ND Expands R&D Department
ND Technologies Group, which conducts all ND Industries research and development activities, has expanded by relocating to a newly acquired building in Troy, Michigan, across the street from its former location. The 7,600 square foot area, nearly double the former R & D footprint, provides more room for ND’s chemists and technicians to develop next-generation adhesives and sealants, such as, anaerobics, epoxies, microspheres, acrylics, and surface mount technologies.
“With the expansion of our Technologies Group, ND is making the necessary investments to enhance its industry-leading product portfolio,” said Mike Garofalo, ND Executive Vice President. “This, in addition to our ongoing commitments to product quality and superior customer service, allows us to maintain our leadership role in the industry.”
The new ND Technologies Group building contains expanded Development, Analytical, Environmental, and Quality Control Labs, as well as an office area and meeting room with full video conferencing capability. “Each lab was specifically designed to streamline the R & D process,” said Jim Barr, ND Director of Research and Development. “This gives our talented chemists an improved ability to optimize our products.”
Product development begins in the Development Lab, where innovative adhesive and sealant technologies are formulated and matured. Depending on testing requirements, material can be subjected to any number of experiments using equipment from ND’s other labs. In the Analytical Lab, ND conducts prototype evaluations and current product reviews. Whether using Differential Scanning Calorimetry to determine the Glass Transition Temperature of a polymer, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy to examine material composition, or a Cone and Plate Viscometer to identify threadlocker viscosity rates, ND’s chemists continually evaluate the properties of ND’s wide variety of products.
Testing to expose ND’s products to simulated real world conditions is conducted in the Environmental Lab, where materials are put through a diverse assortment of tests such as Heat Aging, Salt Spray, Fluid, and Cyclic Temperature.
ND Technologies Group holds testing accreditation through the American Association for Laboratory Accreditation (A2LA) in accordance with ISO/IEC standard 17025. This accreditation demonstrates ND’s technical competence in performing a variety of tests on threaded fasteners, adhesives, sealants, coatings, and mastics for the automotive, aerospace, and electronic industries. To review the scope of testing, locate ND Technologies Group at www.a2la.org.
ND Industries is an internationally known developer and supplier of high quality fastener coating products and services. Founded in 1955 as the Nylok-Detroit Corporation, ND Industries provides top quality fastening and assembly related products and services to a wide variety of industries. ND has processing centers strategically located across the United States, additional facilities in China and Taiwan, and licensees throughout the world. Further information about ND Industries’ products and services is available at www.ndindustries.com.