The technology leader in computational materials design enabling accelerated

The technology leader in computational materials design - enabling accelerated creation, development and insertion of new materials for aerospace and defense-based systems, medical, power generation and consumer-based products QuesTek Innovations is creating the materials that will enable the products of our future • Leadership Statement As the leader in the emerging field of computational materials design, QuesTek Innovations collaborates with governments and industry to rapidly create and license novel materials to enable new products, enhance current product performance, reduce manufacturing costs or mitigate environmental hazards. The enabling breakthrough fueling this revolution is the use of a proprietary suite of computational tools that describe the role of processing on the development of a material’s structure, from the subatomic to macro-scale levels. By combining sophisticated computational models within a systems framework; material composition can now be systematically varied and its performance optimized by computer, from concept through full scale-up, before the first prototype is created and tested. As a result, materials no longer need to be discovered - they can be designed. o Mission QuesTek’s mission is to add value and enhance the competitive advantage of its clients by providing rapid and cost effective materials solutions. Founded and staffed by internationally renowned pioneers in the emerging field of computational materials design, QuesTek custom designs, develops and licenses novel materials or redesigns existing material structures to enhance product performance, reduce or eliminate long-term environmental impact, improve production processes or reduce manufacturing costs through use of its proprietary Materials by Design® technology. The ability to computationally design new materials, particularly at nanoscale levels, is rapidly emerging as an alternative to empirical discovery methods and QuesTek has a proven history of developing advanced, high performance materials, which are enabling new components in aerospace or improving product performance of existing defense-based systems, and for commercial automotive, biomedical and consumer-based products. o Vision The upward spiraling costs of “trial and error” development methods has reduced the level of true innovation in the materials industry, yet the demand for unique, high performance materials, across all markets, continues to escalate. Materials development has always paced evolution and computational materials design, particularly at nano and pico scales, will dramatically alter our world. It is QuesTek’s vision to be the premier supplier of designed materials solutions and we recognize that • • • • • People and information are our most valuable assets. Integrity and honesty are essential. Customers must be satisfied. Under-promise and over-deliver. We must strive to create value added in everything we do. Continuous improvement is required of our people, our technology, and our business practices. Our goal is to provide viable, cost effective material solutions for our client’s most demanding needs – “can’t do it” is not an option • Core Competencies Named one of 25 Breakout Companies for 2005 by Fortune magazine, QuesTek’s leadership position in the emerging field of computational materials design is a direct result of its internationally recognized staff of Materials Design Engineers and the demonstrated design capabilities of its Materials by Design technology. The traditional empirical methodology of materials development and validation is universally recognized as both a time consuming and costly endeavor requiring extensive characterization at the materials development, sub-component and component stages. Consequently, major advancements in materials development have been rare and new material insertion into production hardware is extremely difficult, typically taking 15-20 years, if successful at all. This long lead-time has especially impacted the performance and/or cost of defense related systems. The move to complex defense and space-based systems, especially those utilizing nanoscale properties, requires a new paradigm – computational design – that can provide for the creation of new materials having exacting characteristics and well-understood properties. o Technology Platform The development of new materials has always paced the evolution of technology. Yet from the Stone Age to the Space Age, materials development has been a result of discovery through the costly and often failure prone process of “trial and error.” Beginning in the mid-1980’s, Gregory B. Olson, Chief Science Officer at QuesTek and the current WilsonCook Professor of Engineering Design at Northwestern University’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering, began what was to become nearly two decades of research to create an alternative method for materials development - Materials by Design. Today, QuesTek’s Computational Materials Dynamics™ (CMD) software platform has become the technical achievement of his research. CMD is a proprietary computational modeling platform that integrates fundamental physical quantities of materials and material databases with higher level modeling components such as QuesTek’s PrecipiCalc™ multicomponent multiparticle precipitation code, martensite/bainite transformation kinetics, and strength, solidification, intergranular cohesion and toughness modeling tools. These upper-level modeling tools, which are mechanistic and modularized to promote