Stamford, Connecticut – Hexcel Corp. has made a strategic investment in Oxford Performance Materials (OPM), which produces thermoplastic, carbon-fiber reinforced 3D printed parts for commercial aerospace and space and defense applications.
The investment creates a partnership between advanced composites and carbon fiber supplier Hexcel and high-performance additive manufacturing (HPAM) firm OPM – to further advance the commercial application of this growing manufacturing technology to serve the aerospace market.
Hexcel Chairman, CEO, and President Nick Stanage said, “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. 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.”
Scott DeFelice, OPM’s chairman and CEO, said, “Hexcel represents the gold standard in carbon fiber and composite material technologies, and our core target markets are extremely complementary. Hexcel’s investment in OPM will help enable us to further expand production capacity to meet rapidly growing market demand for our OXFAB technology. In addition, this investment sets the stage for joint technology collaboration and business development efforts with Hexcel.”
OPM, 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. OXFAB structures offer weight and cost reduction that are defined in a set of specified performance attributes in the OPM B-Basis database, developed in conjunction with NASA.
Hexcel Corp. develops, manufactures, and markets lightweight, high-performance structural materials, including carbon fibers, reinforcements, prepregs, honeycomb, matrix systems, adhesives, and composite structures used in commercial aerospace, space and defense, and industrial applications.
Sources: Hexcel Corp., OPM
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