Custom Carbon and Graphite Machining Blog

01 May

Semco is an Essential Business

Semco would like to share an important status update with our clients: through the current crisis, our graphite production operation will remain open. With the COVID pandemic pushing federal and local governments to institute various closures and social distancing measures, we wanted to reassure our customers that Semco will continue producing graphite products that they rely on. With close to 50 years of graphite production experience, Semco machines many parts and components that are used in essential products and processes across various industries. To get our clients the graphite components they need to run their important businesses, our company has...

02 Apr

COVID-19's Effects of Supply Chain

As you have certainly heard, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 has wreaked havoc on the world economy, while thousands have died or lost loved ones to the virus. The effects of COVID-19 are being powerfully felt now in America. Most of us, for instance, have likely experienced the direct effects of supplier disruptions at our local grocery stores. The effects on trade continue to ripple and magnify as the virus spreads to all parts of the world. Semco is positioned in an industry that has already experienced serious supply chain disruptions well before COVID-19 overtook parts of Wuhan Province in...

17 Mar

Graphite Impregnation

Graphite is a wonder material, produced in nature and produced by man, and in high demand in many industries. Most graphite components, from graphite plates to crucibles, can be machined from pure graphite. However, graphite is a naturally porous material. It absorbs water, for instance, although very slowly. This quality of porosity is not ideal for some applications, and the graphite material must be mixed, or “impregnated,” with other materials that alter the behavior of the material in special circumstances, such as in the presence of chemicals or extreme heat. Below are some of the more common impregnation types that...

14 Jan

Industries that Use Graphite

For many people, graphite is something associated with pencil lead. People may remember it has something to do with diamonds, high temperature, and, if they think back to high school chemistry, crystalline molecular structure. Outside of industry, graphite is a material that just doesn’t get a lot of play in the media like steel or aluminum do. Followers of this blog, though, know that carbon products are crucial in many industries. Graphite is a versatile and extraordinary material, and at Semco, we make it our business to be experts in everything about graphite and its many uses. The following is...

09 Dec

From Tons to Ounces

For people who do not work in the manufacturing sector, the phrase “manufacturing industry” probably brings to mind huge factories belting out smoke and divulging huge metal beams or giant crucibles from airplane hanger doors. A great deal of the manufacturing that goes on in the U.S. and elsewhere, like the graphite machining we do at Semco, occurs on a more modest scale. That’s not to say that Semco doesn’t machine large graphite components: we recently produced, for instance, several custom vacuum furnace graphite plates as three piece assemblies that, once assembled, measured over 13’’ think and a whopping 120’’...