Composites and carbon fiber supplier Hexcel Corp and Oxford Performance Materials (OPM), which produces carbon fiber reinforced 3D printed parts for commercial aerospace and space and defense applications, have formed a partnership.
The companies plan to advance the commercial application of additive manufacturing (AM) technology to serve the aerospace market.
‘Aerospace adoption of reinforced manufactured parts using Hexcel carbon fiber is becoming a viable and meaningful design solution due to its performance and processing advantages,’ said Hexcel chairman, CEO, and president Nick Stanage. ‘With the adoption of these lightweight, high-performing materials expected to accelerate, this is an ideal opportunity for our two companies to work together enabling faster product development and adoption for our customers.’
‘Hexcel’s investment in OPM will help enable us to further expand production capacity to meet rapidly growing market demand for our OXFAB technology,’ said Scott DeFelice, OPM’s chairman and CEO, said. ‘In addition, this investment sets the stage for joint technology collaboration and business development efforts with Hexcel.’
OPM, which is privately-owned and based in South Windsor, Connecticut, uses Hexcel carbon fiber in the production of its 3D printed OXFAB ESD structural parts for satellite and aerospace programs.
This story is reprinted from material from Hexcel, with editorial changes made by Materials Today. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent those of Elsevier.
