Alpha STAR Facility is located in Long Beach, California central to many aerospace entities e.g. Northrop Grumman, Boeing and Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The location provides 5000 square feet of office space comfortably housing 25 software development workstations fully equipped with the latest hardware, software and networking capabilities. The facilities provide a comfortable and productive atmosphere for over 25 employees to perform research and code development.

Testing Capability – High temperature testing of ceramic coupons include furnace, water-cooled grip, creep, and fatigue load frames. The high temperature test equipment consist of: 1) wedge grips with options for water-cooling, 2) high temperature extensometer, and 3) hot rail furnace system. The wedge grips and the high temperature extensometer are manufacture by the MTS Corporation. The hot rail furnace system has previously been used on HSCT high temperature testing by NASA/GRC, and General Electric Aircraft Engines and is manufactured by the AMETCO Inc. MTS Model 632.54-11 Extensometer is an inexpensive solution for high temperature testing with induction heaters or furnaces with a contact force of only 100 grams per rods, these units come with two pair of ceramic contact rods, extending 66 mm (2.6 in) from the heat shield, 2mm (0.079 in) in diameter, with V-chisel ends for round specimens.

Fatigue Testing Capability – Alpha STAR utilizes the Orange County Materials (OCM) Test Laboratories, qualified to perform low/high cycle fatigue tests according to ASTM standards under uniaxial and bi-axial loading conditions. A broad range of testing can be performed with a wide selection of grips, fixtures, software and accessories to meet the required application. The OCM servo-hydraulic fatigue load frames include: 1) Shore Western (1.5 Kips), MTS (22-220 Kips), Instron (22 Kips), and CGS Lawrence, Koering (55 kips).