BeO August 16 2006 Visit
Mike Berakis and Marc Kolanz
8/16/06
30 or 40 small presses. Maybe only fifteen.
Machining fluid is all collected and filtered in one system and then returned to the
machines.
No be metal or be alloys here at Tucson.
50 protection factor
The area that called lasers would be laser machining operations, which is right next to
isopress. Making parts for lasers, machining but not lasers.
Laser scribing is gone. Was here, had a Co2 laser for cutting. Hadn't used it in years. Had
been enclosed and ventilated. Generate emissions. Customers
1980s were laser scribing and sampling studies. Marc K coordinated, evaluated what
customers were doing. We not 8 hr. High volume terminology discussion. Big open faced
samplers.
With that style used for either breathing zone or area sample, 300 l/minute flow rate.
Recalibrated vacuum cleaner.
Old data, could pull a big chunk of lint off of something. If took bz sample, hold the face
sideways, wuld get a big rock or chip on it otherwise, didn't want to pick that up. Phased
out in 95 and 96. Some facilities still use them today. As long as you look at the filter to
see if got a chunk, not that common.
He did a paper in 2001, he went through all the sampling techniques, all other than the
CFM one, which wasn't being used at the time. There are called Gas pumps. If short
duration sample, 15 minutes, its probably high volume methods that Marc K was talking
about.
Putting a metalized coating, laser is the part. Three types, do electroplating, spray, roll
and plate. Metalizing and plating. They are all done.
Laser scribing, hadn't done for some time.
2 to 4 years? Since. Sold laser this year, stopped using in any prod volume at least one
year ago, summer of 05.
Some periods were got more intense. Don't know production levels. Periods got more
intense, more of a focus on lowering of emissions. Around 85 and 86. Got first case in
84. That was a wakeup call.
Another one around 96, after completion of the Elmore study, probably happened around
96 he thinks. Big focus. Other transition in 99, put whole facility into respirators and
other work practices. Didn't have enough faith in purely engineering controls.
Can give the exact month -- 
Continually doing surveillance monitoring
Lot of areas fall under .2 action level for Be but can't be confident that might not have a
leak in ventialation or power system. Keep in respirators. Not usual to have exposres over
.2. Someone changes their work practices??
Small presses were enclosed in late 90s, Always had ventilation. Originally had kind of a
downdraft right next to pressing part and backdraft, and then helped close it up some
without big change to ventilation then pretty much closed in late 90s.
Large presses could not be as easy as for small presses, not that much of a concern.
Enclosed the lapping, in 2002 or so, maybe 2003.
Hindsight is that lapping didn't cause airborne particulate, not filtering fluids and
migrating standpoint. Never had high air levels.
Occasional high random air level. Get that fluid dirty.
Also went to oil based lapping fluid. That was??
Water based fluid allowed it to be entrained, that was sometime after the enclosure.
Talkig to their customers about going to oil-based system. All recirculated all that much.
Customers will dedicate one lapper to BeO products.
Stuff people equipment, didn't have a good handle housekeeping in that process at the
time.
In a room, is the enclosure. Then went step further, went to level of PPE. Transition zone,
put on cernek suit, galoshes,
Do customers tend to isolate this type of operation. Customers probably not doing the
same scale operation. Some things they are receptive to putting water resistant apron on
workers that they can throw away. If effort to come here, customers are receptive.
They assess customer operations, control process, keep from getting off people, keep out
of lungs. Varies, depends on what they are doing.
BdeO mainly doing assembly, not many o;perations.
MB recommends good housekeeping exposures.
So many ways to do controls. If have BeO piece, if score to cut or break, can do it in a
hood, or hold under water and have done same thing, except created water. If they can
tell them the way to do it that doesn't involved ventilation, they'll recommend easiest
way.
Recommend away from some operations, easy ways to solve things.
Why is it burring in the first place? To customers. Change upstream stuff so not burring
and no machining is necessary.
Material preparation from drum tipper to vacuum lance system??
