Business View Magazine | December 2019

133 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE DECEMBER 2019 the company changed its name and reorganized as IKONICS Corporation. “The decision was made to diversify our company. We reorganized into different business units to satisfy different markets,” says Hegman. “Screen printing and decorative sand carving are good businesses and allowed IKONICS to grow. These businesses gave us the opportunity to expand and utilize our technologies to enter into some high-growth industrial markets.” In 2008, IKONICS initiated two new businesses; Advanced Material Solutions and Industrial Inkjet Solutions. Advanced Material Solutions’ target market is the aerospace sector, and Industrial Inkjet Solutions provides materials for suppliers in the automotive industry. Today, IKONICS has four technology platforms: UV/ photochemistry; film coating and construction; industrial inkjet printing; and Precision Abrasive Machining (PAM). Precision Abrasive Machining is a non-traditional machining process for producing a variety of features, shapes and/or perforations in brittle and challenging materials. These materials include semiconductor wafers, ceramics, sapphire and composites, while ensuring low stress impartation and minimizing compromises to the substrates. Precision Abrasive Machining is excellent for producing perforations, blind perforations, cavities, and other geometric features over large surface areas. This is particularly true for array patterns where multiple perforations and/or other features are required. This process allows for such features to be produced with ultimate precision. “For example, there are methods for machining advanced composites for aerospace applications where they have to drill holes into a composite part of an aircraft,” Hegman explains. “When you mechanically drill through this material, it creates burrs and delamination. Our PAM process utilizes proprietary products manufactured at IKONICS that keep the perforation free of defects THE I KONI CS CORPORAT ION Chief Operations Officer, Ken Hegman