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E 48 cfi/Ber. DKG 96 (2019) No. 1-2

History

The year was 1998 – an exceptionally eventful year in the LAEIS company history, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of plants and machinery for the ceramics industry and known particularly for its high-performance presses for refractories and numerous other products. Then as LAEIS BUCHER and still part of the Swiss Bucher-Holding, the company had just relocated with its entire operations from its “ancestral” site in the centre of Trier/DE to new premises at Trier Harbour and was preparing the relocation of the companies Heimsoth and Kerabedarf in Hildesheim/DE acquired in the year previous to this new site.

At the same time, the company was in the middle of planning for a new test centre that was also to be integrated there and into which Alpha Labor GmbH, the central laboratory of Agrob in Ismaning/DE that had been taken over by LAEIS in 1993, was also to be incorporated. In the middle of these plans, the management was made aware that in Aachen stood a complete ceramic testing centre from the bankruptcy estate of NHD, which had gone into liquid-ation in 1996 and which was managed by the Institute of Mineral Engineering (GHI) at RWTH University of Aachen/DE and used for practice-oriented training of its students. This was already equipped with selected machines and equipment from LAEIS and

Heimsoth and was able to offer more di-verse possibilities both in terms of space and strategy than a test centre in Trier. Following intensive discussions, in Septem-ber 1998, ALPHA CERAMICS GmbH was founded as a joint venture between LAEIS and GHI with its base in Aachen. LAEIS held the majority stake in the joint ven-ture, which on the one hand was to serve as a testing centre for machine and process developments for LAEIS, and on the other hand continue as a practice-oriented train-ing centre for students at the GHI. From the beginning, however, it was planned that the new company would independently offer its expertise and services to external clients. In 2003, all GHI shares were taken over by LAEIS, ALPHA CERAMICS, however, remained closely associated with the GHI. Innumerable students had the opportunity to get to know, in one or the other form, the operational procedures in ceramic produc-tion. Also in 2003, LAEIS BUCHER GmbH was split into several companies, and LAEIS BUCHER Technology GmbH responsible for ALPHA Ceramics was taken over in the fol-lowing year by the SACMI Group in Imola/IT and renamed to LAEIS GmbH.

Equipment and work focuses

In addition to the plant components for body preparation (slurry preparation, spray tower, mixing and pelletizing equipment), shaping (tile press) and for thermal treat-ment (various dryers and firing units) taken over from the NHD bankruptcy estate, ex-isting equipment and the Alpha Labora-

Germany

20 Years of ALPHA CERAMICS GmbH in Aachen – A Test Centre Goes its Own Way

Over the past two decades, besides its function as a technology and development centre for LAEIS, ALPHA CERAMICS has established itself as a competent, cooperative and reliable partner in ceramic manufacture, both as a supplier of kiln furniture of all types as well as a service provider for contract production of non-oxide and oxide ceramic intermediate products and components.

Fig. 1 Vacuum-pressed mullite slabs

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long-term basis, but for which the provision of a separate plant would not be economic, a repeat production on call can be arranged. Many customers have been using these ALPHA CERAMICS services for many years. Moreover, completely new products and technologies are also developed and opti-mised predominantly in direct cooperation with customers. Here, following the first step in develop-ment on small scale, in a second step, direct implementation in production on industrial scale can take place. Here too, for a cer-tain time, products can first be produced in Aachen before the customer switches to his

ity standards. This situation leads to the fact that kiln furniture must be adapted to these specific requirements both in terms of the material and the product. In the kiln furniture segment but also in other areas, ALPHA CERAMICS develops and optimises both materials and finished products that are then directly placed on the market.A special role in process engineering devel-opment at ALPHA CERAMICS is played by the pressing of components in a vacuum. This process crucially developed further together with LAEIS enables crack- and layer-free pressing of complex and large-size components by preventing air pockets in the moulding. For many newly developed products, especially from high-performance ceramics, this problem is difficult to control with conventional press technology without big sacrifices in throughput rate and effec-tiveness. Another success story at ALPHA CERAMICS is the spray granulation of ox-ide ceramic powders for customers all over Europe. The installed spray tower with its evaporation rate of 120 l/h is big enough to produce high-quality spray granulates cost efficiently. The revenue generated by con-tract production forms a significant part of ALPHA CERAMICS’ year-end result.The existing installations for body prep ar-ation, shaping and thermal treatment can be used by our customers also for direct contract production. This offers the possibil-ity to provide products for a limited time, e.g. to test market acceptance or to bridge the time until a customer can commission his own production capacity. For products that are only needed in limited number on

