In the marketplace and among our customers, we’re known by a single name: Materion. ;xNLx;Explore our historical timeline below and learn about our innovative lineage.
Sawyer, a metallurgical engineer, worked with Brush to investigate the commercial potential of mineral crystals. Together the two founded Brush Laboratories Company.
The Swedish chemical engineer, begins working with Sawyer on the extraction of beryllium oxide from beryl ore. He will eventually lead Brush Beryllium Co.
The company pioneers and patents the direct reduction of beryllium oxide with carbon in the presence of copper in an electric arc. This process makes previous electrolytic production models obsolete and enables the economical production of copper beryllium master alloy.
With the death of his son in 1927, the great Euclid-born inventor begins working with Sawyer to incorporate Brush Beryllium Company.
Although we're Materion today, we've been known by many names over the years. On January 9, 1931, the Brush Beryllium Company officially incorporated, with a capitalized investment of $500.
The company's first commercial sale – an order of 50 pounds of pure beryllium oxide – was made in the early months of 1933 to the Rare Metals Manufacturing Company, which produced electric insulators in radio tubes. Other early oxide customers included the American Lava Corporation, Ken-Rad Corporation and the General Electric Company which needed the materials to manufacture refractories, spark plugs, electrical porcelains and gas mantles.
With war breaking out across Europe, the U.S. government takes an interest in beryllium for its top-secret defense efforts. During the U.S. involvement in World War II, the company supplies more than half of the country’s copper beryllium requirements, used extensively in forged aircraft engine bushings and cast brake and clutch rings for Navy marine diesels. The products become a staple for the military, due in part to their strength and resistance to corrosion.
The company's scientists & engineers make a 'quantum leap' in beryllium metallurgy, perfecting powder metallurgy techniques to make pure beryllium over earlier cast form.
The Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) becomes the first significant user of metallic beryllium and beryllium oxide after research scientists discovered pure beryllium is the ideal material for enabling controlled atomic reactions. Over the next several decades, the company plays a significant role in defense efforts related to atomic science.
The doctor, an inorganic chemist, and his wife were instrumental in manufacturing hot-pressed ceramic and refractory metals.
In 1957, the facility expanded to allow the company to produce beryllium for use by the U.S. government, reinforcing our importance to national security
The company makes history by forging 80-inch billets of QMV beryllium, the largest produced at the time, which were later used to make heat shields that enabled the safe return to earth of NASA's first astronauts in Project Mercury.
The company makes its first public stock offering and is traded over the counter. In 1972, the company is listed on the New York Stock Exchange with the symbol: BW.
The company enters the copper beryllium rolled products business.
Beryllium is discovered to be the ideal material for heat shields on early space capsules. Beryllium will continue to play a role in major space launches over the next several decades, including making up the shingles and plates used on Alan Shepard's 1961 Mercury space capsule – the first American flight into space. Beginning in the 1980s, Beryllium metal, alloys and ceramic parts fly on NASA’s Space Shuttle.
Known as "the wire so fine it can't be seen with the naked eye," these alloys allow for the production of semi-conductors.
The company develops a low density beryllium with superior strength and rigidity – a key ingredient for the missile and high performance aircraft markets.
Famous race car driver A.J. Foyt wins the Indianapolis 500 with a set of “heat loving, weight saving” beryllium brakes made from the company's materials.
With the construction of a new ore mine and processing mill in Utah, the company becomes the only fully integrated producer of beryllium, beryllium containing alloys and beryllia ceramic, and lessens dependence on foreign supplies.
Shareholders vote to change the company name to Brush Wellman, which remains the primary identity until 2000, when the corporate name was changed to Brush Engineered Materials.
The innovation is ideal for automotive electronic ignition systems, enabled a 20% improvement in vehicle fuel economy.
As fuel prices skyrocket and lines form at gas stations around the globe, automakers in North America, Europe and Japan begin using beryllia ceramics in electronic ignition systems. The move leads to a critical 20% improvement in vehicle fuel economy.
A strong R&D focus leads to the production of "Brake Grade" beryllium, which becomes the material of choice for a range of military aircraft disc brake rotors.
The company shifts its sole focus on basic beryllium products to technology, adding new products that serve markets in the emerging information economy, ushering in the advent of home PCs and electronics.
The purchase allows the company to begin manufacturing a new generation of beryllia ceramic electronic packages.
In response to a request from NASA, the company develops a special lightweight coating to use on the ceramic tiles that protect the Space Shuttle and its astronauts during re-entry.
The new and highly workable copper-beryllium strip product is used by electronic connector manufacturers to deliver high performance without the need for heat treatment by fabricators.
The purchase adds specialty metals to the company's portfolio.
The company's portfolio expands to include highly engineered grades of precious and non-precious metals for the electromechanical industries.
The facility, part of what was once CERAC, adds manufacturing space.
The company reinvents itself, with a shift in focus from the aerospace defense market to commercial market-based demand for engineered materials.
The products are designed for use in the auto electronics market; Alloy 174 begins replacing brass and bronze in automotive relays and connectors.
The new family of aluminum and beryllium metal matrix materials offer significantly higher machinability.
The move allows the company to provide local service and distribution in Southeast Asia.
The new area accommodates growing demand for magnesium fluoride (MgF2).
The company announces plans to invest in an Elmore Expansion Project, its largest capital investment ever.
The $10 million facility focuses production on the world's first copper-nickel-tin spinodal alloy (later to become ToughMet).
This took us into the non-precious metal target business.
The new copper-nickel-tin alloy is heralded for its durability and non-stick properties. Initial uses include aircraft landing gear, industrial equipment and off-road equipment.
A new copper-nickel-tin alloy, ToughMetⓇ, helps drive performance throughout the heavy equipment, mining and oil & gas industries.
The proprietary product offers an unrivaled combination of high-strength and conductivity properties.
The company delivers optical grade beryllium mirror blanks to Northrop Grumman Space & Technology for the primary mirror on NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope set to launch in 2018.
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