Type | Subsidiary |
---|---|
Industry | Transportation: Automotive, Electric Vehicles, Rail, Truck/Bus, Agriculture and Recreational and Marine. Aerospace and Defense: Commercial and Private Aircraft, Military Aircraft, Missile Systems and Tanks and Artillery. Manufacturing: Industrial Assembly and Process Industries. Construction: Civil Engineering and Off-Highway Vehicles. Electronics: Chip Assembly and Component Assembly |
Founded | 1924 |
Founder | Hugh C. Lord |
Headquarters | , United States |
Area served | LORD Corporation had employees in 26 countries and operates 19 manufacturing facilities and 10 R&D centers worldwide. Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, Poland, Singapore, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom and United States. [1] |
Key people | Edward L. Auslander, President, CEO and General; James F. Amos, Retired, Chairman of the LORD Corporation Board of Directors |
Products | Adhesives, Coatings, Specialty Chemicals, Electronic Materials, Vibration & Motion Control and Magneto-Rheological (MR) fluids |
Number of employees | c. 3,100 |
Parent | Parker Hannifin |
Website | lord |
LORD Corporation is a diversified technology and manufacturing company that develops adhesives, coatings, motion management devices, and sensing technologies for industries such as aerospace, automotive, oil and gas, and industrial. With world headquarters in Cary, North Carolina, LORD has approximately 3,100 employees in 26 countries and operates 19 manufacturing facilities and 10 R&D centers worldwide. [2] [3] [4] As of October 30, 2019, the company has been acquired by Parker Hannifin. [5]
In 1919, Hugh C. Lord, a patent attorney in Erie, Pennsylvania, began exploring the potential of bonding rubber-to-metal to isolate and control shock, noise and vibration. This led to the founding of the LORD Corporation, in addition to inventions such as chemical formulations, bonding processes, elastomers, adhesives, coatings and bonded elastomer assemblies. During the 1920s, General Electric used LORD manufactured mounts for trolley cars. Lincoln and Nash Motors automobiles also began to use LORD engine mountings. LORD was trademarked, leading to the creation of the LORD Manufacturing Company. The company's instrument panel mounts were also used by airplane manufacturers in order to lengthen service life.
In the 1940s, the LORD Manufacturing Company was incorporated. The company would supply engine mounts to many aircraft manufacturers. Mountings for railroad cars and buses were manufactured and LORD produced the first ever elastomeric transmission parts and engine isolators(also known as bushings) for helicopters. Elastomeric compounds are also developed by LORD as substitutes for natural rubber for the Korean War in the 1950s. To isolate aircraft cowlings, cowl mountings and motor-nose supports were manufactured. LORD developed the outboard motor mounting for the marine industry, Chemlok adhesives, and the snubbing skirt mounting for heavy equipment installations. [6]
Following Hugh Lord's death in 1952, his son Thomas took over the company, and continued to run it until his own death in 1989. [7]
During the 1960s —
In the 1970s —
During the 1980s —
In 2000, LORD Mechanical Shanghai was constructed. LORD Materials Division introduced a steer-by-wire solution for forklift trucks. BalaDyne Corporation was acquired and Active Balancing solutions for airplane propellers/rotating machinery was added to the product offering. Metal Gomma S.p.A. of Monzambano, Italy was purchased, which completed 100 percent ownership by LORD. [11] Adoption of Rheonetic MR Fluids expanded into auto primary suspension systems. Company was realigned to combine Mechanical, Chemical and Material Product Divisions. The company announced a new distribution partnership with Tubelite Company Incorporated, headquartered in Apopka, Florida. [12] The first MetalJacket corrosion control coating line was established. The company was globally unified under a single brand entity. LORD acquired Henkel's rubber-to-substrate bonding and rubber coating business assets. [13] LORD teamed up with Biedermann Motech, a German manufacturer of spinal implants and prosthetic components, to produce a prosthetic device. [14]
On April 29, 2019 it was announced that LORD Corporation would be acquired by Parker Hannifin for $3.675 billion. [15] The sale was approved by the boards of each respective company and closed on October 30, 2019. More than $1 billion in proceeds from the sale were distributed to four foundations created by Thomas Lord, to benefit the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Southern California, Duke University, and the Cleveland Clinic, respectively. Each organization expects to receive approximately $260 million in unrestricted funding from the sale. [16]
The product line today includes: Adhesives [17] Coatings, Specialty Chemicals, Electronic Materials, Vibration & Motion Control, Magneto-Rheological (MR) fluids. [18]
Adhesive, also known as glue, cement, mucilage, or paste, is any non-metallic substance applied to one or both surfaces of two separate items that binds them together and resists their separation.