No dust explosion worries with BeO.
Working on material prep right now. Engineerings.
Samples are now all outside respirator.
January 2, 1999, went to full respirator use. Before it was task based, known hazards for
certain areas or potential issue. Like changing ghe powder drum. Needed a respirator,
needed to have it one.
Three times per day wipe downs (December 2000).
Optimized nozzle configuration and change to production scheduling.
Spray nozzle, atomizes the solution, has to be nitrogen, just air. Goes through an
atomizer, its not really compressed. Just air. Not nitrogen I don't think??
If taking a small laser bore, take some powder, poured down, fills a tube, tube is put into
isopress, isopress maks it out. Work is in a hood when he is interfacing with this.
As soon as one comes out of isopress, brings a finished piece
Don't let stuff dry, don't take out of the area, don't lean up again.
Keep be in process stuff failed, we keep it in the area. Didn't have all those layers of ppe
before.
Clear differences when maching BeOO vs metal. Metal is a lot easirer, alloy tends to be
differentl Mark Hoover at HIO
Typically machining with the alloys, you're not going to get much exposure. Green
machining, presintered Some machining on green machining.
Never send out green parts.
Outside of BSW and American Berylia, anybody else doing green machining. MK can't
remember what AB is doing.
Had had an operation. Changed number.
Some do machining, some do
Sintering is actually fusing the BeO.
When sintering you are activating the binders.
Marc K did a study on metallizing on losses.
Did ddetermine there was some loss of BeO.
Ten or twenty years for , this not routine maintenance activities.
Still under the surveillance model, get once a year and various samples moved around the
plant. Tom is still available.
For last ten years has been surveillance, 6 samplers. Enough data to stop certain ones
every month and be confident they won't bump up.
Admin workers into production areas, might have been earlier than 99. Lunch room got
sepg
Completed physical separation aadmin and production in 1999. Air showers were
installed around 1999.
Kilns, be-exposure controls, no be specific exhaust. Was to not break parts.
Kilns get rebuilt sometimes. Kilns more often than the furnaces. ??plant person
Kay Kriess paper on 96, is it okay to say its Brush. Ask Marc K??
Use 1999 as turning point for PPE and major changes.
Just gone into respirators in 99/2000. Right after they went into respirators. Paper
published . Particle size stuff didn't matter in Tucson. Mass reduction kind of worked
whereas , size distribution was uniform over entire plant. More similar materials here so
all uniform. So particle size didn't matter here. If reduce mass you reduce risk,
essentially.
Be management plan developed out of stuff we learned here. KIOP model not in place
back then. KIOP was invented in Elmore.
Production went down more to work practice and less to engineering controls. Refining
work practices was more important. Were mistakes. Added waters to some of the hoods
to let people perform better.
Keep It Off People. I think
Levels of controls for customers.
Customers do polishing and sanding, which we don't do here .Also do lapping. They do
things to make sure equipment is clean. Blue paper in 80s.
Laser bores, and sell 4x4 sq of BeO and they polish and sell to someone else.
Dice it up, cut it up, put some metalization on it. Several downstream customers. Get
special orders.
Complex machining, it's a job shop, if weird shape, goes to complex machining. It's a
department that's a precision machine shops. Various depts. Under the complex
machining department, is kind of the random part for whatever the jobs are. Have most
concerns about production levels, lots of scrap generated, first time we're making it often.
Have to have some portable ventilation systems in there. Workers have to be proactive in
there.
Once-a year make a crucible for furnaces.
Don't envision downstream customers to do this complex machining or unique product
stuff.
Extrusion, how do you rehydrate? Lubricitiy, squeeze it through a dye just for the
process. Use sponges and such to clean up.
They sell ventilation for lapping machines although BW doesn't have one. Somebody
makes one.
Don't do any taping here. Kind of an extrusion. Was formed onto a kind of a die slot.
This uniform shape. We dind't invent that process. Somebody does it in the US. Taping.