tory equipment taken over from Ismaning, the facility was steadily extended over the course of the years. With the installation and commissioning of a LAEIS HPF 630 refrac-tory press (1999), a high-temperature roller kiln (2001) and an ALPHA 800 as a replace-ment for an existing tile press (2002), other possibilities were opened up in the range of services, including the manufacture of small series of ceramic components. Following the closure of Sphinx Tech nical Ceramics B.V. in Maastricht/NL, ALPHA CERAMICS took over parts of its technical know-how and started the manufacture and supply of speciality refractory products, primarily kiln furniture for former Sphinx customers (Fig. 2).On account of the takeover of LAEIS by SACMI, there resulted a shift in the stra tegic orientation in the direction of technical cer-amics and high-performance ceramics while activities for fine ceramics were taken over by the test centre in Imola, which has spe-cialised in this sector. Besides the still permanently necessary function as a testing centre for LAEIS and the associated testing and development work for customers mainly from the re-fractories industry, but also from numerous other industries, the demand for speciality products developed steadily. To meet this demand, in 2006 an electrically heated ele-vator kiln with a maximum firing tempera-ture up to 1700 °C (Fig. 3), and in 2007 a hydraulic press of the type ALPHA 1500 with a maximum filling height of 120 mm were installed (Fig. 4). In 2010, the control system for the hy draul-ic HPF 630 was updated and recently the ALPHA 800 press was replaced with a new one that thanks to a modern control system and a filling height up to 120 mm offered more possibilities than the predecessor ver-sion. The new press was equipped with a modified filling device that enables auto-matic filling of body for traditional ceramic products as well as for technical ceramics.The requirements for kiln furniture for high temperatures have increased drastically in recent years in step with the constantly advancing optimisations in the applica-tion processes. Especially in the expanding market segment for technical ceramics, de-mands have grown enormously in respect of application temperature, cycle time and number, energy consumption and qual-

Fig. 2 Refractory products and transparent ceramics

Fig. 3 Mullite cassettes for the elevator kiln

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own manufacturing operation without any risk of problems with upscaling. ALPHA CERAMICS also develops products on its own account, the applications pri mar-ily covering technical ceramics, refractories, kiln furniture and the other areas of ceram-ics. In related branches such as the glass industry, building materials industry and especially in environmentally relevant tech-nologies, ALPHA CERAMICS also operates successfully. Work on process development and optimisation are done on contract basis and in close cooperation either with the suppliers of the specific plant components or with their customers, the end-users. Within the SACMI Group, ALPHA CERAM-ICS has a key role as a significant member of the TEAM by SACMI alliance, in which the companies forming part of SACMI that are involved with different aspects of the pro-duction of technical ceramics have teamed up with each other. Cooperation in this al-liance creates new possibilities for util ising synergistic effects, as a result of which it is possible to offer customers tailored solu-tions for specific applications.

Summary and outlook

Over the past two decades, besides its function as a technology and development centre for LAEIS, ALPHA CERAMICS has established itself as a competent, co opera-tive and reliable partner in ceramic manu-facture, both as a supplier of kiln furniture of all types as well as a service provider for contract production of non-oxide and oxide ceramic intermediate products and com pon-ents. The company employs highly trained ceramic engineers and other employees who have gained their own experience in industrial production on the one hand, and on the other hand can draw on the wealth of experience of a large number of already realised developments. This know-how and experience are used both for product and process developments and optimisations. After the first 20 years, all preconditions have been met for ALPHA CERAMICS to successfully master the future.

www.alpha-ceramics.de

Fig. 4 Installation of ALPHA 1500

Fig. 5 Technical Ceramics