A silicone or polysiloxane is a polymer made up of siloxane (−R2Si−O−SiR2−, where R = organic group). They are typically colorless oils or rubber-like substances. Silicones are used in sealants, adhesives, lubricants, medicine, cooking utensils, thermal insulation, and electrical insulation. Some common forms include silicone oil, silicone grease, silicone rubber, silicone resin, and silicone caulk.
Neoprene is a family of synthetic rubbers that are produced by polymerization of chloroprene. Neoprene exhibits good chemical stability and maintains flexibility over a wide temperature range. Neoprene is sold either as solid rubber or in latex form and is used in a wide variety of commercial applications, such as laptop sleeves, orthopaedic braces, electrical insulation, liquid and sheet-applied elastomeric membranes or flashings, and automotive fan belts.
In materials science, a thermosetting polymer, often called a thermoset, is a polymer that is obtained by irreversibly hardening ("curing") a soft solid or viscous liquid prepolymer (resin). Curing is induced by heat or suitable radiation and may be promoted by high pressure or mixing with a catalyst. Heat is not necessarily applied externally, and is often generated by the reaction of the resin with a curing agent. Curing results in chemical reactions that create extensive cross-linking between polymer chains to produce an infusible and insoluble polymer network.
An O-ring, also known as a packing or a toric joint, is a mechanical gasket in the shape of a torus; it is a loop of elastomer with a round cross-section, designed to be seated in a groove and compressed during assembly between two or more parts, forming a seal at the interface.
Kraton is the trade name given to a number of high-performance elastomers manufactured by Kraton Polymers, and used as synthetic replacements for rubber. Kraton polymers offer many of the properties of natural rubber, such as flexibility, high traction, and sealing abilities, but with increased resistance to heat, weathering, and chemicals.
Silicone rubber is an elastomer composed of silicone—itself a polymer—containing silicon together with carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. Silicone rubbers are widely used in industry, and there are multiple formulations. Silicone rubbers are often one- or two-part polymers, and may contain fillers to improve properties or reduce cost. Silicone rubber is generally non-reactive, stable, and resistant to extreme environments and temperatures from −55 to 300 °C while still maintaining its useful properties. Due to these properties and its ease of manufacturing and shaping, silicone rubber can be found in a wide variety of products, including voltage line insulators; automotive applications; cooking, baking, and food storage products; apparel such as undergarments, sportswear, and footwear; electronics; medical devices and implants; and in home repair and hardware, in products such as silicone sealants.
Thermoplastic elastomers (TPE), sometimes referred to as thermoplastic rubbers, are a class of copolymers or a physical mix of polymers that consist of materials with both thermoplastic and elastomeric properties. While most elastomers are thermosets, thermoplastics are in contrast relatively easy to use in manufacturing, for example, by injection moulding. Thermoplastic elastomers show advantages typical of both rubbery materials and plastic materials. The benefit of using thermoplastic elastomers is the ability to stretch to moderate elongations and return to its near original shape creating a longer life and better physical range than other materials. The principal difference between thermoset elastomers and thermoplastic elastomers is the type of cross-linking bond in their structures. In fact, crosslinking is a critical structural factor which imparts high elastic properties.
