Product Description
The Carborundum Company (Niagara Falls, New York — founded 1891 by Edward Goodrich Acheson; today part of Saint-Gobain along with Norton Company) was through the 20th century one of the principal U.S. manufacturers of silicon-carbide bonded abrasive grinding wheels, cut-off wheels, industrial abrasive products, and silicon-carbide refractory products. Carborundum products were specified across U.S. industry — foundries, steel mills, shipyards, refineries, manufacturing plants, machine shops, and railroad shops — for stock-removal, metal-finishing, and high-temperature refractory applications.
Plaintiffs alleged in publicly filed U.S. asbestos personal-injury and wrongful-death litigation that Carborundum bonded abrasive grinding wheels and silicon-carbide refractory products contained asbestos fiber as a binder additive through the documented era and that workers who used Carborundum grinding wheels, cut-off wheels, or worked with Carborundum refractory products were exposed to airborne asbestos fibers.
Carborundum Company has been named as a Manufacturer Defendant in publicly filed U.S. asbestos personal-injury and wrongful-death litigation.
Workers Exposed
- Foundry workers (cleaning room, fettling, weld dressing)
- Steel mill workers (finishing, weld dressing)
- Shipyard grinders and welders
- Industrial machine-shop machinists
- Refinery and petrochemical pipefitters (weld preparation)
- Refractory installers working Carborundum silicon-carbide refractory