DOE Vehicle Technologies Office Issues Award to Project Leveraging LightMAT Results

The U.S. Department of Energy Vehicle Technologies Office (VTO) announced today a $320,000 Technology Commercialization Award for Orion Township, Michigan-based manufacturer Leggera Technologies, working in conjunction with Oak Ridge National Laboratory (Oak Ridge, Tennessee) and Terves, LLC (Euclid, Ohio).

This award, issued from the office’s Technology Commercialization Fund (TCF), will support a new project, titled “Enabling Commercialization of Thixomolded Components Fabricated Using New Magnesium Alloy.” The project will build on a previous LightMAT project, conducted in 2018 and also funded by VTO, that resulted in the development of a new, lightweight magnesium alloy.

In response to the news, LightMAT Consortium Co-Director Tim Skszek said that he applauded the researchers’ accomplishment and is encouraged by the application of the LightMAT-associated alloy and the industrial interest in magnesium thixomolding technology.