Material Technologies Inc. held its first 4-day training program for private inspection firms. Company officers and inspectors attended the four-day training in St. George, Utah last week to learn how to implement an electronic fatigue sensor (EFS) inspection, which includes: receipt of contract, field inspection, collection and analysis of the data, and the preparation of a report. Attendees of the training session participated in 3 days of classroom and laboratory training with written and practical testing on the final day.
The EFS technology that Material Technologies has developed is being used by the Federal Highway Administration as well as individual State Highway Administrations. The technology is being used for three purposes. The first way is a means of prioritizing already limited repair and rehabilitation funds, secondly as a traditional inspection tool since EFS finds cracks smaller than other technologies, which leads to less expensive repairs, and lastly as a repair/retrofit verification device.
Typical bridge inspections are conducted visually, and often from great distances, which is quickly proving to be inadequate for the nearly 200,000 aging bridges in the United States. These visual inspections typically miss fatigue cracks and stress fractures that Material Technologies EFS can easily detect. Material Technologies’ CEO, Robert M. Bernstein, says, “We are very pleased to be partnering with these companies in order to bring this indispensable technology to bridge owners. Already, these engineers have come up with other uses for the technology with their existing clients. We are all very excited about the prospects.”
Material Technologies is widely viewed as the global leader in metal fatigue detection technologies. Following the August 1, 2007, bridge collapse in Minneapolis, the CEO, CFO and project engineers were interviewed by Fox News, MSNBC and the Morning Show of CBS. Metal fatigue is not only a serious factor in bridge safety, but Material Technologies also uses its EFS technology to prevent failure of ships, trains, trucks, steel buildings and even nuclear reactors.
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