QC, there are functions in every department. Have whole inspection dept,
inspection/packaging. Test a few or weigh a few and then ship 100.
Health system management approach was around 1999/2000. 2001 was actually rolled
out to the facilities. Use 2001 for that. Injuries start to fall around that time.
Just different temps and time, for sintering and kilns.
Wet hydrogen process, just heating up stuff so that it sticks to or activating the binder in
the process. For a particulate release standpoint, kilns, vent them all to atmostphere, don't
run through filters, no particulate, really just vents.
Bent over backwards to show that no particulate releases.
Not sure still make ignition module.
(3/4)" circle is small press. Keep upping the big press tonnage. 150 or something.
Mechanical tonnage.
Could set up a conf call to follow up on this stuff.
Mandatory skin protection, not when resprirators, wearing gloves when handing
respirators went into effect in 2002.
People got Be on skin by tying shoes and attaching a cloth belt on the respirator. Changes
respirator belts. Going to slipon shoes. Elmore is doing the same thing.
Skin protection stuff had a lot to do with getting people to be cognizant about
contamination.
Haven't realy demonstrated skin exposure concept is right.
Green machining -- Got impression there wasn't ventilation.
Unfired parts, just pressed or sintered. Not hardened. Some of the complex parts and
some of the laser. What percentage of production is green machined??
When send it out of here, it is fired?
If somebody wanted to do buy something green, they might sell it but would check on
applications.
Pressure wash the inside of thespray drying unit. Before would go in with a scraper. Now
it's a wet process, damp it down, collect it down.
All lasers are 100% green machined, and then post fired machining too. All of our
complex product is post fired machining. Half of our production is lasers, Lasers weigh a
lot. In material, about half of material goes into lasers. Green machining is all dry with
point ventilation. Hasn't changed over the years. Is there a close pickup and a larger
pickup. Smaller pickup at the tool bit and larger pickup. Before 81 only had close capture
pickup.
Don't do a lot of wet wiping of hands. But won't see a whole lot. He likes wipes. Might
put more into place here.
These workers have very clean hands, less than a microgram, if its detectable. If goal is to
keep it off the person, we're doing good.
Most is task based stuff is pre96
Some of the task data, after tom left, has questions about methodology. 2001 on, did do
some task base stuff for projects.
Some govt projects dropped off sharply over 2002 or so. Gradually working back down
Production tends to influence or has potential to influence exposures.
Containment of lapping probably didn't reduce the air exposures much at all. Can't really
say that controls accomplished the goal of lowering emissions. A subtle distinction but
important point.
MK Swouldn't expect engineering controls to have done that much. Some from work
practices maybe. Wouldn't really think it was all that different. MK was only looking at
older data and didn't see the trend really through about 2002 or 03 or so.
Wasn't as clean today as had been before.
Nothing in his mind MK that sticks out as needing to be addressed.l
Ken Johnson? Production manager
Sales is public. Pounds is public.
Late 2000, enclosed lapping, Based on Ken arriving in June 2001.
Went from no filtration to .. to eventually a good filtration system.
When did we vacuum out drums, prior to 2001.
1994 to 2004.
2000 sales 21 million and 75000 lbs of beo
2001 sales 15 million and 49000 lbs
2002 sales 11 million and 48000
2003 sales 12 million and 33000 lbs
2004 sales 13.5 and 45000
2005 sales 10.5 million and 33000
2006 sales annualized 12 million and 40000 lbs.
Business segments are all over the place. Telecom crashed. Kyosera said don't make
parts for us anymore.
Our boom, competitor closed in 99,
ABI, old American Beryllia Inc.
Before that they were national beryllia, ??
Sales doubled overnight. National beryllia closed and some of people involved started
back up. Had some old assets, sitting around for 3 years. Now ABI is literally eight
people and a couple of customers.
Consolidated Beryllium Ltd in UK. Some kind of facility here in US but Ken wasn't sure
about anything. We're the only beryllium oxide powder handling except ABI. They buy
400 or 500 lbs ever 6 months. CBL is maybe one half of our production.
