Having recently won a series of new contracts in the aerospace, defence and automotive industries for its aluminium matrix composite (AMC) technology, Basingstoke-based Alvant (formerly Composite Metal Technology), was relaunched last month with a new management team, as it moves its primary focus from R&D to manufacturing and consultancy.
The company has experienced a steep rise in demand for its products in the past year, both nationally and internationally.
It is working on projects with Rolls-Royce, Ford and GE Aviation, and it was recently selected by Safran Landing Systems to participate in the ‘Large Landing Gear of the Future’ R&D project.
Alvant manufactures AMCs using a proprietary Advanced Liquid Pressure Forming (ALPF) process. The core technology is based on continuous ceramic fibres embedded in an aluminium matrix to give unique properties that can be tailored to the application.
In the past 12 months, commercial demand has increased significantly for the advanced composite material due to its greater strength, higher stiffness, lower weight and superior wear-resistance, as well as its lower coefficients of thermal and electrical conductivity.
The new management team has focused on responding to these commercial opportunities.
John Bonas, managing director of Alvant (
www.alvant.com), said: “Commercial readiness of AMCs comes at a time of increasing demand for strong yet lightweight components in transport and defence, industrial processes and high-end consumer products.
"Today’s design teams are looking for ways to increase product capabilities and performance, while simultaneously meeting ambitious goals for fuel efficiency and sustainability.
These are often conflicting challenges, for which AMCs can be a solution.
“AMCs provide the strength and stiffness of steel at less than half the weight.
“They also offer advantages over carbon composite material, including higher transverse strength and stiffness, superior damage tolerance, and a higher thermal operating range.
AMCs can be used to engineer more-durable lightweight components for harsh environments.”