ALLVAR alloys has been awarded a NASA Small Business Innovative Research Phase II grant for “Ultra-stable ALLVAR Alloy Strut Development for Space Telescopes.”
This NASA SBIR Phase II proposal was in response to the need for Ultra-Stable Telescope Structures and is designed to evaluate ALLVAR Alloys for their potential as metering and support structures for optics that are critical to NASA’s future missions. Telescopes used for astrophysics, exoplanet, and planetary studies require picometer stability over several minutes to hours. Building large support structures with picometer level stability is a challenge with currently available materials due to their brittle nature in the case of Zerodur and ULE or their requirement to have tight thermal control in the case of SiC or carbon fiber composites. ALLVAR Alloys offer a new material solution for thermally stable structures. They exhibit negative thermal expansion and can compensate for the positive thermal expansion of other materials to stabilize a telescope
News
ALLVAR awarded NASA SBIR Phase I Grant
NASA awards ALLVAR a SBIR Phase I grant for work in NASA’s focus area – Advanced Telescope Technologies. This will fund research designed to evaluate ALLVAR Alloys for their potential as metering and support structures for optics that are critical to NASA’s future missions.
ALLVAR wins Accudata Best in Category at Innovation Conference and Showcase Pitch Competition
The ALLVAR team attended the inaugural Innovation Conference and Showcase put on by the Houston Technology Center.
ALLVAR founder James Monroe secured the “Accudata Best in IT” pitch award while presenting ALLVAR alloys. Great job, James!
Website Redesign
A lot has happened at ALLVAR in just a short time! While we’ve been continuously striving towards prototype development, the team realized that the old website needed a complete overhaul. After a little practice, we were able to put together a new site that better tells about our revolutionary negative thermal expansion metal and the team behind it.
We hope you enjoy the new site!
ALLVAR secures NSF SBIR Phase II award
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded ALLVAR with a Small Business Innovative Research Phase II grant. The intellectual merit of this project lies in a new method to exhibit unprecedented control over thermal expansion properties in metal alloys.
The discovery of the tailoring effect or “programmed” thermal expansion of a bulk metal to match that of other common materials (metals, polymers, and ceramics) will change the way scientists and engineers design for thermal compensation. These alloys can also be tailored not to expand or contract with temperature changes and even be made to shrink when heated.
The total awarded amount of the NSF SBIR Phase II is $750,000.
James Monroe wins Bryan Rotary Club/Research Valley Commercialization Rising Star Award
ALLVAR receives National Science Foundation SBIR Phase I Award
Texas A&M Material Science and Engineering Alumni Highlight
Founder James Monroe, Ph.D was featured in the alumni highligh section of TAMU’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering Fall Newsletter.
The article can be found on page 13.
http://engineering.tamu.edu/media/2911183/msen-fall-newsletter.pdf
ALLVAR wins 3rd Place at 2015 Texas New Ventures Competition
Dr. James Monroe secured a Third Place win for his pitch at the first annual Texas A&M New Ventures Competition. The competition, by Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station and the Texas A&M University System, promotes the commercialization of emerging technology and recognizes companies with high-growth potential.
Thank you to Texas A&M University and Texas A&M Engineering for setting up a great event. As third place prize, ALLVAR secured $50,000 in non-dilutive funding.