Author: Jim Miller

Operating a lab furnace comes with a range of safety hazards, this blog post will outline a few of them and the measures that can be made to ensure a safe working environment. Fire Due to the extremely high temperatures that lab furnaces operate at, there is always the increased risk of fire. Fires can be caused due to improper use of a lab furnace, for instance, if a flammable chemical or material is placed inside a furnace by mistake. Fire resistant surfaces should also be available outside of the lab furnace for hot samples to be placed on after…

The components within an industrial furnace are crucial to ensure successful operation. Two of the most important components are heaters and high temperature insulation materials. Thermcraft supplies a range of Fibercraft heating elements and insulation materials, and this blog post will outline both components. Fibercraft Heating Elements The heating element within an industrial furnace is possibly the most important component as it needs to provide enough heat for the application. If the heating element fails to do this the sample within the furnace will not undergo successful heat treatment. Fibercraft heating elements are made using high quality, high purity vacuum…

There is often some confusion between industrial ovens and industrial furnaces, and the terminology can often be used interchangeably. Essentially, both industrial ovens and industrial furnaces are fireproof boxes that perform heat treatment processes. This blog post will outline the key differences between an industrial oven and industrial furnace, and hopefully, eliminate some of the confusion surrounding them. Temperature The temperature range is the main difference between an industrial oven and industrial furnace, and this difference in temperature is often the cause of the other major differences. As a standard rule, ovens operate in temperatures from 250oF – 900oF, while…

A laboratory furnace is an essential part of any lab as it performs many important functions. They are convection appliances, that are widely employed in the manufacturing and science industries. This blog post will provide a brief overview of the operation, types, and applications of laboratory furnaces. Laboratory Furnace Operation Like most other furnaces, laboratory furnaces use a heat source to heat a sample within the furnace chamber. Convective heat transfer is the process used to heat the furnace and works by either gravity or mechanical convection. In gravity convection, warmer air displaces cooler air and directs it towards the…

Thermcraft started operations in January of 1971 and has since earned a reputation as a high-quality industrial oven manufacturer across the globe. Based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, we have consistently expanded our manufacturing capabilities, allowing us to increase our product lines and sales and distribution networks. Our main goal is to meet our customers diverse needs, and our investment in our facilities over the years has enabled us to do so. We now operate in a state-of-the-art facility with 3600 square feet of office space, and 70,000 square feet of manufacturing space, with additional space available for further expansion. Over…

Calcination is a heat treatment process where ores or other solid materials are heated below the melting point in the absence or a limited supply of air. This process is done to induce thermal decomposition, the removal of a volatile fraction, or phase transition. Typically, calcination furnaces are heated to process temperatures of 800oC to 1300oC, depending on the application. Other calcination process parameters can include tight thermal profiles with strict tolerances. Calcination furnaces can vary in their configuration, but typically they are either muffle, reverberatory, or shaft furnaces or kilns. When a sample is being calcinated it is often…

Industrial ovens are complex pieces of machinery, and ensuring they are running efficiently is critical for companies to keep energy usage and running costs down. This blog post will look at how companies can ensure that their industrial oven is running at the optimal efficiency. Heat Sources in Industrial Ovens Gas-fired industrial ovens are traditionally the most common type of oven, due to their low running costs compared to other heat sources. They work by heating the entire oven quickly and the heat is generally able to reach every part of the sample. These industrial ovens often lose a large…

A semiconductor is a material that partially conducts electricity in an electronic circuit. Most semiconductors are crystals and they are often made of silicon. They exhibit a conductivity level between that of a conductor and an insulator. The fabrication of a semiconductor is often achieved using an industrial furnace; this blog post will outline how this process works. Semiconductor Device Fabrication Semiconductor fabrication is a multi-step sequence of chemical processing and photo lithographic steps, where the electronic circuit is created on a wafer. Fabrication of semiconductors consists of four processing categories; deposition, removal, patterning, and modification of electrical properties. It…

While there are two main configurations of industrial ovens – batch and continuous – there are a variety of capabilities and classifications that need to be considered when choosing the optimal oven for your application. This blog post will outline some of the key considerations when choosing an industrial oven. Temperature Temperature considerations are arguably the most crucial when choosing an appropriate industrial oven. Before even investigating potential industrial ovens, you need to ensure you know the absolute minimum and maximum temperature requirements of your application. The smaller the range between the minimum and maximum, the more likely you are…

A crystal is a material with a highly ordered microscopic structure of its constituents that form a crystal lattice. The process in which crystals are formed is called crystallization. Crystal growth is an important stage in the crystallization process and there are a lot of methods used to encourage this process. Industrial furnaces can be used for crystal growth using a range of different methods. This blog post will outline some of the methods where an industrial furnace is used for crystal growth. Bridgman-Stockbarger Method This is a dual method approach, and the two techniques involved are similar yet have…