The MACOR® Advantage

When you need the performance of a technical ceramic and your application / timeline requires the ready fabrication of a complicated shape, look to MACOR® machinable glass ceramic. MACOR® is exclusively produced by Corning Incorporated. Fabrication of complex shapes and precision parts utilizing MACOR® is fast because it can be machined with ordinary carbide tools and requires no firing after machining. No costly delays, no post fabrication shrinkage and no costly tooling to meet specifications.

Machining tolerances are surprisingly tight, up to .0005". It can be machined to a surface finish of less than 20 micro-inch and polished to a smoothness of 0.5 micro-inch-AA. Configurations are limited only by available equipment and the experience of the machinist.

MACOR can also be joined or sealed - both to itself and to other materials - in a number of ways: metalized parts can be soldered together and brazing has proven an effective method of joining the material to various metals; epoxy produces a strong joint, and sealing glass creates a vacuum tight seal. Even a straightforward mechanical joint is possible. It can be thick film metalized using metal inks, or thin film metalized by sputtering.

MACOR® withstands high temperatures (1000C), is non-porous/inert, and matches the thermal expansion of most metals. Industries of application include:

• Aerospace Industry
• Automotive Industry
• Medical Industry
• Oil, Gas & Energy Exploration
• Semi-conductor Industry
• Ultra-High Vacuum Environments

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 part and a compatible sealing glass is used to produce a vacuum-tight, hermetic seal.

Constant Vacuum Applications
MACOR 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 parts can be found on America's reusable Space Shuttle Orbiter. Retaining rings of MACOR are used at all hinge points, windows and doors. Also, large pieces of MACOR glass ceramic are used in a NASA space borne 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
Since MACOR 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 manufacturers are using MACOR 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 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's inertness, precise machinability and dimensional stability.