| O-Ring Catalog | 
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MANUFACTURING PROCESS |
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| The manufacture of
elastomeric seals in ISC facilities
involves several steps. It begins with the
receipt of raw materials from manufacturers
around the world. Our in-house A2LA
laboratory then inspects all incoming goods
to see that they meet our stringent quality
requirements.
Every piece of equipment we use has been designed and constructed to our demanding specifications. This includes a range of compression molding equipment as well as the latest injection molding technology. All tooling in ISC facilities are dimension-ally compensated for standard elastomers. |
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Cryogenic deflashing is one of the many techniques we use for the removal of flash after molding.
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The traditional molding process of making elastomeric seals involves compression presses. |
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The traditional molding process of making elastomeric seals involves injection molding presses. |
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A Class 100 clean room is designed to minimize contaminants on elastomeric seals to be used in the semiconductor industry. |
CLEAN CELL |
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| ISC has adopted
a cell manufacturing technique
to manage and control several different
elastomer materials. The clean cell is
set up to provide a reduced-contamination
production environment for critical
ultra-high-performance elastomeric seals used in the semiconductor
industry.
The mixing, preforming and molding steps are
not considered to be major sources of
contamination for elastomeric seals. However, attention
to all contamination sources helps ISC provide unsur-passed sealing
materials. To maintain quality Dedicated production facilities (clean press, left, and clean milling, right) for high-performance elastomers provide reduced contamination potential and greater production yields. Dimensionally critical molding preform is prepared by several elastomer-specific extruders (clean/isolated extrusion, above).
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control, the molding conditions
are recorded and controlled by computer. Process temperature,
pressure, vacuum and other variables are continuously monitored
and recorded by the computer. This
technique not only provides
very high repeatability, but also allows
for very detailedquality control records
retention. Other areas of concern in this production
area are mold surface quality and contamination as well as airborne
particles and mold-release. To address these concerns, ISC maintains
proprietary mold manufacturing techniques and finishing steps. The use
of silicone-based mold releases are not allowed for
semiconductor-grade materials.
ENGINEERING |
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| The engineering department has responsibility for process
development, tool design and engineering support. Computer
Aided Design (CAD) systems are used extensively for tool and
process design.
We have found Nonlinear Finite Element Analysis (FEA) to be a valuable tool in the design and modeling of critical applications. Traditional FEA programs for traditional engineering materials (metals and plastics) often fall short in the treatment of the nonlinear aspect of elastomers. |
Process development has been critical to the success of ISC. While a
large volume of our production remains compression molding, new advances
in transfer and injection molding are incorporated in ISC production and
product offerings.
