Archon

Steel bridges across the United States suffer from widespread corrosion and section loss, leading to reduced load capacity, costly maintenance, and frequent traffic disruptions. Conventional repair methods often require extensive demolition, welding, or member replacement, resulting in long closures and high lifecycle costs. To address this challenge, our team is developing a field-deployable cold spray additive manufacturing technology that enables rapid, on-site restoration of corroded steel components without thermal damage or prolonged service interruption.

Cold spray repair deposits metal in the solid state, allowing precise material placement and compatibility with existing steel substrates. The technology was recently demonstrated in a first-of-its-kind field repair of a steel bridge in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, validating feasibility under real infrastructure conditions. By integrating 3D scanning, digital repair design, and mobile cold spray deployment, this approach enables data-driven, minimally invasive structural repairs. The proposed effort will advance this technology toward commercialization through startup formation and pilot deployment with transportation agencies.