BeO China can do everything we do. Do they compete? Their own military. Also very
small scale, thermal conductivity, Chinese. India, not aware of them doing anything-MK.
Ken agreed. CBL and ABI do green machining.
Firing in air or not in air, atmosphere. Sintering is done in air fired kilns, pusher or box
kilns. Sintering in air fired kilns. Take green ceramic body and sinter into fired ceramic
body, 17% reduction. Pusher kiln is continuous, push through the hot zone. Box kiln is
used for large products, lasers, large prouct.s
Pusher is small stuff, high volume. Box is batch process and pusher is continuous. Sagers
are aluminum boxes. Just rows and rows of these little parts. TKs, tunnel kilns
Firing of metalization is hydrogen and nitrogen, various ratios, only batch kilns, done at
atmosphere. No high volume metalization, tough to push through so batch. Have been to
tunnel kiln metalization.
Also nckel sintering, after metalization,
Application of a metallic layer to the ceramic. Ceramic doesn't conduct, apply layer of
metal to allow attach something. Molymagnese mixture, we paint it on. Not very high
tech at all. Fire it in hydrogen and nitrogen to reduce it, make sure it doesn't oxidize
(would if did this in air). So now have this dense layer, then it gets nickel plated. Just a
moly layer is worthless. End goal is to apply a brazable surface.
Most customers will apply own metalizing and then nickel plate it themselves too. Sell
more bare ceramic than anything.
How often do we rebuild. TK rebuild every 5 years. B atch kilns do 400 or 500 runs easy.
Do 50 or 60 runs per year. Metalizing furnaces, about 5 years to rebuild. Same for
Air batch kilns have 15, includeing small test kilns then 17. Metalization have two batch
kilns. Lot of maint on atmostphere furnaces.
The big kiln room and the small kiln room. Probably firing room is the big kiln room.
Customer might want aq product lapped because they want a rough surface or something
else. Ppump in abrasive media and it grinds the media off. Its all programmable.
Tape sleeves. Slide shows of PPE improvements and of the lapping machine enclosure.
85 people now, going up to 90 by the end of the year.
45 to 50 is production. 80% of workforce is doing something on the floor. 2nd is a couple
and third shift is 10. Now we're 24/7.
Afternoon
Dross separate
1998 was when vacuum system was installed in
Material preparation
Sandblasting done with alumina oxide, high purity
Discussion of whether meaningful to pursue utilization number
Ceramic customers
102 ceramic customers
most aren't doing anything with it, just installing it.
Wireless, more important in wireless
Base stations, towers. Really not used in cell phones themselves for quite a while,
replaced soon.
Laser customers, entertainment apps have gone down but medical applications have
increased pretty dramatically. Lasers in medical industry have gotten more use.
Electronics markets are stil consistent with what we had, resistor cores,auto ignition
system has been phased out, no ceramics any more, heat sinks for satellites, overall
numbers are pretty consistent with the mix.
Anybody down stream from these customers doing anything other than installation. All
real ceramic work is within this first level of sales. People do assembly downstream only.
Not even exposed to people. Also often surface metalized so not direct contact into many
of these first customers. All electronic contacts must be insulated so more of an electrical
shorting concern.
Do customers pass along that there is beryllium in there. Some label materials as BE
containing. No protocol or unwritten rule aobout this. There is no standard although a lot
of companies started marking.
We know every bay stations, never reach the public. No consumer products at all, no
grand volume at all. Motorola goes through atrouble o take I out.
Even portable defibrillators are recycled. We are formally in AED that market. Want to re
All print circuits on them
Very few do machining
None in wireless or laser and mayber just section that takes large substrates, print circuits.
Do lapping and polishing, there are three houses that do that. And 2 major and 3 or small
ones machining houses. They buy a b lock of BeO ad they will machine into a rod, rod
goes into a satellite. Provide customer with a quick prototype. We here want multiyear
order, not as nimble as customers who provide quick turnaround.
