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Corning buys Discovery Labware for $730M
Corning Inc., an American manufacturer of glass, ceramics and related materials for primarily industrial and scientific applications, has reached a deal with Becton, Dickinson and Co. to acquire the majority of its Billerica-based Discovery Labware unit for nearly $730 million in cash. “The Discovery Labware unit’s extensive product portfolio and established dealer network will significantly improve Corning Life Sciences’ offerings to customers and is a critical part of Corning’s long-term growth strategy,” said Corning president and CEO Wendell P. Weeks. “With sales of approximately $235 million, the acquisition will expand Corning Life Sciences’ annual revenues by 40 percent and catapult the segment toward its goal of being a $1 billion business by 2014. And, the acquisition provides added momentum for Corning to achieve our $10 billion revenue target in the next few years.”
Medical engineering, life sciences, biotechnology benefit from new piezo Breakthrough technologies
Piezo specialist PI (Physik Instrumente) has published a new brochure on medical applications of piezo ceramic actuators, transducers and motion components. Life-sciences and medical design equipment disciplines have multi-faceted requirements for motion control, spanning a spectrum from high-precision positioning systems to reliable, low-cost, and compact drive components with ultra-low power consumption. Since progress goes hand in hand with continuous miniaturization and demand for higher speed and throughput, piezoceramic drives can satisfy many of these requirements. Originally developed for nanometer-precision motion, piezoelectric motion principles are proving highly adaptable to new configurations and modalities. Recently-developed systems have overcome the former limitations familiar from classical piezo mechanisms.
Gardner Co. offers coating thickness tester
Gardner’s CG204 Coating Thickness Tester features automatic substrate recognition; magnetic induction for ferrous substrates; eddy current measurement for non-ferrous substrates; and easy-to use menu system. It has two measuring modes (single an continuous) and two working modes (direct and group. The tester’s memory stores 400 readings, including 80 direct and 320 group. Users can set high/low alarms and can obtain minimum,maximum and average readings. The instrument can be set with one- or two-point calibration. The tester comes with a USB interface and cable, software, two AAA batteries, USB cable, software, calibration tools and pouch case.
Phipps Center for Sustainable Landscapes to feature PPG glass
PPG Industries announced that the Center for Sustainable Landscapes being constructed on the campus of Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens in Pittsburgh will include two types of triple-glazed insulating glass units with glass from PPG — one type with a combination of Sungate 500 Clear glass and Starphire glass, and another type with a combination of Solarban 60 glass and Starphire glass. The advanced architectural glasses were selected for characteristics that will help the center become one of the world’s first certified “living” buildings. Chris Minnerly, AIA, LEED AP, principal of The Design Alliance Architects, who specified the glass, says. “One of the key aspects of glass selection is to balance the solar heat gain coefficient against the visible light transmittance to get the best overall performance,” he said. “The glass assemblies have to have the best UV transmission in certain light spectrums to facilitate the growth of plants.”
Tanaka Kikinzoku Kogyo starts providing active brazing filler metal able to directly bond to ceramics at half the conventional cost
Tanaka Holdings Co. today announced that Tanaka Kikinzoku Kogyo K.K., which operates the Tanaka Precious Metals’ manufacturing business, will start providing TKC-651 active brazing filler metal able to directly bond to ceramics at half the material cost of conventional active brazing filler metals. TKC-651 is an active brazing filler metal comprising an alloy of silver, copper and titanium that can be used for brazing to ceramics with a single application of heat. The conventional active brazing filler metal had difficulty in supply in sheet thicknesses of 100 micrometers or less, but TKC-651 can be supplied with a sheet thickness of as thin as 50 micrometers, and because Ag content has been controlled to around 6%, the material cost can be reduced to half the conventional level, making it an unprecedented active brazing filler metal.