01
Holes drift after a warm afternoon
A batch passes inspection at 20 °C and fails at 35 °C. The alloy barely moves, but the shop does. Cut without temperature control and a bore that measured Ø12.000 mm on Monday no longer fits on Friday.
Invar 36 (N06330) CNC Machining
Invar N06330 CNC Machined Parts
Low-expansion nickel-iron alloy machined to tight tolerances. We cut this material on 5-axis centers, control heat and tool wear, and inspect every part before it ships.
±0.005 mm tolerance16 five-axis centersNo minimum order100% inspection
15 yearsMachining nickel-iron alloys since 2011
127High-precision CNC machines
±0.005 mmAchievable tolerance
3–5 daysStandard production lead time
What goes wrong
Problems we see every week on this alloy
The alloy is not hard to buy. It is hard to machine without losing the dimension that made you choose it.
02
Tool wear turns into taper
The material is gummy and work-hardens fast. A dull insert pushes instead of cuts, so deep pockets come out tapered and the finish tears. Operators who run this like mild steel burn through tools and scrap the second half of the run.
03
Residual stress moves the part later
Roughing leaves stress locked in the blank. The part measures true on the bench, then bows after a week or after the first thermal cycle. By the time the customer checks it, the flatness callout is gone.
04
Burrs in places you cannot reach
Thin walls, small cross-holes, sealing faces. A hand deburr pass rounds the edge that was supposed to stay sharp or leaves a chip that shows up in a vacuum or optical assembly. Cleanliness becomes the reject reason.
How we hold the number
Machining the alloy so the dimension survives shipping
Three process decisions do most of the work.
Heat and sequence
Rough, stress relieve, then finish
We rough with stock left on every critical face, then let the part come back to room temperature before finishing. On thin or long parts we insert a stress-relief step between passes. This costs a setup, and it is the only reliable way to stop a flatness callout from walking after the part leaves the machine.
Coolant goes through the spindle and floods the cut. We keep the shop at a steady temperature for the finishing pass and let parts stabilize on the bench before final inspection. A part checked hot is a part that gets rejected cold.
- 1Stock allowance0.3–0.5 mm left on critical faces for the finish pass
- 2Thermal soakParts rest before final measurement, not measured hot
- 3Single setup where possibleFewer re-clamps mean fewer chances to bend the part
Tooling and finish
Sharp edges, light chipload, controlled finish
This alloy work-hardens under a dull edge. We run sharp carbide with a positive rake and keep the chipload high enough to cut rather than rub. Depth of cut stays conservative on thin features. The goal is to get under the hardened skin on the first pass, not to fight it on the fourth.
For sealing faces and optical seats we hold Ra 0.8–1.6 μm as machined. Where a finer surface is specified we can reach Ra 0.2–0.8 μm, but that adds a finishing operation and inspection time. Ask for the surface you actually need; tighter than the function requires only raises the cost.
- 1Sharp carbide, positive rakeCuts under the work-hardened layer instead of rubbing it
- 2Controlled chiploadPrevents chatter on thin walls and long bores
- 3Deburr to drawingEdge break sizes called out per feature, not blended by hand
Selection guide
When to specify this alloy, and when not to
Pick the material for the physics, not the datasheet headline.
| Situation | Good fit | Think twice |
|---|---|---|
| Dimension must hold over 20–100 °C swings | Yes, this is the reason to use it | Aluminium or steel will move more |
| Optical bench or laser cavity spacer | Yes, low expansion matters | Check magnetic interference first |
| High-load structural bracket | Not the first choice | Tensile strength is roughly 240 MPa |
| Corrosive or salt-water exposure | Workable with the right finish | Bare surface is not a corrosion barrier |
| Very thin walls under 0.5 mm | Possible with light passes | Distortion risk climbs quickly |
| Part weighs more than the design allows | Rework the design | Density is high, near 8.1 g/cm³ |
What we run
CNC services for Invar N06330 parts
One shop for turning, milling, finishing, and inspection.
01
5-axis machining
Angled faces, compound bores, and contoured pockets in one setup. 16 simultaneous 5-axis centers, Ø400 mm rotary table for round parts.
02
CNC turning
Shafts, spacers, rings, and bushings. Mill-turn centers handle cross-holes and slots without a second fixture.
03
3-axis milling
Plates, housings, and fixtures up to 4,000 mm. 27 three-axis machines cover the flat, straightforward work at lower cost.
04
Rapid prototyping
One-off and small-batch parts for fit checks before you commit to a production run. No minimum order quantity.
05
Surface finishing
Bead blasting, tumbling, brushing, polishing, plating, and laser marking with a minimum character height of 1.5 mm.
