The process has been awarded one U.S. patent and 14 patent applications are pending. It enhances the properties of base metals, creating — for example — tarnish resistant copper and silver in a way that could give defense and other industries a leg up. It also gives metals additional, unusual properties. Aluminum, for instance, is stiff even when produced in thin pieces, outperforming other alloys.
Luedtke said interest has come from major industrial companies and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, which are all evaluating uses for products. The U.S. Navy, after hearing about the material, purchased some for testing that’s still underway.
The materials have undergone analysis by the Argonne National Laboratory and Cornell University, he added. The company says the products are a new class of carbon compounds made of metals and nano-carbon structures that have bonded chemically.
The company in 2011 received a $1 million grant from Ohio’s Third Frontier Advanced Materials Program, a grant matched with $1.3 million in private funding.
Later this year, the company will enter its commercialization phase by producing materials for use in the luxury jewelry market. Third Millennium will use thousands of square feet at a research location at 49 Front St., a stone’s throw from the Front Street Lofts that are used by artists and craftspeople.
Much of the initial work at Third Millennium will be done with robotics, but a small number of new hires will include engineers, said Couch. Both company officers say they intend to grow the business in Dayton.
“We hope for this material to be as commonly used as plastics,” Luedtke said.
David Miller, an independent consultant with DM Development Group in Maumee, has worked with Third Millennium on commercializing covetics.
“The technology has the potential to change any industry that chooses to apply it,” he said. “It’s taken longer to get to market and do testing and validation work, but getting into a revenue stream through a niche application like jewelry and art is a way to fund that development.”
The launch is an exciting time for Luedtke and Couch, who have been working on the technology for years. Both became acquainted with the process during terms at the National Composite Center. The origin of covetics dates to 1998 and work by a professor at Shawnee State University on municipal solid waste streams that include both metals and plastics.
Luedtke served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of the center from 1999 to 2009. Couch, a polymer chemist, spent decades at General Motors before serving as Vice President of Engineering at the center.
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