Macor Products & Applications

Ultra-High Vacuum Environments

MACOR Machinable Glass Ceramic is used as an insulator or coil support and for vacuum feed-throughs. In these applications the conductive materials are supported by the MACOR MGC parts and a compatible sealing glass is used to produce a vacuum-tight, hermetic seal

Constant Vacuum Applications

MACOR MGC parts are found in spacers, headers, and windows for microwave tube devices and as sample holders in field ion microscopes.

Aerospace Industry

Over 200 distinctly shaped MACOR MGC parts can be found on America's reusable Space Shuttle Orbiter. Retaining rings of MACOR MGC are used at all hinge points, windows and doors.
Also, large pieces of MACOR glass ceramic are used in NASA spaceborne gamma radiation detector. For this application, frame corners are joined by a combination of machined (butt-lap) mechanical joints and a sealing glass.

Nuclear-Related Experiments

Sine MACOR MGC is not dimensionally affected by irradiation, small cubes of the material are machined to a tolerance of one micron and used as a reference piece to measure dimensional change in other materials.

Welding Nozzles

Welding equipment manufactures are using MACOR MGC as a nozzle on the tips of oxyacetylene torches. The material's nonwetting characteristic means molten particles won't adhere to and decrease the effectiveness of the nozzle.

Fixtures

MACOR MGC is used as an electrode support and burner block in several industrial high heat, electrical cutting operations due to its low thermal conductivity and excellent electrical properties.

Medical Equipment

Producers of medical components are intrigued by MACOR MGC's inertness, precise machinability and dimensional stability.

Typical Macor Applications

• Components for aerospace applications
• Equipment for the medical industry
• Vacuum Environment feedthroughs – insulators and supports
• Headers, windows and spacers for use within microwave tube devices
• Microscope sample holders
• Welding nozzles