model reuse, achieve high extendibility to a wide range of material systems. The illustration below shows the current breadth of QuesTek’s CMD system. The acronyms on the left indicate the analytical techniques used to establish and validate each model while the abbreviations on the right represent the design models and software platforms used to implement them. Solidification Design LM Hierarchy of QuesTek’s Computational Materials Dynamics™ Platform LM, TEM J IC , γ i LM, TEM MQD DSC SEM/EDS Transformation Design 10 µ m DICTRA TC/ ∆ρ L TC/MART CASIS, MAP 1.0 µ m Micromechanics Design ABAQUS/SPO TC, ∆ V 0.1 µ m SANS, XRD APFIM, AEM σy , H Nano Design TC(Coh)/DICTRA 1.0 nm PrecipiCalctm ABAQUS/EFG Quantum Design SAM K GB ( ∆ γ ) 0.1 nm FLAPW DVM RW-S Materials by Design is addressing the challenge of accelerating the insertion of new materials for both the government and industry. The technology provides for rapid evaluation of potential material design alternatives, giving Program Managers a reliable method to quickly ascertain the potential cost and risk factors that will be associated with material development and future scale-up early in the design process. In some cases, this evaluation may indicate that a desired material has a very low probability of success or may not in fact be possible. Thus, instead of employing critical assets and expensive resources pursuing overly risky development programs, these assets can be more efficiently and cost effectively deployed on more promising material design alternatives. • Products and Services The ability to quickly and economically design a key material for optimum performance has never before existed. In fact, because of the time and expense involved in empirical research to develop new materials or improve the performance of existing materials; materials selection often results in compromise, which by its very nature limits the capabilities of an end product or the effectiveness of a manufacturing process. With the design of a new ultra high-strength corrosion resistant aerospace alloy, Ferrium® S53, QuesTek formally introduced its technology in 2000. Since then, the Company has remained focused on its core competency – the design and licensing of metallic alloys. As a result, QuesTek has established an extensive materials design knowledge-base in aluminum, copper, iron, nickel-based superalloys, titaniumbased shape memory alloys, and in amorphous aluminum and iron-based alloys. Current products include: • Ferrium® S53 – a patent pending ultra high-strength stainless steel alloy. This product was designed and developed to replace 300M in aerospace components, such as landing gear, to eliminate the need for cadmium plating process. S53 is currently in full demonstration and validation under an ESTCP program. ® Ferrium C61 – a patented case/core alloy with ultrahigh-strength and excellent fracture toughness. C61 is used in a number of racing applications, such as off road ring & pinions, and is under testing and qualification for aerospace gearing applications. • • Ferrium® C69 – a patented case/core steel with a case of 69 HRC and a core of 50 HRC. This alloy was designed for use in aerospace applications, such as helicopter gearing, where rolling contact fatigue is an issue. C69 is has been undergoing extensive testing at NASA Glenn for aerospace gear applications. Government Research: the Company continues development of high performance materials for the U.S. Government including high temperature aluminum, nickel-based superalloys and beryllium free copperbased alloys for DoD aerospace applications, high temperature materials for DOE energy-based applications, and high strength marine and armor applications. Custom Commercial Alloy Development – QuesTek custom designs and licenses alloys for a number of commercial applications including high strength shape memory alloys for both aerospace and medical markets, and alloys requiring high performance for deep sea mining and railroad components. Transitional Materials Development – QuesTek’s proprietary CMD design platform was created to transition to other structural materials. Beginning in 2005, QuesTek entered into preliminary computational materials design programs in ceramics and food products. • • • QuesTek Innovations has made significant financial investments to create its proprietary computational design platform and the materials design software tools and databases that have placed it at the forefront of the exciting new field of computational materials design. In June 2005, QuesTek announced the award of a multi-year contract from the Office of Naval Research and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to lead a multi-university consortium to create and disseminate a suite of next generation science-based 3 dimensional computational materials engineering tools. QuesTek has licensed access to its CMD platform on a limited bases to universities and has recently begun commercial licensing of some of its software modeling tools such as PrecipiCalc™ for calculating 3D mulitparticle diffusive precipitation kinetics. • Customers and Programs Working with DARPA and with the Company’s internally sponsored research, QuesTek has been able to advance its Computational Materials Dynamics design platform, models and materials data bases to a level where it has become a premier leader in the emerging field of computational materials design. A partial listing of QuesTek’s sponsors and design programs include: U.S. Government - SBIRs • • • • • • • • • DOE Dept. of Air Force Dept. of the Army Dept. of the Army Marine Corps