Materials specialist Greene Tweed has developed an accelerated prototyping process for its Xycomp DLF material that features faster testing and validation for metal replacement development projects. By providing faster access to high-performance composite materials, critical markets in need of fast prototyping turnaround times, including aerospace and defense (A&D) and advanced air mobility (AAM), are better served.

Components employing Xycomp discontinuous long fiber (DLF) composites are geared to replace metals (see image above) while increasing strength and reducing weight of designs. 

George Rawa, general manager for structural & engineered components at Greene Tweed, noted, “Greene Tweed recognized the need for a faster, more cost-effective way to support the development of lightweight, high-performance components for customers. This process expedites the timeline to evaluate Xycomp composites in real-world applications by putting production-quality parts in engineers’ hands in a fraction of the time.”

Adoption of the composite materials due to rapid-prototyping needs is quickly growing across markets. Custom-engineered electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) applications are among the latest to benefit from such process enhancements as custom mold formation.