1st place, metalworking category: Supfina Grieshaber

With the introduction of the Euro 7 emissions standard, hard-coated brake discs are moving into focus and setting new standards. They make a significant contribution to reducing particulate emissions from the brake system of all vehicles and also provide the necessary corrosion protection for the brakes of electric vehicles. Supfina has therefore been working on an economical solution for coating and grinding brake discs in collaboration with brake disc manufacturers, automotive OEMs and coating system solution providers since 2019.

It is important to consider the entire process chain in order to precisely coordinate the sanding process with the previous work steps. This system is now successfully in use and has proven itself on thousands of workpieces. In order to meet the high demands placed on the safety-relevant brake disc component, Supfina has not simply modified existing solutions, but has designed a completely new machine concept. This approach ensures that the specific needs and challenges of the product to be manufactured are taken into account from the ground up.

Through this redesign, Supfina can guarantee that both the performance and quality of the end product will meet and exceed customer expectations. This underlines Supfina's commitment to always be at the forefront of innovation and to offer solutions that meet current and future market requirements.

Grinding coated brake discs is a challenge. As the coating is very hard and resistant, the grinding process with conventional tools leads to extremely high wear and therefore to very high tool costs and machine downtimes.

New tools therefore had to be developed that could machine both the soft stainless steel matrix and the embedded carbides without clogging and blunting.

The supply of cooling lubricant is also an important influencing factor. It is important to apply the right amount to the tool at the right pressure with pinpoint accuracy in order to flush it free and cool the abrasive grains. Many factors influence the complex sanding process. The rigidity of the machine in particular makes a significant contribution to achieving optimum results, as large workpiece surfaces with hard and soft coatings have to be removed. The Supfina Planet BD is already being used by renowned customers and has been very well received on the market.

Supfina offers innovative process control that is supplemented with in-process measurements. This combination ensures that the highest quality standards are continuously maintained. Thanks to a patent-pending force-neutral grinding process, the Planet BD machine significantly improves shape and position tolerances. This process achieves maximum efficiency of the tools, which in turn leads to a considerable reduction in unit costs.

The machine bed made of mineral casting impresses with its thermal stability, vibration damping and unsurpassed precision, thus contributing to increased dimensional accuracy and improved surface quality. It also demonstrates high chemical resistance to cooling lubricants.

The Planet BD differs from the competition in the following points (USP's): It was developed exclusively for grinding coated brake discs. The patented, force-neutral grinding process enables the best quality. Extreme rigidity and vibration damping allow short cycle times. In addition, Supfina has designed the automated loading and unloading in such a way that it can be easily adapted to different infeed and outfeed systems as a universal interface. This results in significant cost savings along the entire process chain - from coating to double surface grinding. Last but not least, Supfina's solution is characterized by its environmental friendliness. The brake discs, which are provided with a wear protection layer, minimize the resulting abrasion over a mostly increased service life - a double benefit for our environment.