Mazak manufactures mineral castings in-house

January 22, 2024

On December 25, 2023, Yamazaki Mazak announced that it is manufacturing the composite material “mineral casting” in-house and aims to start mass production in FY2024, shipping new models that use mineral casting manufactured in-house in the structure of machine tools (=Photo shows mineral casting used in the “SYNCREX” Swiss-type CNC automatic lathe manufactured in the United States).

Mineral casting is a composite material made by bonding ores with epoxy resin. It is characterized by high vibration damping and thermal stability compared with conventional castings commonly used for machine tool structures. In addition, it has attracted attention in recent years as an alternative material to conventional castings because of its ability to reduce carbon dioxide emissions during manufacturing and significantly shorten manufacturing lead times.

In order to provide customers with high-precision, high-productivity machine tools with shorter delivery times, the company has been conducting test studies for several years on the in-house production and increased use of mineral castings with these excellent material properties. The company plans to complete technology development for mass production by the end of FY2023.