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IPRT Company Assistance Factsheet
IPRT Company Assistance provides world-class expertise and equipment that helps Iowa manufacturers and entrepreneurs solve technical challenges and address R&D needs. Each year IPRT helps about 150 firms — from one-person startups to Fortune 500 corporations — solve scientific and engineering problems.
Over the last five years, IPRT Company Assistance has worked on more than 625 projects with 173 companies and organizations. (See interactive map of IPRT interactions in 2008)
Technical Assistance
The materials and nondestructive evaluation assistance program provides
Iowa manufacturers easy access at no-cost to state-of-the-art labs and IPRT expertise. The program is intended to address short-term, non-routine, technical
issues. Projects are generally limited in scope to assistance of 40 hours or less.
Materials
Materials lie at the heart of all manufactured products and the processes used to make them. So when a materials problem arises, it’s critical to solve it as quickly and efficiently as possible. In these situations, Iowa manufacturershave ready access to the expertise and specialized equipment provided by the materials group within IPRT Company
Assistance.
IPRT’s materials group has been working with Iowa companies
since 1993. The group provides materials-related services for non-routine problems to Iowa companies. The metallurgists in this group are intimately familiar with the problems faced by today’s manufacturers. They can:
- Advise on heat treating, corrosion and product integrity issues.
- Supply information about fabrication, cleaning, finishing and coatings.
- Offer expertise on welding, brazing and soldering.
- Identify, select and verify materials and perform materials testing.
- Provide insight on alternative and innovative materials and processing.
Nondestructive Evaluation
Nondestructive evaluation is a collection
of powerful technologies to help manufacturers achieve high product
quality. Using methods such as X-ray and ultrasound, NDE can spot flaws that are otherwise unseen. As its name implies, NDE is done 
without destroying the sample, and as a result, the technology can be used to inspect every part or component, if necessary. Iowa manufacturers have a leg up when it comes to learning about NDE and applying it to their quality challenges. IPRT’s Center for Nondestructive Evaluation has beensetting the pace for NDE research for over 25 years. This expertise is made readily available to Iowa manufacturers through the NDE group within IPRT Company Assistance.
Since 1993, IPRT’s nondestructive evaluation group has provided a variety of services related to inspection and quality control. Its experts can:
- Explain and demonstrate the principles of various inspec-
tion methods.
- Perform feasibility studies to determine if NDE methods will work for a given application.
- Provide information on sources of equipment, testing labo- ratories and NDE advances.
- Develop and evaluate inspection procedures for old and new designs or recommend new techniques.
- Review the different stages of manufacturing in which NDE might be applied.
- Provide guidance in the implementation of NDE solutions to industrial situations.
- Present educational seminars to industrial attendees to introduce relevant background information.
Technology
Commercialization
For many challenges faced by Iowa companies, there’s a researcher at Iowa State University who can help. But how do you find these experts? How do you ensure that the project meets its goals? How do you pay the researchers?
The answers can be found in the Technology Commercialization Group within IPRT Company Assistance. IPRT’s technology commercialization associates address product and process development projects and industrial technical problems and work to accelerate
commercialization of technology.
IPRT’s technology commercialization associates develop and manage collaborative projects between Iowa State researchers
and Iowa companies. Each year, the group develops about 25 such projects.
The group has funds to share the cost of research, with an average of $15,000 per project. But its focus is on developing and managing projects. The group’s associates can:
- Assemble a research team
- Lead meetings and monitor projects to meet goals and deadlines.
- Prepare technologies for commercialization or to be further developed with industry. These efforts range from seed funding research to working with Iowa State researchers.
- Develop research proposals and contracts.
