Puris, LLC Signs Agreement with NASA Glenn Research Center to Market Alloy for Precision and Industrial Bearings

December 8, 2015 | By Business Wire News

BRUCETON MILLS, W.Va.

Puris, LLC (www.purisllc.com) recently signed a limited (partially) exclusive, term license agreement with NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland to produce a high-performance alloy enhanced with hafnium 60NiTi(Hf) that will be marketed under the brand name SM-103^TM.

SM-103 demonstrates a lower residual stress than other 60NiTi alloys, resulting in improved response to heat treatment and easier processing. The alloy delivers both wear-resistant and corrosion-resistant properties, traditionally considered to be mutually exclusive, in addition to favorable load-bearing properties. These attributes make it well suited to industrial bearing and precision bearing applications.

“Puris anticipates strong demand for SM-103 for industrial bearings in such applications as wind turbines, turbochargers, aircraft engines, gears and valves,” Puris CEO Craig Kirsch said. “We also expect it to find a market in precision bearings for timepieces, machine spindles and semiconductor manufacturing equipment, among others. But the most exciting opportunity for us will be the new applications where the alloy’s properties offer to enhance performance and endurance.”

Puris enjoys a successful track record with NASA Glenn Research Center, having previously partnered to produce a wear-resistant and corrosion-resistant 60NiTiNOL alloy, SM-100^TM, that is being used to produce bearings for the International Space Station’s wastewater.

A NASA test report on SM-100 (“Resilient and Corrosion-Proof Rolling Element Bearings Made From Superelastic Ni-Ti Alloys for Aerospace Mechanism Applications”) stated, “The combination of high hardness, moderate elastic modulus, large recoverable strain, low density, and intrinsic corrosion immunity provide a path to bearings largely impervious to shock load damage. It is anticipated that bearings and components made from alloys with such attributes can alleviate many problems encountered in advanced aerospace applications.”

About Puris, LLC

Puris, LLC is among the world’s leading producers of titanium powder for additive manufacturing. The Puris team is comprised industry leaders in powder metallurgy, pioneers in spherical titanium powder gas atomization. The company’s innovative technology and processes produce the cleanest titanium powders available for markets that include aerospace, automotive, healthcare and oil and gas. Learn more at www.purisllc.com.

For more information about NASA Glenn Technology Transfer Office, visit: http://technology.grc.nasa.gov

SM-100 and SM-103 are trademarks of Puris, LLC.