Podcast Ep. #41 – Alpine Advanced Materials and the Ultralight Nanocomposite Material HX5™

Aerospace Engineering Podcast

In this episode I am speaking to Aaron Daniel and Peter Shpik of Alpine Advanced Materials. Alpine Advanced Materials specialises in the design and manufacture of custom-engineered parts and products for demanding aerospace and energy applications. The company is currently commercialising a high-performance material known as HX5™, which is a thermoplastic nanocomposite originally developed by Lockheed Martin Skunk Works® over a decade of testing and validation.

HX5™ was originally developed to replace aluminum at half the weight but with the same strength and stiffness. On top of that HX5™ has excellent durability in harsh environments such as in outer space, in radioactive settings or around aggressive chemicals. As a result, this new nanocomposite material is already being used on jet fighters, high-speed helicopters, UAVs, rockets, and satellites. In this episode of the aerospace engineering podcast Aaron, Peter and I talk about:

• the importance of lightweighting in the aerospace industry
• the development history of HX5™
• what exactly HX5™ is and its unique properties
• where and how HX5™ is currently being used

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Selected Links from the Episode

• Alpine Advanced Materials webpage, Twitter & LinkedIn
• HX5™ white paper
• HX5™ case studies
• What is a nanocomposite?