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A CNC unit, or a With a temperature rise by 1ºC, the length of a 1-m-long steel material expands by 10 μm, and when a work piece is machined on a wire-cut electrical discharge machine having key components made of steel, the center position of the wire shifts from the originally desired position. In contrast, the thermal expansion coefficient of ceramics is one-third or less that of steel.
Sodick's research activities led to a conviction that ceramics was the best material for the arms of an electrical discharge machine, but no companies produced ceramics for the application at that time, and therefore, Sodick embarked upon the production of ceramics for electrical discharge machines on its own.
At the beginning, the company produced mechanical components of ceramics required for its products only, but in view of great demands for similar ceramic products, the ceramics production division of Sodick was reorganized as a separate group company, "Sodick New Material". The ceramics company, now called "Sodick EMG", not only produces the components of Sodick's machines but also supplies materials to the manufacturers of products such as measuring devices and semiconductor production facilities. |
