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."
MATECH is engaged in the research and development of
metal fatigue detection, measurement, and monitoring
technologies. As such, the Company has developed a suite
of devices for the non-destructive evaluation of fatigue
in metals.
For more information on Material Technologies, visit
www.matechcorp.com.
Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995: Statements in this document looking
forward in time involve risks and uncertainties, and
therefore actual results may be materially different.
Factors that could cause actual results to differ include
activity levels in the securities markets and other
risk factors such as customer order rates, cancellations,
late delivery of customer components, late system delivery,
production delays, dependence upon certain customers,
dependencies upon key executives, competition, product
liability risk, control by management, and other risks
detailed in the applicable U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission requirements.
Contact:
Material Technologies, Inc.
Robert M. Bernstein, 310-208-5589
matech@att.net
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