What’s Epoxy Granite?

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Epoxy granite is a synthetic composite material made from epoxy resin and granite chips used as a high performance alternative to steel and cast iron machine tool bases. The finished material is strong and durable with excellent vibration damping characteristics and a long service life. The use of granite epoxy also allows for a high degree of production flexibility, as ancillary parts such as fixing points, slides and cooling pipes can be added to the composite during casting, significantly reducing production costs. Additional cost saving features of epoxy based granite composites are the cold cure manufacturing process and the ability to use low cost fillers to add bulk to the material. Disadvantages of granite epoxy composites include low impact or impact tolerance and low strength in thin castings.

Traditionally, precision machine tools such as milling machines, drill presses, lathes and shapers were mounted on steel, natural granite or cast iron bases. These materials gave the bases the required stiffness, stability, and vibration damping, but required expensive machining processes to produce the accurate surface dimensions required. Materials such as natural granite are also becoming increasingly scarce and expensive. Developments in the composite materials arena have, however, seen an increase in the use of synthetic products such as epoxy granite in these roles. Not only does synthetic granite exhibit the same desirable qualities as traditional materials, but it generally offers much better values ​​with greater manufacturing flexibility at a significantly reduced cost.

Synthetic granite is an aggregate of crushed granite chips suspended in a specially formulated epoxy resin. Once mixed, the fluid product is poured into a mold and cold-cured at room temperature. This allows enormous flexibility in the manufacturing process with regards to possible shapes, surface structures and auxiliary characteristics of the casting. Machine slides, mounting pins or studs, and mounting plates can be included in the casting, eliminating the need for costly and labor-intensive post-production machining. The overall cost of the products can be further reduced by the inclusion of inexpensive fillers in the aggregate.

Epoxy granite machine beds often exhibit outstanding workmanship qualities, often far exceeding those of traditional materials. For example, the material has internal damping characteristics up to ten times better than cast iron, three times better than natural granite and nearly 30 times better than steel. The thermal stability and torsional stiffness of epoxy granite are also good, as is its resistance to internal stresses. It is impervious to lubricant and coolant degradation and offers excellent noise absorption and low production costs. The only notable disadvantages of the composite are its low thin section strength and impact resistance.

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