Centorr Vacuum Industries

Centorr Vacuum Industries was incorporated upon the combination of two of the premier furnace companies in North America; Centorr Furnaces and Vacuum Industries, both having long histories in the development and manufacture of thermal processing solutions. Centorr Furnaces was founded in 1962 and provided a wide range of controlled atmosphere, high vacuum/high temperature furnaces for the processing of metals and ceramics, with specific product expertise in fiber optic cable drawing and gas purification. Vacuum Industries was founded in 1954 and focused its efforts primarily on larger production-sized units for the debinding, sintering and densification of variety of metals and ceramics. Over the years, the company has developed expertise in furnaces for Metal Injection Molding, Powdered Metal processing, Heat treatment, Vacuum Induction systems for Carbon/Graphite systems, annealing, and brazing equipment.

Centorr Vacuum Industries was acquired by the LOI Group, GmbH in December 1992 making it a member of the largest furnace company in the world. Membership in this group gave Centorr Vacuum Industries unmatched resources for continuing its product development and acquiring technical knowledge on a global basis.

Centorr Vacuum Industries was subsequently acquired by its management team from the LOI Group in January 1997. This change in ownership represented the next step in Centorr Vacuum Industries strategy to better meet its customers' needs. The managements' new role as owners and managers has provided for greater flexibility and motivation in creating and maintaining satisfied customers. Centorr Vacuum Industries is based in Nashua, New Hampshire, approximately 1 hr from Boston, MA.

TECHNICAL LEADERSHIP: Centorr Vacuum Industries has achieved its position of technical leadership in this field by delivering innovative solutions to challenging high temperature materials processing problems. Standard vacuum processing furnaces for induction melting with precision casting capabilities, high temperature sintering, hot pressing for powder compaction or diffusion bonding, heat treating, precision brazing, thermal treatment, and chemical vapor deposition are augmented by specialized, custom-designed furnaces to accommodate new techniques for manufacturing advanced ceramics, processing injection-molded metal and ceramic powder components, and processing a wide range of metal and ceramic materials at various stages during conversion from raw material to finished product.

FACILITIES: Centorr Vacuum Industries' manufacturing facilities have been repeatedly expanded and now include a group of integrated shops staffed and equipped for machining, metal forming, fabricating, electro-mechanical assembling, and operational testing of complete furnace and related processing systems. In addition to the 40,000 SF (3700 m2) main building, they recently added a 40'W x 40'L x 55'H (12m x12m x17m) high-bay tower facility with 5 ton (4500kgs) hook and crane for large scale furnace projects. A 10'x10'x10' (3mx3mx3m) pit in the main facility also allows for two story equipment simulation. With 800 amp available service and 350 KVA chilled glycol system, Centorr Vacuum Industries can design and build large custom vertical and horizontal furnace designs in-house, and can access to up to 2MW of additional electrical power when required.

APPLIED TECHNOLOGY CENTER: In addition to maintaining its leadership position in the Advanced Ceramics and Particulate Material Markets, Centorr Vacuum Industries focuses on expanding its market by placing a greater emphasis on its Advanced Technology Center. The Advanced Technology Center is a fully equipped and staffed laboratory that performs high temperature firing of customer's parts to help with process development or troubleshooting. The lab is equipped with four high-temperature furnace configurations, and various metallographic support equipment to permit analysis and evaluation of a client's process requirements.

Process evaluation is an important aspect of customer service, enabling prospective users of high temperature equipment to test ideas and perfect operating procedures so that equipment can be properly specified to perform planned operations. The results of which are seen in our patent history. The laboratory is also available for toll processing of customer's parts while they are waiting for their furnace order to be completed.