Pittsburgh — Bellofram Elastomers has expanded its services by offering custom flash cutting to its customers.
Newell, W.Va.-based Bellofram installed a dieless cutting system in October 2023, Vice President Matt Wingertsahn said Sept. 11 at Silicone Expo USA in Pittsburgh. The new system represented an investment of about $100,000 for the firm.
The addition will allow Bellofram to create better yield on sheet production and use scrap to make other parts, Wingertsahn said. Since installing the system, five of Bellofram's largest sheet accounts have switched to cut parts.
In a news release, company officials said the new system can eliminate the need for customers to do their own flash cutting on Bellofram silicone sheets. The move is expected to reduce the firm's waste by 25 percent. Flash cutting is an automated process that uses a system of reciprocating knives and computer numerical control (CNC) to fabricate parts.
Also in the release, Wingertsahn emphasized that Bellofram will only be flash cutting its own product. "We are not getting into the converting business and won't be in competition with our converting customers," he said.
On the new products front, Bellofram has commercialized medium-density, flame-retardant silicone sheet. Wingertsahn said the new product creates a seal with access to flame and can be used in electric vehicle battery coatings and similar applications. The new product first was available in August.
Bellofram's shaped silicone products are used in applications such as Navy buoy systems, jet fuel bladders, engine gaskets and vent ducts. Other uses include seals in food processing machinery and industrial ovens and medical devices.
Bellofram is a unit of the Newell-based Marsh Bellofram Group of Companies. The parent firm's portfolio includes a range of industrial products such as process control instrumentation, natural gas and propane pressure regulators, tank and liquid level measurement systems and industrial diaphragms.
Bellofram Diaphragm invented the rolling diaphragm in 1950 and now makes frictionless and leak-proof rolling seals that can be used in a wide range of pressures, temperatures and stroke lengths.