Custom Carbon and Graphite Machining Blog

27 Jun

Metal Casting Molds at Semco

What are Metal Casting Molds? Metal casting is a 7,000-year-old process used in both manufacturing and fine art. Graphite production is now a key part of this very old process. During metal casting, molten metal is transferred from crucibles into metal casting molds to create positive metal cast objects. After a metal is poured into a mold, both are then cooled and the metal object is removed and finished. Move forward a few thousand years and the place of graphite production in metal casting molds becomes more apparent, especially in the process called continuous casting. Continuous casting is a casting...

12 Apr

Graphite Components in Weapons

On February 24 of this year, the Russian military began its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. Suddenly, war was in the news every day here and around the world. As the Ukrainian people continue to stun the world with their armed and brave resistance to the invasion, we thought this would be an interesting time to explore synthetic graphite’s use in military equipment and weapons. There are, of course, numerous examples where synthetic graphite is used in all the downstream industries that produce components for military equipment, such as in foundries (graphite electrodes) that produce the necessary steel, or in facilities...

15 Sep

Graphite Coring

When a client orders a machined graphite component from Semco, we do everything possible to give them the best deal we can. Providing value to our clients on graphite product dovetails perfectly with other values we hold, such as eliminating waste and promoting efficiency. Cutting corners, though, is something we do not do. If you order graphite product from Semco, it will be of the highest quality, machined to your rigorous specifications. Within this commitment to highest quality graphite components, there are still opportunities for savings for both the client and for Semco. These instances usually arise from smart engineering...

31 Aug

Diamond Tooling

Don’t believe the advertising slogan - diamonds are NOT forever, at least not if we’re talking about diamond tools. They wear out too, it just takes them a while. Diamond tools are special, though, with many specific applications that demand the singular qualities provided by what is popularly understood to be the hardest natural substance. At Semco, we play a part in using synthetic graphite to produce diamond tools. We know what you’re thinking: “Diamonds and graphite are siblings -- they both come from the same parent substance, carbon. Semco must just press the graphite until it becomes diamond graphite!”...

05 Jul

Graphite Material Property-Coefficient of Thermal Expansion

At Semco Carbon, we are constantly thinking of new, relevant, and useful topics involving graphite materials and graphite applications to share with the readers of this blog. If something has to do with the manufacture of graphite products, we’ve probably got a lot to say, and a story to tell, about it. During a recent meeting, our application engineers were working on a specific issue that one of our customers was having. This customer had been experiencing premature component breakage in a new high temperature process they were testing. After thinking about the specifics of their application, we realized that...