Facilities & Capabilities
Axiom announces new website launch Jun 3rd
AXIOM Materials
Axiom announces new website launch Jun 3rd
AXIOM MaterialsAxiom Materials has 5 state-of-the art manufacturing facilities in Southern California. Axiom produces ceramic matrix composites, composites prepregs, adhesives, tooling prepregs, honeycomb cores, and related products. Two of the facilities are dedicated to aerospace and industrial materials, a third site produces high volume film adhesives, the fourth site is a new High Temperature Composites Center, and our new fifth site produces our honeycomb product line. Axiom also has invested in a modern R&D center located in Henderson, NV.
Axiom operates 12 equipment lines to produce woven fabric prepregs, unidirectional tapes, and thin film adhesives. All lines are highly automated with SPC controls to manufacture high quality materials consistently.
The growth in the green energy sector has led to increased demand for advanced industrial composite materials that are durable and corrosion-resistant for long-term use. Our extensive experience in supplying industrial materials for industrial facilities such as chemical processing plants has provided an excellent grounding for these applications.
Oil and gas extraction, pollution control, chemical and paper processing and energy generation are all sectors where harsh environments are found. This calls for materials that are far more durable than metals and thermoplastics and has led to specifiers and designers demanding advanced composites such as those we produce at Axiom Materials.
Our broad range of robust, lightweight, and low smoke-toxicity products is designed to be used in primary and secondary aircraft structures. These products show high stiffness and excellent impact resistance, as well as the stringent thermal performance required in this industry. We provide both 120 °C and 180 °C curable epoxy prepregs for the aviation industry, which can be supplied with any kind of unidirectional (UD) and woven carbon or glass fabrics.
Our epoxy products are made with a toughened matrix, and the prepregs obtained through this method show excellent drape as well as tack. The highest glass transition temperature reached with our epoxy products (EF 12) is above 240 °C. Our aerospace product portfolio also includes cyanate ester prepreg with good dimensional stability and high temperature resistance (CM 13) with Tg of 250 °C. The products we offer for the aerospace industry are mainly tailored for autoclave curing.
We also have the facility to supply a range of epoxy prepregs with adjustable toughness and glass transition temperature. This is our own unique formulation and is compatible with different brands of carbon fibers. Our off-line process methodology and high precision equipment offer a very accurate impregnation level for the aerospace industry. In addition, our hot-melt resin system decreases the chemical volatility, providing void-free laminates.
In addition to epoxy products with low FST properties, we have more than 40 years of experience in phenolic chemistry, providing phenolic prepregs for aerospace interiors. Cyanate ester prepregs offer not only excellent FST properties but also high service temperatures. Additionally, since the resin system is volatile-free and low gas permeable, the composite parts are not porous. With high Tg and excellent FST, our cyanate ester product is ideal for the aerospace industry.
Our state-of-the-art family of Oxide-Oxide Ceramic Matrix Composite (CMC) materials for high temperature applications in the range of 1400F – 2000F (760C – 1100C) is suitable for a range of applications in aerospace, hypersonics, electric vehicles, air mobility and green energy production.
At our High-Temperature Composites Center in Santa Ana, California, USA, we have been enhancing our current product line with the addition of C-SiC and SiC-SiC proprietary materials for higher temperature applications up to 2700F (1485C). In addition, we have invested heavily in advanced process equipment and test labs to develop and produce an array of CMC material types, including:
The CMC materials may be processed via conventional layup and curing techniques, followed by free-standing high temperature sinter cycles to produce components for operation in extreme environments requiring a combination of high temperature resistance and mechanical strength. Target applications include advanced aircraft engines, hypersonics, space vehicles, lithium battery containment, oil and gas piping, petrochemical tubing, and refinery furnaces and kilns. In addition, our innovations in material science, process improvements, and technical leadership are contributing to the broader use of Ceramic Matrix Composite materials across the manufacturing sector.
The new Axiom Honeycomb Core facility is located in Carlsbad, California, 30 miles north of San Diego. The plant is equipped with an innovative research and development laboratory, efficient new production equipment and is monitored by a quality control program. The senior technical staff at Axiom has extensive experience in the research and development of high-quality honeycomb core. They are available to work with design engineers to find new honeycomb solutions to technical problems. Additionally, Axiom engineers can assist customers with special processing. Honeycomb can be supplied in custom contours and irregular configurations to meet specific design requirements.
Our honeycomb is made from continuous webs of Nomex®, kraft grade paper, advanced composites. The geometric configuration provides unique characteristics which can be combined with the qualities of the materials used. For example, materials not normally considered for load-bearing or fatigue-resistance can be utilized as honeycomb with significant weight savings.
The two most common manufacturing methods for honeycomb are “expanded” and “corrugated.” The expanded method joins the material at the nodes with an adhesive bond prior to expanding the honeycomb into its characteristic honeycomb shape. The corrugated method joins pre-formed base material together at the nodes.
Honeycomb thickness, density and core type, plus the thickness and type of facing materials, can be widely varied to produce a very broad range of honeycomb products.
All honeycomb manufactured by Axiom is rigorously tested for durability and integrity, strength and corrosion resistance.
Combined Research and Development, Design, and Manufacturing Space.
Support of parent company KORDSA with global reach across 4 continents and 12 facilities
Our composite manufacturing facility and R&D center located at the Composite Technologies Center of Excellence was jointly established by KORDSA and Sabancı University. The Center produces thermoset prepregs for the aviation, automotive, sports equipment, and medical industries. We can boast a more comprehensive product range and more flexible production capabilities thanks to the strength gained from weaving our own fabric. This manufacturing facility also has AS9100 certification.
Serving as an open innovation hub and hosting our R&D Center, the Composite Technologies Center of Excellence brings designers, engineers, production process managers, doctoral students, postdoctoral researchers, faculty members, and incubators/entrepreneurs under one roof. Thanks to this collaborative ecosystem, we can offer tailor-made services to our customers by involving the stakeholders in all stages of research and development, from basic research to the production of a prototype to mass production.
As an output of R&D efforts at our composite R&D center, we achieved an innovation that increases production speed in the automotive industry. KORDSA’s new resin technology reduced the curing time to 3 minutes. In addition, its fast curing cycle, performance, and hot de-moldable nature are specially optimized for mass production in the automotive industry.
These machines produce solventless prepregs and film adhesives by application of heat to melt the resin matrices.
Matrix material is dissolved in a suitable solvent such as water, alcohol, or otherwise, and added to a tank for coating operations.
Matrix material is dissolved in a suitable solvent such as water, alcohol, or otherwise, and cast as a film on one side of paper or fabric.
Dedicated machine is solely for manufacturing unidirectional prepregs. Uni-Directional Treater.
At Axiom Materials, we continue to make significant investments in fabric roll handling equipment, CNC cutting machines, and storage facilities to provide our customers slitting, cutting, and kitting services. As a result, we can slit rolled fabrics and films and precision cut shapes from a broad range of the composite materials we currently manufacture.
Axiom Materials is the largest global producer of Ceramic Matrix Composite Ox-Ox prepregs on an industrial scale. Multi-million-dollar investment in Tower 3 and Uni-Directional equipment to enhance our production efficiencies and provide future capacity.
Clean Room for Panel Fabrication
United Testing Machine
MTS – Mechanical Testing Solution
Waterjet & CNC machining capabilities