According to Advanced Materials Manufacturing, steel-CMF remains at room temperature three inches away from the 2000º Fahrenheit weld zone. (Photo courtesy of AMM)
The company received a $1.8 million award from National Security Innovation Capital to accelerate the engineering and manufacturing of the material
September 1, 2022
RALEIGH, N.C.—Advanced Materials Manufacturing (AMM) reported it received a $1,885,000 award from National Security Innovation Capital (NSIC) to accelerate the engineering and manufacturing of a lightweight metallic material that will address emerging defense and commercial applications.
The material, known as Composite Metal Foam (CMF), is a high-performance, fine-tunable, light-weight class of metallic materials developed at North Carolina State University by its inventor, Afsaneh Rabiei, over the past two decades. Rabiei has four patents on CMF, which are currently proprietary technology owned by AMM, the company said in a release.
The CMF technology provides lightweight materials that can save energy, the planet, and human life, the company said. Composite Metal Foam can be made from any metal, alloy, or combination. Processed via a casting or powder metallurgy technique, the material includes a homogenous mixture of hollow, air-filled metal spheres with a metal matrix surrounding. A 100 percent steel CMF bar is reported to weigh the same as an equal-sized solid aluminum bar.
Advanced Materials Manufacturing was founded with the goal of bringing CMF technology into global markets. The company is the sole manufacturer and supplier of CMF and is aiming to offer the technology in a large production capacity to be used in protecting against blast, ballistics, impact, fire, radiation, vibration, and sound.
The material is also intended to be used to advance the safety, efficiency, and energy conservation of engineering structures in a host of applications, from aerospace to automotive, transportation, defense, radiation shielding, HazMat containment, construction, architecture, sporting goods, and medical devices, among others, the company said.
National Security Innovation Capital (NSIC), housed within the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), is a U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) initiative that provides funding to early-stage hardware startups that are commercializing dual-use technologies critical to national security and economic competitiveness.
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