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| Test Details From Past Press Releases |
Material
Technologies, Inc. Conducts Beta Tests
on Los Angeles and New York Bridges
Tuesday
June 8, 9:30 am ET
LOS
ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 8, 2004--Material Technologies,
Inc. (MATECH) (OTCBB: MTNA - News) today announced that it
has completed beta tests (testing before commercial release)
of its crack detection Electrochemical Fatigue Sensor (EFS)
device on a bridge in California and one in New York.
The
California bridge is in Culver City, a suburb of Los Angeles;
and the New York bridge is in the city of Babylon, Long Island.
For
each of these bridges EFS sensors were placed at presumed fatigue-critical
locations, i.e., those areas most likely to have fatigue cracks,
and a heavy truck traversed the bridge to induce significant
loads. The Babylon bridge also had strain gages installed to
monitor stress levels at these critical locations. Both bridges
were cross-checked using an eddy current non-destructive test
to verify the EFS findings.
No
cracks were detected in either bridge by EFS or the eddy current
test. The Culver City bridge was recently upgraded for earthquake
safety, and the Babylon bridge is relatively new (four years
old); its measured stresses were well below levels that would
induce fatigue cracks, so the absence of cracks in each bridge
was not unexpected.
Matech
expects to be conducting additional beta tests on bridges in
Ohio, Massachusetts, and additional bridges in California.
These other bridges are considerably older and more likely
to have some fatigue damage.
"These
beta tests are a very important step in our development and
we are very pleased to have the interest and support of the
cognizant engineering authorities. These inspections will take
place over the next several months, leading up the inspection
of the bridges in Pennsylvania, as previously announced in
the press release dated December 9, 2003," said Robert
M. Bernstein, Matech's President and Chief Executive Officer. |
Material
Technologies, Inc. Successfully Conducts Beta Tests on California,
New York, and Ohio Bridges
Monday September 27, 9:30 am ET
LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 27, 2004--Material Technologies, Inc. (MATECH)
(OTCBB:MTNA - News) today announced that it has successfully completed beta tests
(testing before commercial release) of its crack detection Electrochemical Fatigue
Sensor (EFS) technology on several bridges. These tests successfully demonstrated
its value for bridge inspection.
Four bridges were tested: two in California: Culver City, a suburb of Los Angeles,
and Sacramento; one in New York, in Babylon on Long Island; and one in Ohio,
near Dayton.
The Ohio Bridge has known cracks, and their presence clearly showed up in our
EFS data. The Sacramento bridge also has known cracks, which also clearly showed
up. Several "truth specimens," thin pieces of bridge steel, some of
which had built-in but not visible cracks and some without, as part of a blind
test, were adhered to the steel structure. EFS accurately identified those with
cracks.
For each of these bridges the EFS sensors were placed at presumed fatigue-critical
locations, i.e., those areas most likely to have fatigue cracks, and a heavy
truck or trains traversed the bridge to induce significant loads. Except for
Culver City, each bridge also had strain gauges installed to monitor stress levels
at these critical locations. Each bridge was cross-checked using an eddy current
non-destructive test to verify the EFS findings. In one location, the eddy current
did not find a crack found by the EFS.
No cracks were detected in either the Culver City or New York bridges by EFS
or the eddy current. Since their measured stresses were well below levels that
would induce fatigue cracks, the absence of cracks in each bridge was not unexpected.
"These beta tests are a very important step in our development, demonstrating
the value of EFS technology for bridge inspection, and we are very pleased to
have the interest and support of the cognizant engineering authorities. These
efforts are in preparation for the inspection of the bridges in Pennsylvania,
as previously announced in the press release dated December 9, 2003,"
said Robert M. Bernstein, Matech's President and Chief
Executive Officer.
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Material
Technologies, Inc. Completes Fatigue Tests on Pennsylvania
Bridges
Thursday November 17, 9:30 am ET
LOS ANGELES--Nov. 17, 2004--Material Technologies, Inc. (MATECH) (OTCBB:MTNA
- News) today announced that it has successfully completed tests using its patented
Electrochemical Fatigue Sensor (EFS) on two highway bridges along the Pennsylvania
Turnpike. The use of MATECH's EFS could ultimately be made available for use
by state transportation departments throughout the United States.
These beta tests on actual bridges confirmed results that were found in the laboratory,
namely EFS detects growing cracks in bridge steels. As with previous tests on
bridges in CA, NY, and OH, EFS results were verified with more conventional inspection
methods. In at least one instance EFS found cracks that were not detected by
an eddy current survey.
MATECH has developed the EFS, which is a leading edge technology that monitors
fatigue in metals and is capable of detecting the smallest of cracks as compared
to any other practical non-destructive test method. It has been demonstrated
in the lab to have the capability of detecting growing cracks that lead to fatigue
failures, both on and under the surface, as small as 0.010 inches. It is usable
on any metallic structure that is subject to cyclic loads, e.g. highway bridges,
cranes, aircraft, jet engines, etc.
Matech is excited that it is now able to move forward to the next phase of EFS
commercialization. After successfully concluding our laboratory tests and beta
tests on bridges, we are now ready to proceed with the development, productization,
and marketing of our EFS technology. We believe there is a huge market for our
Non Destructive Testing products, not only within the USA but ultimately worldwide.
"I am extraordinarily pleased for the opportunity to evaluate the application
of our EFS to Pennsylvania's highway bridges," said MATECH CEO Robert M.
Bernstein.
"Federal law requires inspection of the nation's
approximately 594,000 bridges every other year, of
which approximately 25 percent have been rated by the
Federal Highway Administration to be structurally deficient.
Approximately 200,000 of these bridges are made of
metal; therefore, about 100,000 metal bridges are inspected
every year. Initial bridge inspections are primarily
conducted using the naked eye alone, and the Federal
Highway Administration has stated that 56% of these
inspections result in incorrect bridge ratings. We
strongly believe our EFS technology will be an important
tool to enhance the current inspection process by detecting
growing flaws that are not visible to the naked eye.
With respect to safety, congestion, and construction
-- I expect that EFS will provide a tremendous cost
savings not only to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,
but ultimately to every other state by applying EFS
to metal bridge inspections."
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