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Using Magnetic Levitation for Non-Destructive Detection of Defective and Counterfeit Materiel

Award Information
Agency: Department of Defense
Branch: Defense Logistics Agency
Contract: SP470116M0089
Agency Tracking Number: L15C-001-0016
Amount: $149,991.00
Phase: Phase I
Program: STTR
Solicitation Topic Code: DLA15C-001
Solicitation Number: 2015.0
Timeline
Solicitation Year: 2015
Award Year: 2016
Award Start Date (Proposal Award Date): 2016-06-22
Award End Date (Contract End Date): 2016-12-26
Small Business Information
737 Concord Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States
DUNS: 557201394
HUBZone Owned: No
Woman Owned: No
Socially and Economically Disadvantaged: Yes
Principal Investigator
 Jonathan Hennek, Ph.D.
 (617) 621-8500
 jhennek@nanoterra.com
Business Contact
 Dr. Brian Mayers
Phone: (617) 621-8500
Email: bmayers@nanoterra.com
Research Institution
 Harvard University
 Kateri Paul, Ph.D.
 
Whitesides Research Group, Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology 12 Oxford Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

 () -
 Nonprofit College or University
Abstract

The introduction of substandard or counterfeit materials into the DoD supply chain can have extremely expensive, and potentially life threatening, consequences. Current techniques used to detect nonconforming materiel can be destructive (e.g., manual sectioning and inspection of a part), time consuming and expensive (e.g., micro-computed tomography, ultrasound), or provide only limited information about the inside of an object (e.g., dimensional analysis, visual evaluation). The George Whitesides Lab at Harvard University has developed a nondestructive, rapid, and portable method to inspect materials called magnetic levitation (MagLev). In MagLev, a diamagnetic (i.e., non-magnetic) object can be levitatedwithout contact by external gripperswhen it is placed in a paramagnetic solution (e.g., aqueous manganese chloride) between two permanent magnets. The height of levitation is directly related to the objects total density and the orientation of levitation depends strongly on the shape and heterogeneity in density. By visually inspecting the height and orientation of levitation, non-conforming parts can be rapidly identified. Nano Terra will produce a simple to use MagLev testing rig and advance the MagLev platform by extending the use to dense materials of high importance to the DoD such as aluminum screws and rubber O-rings.

* Information listed above is at the time of submission. *

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