Norton, a brand of Saint-Gobain Abrasives, is offering a comprehensive portfolio of industry-leading solutions to help aerospace manufacturers and their suppliers streamline assembly operations. Used for blending and deburring airframes and investment cast parts, Norton abrasives solutions provide superior performance for production and maintenance operations in the aerospace industry.
“The aerospace industry is under tremendous pressure to increase overall operational efficiency to keep costs under control,” according to Paul Krupa, product manager, Norton Abrasives. “The Norton portfolio of abrasives solutions provides aerospace operations with the high-performance precision technology they need for any metal finishing applications.”
Using proprietary resins, application-specific backings and patented grains, Norton says these technologies improve productivity, allowing for faster throughput and reduced labor requirements to enable abrasive projects to be completed more quickly. Norton Rapid Prep non-woven products combine proprietary smear-free resin and high-performance aluminum oxide abrasive for consistent, smear-free finishes, while Norton Vortex Rapid Prep products combine the same smear-free properties plus a patented Vortex abrasive for up to four times the performance of conventional surface conditioning products. Norton Rapid Prep and Vortex Rapid Prep surface conditioning products excel at removing surface defects, oxides and corrosion from steel, aluminum, fiberglass and composite surfaces or when used for deburring and blending.
Norton Vortex Rapid Blend and Blaze Rapid Blend products offer a combination of synthetic mesh and patented abrasives (different abrasive grains) for removing imperfections on metal surfaces, working up to eight times better than conventional discs for more challenging operations.
For the precision cast parts commonly found in aerospace construction, Norton Rapid Finish products are engineered with superior abrasive grains and resins for maximum cutting and long-lasting performance. Vortex Rapid Finish, the most aggressive finishing product on the market, cuts twice as fast and lasts up to five times longer than conventional convolute wheels. The Norton Aluminum Oxide Rapid Finish and Silicon Carbide Rapid Finish are specifically designed for the materials commonly found in aerospace applications.