Elk Grove Village, IL, March 10, 2004 – Material Sciences Corporation (NYSE:MSC), Engineered Materials and Solutions Group, and Blachford Inc., of West Chicago, Illinois, have announced the completion of a Joint Marketing Agreement for North America, covering various noise reducing materials manufactured by the two companies.

The agreement covers the marketing, selling and distribution of both firms’ products, including MSC’s Sound Trap™ and Magna Damp™ constrained-layer noise damping laminates, and Blachford’s Antivibe® vibration damping compound, Barymat® and Barycast® sound barriers, and Conasorb® sound absorbing materials. Each company will immediately begin offering the other’s products, as well as providing technical support to their respective customers and prospects.

According to Rebecca Jones, marketing manager for MSC’s Engineered Materials and Solutions Group, the new marketing collaboration leverages each firm’s distinctive customer markets, product solutions and technical capabilities. “MSC is well known in the automotive and appliance industries, for example, while Blachford targets other market segments including construction equipment, heavy trucks and diesel engines,” said Ms. Jones. “But we share a common approach of promoting value to our customers in our respective markets.”

Steve Erickson, sales and product manager at Blachford Inc. notes that the two companies’ products are highly complementary. “MSC concentrates on noise damping materials,” said Mr. Erickson. “Blachford offers sound absorbers and barriers, often in the form of non-metallic composites, which round out the complete range of materials necessary for solving noise control problems.”

Both MSC and Blachford use comprehensive, albeit different, testing technologies as a basis for their noise reduction application solutions. Now, through the joint marketing agreement customers will be able to benefit from MSC’s highly developed performance modeling capabilities as well as Blachford’s practical testing services available at the company’s advanced acoustics laboratory in West Chicago.

“Noise problems within a given application are typically complex and require more than one type of treatment,” explains Mr. Erickson. “Through this collaborative marketing arrangement, Blachford and MSC can now provide a wider range of noise control products than anyone else in our industry.”

For complete information on noise reduction products and applications, please contact:
Rebecca Jones, MSC Engineered Materials and Solutions Group, telephone 847-718-8475, or Steve Erickson, Blachford Inc., telephone 630-231-8300.

About MSC:
MSC Engineered Materials and Solutions Group’s is a global supplier of engineered material solutions. Its core business centers on proprietary continuous coil coated and constrained layer laminating processes to produce optimum material solutions for noise, vibration and thermal control issues. MSC’s products are found throughout a broad array of markets that include the appliance, automotive, comfort conditioning, and building and construction industries. For more information, visit the company’s web site at: www.quietsteel.com.

About Blachford:
Blachford Inc. is a leading supplier of plastics-based noise reducing products for use in industrial and transportation equipment. The company’s sound barriers, vibration damping and sound absorbing materials and composites provide noise control solutions in a wide range of applications including truck, construction, off-highway and other vehicular equipment, generator set enclosures and blower fans. For more information, visit the company’s web site at: www.blachford.ca.