Airtech and Ascent Aerospace Collaborate to Promote Additive Manufacturing Tooling in Aerospace, Defense

Airtech Advanced Materials Group, an industry provider of specialty-formulated additive manufacturing (AM) materials, and Ascent Aerospace, an expert in aerospace tooling production, have entered into an exclusive supply agreement.

Through this partnership, Airtech will support Ascent’s AM tooling business in both the commercial and defense aerospace sectors, providing advanced technical and business development support. In return, Ascent will commit to the exclusive use of Airtech resin products for large-format additive manufacturing (LFAM).

“We are excited to collaborate with the team at Ascent Aerospace to support the initiative to supply high-performance, large-format printed tooling in some of the most challenging applications in the industry,” says Gregory Haye, director of additive manufacturing at Airtech Advanced Materials Group. “Ascent has been a long-time customer of Airtech, and we look forward to growing this relationship while helping the market adopt this game-changing technology."

Ascent produces a full suite of both mold and assembly tooling required for the aerospace manufacturing market. “With the vast number of ongoing and forecasted development programs moving at an accelerated pace, Ascent implemented additive manufacturing capabilities to provide a cost-effective, rapid tooling solution. However, it became imperative for us to have an expert in material science walk alongside us,” says Dan Friz, vice president of business development and sales at Ascent Aerospace. “This agreement with Airtech ensures Ascent’s customer’s technical requirements are achieved with their material expertise, allowing Ascent to focus on delivering a tooling solution that meets the program’s cost and schedule expectations.”

The combination of Airtech’s high-performance materials and Ascent’s production capabilities aim to support the adoption of polymer composite additive tooling to some of the most demanding applications and customers in the world.