SAM #S-195784

Technology Licensing Opportunity for Compact Modular Furnace from Los Alamos National Laboratory

This opportunity is a technology licensing offer from Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) for its Compact Modular Furnace invention. - Agency: Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), managed by Triad National Security, LLC under the Department of Energy (DOE) - Opportunity Type: Technology licensing (not a procurement for goods or services) - Technology: Compact Modular Furnace - Glovebox-compatible, modular system for high-temperature testing of molten salts and metals - Features interchangeable components, optical access, and direct sample heating (resistive up to 750°C in vacuum, or inductive for refractory metals) - Designed for use in constrained lab environments, protecting sensitive materials from air/moisture, and enabling real-time observation - Patent pending (LA-UR-26-23234), Technology Readiness Level 5 - Licensing: Exclusive and non-exclusive agreements available to commercial entities (existing companies or start-ups) - No external development, equipment purchase, or service contracts are being solicited - No specific OEMs or vendors are named; this is a government-developed technology - Unique requirements: Compatibility with gloveboxes, modularity, contamination control, and flexible experimental setups - Location: Technology developed at Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico - Commercialization focus: Open to companies interested in bringing the technology to market

Description

The Compact Modular Furnace from Los Alamos National Laboratory gives researchers a practical way to perform extreme-temperature testing of molten salts and metals in a glovebox-compatible, tightly controlled environment. By combining a small footprint, interchangeable components, optical access, and the ability to isolate heat directly at the sample, it enables safer and more flexible experiments that would normally require much larger, more expensive equipment. The furnace design supports rapid setup for a range of materials studies, including contact angle measurement, compatibility testing, and thermal cycling, while helping teams work with highly reactive substances without exposing them to air or moisture. The result is a versatile platform that expands what can be studied, shortens experimental turnaround, and brings high-performance thermal testing into a form that is easier to deploy and use. The furnace can be heated using resistive heating elements to reach up to 750°C in vacuum or inductive heating elements to melt high temperature samples such as refractory metals.

The Challenge:

This invention addresses the difficulty of studying highly reactive materials under extreme heat while keeping them isolated from air and moisture. The Compact Modular Furnace provides a way to run controlled experiments on molten salts and metals in a compact setup that can fit inside a glovebox, which is important because these materials can be unsafe or unusable in ordinary open-air equipment. The furnace system can be isolated from the glovebox atmosphere to allow introduction of process gases, high vacuum, or to prevent fumes from contaminating the glovebox environment. It also allows researchers to observe the sample during testing, so they can measure behavior such as wetting, compatibility and thermal response without interrupting the experiment or exposing the material to the environment. By combining a small footprint, adaptable parts and a design that concentrates heat where it is needed, the system reduces the need for large, specialized furnaces and makes advanced testing more practical, flexible, and efficient.

Problems Solved:

The Compact Modular Furnace solves the problem of having to choose between precise high-temperature testing and a controlled, contamination-free environment. It gives researchers a way to heat and observe sensitive materials without exposing them to air, moisture, or other conditions that can distort results or damage the sample. It also addresses the limitations of large, inflexible furnaces by offering a smaller, easier-to-configure setup that can be adapted for different experiments and measurement tools. Protecting sensitive equipment such as cameras and spectrometers from extreme heat conditions. In practice, that means scientists can study molten salts and metals more safely, with less equipment costs, and with better access to the kinds of measurements needed to understand how these materials behave under extreme conditions.

Key Advantages:

Small enough to fit in constrained lab setups, including gloveboxes Helps protect sensitive materials from air and moisture Allows researchers observe samples while they are being heated Flexible enough to support different kinds of experiments Can reduce the need for multiple separate instruments May lower setup cost compared with larger, specialized systems

Market Applications:

Nuclear Energy (materials testing, reactor component development, heat-resistant systems) Fusion Energy (high-temperature materials screening, containment studies, component durability) Solar Energy (thermal materials evaluation, coatings testing, high-heat performance studies) Advanced Materials Research (compatibility testing, wetting behavior, extreme-environment studies) Laboratory Instrumentation (specialized testing setups, environmental control systems, sample observation tools) Industrial R&D (rapid prototyping, thermal cycling, materials qualification)

Development Status: TRL 5

U.S. Patent pending

LA-UR-26-23234

LANL Tech Partnerships: Unlock the Innovative Potential

Los Alamos National Laboratory offers a wide range of cutting-edge technologies and capabilities that may provide your company with a competitive edge in the market and unlock the innovative potential that can enhance, refine, and revolutionize your products.

LANL’s licensing program focuses on moving inventions developed by our researchers to commercial innovations. Patented and patent pending inventions and copyrighted software are available to existing and start-up companies through exclusive and non-exclusive licensing agreements. For specific discussions, please contact licensing@lanl.gov.

Note: This is not a call for external services for the development of this technology.

https://www.lanl.gov/engage/collaboration/feynman-center/partner-with-us/licensing-technology

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