Hexcel Partners With United States National Aeronautics Research Institute to Build Advanced Composite Materials Center

Hexcel Group has officially begun construction of a new application center, with the project located at the National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR) under Wichita State University, marking the company’s continued expansion of its advanced composite materials business. This integrated platform is designed to streamline the entire process from materials research and development to manufacturing, accelerating the commercialization of technological innovation.

This new facility, located within the Advanced Technology Laboratory for Aerospace Systems (ATLAS) of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), marks an important milestone in the deepening collaboration between this global leader in composite materials and a top U.S. aerospace research institution. For readers of PlasticsToday, this project signifies that the industry is continuously increasing investments in the automation of composite processing and advanced material performance testing, which may reshape the entire process of aerospace component development from design conception to mass production.

Hexcel Chairman, CEO and President Tom Gentile said: “This investment marks a critical step in how we serve our aerospace and defense customers, spanning the entire value chain from materials innovation and advanced manufacturing to structural component forming. By leveraging Hexcel’s deep expertise in materials science and application development, combined with the National Institute for Aviation Research’s world-class automated processing capabilities, we are creating a powerful collaborative ecosystem that can both accelerate technology iteration and deliver practical, scalable solutions for our customers.”

Complementary advantages and collaborative development.

This collaboration fully leverages the differentiated strengths of both parties: the U.S. National Institute for Aviation Research possesses leading capabilities in advanced manufacturing, automated processing of composite materials, and high-end material performance characterization, while Hexcel has deep expertise in materials science and application technology R&D. Engineers and specialists from both sides engage in ongoing collaboration, creating a unique integrated R&D environment for customers.

John Tomblin, Executive Vice President for Research, Industry and Defense Programs at Wichita State University and Executive Director of the National Institute for Aviation Research, said: “The Hexcel Application Center established here brings together world-leading technologies, equipment and talent, creating a collaborative innovation platform. This partnership will significantly enhance our ability to serve the aerospace and defense sectors, helping customers leverage next-generation manufacturing technologies to develop, scale up production of and validate the performance of advanced composite products.”

The completion of the new center further solidifies Kansas's position as a global hub for the aviation industry and fully demonstrates the value of collaboration among industry, academia, research, and government. U.S. Senator Jerry Moran commented on this.

He said, “Wichita has long been a center of innovation and a global leader in aerospace and defense manufacturing. The official groundbreaking of the NIAR Applied Center at Wichita State University marks another major milestone, further solidifying the city’s status as the ‘Air Capital of the World.’ I strongly commend Hexcel’s decision to partner with the National Institute for Aviation Research and create growth opportunities for local talent, which also highlights the important role Kansas stakeholders play in leading the development of the aviation industry and safeguarding national security.”

Build a seamless end-to-end R&D workflow.

The two parties jointly established an end-to-end, seamlessly integrated composite materials R&D system. In the early stage of the project, material innovation work was carried out at Hexcel’s application laboratory in Salt Lake City, Utah, focusing mainly on material research and development, process development, and the trial production of non-automated composites.

Relevant R&D achievements will be directly introduced into this new center in Wichita, where customers will have access to a full suite of automated composite manufacturing equipment and receive expert process engineering support. The final structural assembly and performance validation of the products will be carried out at Hexcel’s plant in Kent, Washington, which specializes in composite structural components and is capable of full-scale product manufacturing and evaluation.

This collaborative operating model integrates the entire process from materials development and intelligent automated production to structural component forming, enabling the efficient transformation of products in the aerospace and defense sectors from conceptual design to mass-production solutions.