06
Inspection and reports
Raw material check, in-process monitoring, and final inspection. Dimensional reports issued on request.
Capability
Machine and tolerance ranges
| Item | Range | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Achievable tolerance | ±0.005 mm (±0.0002 in) | On critical features, with thermal control |
| As-machined finish | Ra 1.6–3.2 μm | Standard milling and turning |
| Fine finish | Ra 0.8–1.6 μm | Sealing faces and optical seats |
| Maximum part size | 4,000 mm | Travel 4,000 × 400 × 150 mm |
| Mid-size travel | 750 × 1,150 × 550 mm | Also 600 × 600 × 600 mm |
| Order quantity | 1 to 10,000+ | No minimum order quantity |
Why GreatLight
Reasons engineers keep sending us this alloy
15Y
Nickel-iron since 2011
Fifteen years on low-expansion and high-nickel alloys. We know where the material fights back before the first chip.
±0.005
Tolerance we hold, not quote
Millimeters on critical features, with temperature control on the finishing pass. We tell you when a callout is not realistic.
12h
Quote and DFM analysis
Drawing review with manufacturability notes inside 12 hours. Production can start within 24 hours of approval.
99.99%
Qualification rate
Raw material check, in-process monitoring, and 100% inspection before shipment. Reports on request.
3
Wholly-owned plants
7,600 m² across three plants in Dongguan and Singapore, with 150 technicians. We are not brokering your job out.
4
Certifications on file
ISO 9001:2015, IATF 16949:2016, ISO 13485:2016, and ISO 27001:2022. NDA available before you upload.
7,600 m²Manufacturing space
150Technicians
16Simultaneous 5-axis centers
<2%Historical late-delivery probability
Industry fit
Where these parts end up
01
Aerospace and satellite hardware
The requirement is dimensional stability across a wide temperature range. We deliver low-expansion brackets, bushings, and optical mounts with documented inspection.
02
Scientific instrumentation
Laser cavities and interferometer spacers need a length that does not change with the room. We machine spacers, rods, and mounts with flatness and parallelism controlled.
03
Electronics and vacuum systems
The requirement is a clean part that holds a seal and does not outgas through a burr. We deburr to drawing and control edge break on sealing faces and cross-holes.
FAQs
Questions we get on this alloy
How much does the part move with temperature?
The coefficient of thermal expansion is about 1.65 × 10⁻⁶/°C over the range where the alloy is designed to work. For a 100 mm feature, a 50 °C swing moves roughly 8 µm.
That is small, but it is not zero. If your stack-up budget is tighter than that, tell us the temperature range and we will flag where the remaining movement sits.
Can you hold ±0.005 mm on every feature?
No, and no shop can. That tolerance applies to critical features that we can reach and measure reliably, with temperature control on the finishing pass.
Features far from a locating face, thin walls, and deep small bores will carry a wider band. We mark those in the DFM report before cutting metal.
Does the material need a heat treatment before machining?
If the blank carries residual stress from rolling, yes. A stress-relief step between roughing and finishing keeps the part from bowing after the final cut.
If your stock is already annealed and stable, we may skip it. The decision depends on the part geometry and how tight the flatness callout is.
How do you deal with tool wear on a long run?
We track cutting time per insert and change on a schedule rather than waiting for a torn finish. Inserts get inspected at set intervals.
For long runs we may add a spare tool in the program so we can swap without resetting the offsets.
Is the alloy magnetic?
Yes, it is ferromagnetic, with a Curie temperature around 230 °C. That matters if your part sits near a magnetometer, a motor, or a magnetic clamp.
If magnetic interference is a problem, you probably need a different material. Tell us at quoting stage and we will say so.
What surface finish should I specify for a sealing face?
Ra 0.8–1.6 μm is a practical target for most static seals and is achievable as part of normal finishing.
Going to Ra 0.2–0.8 μm is possible but adds a separate operation. Specify it only where a seal or optical contact actually requires it.
Do you offer an NDA before I upload drawings?
Yes. We can sign your NDA or provide ours before any file transfer. Uploads are kept confidential and access is limited to the people quoting and machining the job.
If your program requires document control, say so and we will follow it.
What is the smallest and largest part you can run?
The largest travel is 4,000 × 400 × 150 mm on our large machines. Compact work runs on 500 × 500 × 450 mm and 500 × 310 × 200 mm machines.
On the small end, the limit is usually the feature size and the measuring method, not the machine. Send the drawing and we will confirm.
Send the drawing, get a quote in 12 hours
We review the geometry, flag the features that will fight you, and quote from one part to a 10,000-piece run.
12-hour quote100% inspectionNo minimum orderNDA on request
