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

Cool! New energy-efficient R290 enclosure air conditioners

Seifert Systems introduces PFAS-free SoliTherm^® SlimLine NEO air conditioners using eco-friendly R290 refrigerant. These units offer high energy efficiency (EER up to 3.6) and a compact, under-8-in. internal depth. Featuring maintenance-free design with external or recessed mounting options, they deliver up to 8,500 BTU/hr, providing flexible cooling solutions for varied industrial enclosure needs. Several models available based on size/cooling capacity needs.
Learn more and see all your options.

Surface inspection: From Army depot to factory floor

Born from U.S. Army requirements for rotorcraft inspection, the GelSight Modulus 3D surface measurement system has surpassed 100 units sold to commercial and Department of Defense customers. The handheld, micron-scale tool with interchangeable probe tips delivers fast, high-res measurements in places traditional tools can't reach.
Read the full article.

What is Cold Metal Fusion?

Cold Metal Fusion is an open industry standard for sinter-based metal additive manufacturing. It combines polymer SLS design freedom with reliable debinding and sintering workflows, enabling complex geometries, lightweighting, lattice structures, conformal cooling channels, and high-precision metal parts with predictable shrink behavior. Now available from TriMech Group, this process offers a faster, cost-effective way to produce strong, high-performance metal parts.
Learn more from TriMech Group.

Cool! Internal threading in hard materials now possible

INSACO has a new capability where they can machine an internal thread in ceramic, sapphire, quartz, and other very hard materials. This advance pushes the boundaries of what's possible to support advanced applications that demand high precision and complexity. Ultra-hard materials are alternatives for when metal can't do the job. Ideal for aerospace, medical, and industrial applications.
Learn more. Video available on right side of page.

ClampDisk micro fastener is new alternative for automotive and consumer electronics

Designed as a unique alternative in assemblies for the automotive and consumer electronics markets, the ClampDisk Press-on Fastener is a newer offering from PennEngineering that delivers a fast, simple way to achieve sheet-to-sheet clamped fastening while replacing the use of standard screws, nuts, and adhesives. ClampDisk eliminates over-installation, cross-threading, stripped screw heads, broken screws, and damaged product. This fastener can be removed easily with a sharp-edged tool.
See how ClampDisk works.

Simplify appliance glass assembly

Henkel's Technomelt PUR 9015 BV/WV is a polyurethane hotmelt adhesive providing high initial strength and long-term durability for glass and large-panel appliance assembly. It enables immediate handling, excellent substrate adhesion, and high thermal resistance, while supporting automated, cost-efficient production. It offers a flexible solution for high-reliability manufacturing.
Learn more.

Made-to-order stamped components for insert molding

Traditionally, OEMs source metal inserts and insert molding services separately. Not anymore. Plastics manufacturers and injection molders are now taking on more of the sourcing responsibility for insert molded parts, and they are partnering with Boker's, who has a long-term proven record for delivering precision stampings with quick turnaround times and ensuring metal inserts are mold-ready upon delivery. Boker's has immediate access to over 2,000 commonly specified and hard-to-find materials.
Learn more.

SDP/SI Shaftloc Fastening System

Shaftloc is a unique, reusable locking device for securely mounting mechanical components like gears and sprockets onto shafts without the need for keyways, set screws, or adhesives. Its simple, two-piece design offers a cost-effective alternative to traditional fasteners, providing high clamping force and vibration resistance. Installed with standard tools, Shaftloc is perfect for designers seeking flexible, hubless mounting solutions. Available in four styles.
Learn more from SDP/SI.

Epoxy engineered for heat-sink bonding

Master Bond EP54TC is a two-component epoxy engineered for heat-sink bonding and thermal management applications. Featuring the highest thermal conductivity in the Master Bond electrically insulating portfolio, it delivers exceptional heat dissipation while remaining electrically non-conductive and compliant with ASTM E595 NASA low outgassing requirements. It supports thin bond lines and efficient void filling to maximize thermal performance.
Learn more.

Metal 3D printing: Right at your desktop

From prototyping to tooling or batch production of end-use parts, the Studio System 2 from Desktop Metal brings metal 3D printing to any office, studio, or lab setting. This powder- and laser-free system consists of an easy-to-adopt two-step process: print using pre-bound metal rod feedstock and then sinter. It requires minimal training and operator intervention. Combined with next-gen Separable Supports and a software-controlled workflow, the Studio System makes metal 3D printing simpler than ever. This platform offers more materials than any other metal extrusion 3D-printing system on the market, including Inconel 625, titanium (Ti64), copper, tool steels, and stainless steels.
View the video and learn more.

Metal 3D printing: EOS adds four new materials

Industrial 3D-printing supplier EOS has added four new metal additive manufacturing materials to its portfolio: an iron-nickel alloy that boasts stability under fluctuating temps, a nickel alloy with high strength and extreme corrosion resistance, a low-alloyed steel prized for its high toughness and strength, and an industrial-grade stainless steel. Each has been optimized for EOS Laser Powder Bed Fusion systems.
Get all the details.

