ALLVAR announced today that they have received a NASA SBIR Phase II grant. The grant will allow ALLVAR to study and test how negative thermal expansion solutions can be used to close ultra-stable technology gaps for telescopes. Negative thermal expansion ALLVAR Alloys allow optical designers to compensate for the natural positive expansion of other materials to athermalize applications like no material has done before. This project will produce the first large-scale data set with high statistical confidence, following testing methods as outlined in the Metallic Materials Property Development and Standardization (MMPDS).
“Our customers, particularly those designing high-end optics for aerospace, require rigorous mechanical property design allowables. The testing required to supply that data is substantial, with material property testing required from many batches of ALLVAR Alloy 30. We are incredibly excited that this work will allow us to measure and share material data generated to the stringent standards of the MMPDS Handbook. It’s an important step towards ALLVAR Alloy 30 becoming a flight-qualified material for space telescopes.” Said Jeremy McAllister, Engineering Manager at ALLVAR.
"We are grateful and excited to partner with NASA to collect this valuable data and share it with the broader optics community. The material properties we collect will enable engineers to confidently design ALLVAR Alloys into their systems. We look forward to collaborating with optics manufacturers to see how this information can unlock ALLVAR Alloy 30's true potential." Said James Monroe, Founder and CEO of ALLVAR.
ALLVAR Alloy 30 allows engineers and designers to eliminate temperature influenced variables, reduce the number of design iterations, save time and money, and reduce scrap rates in production.
Source: https://allvaralloys.com/