Category: Blog

ISO stands for the International Organization for Standardization. It provides a unified umbrella organization, comprising standard-setting representatives from around the globe who come together collaboratively to share information and reach a collective consensus. Having open access to the latest developments in the standardization sphere, ISO has a hand in the whole or part of most chemical element experiments, conducting regular research to keep its regulations relevant and up to date. Tests such as ISO 10478 are set up to safeguard suppliers of petroleum products with a robust regulatory framework. ISO 10478 Test Overview The Internationally trusted ISO 10478 test specifies…

Formerly known as the American Society for Testing and Materials, ASTM has been setting a widely-recognized and revered standard for testing and evaluating materials for well over a century. ASTM is the authority for all respected and reputable American institutions who wish to benefit from nationwide knowhow and testing techniques. As one of the industry’s most innovative furnace developers, Thermcraft serves up specifically-customized furnaces to industrial facilities across the United States. What is the ASTM D3174 Test? Contained in a carefully put together portfolio of testing measures, one particular method is the ASTM D3174. This abbreviation stands for the ‘Standard…

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…