Page 16 - Annual Report_AMTDC-2018-19new

AMTDC 2018 - 2019

5. Development of Automated Multi-Station Grinding and Polishing

Machine

AMTDC (IIT-Madras) team: J. Aomen, S. Akash, R. Srikanth, N. Ramesh Babu

Industry Partner: Chennai Metco Private Limited, Chennai

Project Highlights

Designed and developed by AMTDC, the indigenous production of a fully automated
multi-station grinder and polisher is set to replace the traditionally employed manual machines
that are widely used in Indian academia and industrial metallurgical laboratories. This
automatic machine, for its features like uniform application of load, correct positioning and
holding of the samples, fixed time of polishing etc., is capable of completely automating the
grinding and polishing aspects and thereby improves the quality, consistency and productivity

of the metallographic inspection process. Four grinding/ polishing stations are installed in the
machine’s sturdy aluminium housing. Touch-screen-controls facilitate up to 10 different
operations to be sequenced for a particular application. The various options include pre-
grinding, grinding and polishing as well as ultrasonic cleaning and drying using warm-air dryer
with timer. Fully covered, automated grinding and polishing machine automatically proceeds
from one step to the next, eliminating the manual, time-consuming task of cleaning, re-fixing of
sample, etc. between steps. 5-level foil stacker and automated foil changing mechanism are
in-built in the system. This fully automated machine has huge potential to cater to the needs of
various sectors like, Nuclear, Aerospace, Automotive etc. The cost of this indigenous developed
machine is expected to be 20-30% lower than the imported machines.

Current Status

The robotic multi-station grinding and polishing machine has been manufactured with
all its critical automated components. The prototype was exhibited in concluded IMTEX 2019
held in Bangalore. The final testing and characterization of the machine is awaited.

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