Navy Navy Navy NSF ONR Ferritic-Martinsitic Superalloys for Generation IV Reactors Aluminum Bulk Amorphous Glass Damage Tolerant High-Temperature Aluminum High Strength Affordable Helicopter Gears Low Cost, High Strength, High Toughness Corrosion Resistant Alloy for EFV Computational Design of High Strength, High Toughness Stainless for Carrier-Based Aircraft Alternative Materials for Beryllium Copper in Military Aerospace Exploratory Development of Functionally Graded Nano-Composites for Gear Applications Computational Design of Nanostructured High Performance Shape Memory Alloys Scalable Twin Roll Casting of Iron-Based Amorphous Alloys • U.S. Government - Other • • • • • • • • • • ARL Dept. of Air Force Dept. of the Army Dept. of the Army Dept. of the Army DoD SERDP NASA Illinois ONR ONR State of Illinois Ballistic Armor Steel Process Development for Sand Cast Al-Sc Alloys Ultra-High Strength Engineering FCS Durable – High Strength Steel Development Computational Design of High Strength, High Temperature Steel Corrosion Resistant Steels for Structural Applications in Aircraft Testing of QuesTek High Performance Gear Alloy for Aerospace Application Scalable Twin Roll Casting of Iron-based Amorphous Alloys Dynamic Microstructural Design Consortium Computational Design of Nanostructured Cyber Steel Other • • • • • • • • Commercial Commercial Commercial Commercial Commercial Commercial Commercial Commercial Model Development for Laser Cut Quality Steel Virtual Weld Designed Alloys Structurally Integrated Coatings for Wear and Corrosion Nickel-Based Super Alloys for Propulsion Application High Si Cast Iron Feasibility of Gypsum-Based Material Design Hydrogen Storage Materials for Fuel Cells Low Cost, High-Strength Alloy Development for Drilling Applications Materials by Design® continues to resolve highly complex material performance issues and is providing the DoD and other federal agencies with cost effective material solutions that are enabling the development of advanced defensebased systems in addition to creating novel materials that are mitigating extreme environmental hazards. Advance Materials Development for the Department of Defense The Marine Corps, and the Navy, conduct operations in a seawater atmosphere laden with salt, splash and spray. The continual wet/dry cycles that defense systems undergo affect component parts to the extent that corrosion, which is estimated to cost $3 billion annually, is the Navy’s number one maintenance problem. Materials by Design is currently being employed by the DoD to create new materials to solve both corrosion issues and major environmental issues for the DoD’s aerospace sector. QuesTek’s stainless Ferrium S53 was developed to eliminate cadmium plating for landing gear used by the Air Force and QuesTek is also developing a novel stainless for carrier-based aircraft components. Two recent programs are highlighted below: • Marine Corps: “Low Cost, High-Strength, High-Toughness Corrosion Resistant Steel for Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (EFV) QuesTek is developing a custom-designed alloy for the United States Marine Corps Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (EFV) based on the successful SBIR Phase I alloy design. In particular, the spindles on this vehicle are mission critical components for operation on land and sea. The spindles are highly loaded and galvanically coupled in a seawater environment with dissimilar metals such as titanium, and to perform successfully, the material from which the spindles are fabricated must have a balance of properties, including high-strength, high-toughness, and good corrosion resistance. QuesTek’s Materials by Design technology offers a unique opportunity to rapidly design a custom alloy optimized for this application, and DARPA – Accelerated Insertion of Materials (AIM) methodology provides an approach to leverage the same material design models to rapidly qualify this alloy for use. A comparative test program will evaluate the stress corrosion cracking behavior at the relevant corrosion potential of competitive alloys. Demonstration spindles will be manufactured for field-testing. • Navy: “Alternative Materials for Beryllium Copper in Military Aerospace Applications” BeCu QuesTek has been awarded a Phase I SBIR contract to use its computational materials design technology to demonstrate the feasibility of improving the strength of beryllium-free copper alloys to create a non-toxic substitute for beryllium-copper (BeCu) alloys. Beryllium is a unique element used in various alloys that are indispensable in a wide range of demanding military and commercial applications. When used as an alloying element, beryllium dramatically affects the properties of several base metals. Due to their low inherent coefficient of sliding friction, high-strength BeCu alloys are widely used for load-bearing applications such as bushings. However, the Federal government, through OSHA and the DHHS, has issued alerts to the potentially deadly consequences of exposure to beryllium and beryllium compounds. These health hazards have forced suppliers, manufacturers and end users away from using beryllium whenever possible, but for many applications, BeCu is currently the only suitable material. Based on the technical advances in the computational design of unique materials, this SBIR program will design and evaluate prototype a beryllium-free high-strength copper alloy for “drop-in” substitution of existing BeCu alloys for load-bearing applications. • Profile QuesTek Innovations is located in Evanston Illinois. The Company was organized in 1996 