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Minnesota Technology Magazine - Fall/Winter 2006

Up Front

Small Wonder

Hysitron Inc. has been gaining recognition for its nanotechnology instruments—and working to raise the industry's profile.

—Becky Aldridge

Thomas Wyrobek, Hysitron, Inc.

Image of arrow If awards are any measure,Hysitron Inc.has been doing some outstanding work of late. Last October, the Minneapolis-based provider was named a recipient of an R&D Magazine R&D 100 Award for its depth-sensing indenter, the TEM PicoIndenter. In September, the company was honored as a winner of a 2006 Tibbetts Awards, which acknowledges outstanding participants in the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, a government initiative designed to foster R&D projects with the potential for commercialization.

Aside from the PicoIndenter, Hysitron is also known for the TriboScope, the TriboIndenter, and the Ubi Series. These instruments, used primarily by scientists and engineers, measure mechanical properties—in amounts so small you can hardly see them— such as hardness, elastic modulus, impact strength, friction, and wear resistance. The high-precision equipment can be found in universities, national research labs, and industrial settings as part of cutting-edge research. "The immediate benefactor for all current developments of nanotechnology is material science," says Wyrobek. "In our lifetime, we will get materials that are stronger, longer-lasting, more efficient, less expensive to produce." The result, he adds, will be "plastic better than glass, paint that won't get dull, and biomaterials more compatible with your body."

And Hysitron is paying forward the fruits of its labors. "Nanoscience has now come to the trade school level with Hysitron nanoindenters at Dakota County Technical College—normally, only top-dog schools could afford this technology," Wyrobek says, noting that the program is helping take some of the mystery out of the nanotechnology realm. "People realize they don't need Ph.D.s to run the instruments."

Deb Newberry, principal investigator for Dakota County Technical College's nanoscience program, is thrilled to have Hysitron on board. "It's just been phenomenal; every way that we've asked industry to support our program, Hysitron has done it," she says, noting that the company has provided guest speakers, corporate tours, and internships. Hysitron has even hired two of the program's graduates. "I can't say enough good things about them."