Saint-Gobain Abrasives, the world's leading manufacturer and supplier of performance-engineered abrasives, has expanded its Norton Rapid Prep surface conditioning file belt line. The Norton Bear-Tex portfolio now includes a new XF (extra flex) line of aluminum oxide (A/O) products, which are ideal for extremely demanding file belt applications. Featuring an innovative design that combines premium A/O abrasive grain with a durable Y-wt. polyester backing, Norton Rapid Prep XF A/O is a low-stretch product, offering strength, flexibility and high performance. XF incorporates Saint-Gobain's proprietary Clean Bond resin technology for a smear-free finish, eliminating rework process steps and improving productivity.

Norton Rapid Prep XF A/O has been tailor-made to work across a wide range of materials and applications requiring a unique mix of performance properties

Norton Rapid Prep XF A/O has been tailor-made to work across a wide range of materials and applications requiring a unique mix of performance properties, says Paul Krupa, Senior Product Manager, Saint-Gobain Abrasives. Norton Rapid Prep XF A/O provides a cost-effective and highly durable solution that only the Norton Bear-Tex portfolio brings to market. This new XF line now rounds out the Rapid Prep portfolio nicely, covering all belt applications in three unique lines.

The expanded line is ideally suited for demanding, offhand applications such as blending, finishing and deburring, across industries ranging from aerospace to metal fabrication to stainless steel finishing to maintenance and repair operations (MRO).

With the same superior cut rate as the Norton Rapid Prep LF (low-flex) and RF (regular-flex) A/O product lines, the XF product features enhanced performance for file belt equipment, in which flexibility and low-stretch properties are critical. Norton Rapid Prep XF A/O is available in coarse, medium, fine and very fine grit sizes, and in all popular file belt sizes.