A NASA -funded collaboration between the University of Utah , the Pennsylvania State University (PSU), and Colorado-based Elementum 3D is working to unlock reliable manufacturing and repair pathways for GRX-810, a high-performance alloy designed for the extreme heat and reactive conditions inside rocket engines.

The project is supported through NASA’s Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I program, a federal funding mechanism designed to accelerate early-stage technology development. At its technical core is cold spray additive manufacturing, a process that propels metal particles at high velocities to progressively build dense coatings or bulk structures without the thermal damage associated with fusion-based methods.

The industries with the most direct stake in this research are aerospace, space, defense, and energy, sectors defined by components that must perform reliably under extreme conditions.

A NASA-Developed Alloy and the Bonding Problem at Its Core

The material at the center of the…