Jan. 24, 2007 — Advanced Diamond Technologies, Inc., an Ill. provider of diamond films for industrial, electronic, mechanical, and medical applications, received a $500,000 Phase IIB Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for the continued development of diamond-enhanced mechanical seals for pumping applications.

“This additional grant ensures ADT and its partner, John Crane, Inc., continued momentum needed to develop and introduce commercially viable ultrananocrystalline diamond (UNCD®)-enhanced mechanical seals,” said ADT president Neil Kane. “We are grateful for the NSF’s continued support.”

The company stated that phase I confirmed the effectiveness of UNCD-enhanced mechanical seals. ADT will use the Phase IIB funding to bring the products to market¿providing pump seals with dramatically improved wear characteristics that will increase reliability and save energy by reducing friction. “The Department of Energy estimates this application would save trillions of BTUs of energy annually,” said Kane.

“NSF encourages SBIR grantees to successfully transition their funded research from Phase I and Phase II to commercialization. The success of this effort depends on having a strong technical and business development expertise, with carefully targeted market opportunities. ADT’s record in this context indicates that they have an opportunity to succeed in this endeavor, and NSF is happy to play a strong supportive role in their efforts,” said NSF’s SBIR/STTR Program Director Dr. Deepak G. Bhat who oversaw this award.

In addition to $1.1 million in total funding from the NSF in support of this project, ADT also receives support from the Industrial Technologies Program of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.