NanoSteel making strength more nimble

MANUFACTURING
MANUFACTURING

NanoSteel sees its practices as the Occam’s razor of steel-material design: The simplest and most obvious solution.
Particularly when it comes to passenger vehicles, the Providence-headquartered company is focused on designing new steel alloys that allow for a thinner core structural material that maintains its strength and flexibility – as opposed to starting all over with a completely different element or ingredient.
“We’re using material that the industry is not only familiar with, but has relied on for centuries,” said President and CEO David Paratore. “At the same time, we’ve found ways to advance the state of the art of that material.”
Since 2002, the company has been dedicated to researching and developing nano-structured steel for a number of industries, including protective coatings, powders, foils and sheet steel for oil and gas, mining, power, cement and concrete applications. Along the way, the 28-employee company – which also has engineering and research and development offices in Idaho and Michigan – has amassed more than 300 licenses, patents and patents pending.
But most recently its focus has been on manipulating a unique, durable grade of steel for use in the automotive industry.
“The major thing now is to make cars lighter, but keep the size the same or bigger while also maintaining safety,” said Paratore. “We’ve developed a whole new class of steels that have a high level of strength but also have an ability for high elongation.”
NanoSteel broke through the “paradigm,” he explained, using ingredients that have been applied for many years with steel, just at a ratio that “people didn’t think was possible.” The initial reaction was that this experimentation would result in a “brittle” product, but in fact it’s been the exact opposite, he said.
According to the global engineering firm Edag Inc., the company’s sheet-steel properties have the ability to reduce the overall structural weight of a vehicle by 30 percent.
Following trials, the next step is to get the product implemented into cars, Paratore said. NanoSteel’s largest investor is General Motors, he said, but it’s also in discussions with many of the other major auto producers.
Beyond cars, the company is also creating new steel powders for 3-D printing purposes, and it also recently licensed one of its original wear-resistant steel coatings to Lincoln Electric, a Cleveland-based designer and manufacturer of welding equipment.
“That was a real big win for us,” said Paratore. “It validates the technology that we have.”
Ultimately, the company foresees even more successes and similar validations.
“Steel is a basic material not just for us, but really for humankind,” said Paratore. “Being able to continue to evolve that, extend its runway, make it usable and more valuable, is really a cool thing. We’re proud of the work we’re doing.”

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