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Nanotechnology company marks opening in Kettering

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Art Fritts, president of NanoSperse, speaks at the grand opening of the new company at the Natonal Composite Center in Kettering on Monday, July 20.

Staff photo by Jim Witmer Art Fritts, president of NanoSperse, speaks at the grand opening of the new company at the Natonal Composite Center in Kettering on Monday, July 20.

By John Nolan, Staff Writer Updated 6:10 PM Monday, July 20, 2009

KETTERING — Community leaders on Monday, July 20, celebrated the startup of NanoSperse LLC, a new company that is providing nanotechnology for materials used to supply longer-lasting parts for the aerospace industry.

Art Fritts, president and chief executive officer of NanoSperse, said he licensed the technology from the University of Dayton in January 2004 and has worked since then to get the company under way.

“Advanced materials businesses take a long time to get started,” said Fritts, a chemical engineer formerly with Harwick Chemical Manufacturing Co., near Akron.

Nanotechnology involves particles of substances, much smaller than human hair fibers, which can be introduced into existing materials to give them new properties, such as increased durability.

In one key production business, NanoSperse makes a compound for Springboro manufacturer Renegade Materials Corp. which uses it to produce a film that is later applied to General Electric Co. jet engine parts to protect against erosion. GE developed the technology and the University of Dayton Research Institute helped advance it, said Steve Mitchell, an engineer who guided the process at both GE and UDRI.

NanoSperse is among a group of startups housed in the National Composite Center, a Kettering-based institution that nurtures startup companies.

Fritts said he was able to concentrate on establishing the new company’s business without having to worry about acquiring a building. NanoSperse has seven employees and began production early in July.

The Dayton Development Coalition helped NanoSperse obtain federal, state and local funding to contribute to the region’s technology base, said Jim Leftwich, president and chief executive officer of the coalition. That included congressionally approved research funding support of $2 million in 2008 and $1.6 million in 2009, said U.S. Rep. Mike Turner, R-Centerville.

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