to begin applied research and development on an emerging computational materials design technology that originated from years of basic research conducted at Northwestern University under the direction of Professor Gregory B. Olson. As rapid advances were being made in computing power during the mid1980’s and with the introduction of new software that allowed for the ability to design highly advanced aerospace, defense and space-based component concepts, Prof. Olson realized that it would not be possible for traditional “trial and error” methods of development to quickly respond to the increasing demands of product engineers for the necessary enabling materials to enable these components. This has since become even more important for the creation of materials that take advantage of unique properties that result when dealing with physical structures at the nano-scale. Greg Olson’s vision was to create a technology that would use computing power to design material structures from the subatomic- to macro-scale and rapidly create novel materials with exacting physical properties and performance characteristics. In the early 1990’s, Charles J. Kuehmann, who would eventually become QuesTek’s President and CEO, was working with Prof. Olson at Northwestern as a Ph.D. candidate. His background was in aerospace engineering and computing. Together, they led the research that created the first computationally designed material; a patented steel for the demanding application of the Space Shuttle main engine turbo-pumps under a grant from NASA. The success of this program led to the formation of QuesTek Innovations as an independent company where initial staffing and operations began in mid-1997. • Core Advantage QuesTek possesses exceptional core advantages. It stands at the forefront of the emerging technological shift from the historical “trial and error” method of materials discovery to computational materials design. QuesTek’s proprietary computational design platform and suite of modeling tools is highly advanced and robust, and the Company continues to build upon a strong patent portfolio of designed materials. QuesTek’s staff is entrepreneurial and is comprised of many of the nation’s leading computational materials design engineers. QuesTek’s Chief Science Officer, Gregory B. Olson, is one of the foremost authorities in the field and was named the 2004 TMS Structural Materials Society’s Distinguished Materials Engineer. The Company, and its Materials by Design technology, continues to achieve an excellent reputation for quality performance both in government and commercial sectors. The Company has been the recipient of multiple industrial awards including: • • • • • QuesTek’s development of Ferrium® S53 earned the Department of Defense/SERDP Pollution Prevention Project of the Year award for 2002 IndustryWeek’s Technology of the Year award Chicago Technology Innovation of the Year award The 2004 international APDIC Industrial Award, and QuesTek was named one of the 25 Breakout Companies for 2005 by Fortune magazine. o • Management and Staff The Founders of QuesTek Innovations include: Prof. Gregory B. Olson Sc.D., who serves as the Chief Science Officer and holds the WilsonCook Professor of Engineering Design for the McCormick School of Engineering at Northwestern University Charles J. Kuehmann, who serves as President/CEO and holds a Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from Northwestern University, and Raymond P. Genellie, Jr., the Company’s Vice President of Operations, who has a Master’s of Science in Finance from Northern Illinois University • • Today, the Company is managed by a Board of Directors and has grown from its founding members to a staff of 18 full-time employees, including many of the foremost materials design engineers in the nation today. o Facilities and Design Platform QuesTek is located just North of Chicago in Evanston Illinois. The Company’s facility contains nearly 12,000 square feet of offices and materials testing laboratories, along with a sophisticated computational infrastructure for materials design activities. QuesTek maintains state-of-the-art computational resources for modeling, design and software development, which includes advanced engineering workstations, servers and its proprietary Computational Materials Dynamics software platform. To augment its internal testing facilities, QuesTek maintains membership in the Northwestern University Tech Corporate Partners program. As such, the Company has access to, and fully utilizes, a variety of analytical facilities and techniques including Atomic Absorption Spectrometry, the Electron Probe Instrumentation Center, high-resolution transmission electron microscope, Scanning Electron Microscopy, and standard metallography and surface characterization equipment. QuesTek also has access to the University’s new Atom-Probe Field-ion Microscopy Center, which contains a new 3D LEAP atom-probe for atomic characterization at the nanoscale level. QuesTek’s Materials by Design® technology allows product designers and engineers a viable and economic path to obtain new materials, with desired properties, in lieu of limiting their product designs to the properties of existing materials. Contact Information Technical Point of Contact: James A. Wright, Ph.D. Senior Materials Design Engineer QuesTek Innovations LLC 1820 Ridge Avenue Evanston, IL 60201 Phone: E-mail: (847) 328-5800 Ext. 225 jwright@questek.com New Business Development: Brian Tufts Manager of Business Development Phone: E-Mail (847) 328-5800 Ext. 241 btufts@questek.com Website: www.questek.com