NSF Grant is MFS' Largest to Date

LAS VEGAS, NV / ACCESSWIRE / October 20, 2016 / Metal Fatigue Solutions (MFS), producer of the next generation of advanced Nondestructive Testing (NDT) technology systems for major civil and industrial infrastructure, today announced it has won a $250,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF).

The grant, MFS' largest to date, funds the development and fusion of the Company's patented Fatigue FuseTM System with new piezoelectric energy harvesting technology and wireless sensor communications. Deployed commercially around the world for several years, the MFS Fatigue Fuse System is designed to be affixed to a metal structure to give indications of pre-calibrated percentages of the structure's fatigue life that has been expended.

The work from this grant will provide a wireless fatigue life indicator for critical structures such as military assets, shipping cranes, accelerated bridge construction assets, wind turbines as well as numerous assets in the oil and gas industry. This technology is a low-cost passive sensor which will indicate potential failure prior to occurrence, providing plenty of warning to keep the public safe and enable asset owners to perform preventative maintenance vs. major, costly repairs.

MFS is working with University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) to execute this Phase I Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) grant.

"The National Science Foundation supports small businesses with the most innovative, cutting-edge ideas that have the potential to become great commercial successes and make huge societal impacts," said Barry Johnson, Director of the NSF's Division of Industrial Innovation and Partnerships. "We hope that this seed funding will spark solutions to some of the most important challenges of our time across all areas of science and technology."

Commenting on the NSF STTR grant, Dr. Masoud Malekzadeh, MFS Director of Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) and Intelligent Infrastructure, and Principal Investigator on this grant, said, "While our current Fatigue Fuse Systems are already deployed in critical applications worldwide, there is a compelling opportunity to expand the capabilities of the system by incorporating piezoelectrics for an alerting system. We see a tremendous opportunity to help various asset owners achieve greater levels of safety with such a system, particularly where power and physical access are obstacles for conventional SHM systems."

Dr. Kyle Wetzlar, MFS Custom Solutions Division Director, added, "The important work being produced with this grant will potentially revolutionize the SHM market as the sector increasingly demands technology which facilitates the Internet of Things."

The 12-month grant officially kicked off on July 1, 2016. To learn more about the NSF SBIR/STTR program, visit: www.nsf.gov/SBIR.

About the National Science Foundation's Small Business Programs

The National Science Foundation (NSF) awards nearly $190 million annually to startups and small businesses through the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR)/Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program, transforming scientific discovery into products and services with commercial and societal potential. The non-dilutive grants support research and development (R&D) across all areas of science and technology helping companies de-risk technology for commercial success. The NSF is an independent federal agency with a budget of about $7 billion that supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science and engineering.

About Metal Fatigue Solutions Inc.

Metal Fatigue Solutions (MFS) develops, manufactures and markets next-generation non-destructive testing (NDT) devices and systems that indicate the true status of fatigue damage in a metal component. The Company's customers include the State DOTs, Infrastructure Owners, the U.S. Federal Government, and private engineering firms (http://metal-fatigue-solutions.com).

Initially commercialized in 2005, MFS' flagship product is the industry leading Electrochemical Fatigue Sensor (EFS™), an instrument that detects microscopic growing fatigue cracks in metals. With seven patents, MFS owns the only NDT technology able to find growing cracks as minute as 0.01 inches - critical information that enables structural engineers to isolate and repair the more than 100,000 US steel bridges classified as structurally deficient or functionally obsolete by the Federal Highway Administration. EFS is also applicable to aerospace, ships, cranes, railways, power plants, nuclear facilities, chemical plants, mining equipment, piping systems and "heavy iron."

Company Contact

Jeannie Turpin
T: (702) 800-5542
E: turpin@metal-fatigue-solutions.com

SOURCE: Metal Fatigue Solutions