Tight dimension alloy

[Flare09]

Does anyone know or have suggestions on which alloy would be best for machining tight dimensions, less than 1mm wall thickness, with no nickel, and is the hardest I can get. The application is a hollow ring that will contain electronic components. So I really need a hardness that will last, and no flexibility, or very little.
I really wanted to use ALON ceramic, but I cannot find a supplier, and they wont email me back, and spinnel is probably too soft. So if anyone had suggestions for something clear, it would be a great plus.

 

[cloa]

Nanocrystalline Alumina would be transparent and with the scale of your component you might have more options are transparency is based on thickness.

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[Flare09]

ceramics do sound like a good road to go down, but i read i would have to sinter them into the shape, rather than machine them. and i dont know of anyone that does hobby quantity custom sintering one-offs plus,i dont know if they would be strong enough to not break like a hematite ring when i hit it on something...

 

[cloa]

You should describe the application in full detail and why the requirements are essential. Why is super high hardness essential? From first thoughts it sounds like an electronic encapsulation which is typically epoxy. You might think of doing it yourself- transparent tough zirconia is possible.

http://www.tosoh.co.jp/technology/report/pdfs/2012_02_02.pdf

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[Flare09]

Okay. So I wanted to start off with a solid piece of material, and machine a pocket just big enough to enclose some leds, capacitors, resistors an IC, and power source. Around that will be a wall of material, as thin as possible. Then, a secondary piece to enclose the electronics, and two walls and provide more stability.this will be a ring, to be worn as jewelry. Initally I wanted the material to be solid metal, with a window for the leds. But I then came across this brand of ceramic; ALON. Clear aluminum. The idea of using an entirely clear material, that retains hardness is very appealing. But I understand the difficulties in machining and obtaining such material.so that leaves me here with an alloy, without nickel, (allergic) that I can machine very slowly down to very small dimensions >1mm walls.the reason for the desired high hardness, is so that the material will last, being worn on hands and hit against things every day for years., and bragging rights for it being an exotic material.

 

[EdStainless]

Ceramic, talk to CoorsTech. They have custom machined parts for me in the past.
While hardness sounds good some toughness is needed. Maybe a toughened Zirconia would be the best balance.
They would sinter blanks and then finish grind to size, it isn't cheap.

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[ornerynorsk]

Bird Precision might be a resource for you.

It is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be wrong, than to be always right by having no ideas at all.

 

[EdStainless]

of Branson and Bratton. They make tooling for us in ceramic and carbide.
Great work.

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[Flare09]

I will check out those sites. I did email coorstek. Professional companies don't like small batch project hobby/inventors with no parent company

What about other materials? I heard inconel would be strong enough at half a millimeter.but, its mostly nickel. Maybe spring steel? Or a titanium alloy?

 

[cloa]

Want exotic then use nanotube reinforced epoxy- also use the brand name of the epoxy or other plastic. With only human induced stress and wear and tear then many materials fit the bill.

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[EdStainless]

I would think that finding someone to do one-off in metal would be harder than in ceramic.
When B&B makes tooling for us it is usually single pieces.

If you want a steel look for 300M or maraging 250. They are real high strength materials. The maraging steels contain some Ni but it is below the levels of concern for Ni sensitivity.

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[Maui]

Why not use a carbon fiber weave to encapsulte the electronic assembly? This way you can custom fit the components and no machining would need to be involved. It would be light, tough, and strong. And done right, it would have a clean and appealing surface texture.

Maui

http://www.EngineeringMetallurgy.com

 

[jedward]

MACOR is a good machineable ceramic that can be worked but is not optically clear, it looks like alumina.

 

[Flare09]

I ended up receiving samples of zirconia hardened alumina, and yittria stabilized cubic Zr. I do like the idea of the carbon fiber wrap actually, but I would have to epoxy, or resin it, and I do not like the feel of resin jewelry, and its a PITA to polish if the cast is out of dimension.

I will look more into the 250M. It looms like it could work. But for now im gonna take some carbide to these zirconia and see if they shatter at small dimensions and a bump on the counter.

 

[EdStainless]

The Yittria stabilized ZrO is about the toughest ceramic that there is.
It won't like being flexed or loaded with a sharp point, but broad loads will have little impact on it.

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