CINDAS, company that compiles valuable data on materials properties, aerospace structural metals, moves to aerospace district

CINDAS LLC, a private company that compiles data on materials properties and aerospace structural metals, has moved into the Purdue Technology Center Aerospace building. The company, which privatized in 2003, compiles data essential to engineers and scientists worldwide. (Purdue Research Foundation image/Oren Darling) Download image

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — CINDAS LLC, a private company that compiles data on materials properties and aerospace structural metals that are essential to engineers and scientists worldwide, has moved into the university’s aerospace district.

Frank Mason and his wife, Patricia, who privatized the business in 2003, have moved CINDAS LLC into the Purdue Technology Center Aerospace building. The Masons say the move is the latest sign of the company’s growth.

“This little company has become more than just a little company,” said Frank Mason, who earned a chemical engineering degree and MBA from Purdue and worked in the College of Engineering for 30 years.

The Center for Information and Numerical Data Analysis and Synthesis (CINDAS) was created at Purdue in 1960 to manage a comprehensive and systematic research program on the properties and behavior of materials. Researchers collected and analyzed worldwide data on the thermophysical, mechanical, electronic and optical properties of materials of scientific and technological interest.

CINDAS' first product was a 13-volume series titled “The Thermophysical Properties of Matter – The TPRC Data Series.” It was released through the Purdue Research Foundation in the early 1980s.

“This quickly became and remains the bible for thermophysical properties of all materials,” said Mason, president of  CINDAS LLC.

Patricia and Frank Mason privatized CINDAS LLC in 2003 and recently moved the company into the Purdue Technology Center Aerospace building. Patricia Mason is vice president of the company and Frank Mason is the president. (Image provided) Download image

When Purdue decided it was going to shut down CINDAS, the Masons decided to license the data from PRF.

“We saw value in this, so we created this company,” said Patricia, vice president of CINDAS, and also a Purdue College of Science Distinguished Alumna.

Frank Mason retired in 2007, and along with several other former Purdue employees has since been working to expand and update the data, which has been digitized over the years.  Patricia retired from her job as a chemistry and physics teacher in 2006.

The popularity of The TPRC Data Series led the Air Force to express interest in having the company update, expand and disseminate its aerospace data in the six-volume Aerospace Structural Metals Handbook.

The aerospace handbook gives information on metals for those in the aerospace, defense, power generation and nuclear industries. For example, those who repair airplanes need to know how many times a cracked wing can be compressed or extended before it needs to be repaired. They need to know how the alloy reacts when stress is applied, or how it acts when exposed to a variation in temperature.

CINDAS also manages the Microelectronics Packaging Materials Database, the Aerospace and High Performance Alloys Database and the High Performance Alloys Database. All are widely used by engineers and scientists.

“We constantly update and expand these databases. They are not stagnant,” Mason said.  “We are considered the gold standard for the aerospace community for materials property data and thermophysical properties.”

The company has worked closely with the Department of Defense and NASA.

"We deal with almost everyone in the aerospace and defense systems throughout the world," Mason said.

Before moving to the aerospace district, CINDAS LLC, was headquartered in the Vistech building in the Purdue Research Park. The Masons hope the move into the Purdue Technology Center Aerospace building will help them keep better connected to the aerospace community. Their website can be found at https://cindasdata.com

Purdue Research Foundation contact: Tom Coyne, 765-588-1044, tjcoyne@prf.org