Lewiston-based Elmet Technologies wins $5.1 million Navy contract

A person works with machinery and there are sparks.

Photo / Courtesy Elmet Technologies Elmet’s extrusion press, seen here, will be used for certain superalloys used for U.S. Navy submarine systems.

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By Laurie Schreiber

Elmet Technologies LLC, a tungsten and molybdenum manufacturer in Lewiston, secured a $5.1 million order to develop extrusion capabilities for two high-performance superalloys used for U.S. Navy submarine systems.

The money will be used to develop and qualify extrusion and rotary forging processes for the alloys, which are essential for corrosion resistance and high-temperature strength in naval propulsion and submarine system applications, according to a news release.

“Extrusion” is a manufacturing process that pushes material through a die made to desired specifications. “Rotary forging” can create complex, repeatable shapes.

An alloy is a material made by combining metallic elements. A superalloy has exceptional properties related to factors such as strength and heat resistance.

Elmet will be working with Inconel, a nickel-chromium-based superalloy, and Monel, a group of nickel-copper alloys.

The contract will leverage Elmet’s 5,500-ton extrusion press, one of the largest in the nation and located at its Coldwater, Mich., facility, according to the company.

Elmet acquired the Coldwater facility, along with one in Euclid, Ohio, in 2023.

Originally built for the U.S. Air Force to extrude hollow, 10-foot-long, alloyed steel airplane propellers, the press has been upgraded numerous times and used for several decades to extrude a portfolio of alloys for other customers in fields such as aviation and electronics.

The latest contract is part of a collaboration between Elmet, the U.S. Navy, the Maritime Industrial Base Program and BlueForge Alliance.

The Maritime Industrial Base Program is a Navy program established in 2024 to strengthen and expand the industrial base that builds and maintains surface ships, aircraft carriers and submarines. BlueForge Alliance is a Texas nonprofit with a mission to accelerate the revitalization of the defense industrial base.

“With this strategic order, we are expanding the Navy’s supply chain around Inconel, Monel and our extrusion press — but more importantly, we are investing in the future of American manufacturing and job creation,” said Brian Olson, Elmet’s vice president of operations.

Established in 1929, Elmet is the largest U.S.-owned producer of tungsten and molybdenum materials and products, with nearly 400 employees across three facilities, with a combined 500,000 square feet of space, in Lewiston, Ohio and Michigan.

Earlier this year, Elmet signed an agreement with a German producer of two metal materials — tantalum and niobium materials and related alloys — to strengthen the supply chain for the materials in the U.S. and elsewhere in North America.

Last year, Elmet agreed to a collaboration with an Australian tungsten supplier to strengthen the Western industrial base and supply chain for the metal.