October 15, 2026
Dr. Erin McDevitt
Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Foundation Alloy
on "MetalsFIRST: Breaking the Tyranny of Melting with Solid-State Metallurgy" Date Thursday, October 15, 2026 | 6:00-8:00 p.m. (EST) Location Boston University (BU) | Center for Computing and Data Sciences (CDS) 665 Commonwealth Ave, Boston MA 02215 | Room 950 (9th Floor) Scroll down to register and view important event details.
Abstract
Legacy metal part production has been constrained by the fact that to make a metal part, you have to melt the metal. The melting process limits the range of compositions that are accessible, what microstructures can be achieved, and how much energy and downstream processing is required to produce a finished part. Foundation Alloy is challenging that constraint with our MetalsFIRST™ technology. MetalsFIRST is a solid-state metallurgy part manufacturing process that can deliver finished, fully dense metal parts without ever melting the metals.
MetalsFIRST combines composition design, mechanical alloying, shape forming, and sintering into a single solid-state process. The fully integrated process unlocks compositions and microstructures that conventional ingot metallurgy cannot achieve, while cutting production steps by up to 80%. We are currently commercializing a family of molybdenum alloys and specialty steels specifically made possible because of the unique manufacturing process. MC1200 is a carbide strengthened Molybdenum alloy, which delivers up to three times the strength of TZM. Our stainless knife steel composition offers finer carbide distributions that improve edge sharpening, hardness, toughness, and simplifies the knife making process. We are also producing a high strength, precipitation hardened Mo alloy, the composition of which cannot be produced via melting, that outcompetes tool steels for high temperature tooling applications where traditional tool steels fail by temper softening. About the Speaker
Dr. Erin McDevitt is currently COO at Foundation Alloy, leading manufacturing and technology as the company scales up its novel powder metallurgy technology to serial production. Erin has over 25 years of experience executing and leading R&D and New Product Introduction activities at primary metal manufacturers or end users. His career included roles at Bethlehem Steel (now Cleveland Cliffs) and General Motors before spending 18 years at ATI prior to joining Foundation Alloy. There he was responsible for process development, scale-up, and insertion of multiple new Ni-base superalloys, specialty steels, and Ti-base alloys including ATI 718Plus, 13-8 SuperTough, ATI 425, RR1073, and other cast-and-wrought and powder products accounting for over 5M pounds annual production.
Erin holds a B.S.E. from Case Western Reserve University and a Ph.D. from Northwestern University in Materials Science and Engineering. He is inventor on 10 patents, author of over 25 scholarly publications, and co-author of the most downloaded Metallurgical Transactions A paper of 2025. When not working, Erin can be found spending time with his family, hiking, or practicing his hand at some artistic pursuit. Evening Program
6:00 p.m.: Arrival, Registration, and Networking Dinner
6:30 p.m.: Keynote Presentation: "MetalsFIRST: Breaking the Tyranny of Melting with Solid-State Metallurgy" by Dr. Erin McDevitt 7:15 p.m.: Post-Presentation Social and Networking 8:00 p.m.: Adjourn Location & Directions
Boston University (BU) | Center for Computing and Data Sciences (CDS)
665 Commonwealth Ave, Boston MA 02215 | Room 950 (9th Floor) Parking Directions 
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Upcoming Events
October 15, 2026 | Dr. Erin McDevitt
November 19, 2026 | Prof. Yi Zheng January TBD, 2027 | Jim Scutti, FASM Join Us
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