About Us
Metallographic Sample Preparation, Testing & Analysis
PACE Technologies is a family-owned manufacturer of metallographic equipment and consumables, based in Tucson, Arizona. Since 1997 we've supplied labs in more than 50 countries with the metallographic products they rely on every day, from failure-analysis groups and QC labs to university researchers and national labs, backed by direct technical support from the people who make them.
Our Story
Our founder Dr. Donald Zipperian was, in a sense, born into materials. His father, also named Don, worked at American Cyanamid, and starting at fifteen Don was doing metallurgical sample prep alongside him on weekends. At seventeen he picked up a part-time job at an analytical chemistry lab. The work was familiar territory long before it was a career.
Don went on to earn a Ph.D. in materials science and spent years on the applications side of the field, much of it at Buehler, where he managed new product development and was also tapped to run their Southwest Research Center in Arizona. What set him apart was the combination of theoretical knowledge and practical experience. He understood the theory, but he also knew what it was like to stand at a grinder-polisher trying to get the perfect polish on a difficult alloy. He has also taught as an adjunct professor at the University of Arizona and Clemson University, and served on the ASTM E-4 committee on Metallography and on ASM's MTQC board. He founded PACE Technologies in 1997 with a focus on making metallographic preparation more accessible, especially for the smaller labs that don't always get the attention they deserve.
In 2011 he authored the Metallographic Handbook, which is still referenced in working labs today. For Don, sharing his knowledge about sample preparation was just as important as sharing the products he built, and that philosophy is still a big part of how we operate today.
PACE started small. The office was in the basement of the Zipperians' family home, the warehouse was their garage. The early years ran on relationships and word of mouth: labs would call with a problem, Don would help them solve it, and they'd tell other labs. The promise was simple. Better preparation methods, direct access to people who knew what they were talking about, and products priced for working labs.
That approach worked. The company grew steadily through the 2000s, first across North America and then internationally. By 2015, PACE was serving customers in over 50 countries and received the Presidential "E" Award, the highest recognition the U.S. government gives for contributions to American exports. Today we're still family-owned, still in Tucson, and still running things the same way: make good products, support them well, and treat people right.
Our Founders
Don leads the technical side of the company. The product designs, the consumable recipes, the preparation methods that go out with every order all trace back to him. They'll keep evolving for as long as he's still at the bench, which is most days; he's currently working on a follow-up to the Handbook. When a customer hits a hard problem, it's often his desk it lands on.
Don's wife Cathy Zipperian focuses on the work that holds a small company together: team building, culture, and the administrative processes that keep the day-to-day running. She brings genuine care and a high standard to everything she does, and over the years the team has taken that on. While Don kept PACE innovating on the product side, Cathy made sure we didn't lose the human side along the way.
Our Facility
Our Tucson, Arizona headquarters is where engineering, quality control, and customer support all come together. The people who design our equipment work right alongside the team that supports it, so when a customer calls with a question or feedback, it gets to the right person fast.
If you're ever in the area, you're welcome to stop by. We're happy to show you equipment running on real samples and talk through whatever you're working on.
Get in Touch
What working with PACE is like
Manufacturer-Direct Access
- You talk to the engineers who designed your equipment, not a call center
- Guidance specific to your application from experienced metallographers
- Custom preparation procedures developed for your exact materials
- Same-day responses from people who know your name and your lab
Complete Lab Solutions
- Full product line from sectioning through microscopy and hardness testing
- Equipment and consumables engineered to work together as a system
- One supplier, one relationship, one source of accountability
- Inventory stocked for fast shipping, no waiting on third-party distributors
Built for Daily Use, Fairly Priced
- Presidential "E" Award for exports (2015); customers in 50+ countries
- Equipment built for durability and daily production use
- No premium markup over the major-brand equivalents
- Free technical resources: preparation guides and recommended procedures
Trusted by Industry Leaders
From aerospace and automotive to medical devices and semiconductors, these companies rely on PACE equipment and consumables for quality control, failure analysis, and materials research.
Ready to Work with PACE?
Need a quote on equipment, help picking the right consumables, or want to come see our facility? Give us a call or send us a note. You'll talk to a real person who knows metallographic preparation.