EPUMENT mineral casting from RAMPF is rapidly gaining popularity, also in the Japanese market. Leading manufacturers of cutting-edge machine beds and components are looking to use the epoxy resin-bonded material with its outstanding properties – especially unmatched vibration damping – as an innovative alternative to metallic materials.

Today’s production equipment needs to satisfy growing demands in terms of process accuracies under static, dynamic, and thermal loads. In their quest for finding new and improved machine bed materials that can tackle these challenges, leading Japanese manufacturers have turned to RAMPF and its EPUMENT mineral casting material.

In a series of comprehensive laboratory tests carried out by Ono Sokki, a leading measuring instrument manufacturer, and commissioned by renowned Japanese manufacturers, the damping properties of EPUMENT mineral casting 145B were put to the test against grey cast iron material FC 300, which is comparable with HT 300 in China, No. 45 in the US, and GG 30 in Germany.

The result: the EPUMENT mineral casting from RAMPF exceeded expectations.

Graph: The comparison of decay curves for cast iron FC 300 and EPUMENT mineral casting clearly shows the superior damping properties of the epoxy resin-bonded material. The minimization of natural vibration in the machine significantly increases tool lifetime, workpiece surface measurability, as well as cutting speed and precision during the enlargement of the none-critical frequency range.

“Especially due to its excellent damping properties, mineral casting has established itself as a competitive alternative to cast iron and welded constructions for highly dynamic mechanical engineering applications and technologies,” Fabian Werner, Managing Director of RAMPF (Taicang), points out. The Chinese subsidiary of the international RAMPF Group has positioned itself as a leading end-to-end product and service provider for machine beds made of mineral casting in the Asian (including Japan) and North American markets, offering engineering, modeling, design, production, and assembly from a single source.

EPUMENT mineral casting – specially-selected stones and minerals, and high-quality binding agents based on epoxy resin – is a high-tech material that is very well-suited for primary machine bed functions such as precisely securing the geometric position of the individual machine elements as well as the static, dynamic, thermal, and acoustic absorption of forces and moments. The superior damping compared to metal materials significantly improves the dynamic stability of the machine bed structure in fast and accurate production machinery.

Furthermore, processing and assembly times are appreciably reduced by optimum accuracies and the high level of finishing, as guides and other machine elements are already fitted with high precision. Together with the high availability and short delivery times, this makes EPUMENT a machine bed material with an outstanding price-performance ratio.

Customers in Japan can expect even more prompt service with regard to all aspects of innovative machine beds. The product and service portfolio of RAMPF Group Japan, the RAMPF Group's subsidiary in Japan, now also includes high-precision machine beds made of mineral casting, hard stone, and metal shell constructions.

“In the Japanese market, EPUMENT has high potential to be used for highly dynamic and precise machine tools in numerous applications, amongst others in machine tool engineering, medical technology, and the semiconductor industry,” says Yoshiaki Naganuma, Managing Director of RAMPF Group Japan. “We believe that the result of the damping test will further enhance the reputation of EPUMENT mineral casting as a highly competitive construction material in the Japanese market.”