CBL doesn't handle powder in the UK. Universities also buy some.
2 manuf in china and kazahstan. 3rd one in China getting powder from another one.
Big ones are San Jose Delta in Santa , Ed Flaherty and then other Accuratus, in New
Jersey and main contact is Raymond tsao.
They could help us with these contacts, to clear the way. Smaller guys are in NY, hybrid
tech and hybrid sources, ones in florida and in California. Don't do a lot. Limited in what
they do. Laser machine houses, and dicing houses, in Portland LPT and ALT and PM
industries. Litton would buy , Litton will spec it, Accuracus will make the rod that Litton
speced. Milit contractors might do metallization but not any machining.
BeO Silicacarbide market. Requires a hot press, BeoSic, Silica carbide.Used for tuning of
radar systems. Not a huge market, overall is maybe a $1 million per year. Goes right into
applications for this market as well, wouldn't be manufacruing or machining further.
So 5 additional customers, in military market, Raython, Boeing Lockheed, Northrup, L3
is the old Litton. BWI also sells to these companies essentially so not entirely new
additional markets.
Sales guy was Lee Vandermark.
JR Massey
Transcription of walkthrough notes
Machining room, some interlocked marchines and some that allowed workers to peek in
to see that things were working right. Also an ultrasound cleaning station, all machining
is enclosed. Wet machining only here, not any green machining.
Fabricate a plexi cover for one machine, took $400-$500 in plexiglass and about two
days of work. If contractor abobut $1,200.
150 cfm face velocity.
Exhaust velocity depends on size of things etc
Have 62000 cfm for plant. Had 40k unit, then added 15 k then added 7 k. Also have a
portable unit we saw later hooked up to the Haas. Also dryer units
Complex area, similar machines. Some are manually operated.
Isopress-pressure all around
Guy wore extra purple smock in isopress. Laser area.
Worked on stuff within lab hood. Could see like splash of powder as her worked to top
off the cyclinder.
Takes apron off when goes to lunch. Something about reminders about how the guy is
supposed to look.
CO2 laser scribing used to be done where the Haas machine is now.
Have pre-WWII machine grinder-Blanchard
Extruded product-Make long rods then fired and then brought back for more work. Some
connection to complex machining
Valve system on extruder. Start with powder bottles.
Booties to go into material prep
Material prep: Small opening to vacuum out.
6 barrels in box
7 4 batches in 2 weeks of powder, 1600 lbs. 5 to 10 minutes to do it in empty the
container with a lance. The drums are 45 gallon overpacked into 55 gallon drums.
Operator manipulates lance whole time he is standing there with one quadrant of the
four quadrants open. Looked like they only put one in there at a time. They then add
water and various additives
Have openings on the top of some of the containers to add stuff.
Keep it mixing or it hardens like concrete.
Then smash down to size they want.
Have a Vibratory E Mixer
More additives and then to spray dryer. Some
Most of the batches are made the same way. A few require different stuff. Spray dryer
cleaned out couple times a week. 1.5 year ago chanes the way they cleaned it out.
Now wet down and then hose down with water spray. Get most of it out. Still have to
use a tool to push some stuff out of the bottom. Bad stuff put back into mix and rest
into bottles for use in the process.
Pressure wash in spray dryer. All done ffrom top.
Goes to one of four places, small or large press, isopress, extrusion.
15 to 30 minutes to clean spray dryer in full tyvec.
Pressing 2-3 people on small and 1-2 in large presses. Lots of small presses but each
operator does several. 1 person on haas machine.
Mop and clean every shift.
1 month, all production shutdown.
Every safety meeting has reminders about cleanliness
From small press to kiln to be fired.
Large press had a deduster, a downdraf through a carpet like piece with holes in it.
Some refinements only in last few years to large press.
If were to do more-would put the whole thing in its own room.
