Celebrating 60 Years of Loyal Service, The Sousa Corp. Acquire New Thermal Cycling Furnace
Founded in 1963 by Norman Sousa Sr., the Sousa Corp is a commercial and aerospace business providing quality heat treating services for over 50 years. What started out as a small heat treat shop in West Hartford, CT. that mainly performed hardening and pack carburizing has grown in size and capabilities ever since. As the business grew, Norm Sr. increased the size of the facility and purchased new equipment.
Norman Sousa Jr. purchased the business from his father in 1994 and has been instrumental in growing and modernizing the business. In 2012 The Sousa Corp moved to a much larger, more modern facility in Newington, CT. With the extra room to grow, they immediately increased capacity. They now offer a variety of thermal processes on a wide range of ferrous and non-ferrous materials.
Today the business is run by Norm Jr. and his three children. They proudly carry on the tradition of their father & grandfather by embracing his values of quality, integrity, and customer service. The Sousa Corp. continues to grow and expand their capacity and capabilities (which range from heat treating to black oxide, material testing, and laboratory services).
Recently, The Sousa Corp. purchased a new thermal cycling furnace to add to their fleet. Vice President Andrew Sousa kindly answered some questions for us about their new acquisition and what it means for the company and its customers.
Tell us about the new machine. What is it? Why’d you decide on it?
Manufacturer: DMP Cryosystems Inc.
Model: CryoFurnace
This is a thermal cycling furnace that is capable of -300F to 1,200F
Give us the applicable specs.
Working zone: 24” Wide x 36” Deep x 24” High
It’s capable of 1,800 lbs.
Temperature range -300F to 1,200F
How does the acquisition and installation of this machine bolster The Sousa Corp
capabilities?
We are able to offer true cryogenic capabilities to -300F for the first time.
This also increases our thermal cycling temperature range capabilities.
What are The Sousa Corp’s current thermocycling capabilities? Describe what you do for
your customers and how the thermocycling process fits in.
Current capabilities are:
-150F to 325F
What are the benefits of thermal cycling? Why is it important?
Thermal cycling, heating, and cooling of material stabilize the crystal structure to minimize or eliminate dimensional changes that would have occurred due to repeated service in environments the experience repeated temperature fluctuation. One example is spacecraft where being in sunlight and total darkness causes extreme temperature changes every 90 minutes.
How has thermocycling grown as a service offering for The Sousa Corp over the years?
In 2010 we first started performing a thermal cycle process to one customer specification on a few different part numbers. Over the years this has continually increased and we now process to many different specifications & temperature ranges for several customers.
What industries do you serve the most in this space? What are common thermocycling
requests from these industries?
Aerospace is currently the most common request, partly due to the fact that any poor performance or failure is impossible to correct.
Are there other industries you’d like to expand in and hope to with this new machine?
Tool steels are an area that can benefit from one or more cryogenic cycles, especially when dimensional stability is critical such as gages. Some studies have shown tool life is extended by cryogenic treatment.
What excites you about the future of The Sousa Corp? What else should customers look
forward to?
Since The Sousa Corp purchased Bennett Metal Treating in 1963, we have provided personalized service and decades of experience for three generations to assist customers in all facets of metal improvement.
Customers appreciate being able to talk to a representative when needed. They get the answers they need in a timely fashion both by phone and email.
Continued growth in both atmosphere and vacuum thermal processes shows the trust customers have that their valuable material given the care it requires and deserves.
Company History
The Sousa Corp. was founded in 1963 when Norman W. Sousa Sr. purchased the assets of The Bennett Metal Treating Company. “Bennett Metal” was founded by Mr. Bennett about 1903.
Mr. Bennett was a one-armed blacksmith and the company operated in one of the Goodwin Pottery buildings. Pack carburizing, oil fired furnaces and oil tempers were standard practice through WWII and into the sixties. Norman began working there in 1947 for then owner John German. Mr. Bennett had sold and reopened a shop in New Jersey. Soon Norman had learned the trade and was manager for the new owners, Frederick H. Waterhouse, William J. Luby and Joseph B. Burns. As absentee owners they realized they didn’t have control of their investment and decided to sell. Norman had convinced them in 1954 to buy a Dow integral quench furnace and the modernization began. A C.I. Hayes bright hardening furnace was purchased in 1963 and the oil-fired carburizing furnaces gave way to two L&N Homocarb furnaces.
Norm Jr. joined the company in 1971 and in the late 70’s a new addition was put on and a second larger Dow integral quench furnace and Dow tempers were added. Two vacuum furnaces, a black oxide line, a Cincinnati Sub Zero freezer, a metallurgical lab with a Tukon Microhardness tester and a Kevex X-Ray spectrometer round out the equipment upgrades. Recently a Wilson 2000, NIST capable hardness tester with loadcell and electronic depth measurement and SPC capabilities was installed.
The Sousa Corp and its predecessors have been processing commercial, military, and aircraft parts for nearly 100 years. They look forward to continued growth in services and capabilities to serve their customers better as manufacturing changes at an ever-increasing rate.
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