Abrasives have a wide and diverse user-base; from aerospace and large infrastructure projects to small fabricators, including gear grinding and auto refinishing, all of them use Abrasives. From an industrial application point of view, Abrasives is the back-bone of most of the shop floors across industry segments like Auto and Auto components, Steel, Heavy Engineering, Bearings, Construction, Fabrication etc. Abrasives are a critical part of the manufacturing set-up. Most of the process improvements are driven by improvement in grinding and allied processes.
Many Industries have made significant improvements in their manufacturing processes, leading to better productivity, quality and efficiencies. One of the examples is of Steel Industry, which is moving ahead with an application shift from scarfing to grinding, which in-turn helps to improve the efficiencies and also reduce Carbon footprint. Abrasives have played a key role in making this change happen. From Auto Industry perspective, last decade has witnessed major transformation in this industry.
On one hand we have seen the shift from BS3 to BS4, followed by the leapfrog to BS6 compliant engines and on the other hand, the industry has witnessed a steady growth in volumes across segments. India has emerged as a hub for small car manufacturing. Auto Component Industry has done even better, with good growth both in domestic and export markets. All these factors have led to many new entrants in this segment and rapid capacity expansion along with capability building.
The new emission norms are important from an environmental standpoint. These changes help to reduce carbon emissions, driving India’s future towards sustainable climate change. Stringent emission norms require changes in engine design and tighter tolerances for all components. Which in turn, makes us to critically look at all process and tools used. Large number of components in the engine and transmission have gone through a phenomenal change, to achieve this goal. Tolerances of the cylinder blocks have been reduced to limit the wastage of fuel, connecting rods and axle shafts have been made leaner and tighter in tolerance to reduce the vibration and have seamless transmission of energy from the engine to the Gear box. Gears have improved as per DIN standards to reduce the noise levels.
High performance Abrasive products to cater to the challenging demands of the Industry
Auto and Auto Component Industry has grown consistently to meet the demands of the growing market. Manufacturers are hard pressed to invest in new plants, machines or to significantly improve the productivity in the existing set-up. This has pushed machine manufacturers to develop machines which can finish components faster and with better tolerances. Abrasive Industry has also risen to the challenge by developing products and solutions which can work on these new generation machines. Large part of the conventional Abrasives has moved to Ceramic Abrasives and cBN (Cubin Boron Nitride). This allows higher productivity, better control on part quality and higher tolerances.
With Electric Vehicles, again, the automotive industry is at the doorsteps of embarking on another remarkable transition. Abrasives Industry is working closely with the users and machine manufacturers to tailor make solutions suited for this Industry and play a positive part in the journey of making this world a better place.
Amit Koul is the General Manager, Sales & Marketing and Business Head – Bonded, Thin Wheels, Construction Products, Adhesives & Sealants at Grindwell Norton Ltd. (Norton Abrasives)