Not large air particle counts here. Operator cleans up if much dust. If 2 presses run by
1 operator, if need to. Running 24-7 on presses now, big demand.
Haas not running yet.
Add small portable unit fo Haas. Plyovent MultiFume Caddy. Portable vent unit
CNC for complex parts especially
Packaging- Weight under hood with backdraft. 100 cfm/face, all in press room is
packaging location.
Sample kilns there too
Sometimes in inspection
If don't empty bags slowly or if some dust on parts then can get exposures in
packaging. Seemed like relatively high area.
They have hoods for inspection but operators have to stand and they didn't like that
so much. Work mostly at sitting tables. Have little red screen thing that allows them
to see both sides for a lot of units at one time. Then flip it over .
Laser-Isopress area. Pressed without heat in isopress
CIP at ELMORE CIP and HIP.
Huge then at Elmore of different name but it's the same thing.
Little powder burst but ventilation get its >When he gets cyclinder full then turns and
puts into isopress. Each cycle takes as long as to get fil next cylinder.
Get new rags now, heard Mike Talking about it.
Grinding going wet enclosed surface grind.
Another enclosed grinding wheel.
Another ultrasonic laser drill
Enclosed.
Grinding out diameter
Like other enclosed grinder. Hard to
Only 1 isopress
This is green machining right behind the isopress.
Have 2 lathes, 2 grinders, get higher air count in green machining, not done wet.
Have white tubes, high velocity. High velocity is fixed to machine, not really moved
around.
Kiln room
After made, they are fired.
Sagger, aluminum atrays. Large and small boxes.
Kiln people only load and unload. Seems different from what we wrote where thought
some of press people loaded too.
3 kiln operators. 1 to load and 1 t ohandle other kilns. 4-5 people during the week.
There are not special atmosphere kilns. Draft is partly for odor control.
Rectangular flow for one tunnel kiln.
Some put into water and tumble small parts to get rough edge off. Air counts in kiln
are low.
Vent kilns to atmosphere, but very little emissions.
If was dust would be due to break or friction.
Lapper enclosed
2 rooms of lapping. 3 small and 2 big lappes. Were lappers in extruding in the past
Separate air conditioning in lapping. No ventil;ation though.
Sometimes
Go next to cleaning. Clean them in lapping. Then to inspection and packaging.
Sandblast only for mistakes and for a few customer specifications.
Aluminate nitrate
When lapping runs into not fully enclosed.
Production control offices.
Packaging and shipping is on the clean side.
Have a passthrough window from production.
Pkg has been mainly placing in plant
Were also handling parts in the plant.
Been like this for 6 or 7 years.
Everything here is wrapped up already before it gets to packaging and shipping.
Bubble wrap again in shipping
Customers shouldn't get white powder. If they do they call and complain.
Have passthrough windown, door on each side.
Pusher kiln crew. Break rod
Also sort of a storage area
Some of this bulding was added in 85.
Not only station for worker
Extruder people to do this
Back for extrusion
Extrusion, cut to length and make resistor cords
Put some rods on hot plate and cover with hot wax, then cut to length.
Air count is hight if do wipe sample of air ducts in extruding. Mike didn't really
know why.
Maybe when clean extruder unit.
Extrusion is 2-3 people, 3, with inspector counted. That's Marcia whose desk was
behind some stuff
Clean extrude when need to .
Set extruder takes time to set up and then want to run it for awhile.
Wax, ;l ooked like grease
Comparator, inspection tool looked like a big submarine radar scope
3 separate areas for inspection
In plant
Have emergency response team and incident commanders .
Small kiln room
4 more batch periodic kilns.
Big kiln room
Extrusion look like types of pasta
Decont garage. Make it visible clean. Disdained particle counts.
All ventilation outside of building has secondary heaps.
The dust collector change is always a full powered respirator job.
1 time every 6 months for the drums at the end. The drums in the middle don't need
to be emptied very often.
8 people in the maitenance department, couning everybody.
