Category: Blog

Thermcraft President, Thomas Morris Crafton, 67, of Winston-Salem, NC passed away Tuesday, April 28th, 2020. He was educated at Trinity High School in Washington, PA, West Virginia University and the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. Thermcraft was founded in 1971 by Tom’s father and mother, Morris L. Crafton and Clara Martin Crafton. In 1978 Tom and his wife, Nancy, moved to Winston-Salem where Tom joined his parents working at Thermcraft, Inc. He was a successful businessman and was greatly admired by his colleagues. Tom became President & CEO of Thermcraft, Inc. and expanded the company internationally. He has given presentations about…

Understanding the incombustible content of sample materials is a key objective for experts in a range of industries. Ash content can be used as a metric for nutritional evaluation of food goods and is a key parameter in quality control (QC) and compliance for petrochemicals. Yet, calculating these key performance indicators (KPIs) requires unique instrumentation and testing methodologies. Ashing furnaces are a high-performance analytical solution to this problem. With controlled airflows and high-temperature heating elements, ashing furnaces are widely used to burn samples in air at controlled rates to precisely calculate the volume of incombustible compounds present. This demands careful…

Carbon nanotubes, sometimes abbreviated to CNTs, are at the forefront of advanced nanomaterials research and development (R&D). A nanomaterial is defined as having constituent parts with nanoscale dimensions usually as small as a few hundred, down to the tens of nanometres (nm). At this remarkably small scale, materials are usually synthesized using specialist furnaces and vacuum processes such as chemical vapor deposition. Carbon nanotube ovens encompass the gradually expanding range of thermal processing products that are suitable for CNT synthesis. In this blog post, we will explore some of the principles of carbon nanotube ovens in more detail. First, however,…

Technical ceramics are among the highest performing engineered materials on earth, displaying unprecedented thermodynamic characteristics. From low thermal conductivities to high mechanical stability at temperatures exceeding 1000°C (1832°F), many fine ceramic materials are naturally suited for industrial insulation purposes. What is Ceramic Insulation? The most effective and efficient method of integrating ceramic insulation into ovens and furnaces is to utilize components built using refractory ceramic fibers. These low-mass filaments or threads are typically generated from oxide ceramics like alumina (Al2O3) or silica (Si3O4), using a choice of precision or bulk manufacturing processes, such as: Chemical vapor deposition Extrusion Melt drawing…

Precision requires accuracy, which means that your industrial oven must accurately meet unique specifications to ensure precise heat treating results. The demands of many thermal processing applications can be satisfied by standard off-the-shelf industrial ovens and furnaces. Yet there are many industries and individual processes that require a defter approach. Custom industrial ovens are the primary solution for professionals with unique heat treatment objectives and requirements. Thermcraft’s Custom Industrial Oven Capabilities Thermcraft is one of the industry-leading custom industrial oven manufacturers worldwide. Based in the US, we have almost 50 years’ experience in the design and supply of bespoke thermal…

Diffusion furnaces exploit a complex form of advanced thermal processing to assist the upward trajectory of the semiconductor industry. Since the invention of the silicon (Si) transistor and subsequently the integrated circuit (IC) in the 1950s, the semiconductor market has grown into a new titan of industry worth more than $400 billion. Diffusion furnaces have proven instrumental to that success, which has brought about a host of technological advancements and developments in modern electronics. Having written several posts on the topic of diffusion furnaces, we decided to put together a brief guide to advanced thermal processing of modern semiconductors. Purpose…

Numerous thermal processing formats are available to researchers and manufacturers handling relatively small-volume samples or operations with low throughput. At these scales, benchtop laboratory ovens tend to excel – yet the geometry of the thermal processing chamber can be a limiting factor in certain application areas. Research and development (R&D) into the generation of fine ceramic filaments led to the very first cylindrical heating chambers in the early 20th Century, and the tube furnace has since become a common sight on factory floors and in materials laboratories worldwide. In this blog post, Thermcraft explores when to use a tube furnace…

Millenia after it was first discovered, mankind is still obsessed with fire. We rely on combustion fuels for countless industrial and everyday processes, from domestic heating to thermal processing. Yet it can be an inconvenient method of generating heat – particularly in industrial markets. Natural gas furnaces are still broadly used in heat treatment markets, but manufacturers more commonly rely on the comparatively sophisticated method of generating heat from electricity. Metal and ceramic heating elements operate on the principle of electric resistance heating, which is defined as the heat generated by a material with high electrical resistance as a current…

Diffusion is the process of molecules moving from an area of high concentration to a low one. It occurs routinely within and between liquids, gases, and solids in daily life. This process is exploited by diffusion furnaces, which elevate the temperature of workpieces and introduce gaseous elements to encourage solid state diffusion. Solid state diffusion occurs when molecules of a substance mix with a host solid at the atomic level. This mechanism of diffusion was a scientific curiosity for many years but has since become an integral process in semiconductor manufacturing. What is a Diffusion Furnace? A diffusion furnace is…

April 9-11, 2019, 32nd Annual Conference & National Small Business Exporter Summit. Thermcraft was recognized by NASBITE as an Outstanding Exporter Honoree and Presenter for this event. Thermcraft president, Mr. Tom Crafton, gave a brief presentation explaining how Thermcraft became an exporter and then answered questions from the attendees. It was an honor for Thermcraft to be invited to this event and be recognized as an Outstanding Exporter.