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  1. Materials

Cymat Wins Military Order for New Material

March 13, 2009
SmartMetal to retrofit vehicles for blast survivability

Cymat Technologies Ltd., the research company that developed a “stabilized aluminum foam” for automotive parts, reports it earned a preproduction development award from Canada’s Dept. of National Defence for its blast mitigation material, SmartMetal. The DND will test SmartMetal as part of a retrofit kit to increase blast survivability of a specific military vehicle platform.

"This is a major milestone in Cymat's road to commercialization," stated Cymat president Tim Hardman, Cymat's President. "Based on independent testing completed in the U.S., Cymat's SmartMetal can play a key role in increasing troop survivability when ‘up-armoring’ military vehicles.”

Toronto-based Cymat says it expects that planned blast/field testing of the material will lead to a production order by mid to late 2009.

"We believe that our ongoing collaboration with key U.S. military and defense partners will yield similar commercial awards for large scale projects in the U.S. in 2009. We are honored to play a major role in increasing Canadian, U.S., and NATO's troop safety capabilities," Hardman added.

Cymat’s Stabilized Aluminum Foam technology was approved by Georg Fischer AG based on a prototype automotive part. SAF is an “ultra-light metallic foam” manufactured by bubbling gas through a molten aluminum alloy that contains “a dispersion of fine ceramic particles.” The material can be used to produce near-net shapes or flat panels.