oct. 22 in the Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS), the researchers reveal a low-energy, waste-free alternative to conventional fluorine recycling.

"The process we have discovered breaks the strong carbon-fluorine bonds in Teflon, converting it into sodium fluoride, which is used in fluoride toothpastes and added to drinking water, said Dr. Roly Armstrong, lecturer in Chemistry at Newcastle University and corresponding author. "Hundreds of thousands of tons of Teflon are produced globally each year -- it's used in everything from lubricants to coatings on cookware, and currently there are very few ways to get rid of it. As those products come to the end of their lives, they currently end up in a landfill, but this process allows us to extract the fluorine and upcycle it into useful new materials."

Associate Professor Dr. Erli Lu from the University of Birmingham added, "Fluorine is a vital element in modern life; it's found in around one-third of all new medicines and in many advanced materials. Yet, fluorine is traditionally obtained through energy-intensive and heavily polluting mining and chemical processes. Our method shows that we can recover it from everyday waste and reuse it directly, turning a disposal problem into a resource opportunity."

Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), best known by the brand name Teflon, is prized for its resistance to heat and chemicals, making it ideal for cookware, electronics, and laboratory equipment, but those same properties make it almost impossible to recycle.

When burned or incinerated, PTFE releases persistent pollutants known as "forever chemicals" (PFAS), which remain in the environment for decades. Traditional disposal methods, therefore, raise major environmental and health concerns.

The research team tackled this challenge using mechanochemistry, which is a green approach that drives chemical reactions by applying mechanical energy instead of heat.

Inside a sealed steel container known as a ball mill, sodium metal fragments are ground with Teflon, which causes them to react at room temperature. The process breaks the strong carbon-fluorine bonds in Teflon, converting it into harmless carbon and sodium fluoride, a stable inorganic salt that is widely used in fluoride toothpastes.

The researchers then showed that the sodium fluoride recovered in this way can also be used directly, without purification, to create other valuable fluorine-containing molecules. These include compounds used in pharmaceuticals, diagnostics, and other fine chemicals.

Associate Professor Dr. Dominik Kubicki, who leads the University of Birmingham's solid-state Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) team, said, "We used advanced solid-state NMR spectroscopy, one of our specialties at Birmingham, to look inside the reaction mixture at the atomic level. This allowed us to prove that the process produces clean sodium fluoride without any by-products. It's a perfect example of how state-of-the-art materials characterization can accelerate progress toward sustainability."

The discovery provides a blueprint for a circular economy for fluorine, in which valuable elements are recovered from industrial waste rather than discarded. This could significantly reduce the environmental footprint of fluorine-based chemicals, which are vital in medicine, electronics, and renewable-energy technologies.

"Our approach is simple, fast, and uses inexpensive materials," said Lu. "We hope it will inspire further work on reusing other kinds of fluorinated waste and help make the production of vital fluorine-containing compounds more sustainable."

The work also highlights the growing importance of mechanochemistry, an emerging branch of green chemistry that replaces high-temperature or solvent-intensive reactions with simple mechanical motion, as a tool for sustainable innovation.

Kubicki added, "This research shows how interdisciplinary science, combining materials chemistry with advanced spectroscopy, can turn one of the most persistent plastics into something useful again. It's a small, but important, step toward sustainable fluorine chemistry."

Source: Newcastle University

Published October 2025

Rate this article