Custom Carbon & Graphite Machining

25 Nov

Innovations in Graphite Machining Techniques: What's Coming in 2026?

Over the past two decades, the tech world has conditioned us to expect lightning-fast innovation. Now, every few months brings new AI capabilities, faster processors, and software that can do things we couldn't imagine a year ago. It's easy to assume that every industry moves at this pace. But that's not how innovation works in manufacturing, and it's certainly not how it works in graphite machining. Not that graphite machining doesn’t involve cutting-edge technology. It does. We, of course, incorporate automated systems and CAD/CAM machining into our workflows. But at Semco, we keep before us a picture of progress that...

19 Nov

How Custom Graphite Parts Improve Efficiency in the Steel Industry

Steel production has never had a reputation for being clean or efficient. For over a century, massive blast furnaces consumed enormous amounts of coal and iron ore while belching CO2 into the atmosphere. But the steel industry has been changing, slowly but surely. Electric arc furnaces now dominate steel production in the United States, and the shift toward scrap recycling has reduced both energy consumption and emissions. At Semco, we've watched these changes closely because custom graphite parts play a significant role in making modern steelmaking more efficient. The electrical conductivity and thermal conductivity of graphite, along with its thermal...

11 Sep

Advancements in Graphite Recycling : What You Need to Know

The Importance of Graphite RecyclingA question we often hear from customers: is graphite renewable? While graphite isn't renewable in the traditional sense—it's a carbon material formed over millions of years—the good news is that graphite can be recycled and reused effectively. As demand for graphite batteries and other applications continues to surge, recycling has become important for graphite producers facing supply chain challenges and sustainability pressures. Recycling regulations in most places don’t stipulate that graphite must be recycled, but the graphite market has made recycling not just a priority for the environmentally minded, but also for the bottom lines of businesses...

26 Jun

Graphite in Nuclear Energy: What You Need to Know

When most people think of nuclear power, they picture uranium fuel rods and massive cooling towers. But there's another material quietly performing important work inside many nuclear reactors: graphite. This form of carbon plays several roles in nuclear energy production such as controlling nuclear reactions and providing structural support in the world's most advanced nuclear power stations, like the Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station just west of Lorain, OH on Lake Erie. And with President Trump’s recent executive orders on nuclear power, it is likely that this industry will grow in significance as the US looks to increase its energy output...

12 Jun

Guide to Selecting a Custom Graphite Manufacturer: What to Look For

Selecting a Custom Graphite Manufacturer Synthetic graphite offers high purity and consistent quality, making it ideal for applications like lithium-ion batteries, electric arc furnaces, and nuclear reactors. It has excellent thermal conductivity, chemical stability, and can withstand high temperatures without degrading, outperforming natural graphite in many industrial uses. If your company requires custom graphite components, choosing the right custom graphite manufacturer can make the difference between a successful project and costly delays or performance issues. While we at Semco may be a little biased about this topic, we have over 50 years of graphite machining experience to back up our...