Pressure-sensitive adhesive is a type of nonreactive adhesive which forms a bond when pressure is applied to bond the adhesive with a surface. No solvent, water, or heat is needed to activate the adhesive. It is used in pressure-sensitive tapes, labels, glue dots, stickers, sticky note pads, automobile trim, and a wide variety of other products.
Sealant is a substance used to block the passage of fluids through openings in materials, a type of mechanical seal. In building construction sealant is sometimes synonymous with caulk and also serve the purposes of blocking dust, sound and heat transmission. Sealants may be weak or strong, flexible or rigid, permanent or temporary. Sealants are not adhesives but some have adhesive qualities and are called adhesive-sealants or structural sealants.
A release agent is a chemical used to prevent other materials from bonding to surfaces. It can provide a solution in processes involving mold release, die-cast release, plastic release, adhesive release, and tire and web release.
Weatherstripping is the process of sealing openings such as doors, windows, and trunks from the waters above. The term can also refer to the materials used to carry out such sealing processes. The goal of weatherstripping is to prevent rain and water from entering entirely or partially and accomplishes this by either returning or rerouting water. A secondary goal of weatherstripping is to keep interior air in, thus saving energy on heating and air conditioning.
Anisotropic conductive film (ACF) is an adhesive interconnect system that is commonly used in liquid crystal display manufacturing to make the electrical and mechanical connections from the driver electronics to the glass substrates of the LCD. The material is also available in a paste form referred to as anisotropic conductive paste (ACP), and both are grouped together as anisotropic conductive adhesives (ACAs). ACAs have more recently been used to perform the flex-to-board or flex-to-flex connections used in handheld electronic devices such as mobile phones, MP3 players, or in the assembly of CMOS camera modules.
Silicone rubber keypads are used extensively in both consumer and industrial electronic products as a low cost and reliable switching solution.
Thermoplastic vulcanizates (TPV) are dynamically vulcanized alloys consisting mostly of fully cured EPDM rubber particles encapsulated in a polypropylene (PP) matrix. They are part of the thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) family of polymers but are closest in elastomeric properties to EPDM thermoset rubber, combining the characteristics of vulcanized rubber with the processing properties of thermoplastics. There are almost 100 grades in the S portfolio that are used globally in the automotive, household appliance, electrical, construction, and healthcare markets. The name Santoprene was trademarked in 1977 by Monsanto, and the trademark is now owned by Celanese. Similar material is available from Elastron and others.
Elastomeric connectors, also known by the registered trademark ZEBRA connectors, consist of alternating conductive and insulating regions in a rubber or elastomer matrix to produce overall anisotropic conductive properties. The original version consisted of alternating conductive and insulating layers of silicone rubber, cut crosswise to expose the thin layers. They provide high-density redundant electrical paths for high reliability connections. One of the first applications was connecting thin and fragile glass liquid-crystal displays (LCDs) to circuit boards in electronic devices, as little current was required.
Specialty chemicals are particular chemical products which provide a wide variety of effects on which many other industry sectors rely. Some of the categories of speciality chemicals are adhesives, agrichemicals, cleaning materials, colors, cosmetic additives, construction chemicals, elastomers, flavors, food additives, fragrances, industrial gases, lubricants, paints, polymers, surfactants, and textile auxiliaries. Other industrial sectors such as automotive, aerospace, food, cosmetics, agriculture, manufacturing, and textiles are highly dependent on such products.
The chemistry of pressure-sensitive adhesives describes the chemical science associated with pressure-sensitive adhesives (PSA). PSA tapes and labels have become an important part of everyday life. These rely on adhesive material affixed to a backing such as paper or plastic film.
Adhesive bonding is a joining technique used in the manufacture and repair of a wide range of products. Along with welding and soldering, adhesive bonding is one of the basic joining processes. In this technique, components are bonded together using adhesives. The broad range of types of adhesives available allows numerous materials to be bonded together in products as diverse as vehicles, mobile phones, personal care products, buildings, computers and medical devices.
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