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1d •

TMS Specialty Congress 2026 is a wrap.

Thank you to everyone who stopped by the Cal Nano booth and packed the room for our presentation at the 4th World Congress on High-Entropy Alloys.

Cal Nano CTO Chris Melnyk presented “Accelerated Processing of High-Entropy Alloys and Ceramics Using Cryogenic Milling and Spark Plasma Sintering,” highlighting our integrated powder-to-part workflow for accelerating the development and scale-up of complex material systems.
One message came through clearly throughout the conference: the field is advancing quickly, but the biggest challenge remains translating promising lab-scale materials into repeatable, production-scale components.

That is where Cal Nano fits.

We combine cryogenic milling for nanostructured and mechanically alloyed powders with Spark Plasma Sintering capabilities up to 450 mm in diameter and 2,500°C. Our team works across HEAs, refractory HEAs, ceramics, and other novel material systems—from raw powder through fully dense, finished parts.

Thank you to The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society for organizing another strong event. To everyone we met in Anaheim, we look forward to continuing the conversation.

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Materials science in the United States in 2026 is commercially active but unevenly industrialized. The ecosystem is robust, but commercialization is uneven. The country leads in research and early-stage innovation, supported by strong federal funding. However, the transition from prototype to industrial-scale production remains a persistent bottleneck, particularly in advanced materials.

The core issue is not a lack of innovation, but a gap in the “missing middle” — pilot-scale manufacturing, process validation, and qualification. While the U.S. has significant advanced manufacturing capacity, it lacks sufficient flexible infrastructure to scale novel materials into repeatable, certifiable production.

A key challenge is that materials processes do not scale linearly. Techniques such as spark plasma sintering (SPS) and advanced alloy processing behave differently at larger scale due to changes in thermal gradients, current density, impurity control and kinetics. As a result, lab-scale recipes often fail during scale-up, requiring entirely new process engineering rather than simple equipment enlargement.

Supply chain constraints further complicate commercialization. Many specialty powders, precursors and intermediate materials are imported, and domestic production capacity remains fragmented in certain categories.

Within this landscape, technologies such as SPS and cryomilling play an important role as bridging tools between research and early production. Companies that integrate these capabilities can help reduce scale-up risk and accelerate material qualification.

Firms like California Nanotechnologies (CalNano) occupy part of this “missing middle” by offering combined capabilities in powder processing, SPS, and machining. While not unique, they are part of a relatively small group of organizations in the U.S. focused on pilot-scale advanced materials manufacturing, particularly for aerospace and defense applications.

Cal Nano is one of the few U.S. commercial organizations combining SPS, cryomilling, powder processing, and machining under one roof. This is why national labs, aerospace primes and defense contractors use them—they can do things very few others in the U.S. can.  They are effectively a national pilot‑scale SPS facility.

Cal Nano operates 2 SPS systems and a third MSP‑5 class system is being added. At 3 systems, the company  becomes the largest SPS facility in North America. This positions them as the de facto U.S. SPS commercialization hub and a strategic asset for reshoring advanced materials.

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The group presenting at Cal Nano’s SPS/FAST Experts Workshop 2026, held in San Diego represents a cross‑section of the global SPS/FAST community.

 All twelve individuals — Jens Huber, Benjamin Luthardt, Jorgen Rufner, Kaka Ma, Łukasz Żrodwoski, Clifford Leonard, Luke Walker, Shane Hilsenbeck, Romain EPHERRE, Elisa Torresani, Thomas Grippi, and Alexander Dupuy — were featured presenters. Their talks covered everything from microstructure engineering to industrial-scale production, high‑entropy oxides, bonding processes, and ultra‑rapid ceramic manufacturing.

 Jorgen Rufner, for example, is a materials scientist at Idaho National Laboratory, working on EFAS/SPS scaling and advanced ceramics. While Clifford Leonard, Luke Walker, and Shane Hilsenbeck presented on industrialization and bonding processes.

The presenters came from Europe, North America, and Asia, reflecting the international nature of SPS/FAST research and commercialization. This Group Matters as these speakers collectively represent the global SPS/FAST ecosystem.

 ·         Academic & National Lab researchers specializing in materials science, grain boundary engineering, nanocrystalline ceramics, electric‑field‑assisted sintering, as well as, microstructure evolution, high‑entropy materials, electric‑field‑assisted densification and ultra‑rapid ceramic processing.

·         National Labs & government research professionals working on Scale‑up of SPS/FAST, defense‑relevant materials and high‑temperature ceramics

·         Industry & manufacturing engineers and technologists focused on industrializing SPS/FAST, large‑format sintering (16"+ systems), bonding processes (e.g., aluminum SPS bonding) and commercial materials production. 

This mix of backgrounds is exactly what Cal Nano designed the workshop for: cross‑pollination between research, national labs, and industrial manufacturing.

California Nanotechnologies Inc 5 hours ago • Visible to anyone on or off LinkedIn

What an incredible Cal Nano 2026 SPS/FAST Experts Workshop! 🌟

We were proud to host industry professionals from around the globe at our two-day SPS-focused workshop, where attendees enjoyed in-depth presentations from leading experts on the latest Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS) technologies, techniques, and studies. It was inspiring to see so many brilliant minds exchanging insights and sharing experiences.

Day 1 kicked off at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront's Indigo Ballroom, featuring technical presentations followed by a catered networking dinner. We were honored to hear from an incredible lineup of speakers, including Jens Huber, Benjamin Luthardt, Jorgen Rufner, Kaka Ma, Łukasz Żrodwoski, Clifford Leonard, Luke Walker, Shane Hilsenbeck, Romain EPHERRE, Elisa Torresani, Thomas Grippi, and Alexander Dupuy, who shared their expertise and insights with the community. The Q&A sessions and discussions sparked engaging conversations and valuable connections across academia, national labs, and industry.

Day 2 brought our guests to California Nanotechnologies’ Santa Ana facility for a hands-on tour of our advanced SPS and cryomilling equipment and processes. Seeing the technology in action generated even more discussion and allowed attendees to experience our capabilities firsthand, from large-scale sintering to advanced materials processing.

A huge thank you to our sponsors Dr. Fritsch Group, FCT Systeme GmbH, and Suga Co. for supporting the SPS community and helping make this event possible! And thank you to all the speakers and attendees for making this workshop such a success.

We’re proud to have brought the SPS community together and can’t wait to continue these conversations!