Materials Performance Analysis

What Materials Performance Analysis does

Materials Performance Analysis (MPa) is a privately held, Scottsdale, Arizona-based materials engineering consultancy founded in 1988 and operating under the continuous leadership of President David A. Woodford, Ph.D., D.Sc. The firm provides specialized mechanical testing, analysis, and consulting services for high-temperature applications in which time-dependent deformation and fracture — creep, fatigue, thermal fatigue, and gaseous environmental attack — govern component life. Its service portfolio covers metallic alloys, structural ceramics, engineering plastics, and advanced composites used in steam turbines, gas turbines, jet engines, high-performance automobile engines, boilers, and furnace components.

MPa's commercial differentiator is its proprietary "Design for Performance" methodology, which replaces traditional long-duration creep tests (often 50,000–100,000 hours) with short-time, high-precision Stress Relaxation Tests (SRT, ~20 hours) and Constant Displacement Rate (CDR) tests that decouple creep strength from fracture resistance and span up to five orders of magnitude in creep rate. Complementary offerings include a Creep-Rupture Database built on the Cambridge Engineering Software (CES) platform from Granta Design, incorporating NIMS data for ~50 alloys fitted with optimized Larson-Miller, Manson-Haferd, Manson-Succop and Orr-Sherby-Dorn parametric models; decision-support services for remaining-life assessment of gas turbine blades and power-plant components; failure analysis and litigation support; and short courses in Materials Selection and Design and High Temperature Materials.

The firm operates a direct, sales-led B2B consulting model with four revenue streams — consulting services, accelerated testing services, training courses, and licensing of testing specifications and analysis software that allow customers to develop in-house capability. Pricing is quote-based and not publicly disclosed. The customer base is concentrated in the energy and power generation vertical, with marquee relationships including EPRI (core methodology and database partner), GE, ARCO, ABB, EXXON, Rolls-Royce, Hitachi, Siemens-Westinghouse, ORNL, and DOE-funded programs. Marketing is conducted primarily through Woodford's ~130-peer-reviewed publications, ASM/ASME/TMS-AIME conference involvement, and a minimal web presence; the firm has no public funding rounds, no disclosed revenue, and no named management beyond the President.

Name

Materials Performance Analysis

Legal name

Materials Performance Analysis

Website

https://materialsperformanceanalysis.com

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Materials Performance Analysis is a Scottsdale-based materials engineering consultancy that provides proprietary accelerated mechanical testing, failure analysis, and remaining-life assessment services for high-temperature components in the power generation, aerospace, and energy sectors.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Materials Engineering Consulting

NAICS

Testing Laboratories and Services (54138), Testing Laboratories and Services (541380)

SIC

Services-Testing Laboratories (8734), Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731)

akta.pro primary industry

Reliability Engineering & Root Cause Analysis (RCFA) (EUAEAKAJ)

akta.pro secondary industries

Reliability, Safety & Risk Engineering (RAMS/PSM) Consulting (BPAHAIAK), Predictive Maintenance & Condition Monitoring Services (CBM/Vibration/Fluid Analysis) (TLAKAGAL)

Keywords

• Materials testing services
• High temperature consulting
• Creep rupture analysis
• Failure analysis services
• Mechanical testing laboratory

Headquarters

HQ city

Scottsdale

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Materials Performance Consulting: Consulting services for high temperature materials performance including failure analysis, decision support for remaining life assessment, and litigation support.
2. Accelerated Testing Services: Specialized mechanical testing services using stress relaxation testing and CDR testing for creep strength and intrinsic ductility evaluation.
3. Training Courses: Courses in Materials Selection and Design, and High Temperature Materials offered as educational services.
4. Testing Specifications and Analysis Software: Product offering including testing specifications, analysis software and expertise to allow companies to develop their own in-house capability.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Materials Performance Analysis (MPa) provides mechanical testing, analysis, and consulting services for high-temperature materials applications. The firm applies a proprietary "Design for Performance" methodology that uses accelerated stress relaxation testing (SRT) and constant displacement rate (CDR) testing to generate creep-rupture data in days rather than years, supporting remaining-life assessment, failure analysis, and material selection for power generation, aerospace, and chemical processing clients.

Product overview

Materials Performance Analysis (MPa) is a materials engineering company providing specialized mechanical testing, analysis, and consulting services for high-temperature applications. The company operates a unified service portfolio centered on its proprietary Design for Performance methodology, which integrates accelerated testing evaluation of creep strength using stress relaxation tests (SRT) with fracture resistance assessment via constant displacement rate (CDR) tests. Supporting this core methodology is a Creep-Rupture Database built on Cambridge Engineering Software (CES), which provides comprehensive high-temperature materials data for design analysis. MPa offers decision support for remaining life assessment of gas turbine blades and power plant components, failure analysis services, and an in-house capability development package allowing companies to adopt MPa's testing specifications and analysis software. Additional services include educational courses in materials selection and high-temperature materials engineering.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Accelerated Mechanical Testing Services Accelerated stress relaxation testing (SRT) and constant displacement rate (CDR) testing that produces creep-rupture data in days rather than years, used by power generation, aerospace, and chemical clients to characterize long-term high-temperature alloy behavior.
• Creep-Rupture Database Proprietary cumulative creep-rupture dataset built on Cambridge Engineering Selector (CES) software, providing reference data for remaining-life assessments and material selection across a wide range of high-temperature alloys.
• Decision Support for Remaining Life Assessment Consulting service that combines MPa's accelerated test data and creep-rupture database to support plant life-extension decisions for high-temperature components such as boiler tubes, headers, and turbine rotors.
• Failure Analysis and Litigation Support Expert root-cause failure analysis of high-temperature component failures, combined with expert witness and litigation support services for material failure cases.
• In-House Capability Development Package A bundled deliverable of testing specifications, analysis software, and technical expertise that enables client organizations to develop their own in-house accelerated testing and remaining-life assessment capability.
• Courses in Materials Selection and High-Temperature Materials Training courses covering materials selection for high-temperature service and the behavior of alloys used in power generation and aerospace applications.

Quantifiable outcome

• 20-hour stress relaxation test covers five decades in creep rate
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• EPRI (Electric Power Research Institute)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMajor support provider for Design for Performance methodology development and creep-rupture database work. Primary funding source for high temperature materials research including contracts WO 8512-10 and WO9005-19. EPRI Report support for creep strength evaluation and accelerated testing methodologies.
• GE (General Electric)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerWorked on materials development and component life assessment for gas turbines and power systems. Multiple collaborations on accelerated testing methodology for superalloys.
• NIMS (National Institute for Materials Science, Japan)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSource of extensive creep-rupture data covering approximately 50 alloys tested for up to 100,000 hours. NIMS data incorporated into MPa's creep-rupture database with A-rating for quality.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Market position

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Materials Performance Analysis