The World’s Leading Ultrasonic Machining Company
We provide unique machining & drilling solutions for hard, brittle, and specialty materials, so your team doesn’t have to compromise its design.
ISO 9001 Certified
AS9100 Certified
IATF 16949 Compliant
ITAR Registered
Traditional Machining Limits Shouldn’t Hold You Back
Now they don’t have to.
What is Ultrasonic Machining?
Ultrasonic machining is a loose abrasive machining process in which the mirror image of a shaped tool can be created in hard, brittle materials. Material removal begins with a vibrating tool. The vibration propels particles at accelerations in excess of 25,000 g’s. These dynamic particles collide with and grind the workpiece on a micro-level.
Advantages of Ultrasonic Machining
Bullen’s Ultrasonic Machining process had many advantages over traditional machining.
The process is non-thermal, non-chemical, and non-electrical, leaving the chemical and physical properties of the workpiece unchanged. This low-stress process translates into high reliability for your critical applications.
High-aspect ratio thru-vias; 60-to-1 aspect ratios are possible in glass and advanced ceramic.
Unlike many competing laser and abrasive blasting processes, ultrasonic machining is able to provide vertical sidewalls, so you don’t have to compromise on your design.
The process integrates well with semiconductor ceramics and MEMS Machined features, and it can be aligned to previously patterned, machined, or etched substrates.
PARTNERING WITH
GLOBAL ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY COMPANIES
FOR OVER 50 YEARS
Fortune 50 Companies
Aerospace & Defense Companies
Mems & Microsystem Developers
Medical & Life Sciences Organizations
Semiconductor Equipment Manufacturers
Features and Patterns Possible
Bullen can machine a limitless number of different cuts and shapes, including:
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- Round Holes
- Rectangular Holes
- Odd-shaped holes
- Slots
- Blind Cuts
- Cavities
- OD and ID Work
Features ranging in size from 0.008″ up to several inches are possible in small workpieces, wafers, larger substrates, and material blanks.
Aspect ratios as high as 60-to-1 are possible, depending on the material type and feature size.
Applications for Ultrasonic Machining
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- Tight-tolerance round thru-holes for semiconductor processing equipment components
- Micromachined and micro-structured glass wafers for microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) applications
- Features machined into Ceramic Matrix Composites for Aerospace manufacturing
Materials We Machine
Glass
Fused Silica: HPFS® Corning 7980, Schott Lithosil®
Quartz
BK7, Soda Lime, and other glass materials
Glass Ceramics
Macor
ULE Glass
Technical Ceramics
Aluminum
Nitride
Boron Carbide
Silicon Carbide
Silicon Nitride
Zirconia
Yttria
Sialon
Ferrite
Titanium Nitride
Engineered Ceramics
Converted SiC
PCD
Ceramic Composites (CMC)
Single Crystals
Germanium
Sapphire
Spinel
SiC
Calcium Fluoride
Engineered Plastic
PMMA
Bismaleimide
Polystyrene
Polycarbonate
A Simple Process to Solve Your Complex Engineering Need
1. Talk to our team
Talk to our team today via phone, email, or an RFQ. Describe your design, budget, and timeline, and one of our Sales Engineers will get back to you quickly - most of the time, on the same day. If we’re not the right fit, we promise to point you in the right direction.
2. Plan
We leave no stone unturned during our planning process. Bringing in our engineers, R&D team, and technical support staff, we review your design or concept and work with you to understand your unique requirements. In this phase, we often collaborate with clients to reduce product realization times and costs without sacrificing superior quality. We then prepare a project proposal for your review.
3. Prototype and Pilot Production
We know your time is valuable. That’s why your dedicated Sales Engineer will serve as your advocate, ensuring your custom prototype is delivered on time and to your quality standards. We are already evaluating what final production will look like in this phase, applying innovative solutions to ensure future efficiencies and reduced costs.
4. Produce
Congrats - another job well done! It’s time to transform your prototype part into volume production. Did you know that we can custom-build machines and tools for higher-volume clients to drive down your cost? No matter what path we choose, you can rest assured we are working with your best interest in mind and with the same support and quality inspection that got us to this point. Time to check this box and move on to your next challenge!
1. Talk to Our Team
News
MicroLucent® A few years ago, Bullen faced a problem. While we pride ourselves in our excellent service and quality, our customers were still searching for higher-quality machining at a fraction of the cost. To top that off, new markets were emerging that ultrasonic machining just wouldn’t cut it for. Literally. So how do you machine […]