Steward Advanced Materials

Steward Advanced Materials operates as a manufacturer of highly engineered specialty metallic and ceramic materials, rooted in a corporate history that stretches back over 140 years. The current entity, Steward Advanced Materials LLC, was established in 2002 as a division of Steward, Inc., a family-owned business for 130 years. The original company was founded in 1876 by Colonel Demetrius M. Steward in Cincinnati, Ohio, and relocated to Chattanooga, Tennessee, in 1888. Throughout its history, the company has adapted to industrial changes, producing items from gaslight burner tips and ceramic insulators for Thomas Edison's General Electric to deflection yoke cores for Zenith TVs and components for Apple computers. In 2015, the Steward family sold the business to Andlinger & Company, a private equity firm.

The company serves a diverse global client base across the aerospace, defense, energy, industrial, automotive, and consumer electronics markets. Its business model centers on the development and manufacturing of custom and standard materials solutions, leveraging its extensive experience to transition products from prototype to commercial production. Revenue is generated through the sale of its specialized products and contract manufacturing services, which include milling, spray drying, thermal treatment, and surface coating. The company has demonstrated a commitment to growth and domestic manufacturing, with plans announced in 2023 to expand its Chattanooga facility.

Steward Advanced Materials offers a broad product portfolio that includes technical ceramics, metal powders, electromagnetic materials, and stainless steel flakes. These materials are designed for demanding applications such as energy storage, catalysts, gas absorption, and electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding. A notable product is a material known as self-assembled monolayers on mesoporous supports (SAMMS), which was developed to scrub carbon dioxide from the air in the U.S. Navy's next-generation submarines and has applications in removing heavy metals like mercury from the environment. The firm's products are available as high aspect ratio platelets or spherical particles, with capabilities to develop custom materials to meet specific client requirements.

Keywords: advanced materials manufacturing, specialty metallic materials, technical ceramics, ceramic powders, metal powders, electromagnetic materials, EMI shielding, RF absorption, microwave absorption, stainless steel flakes, contract manufacturing, materials solutions, defense industry supplier, aerospace materials, automotive components, industrial materials, energy storage materials, catalyst materials, gas absorbents, self-assembled monolayers on mesoporous supports, SAMMS technology, thermal treatment, spray drying, particle engineering, custom material development, private equity-backed, Chattanooga manufacturing