Application Note: Disc springs in mechanical braking system

Braking systems for off-highway equipment are commonly designed to be hydraulically actuated, but without an additional fail-safe system, this design alone has limited reliability. If a hydraulic seal is compromised, or the hydraulic cylinder loses pressure for any reason, the brakes fail. One solid mechanical back-up design uses SPIROL disc springs.
Read the full article.

Configurable welding platform for flexible manufacturing

Emerson's new Branson Polaris Ultrasonic Welding Platform offers a highly configurable, smart solution for advanced manufacturing. It features secure connectivity and real-time control to join diverse materials, from medical devices to food packaging. With adaptable power supplies and actuators, the system scales from benchtop lab trials to fully automated production lines, optimizing footprint and data storage to meet complex application needs.
Learn more.

SPIROL receives 2025 Supplier Excellence Recognition Award from Caterpillar

Kudos to SPIROL! The engineered fasteners manufacturer has received the 2025 Supplier Excellence Recognition Award from Caterpillar Inc. This prestigious award recognizes suppliers who demonstrate world-class performance and a sustained commitment to quality, delivery, and operational excellence.
Read the full article.

Eliminate cotters, bolts, nuts with SLIC Pin^®

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.

Weird science: Scientists create a magnet with almost no magnetic field -- say it is incredibly useful

An international research team led by the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) has developed a new magnetic material that features a stable internal magnetic structure, almost no external magnetic field, and retains these properties above room temperature.

These characteristics may be important for future generations of electronic technologies, for example within fields where magnetic properties are used instead of electrical charge to process information -- so-called spintronics. The results have been published in the prestigious scientific journal Nature Chemistry.

The material belongs to a rare class known as compensated ferrimagnets. In such materials, the magnetic moments inside the structure point in different directions. Internally, magnetism is very strong, but the magnetic moments almost cancel each other out. As a result, the material exhibits only a very weak external magnetic field. This sets it apart from conventional magnets, which generate unwanted magnetic interference or "noise" that makes them difficult to integrate into electronic circuits.

"We now have a material with a very well-ordered magnetic structure, but without the magnetic field that usually causes problems in electronics," says Professor Kasper Steen Pedersen from DTU Chemistry, who led the development of the new material in collaboration with researchers from DTU Chemistry, the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (France), Institut Laue-Langevin (France), the University of Copenhagen, Jagiellonian University (Poland), and Universidad Andres Bello (Chile).

Less disruptive magnetism
In today's electronic components, information is mainly carried by electrical charge. In spintronics, by contrast, information is carried by the spin of electrons, which in principle can enable faster components and significantly lower energy consumption. One of the major challenges addressed by the researchers behind the present study has been the need for magnetic materials that do not simultaneously disturb their surroundings.

"Magnetic materials are difficult to work with when you want to pack many functions closely together, but when a material emits almost no magnetic field, it becomes possible, in principle, to place components much closer together without unwanted interference," says Steen Pedersen. "This opens an entirely new level of control. When magnetism is embedded in a molecular material, we can use chemistry to tune both magnetic and electronic properties."

The new material is built as a metal-organic network in which metallic centers are connected by organic molecules. This molecular structure makes it possible to design and adjust the material's properties chemically. This approach differs from the metal alloys and oxides that currently dominate magnetic electronics.

This illustration shows the structure of the new material Cr(pyrazine)₃, in which chromium atoms (purple) are connected in a regular three-dimensional network by organic pyrazine molecules including nitrogen (blue) and carbon (grey). The structure repeats uniformly in all directions, forming a symmetric crystalline lattice. This regular and uniform structure underpins the stability and consistency of the material's magnetic properties throughout the crystal. [Credit: Illustration courtesy of the researchers/DTU]

More specifically, the material consists of chromium atoms linked by the organic molecule pyrazine, which is well suited for binding metal atoms together. In this case, the pyrazine occurs as a radical with one unpaired electron, allowing it to contribute directly to the material's magnetism.

Fundamental research with wide-ranging potential
Experiments show that the near-perfect magnetic compensation remains stable over a wide temperature range and persists well above room temperature. This makes the material particularly interesting, as almost all related materials only exhibit such a balance at specific temperatures. As a result, the new material may potentially be applicable in a much broader range of contexts.

The researchers emphasize that the work represents fundamental research and that the material's functionality has not yet been tested in concrete components or for any specific application. Nevertheless, the technological perspective of the discovery is clear.

"We have not created a finished technology, but we have shown that it is possible to achieve a combination of properties that many researchers have been looking for over many years," says Steen Pedersen. "That makes the material interesting as a platform for future development."

The next step will be to investigate whether the material can be chemically tuned toward other properties such as electrical conductivity, and whether it can be fabricated as thin films suitable for integration into electronic components.

Source: Technical University of Denmark

Published April 2026

Rate this article