Hexcel Corporation is an American

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industrial materials company, based in Stamford, Connecticut. The company develops and manufactures structural materials. Hexcel was formed from the combination of California Reinforced Plastics (founded 1948), Ciba Composites (acquired 1995) and Hercules Composites Products Division (acquired 1995). The company sells its products in commercial, military and recreational markets for use in commercial and military

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s and satellites,

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blade A blade is the portion of a tool, weapon, or machine with an edge that is designed to puncture, chop, slice or scrape surfaces or materials. Blades are typically made from materials that are harder than those they are to be used on. Histor ...

sports equipment Sports equipment, sporting equipment, also called sporting goods, are the tools, materials, apparel, and gear used to compete in a sport and varies depending on the sport. The equipment ranges from balls, nets, and protective gear like helmets. ...

and automotive products. Hexcel works with

Airbus Group Airbus SE (; ; ; ) is a European multinational aerospace corporation. Airbus designs, manufactures and sells civil and military aerospace products worldwide and manufactures aircraft throughout the world. The company has three divisions: '' ...

The Boeing Company The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product ...

, and others. Since 1980, the firm has publicly traded on the

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under the ticker symbol HXL.

History

1948–1970s

Hexcel, originally named the California Reinforced Plastics Company, was founded in 1948 by a group of engineers from the

University of California at Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant uni ...

. The company's first contract was for the research and development of honeycomb materials for use in radar domes on military aircraft. In 1954, the company changed its name to ''Hexcel Products, Inc.'' The name was derived from the hexagonal cell-shaped honeycomb materials manufactured by the company. In the 1960s, Hexcel sold aluminum honeycomb and pre-impregnated fiberglass to Hubert A. Zemke and

Dave McCoy David McCoy (August 24, 1915 – February 8, 2020) was an American skier and businessman who founded the Mammoth Mountain Ski Area in 1942. Early life McCoy was born in El Segundo, California, in August 1915. He spent the first six years of his l ...

for use in building skis. Hexcel expanded from military and commercial aviation to the

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. The landing pads on the lunar module

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that carried men to the moon in 1969 were built from Hexcel honeycomb materials. In 1970, Hexcel licensed the ski from McCoy. A few years later, Hexcel decided to focus on its core aerospace business and sold the ski enterprise to Hanson Boots.

1980s–2000

In the 1980s, Hexcel purchased Stevens-Genin S.A., a French company that manufactured glass-fiber and woven industrial materials. In 1981, it provided materials for the nose, doors and wings of the space shuttle Columbia. In 1986, Hexcel made most of the material used in the fuselage and wings of the aircraft Voyager – the first aircraft to make a nonstop, around-the-world trip on a single tank of fuel.

2000–2019

In 2017, Hexcel was selected by Airbus to supply the composite materials for the H160 helicopter's fuselage structures and rotor blades. Hexcel acquired the aerospace and defense business of Oxford Performance Materials, a manufacturer of carbon fiber-reinforced 3D printed parts for commercial aerospace and space and defense applications. In March 2018, Hexcel opened its manufacturing facility at the MidParc Free Trade Zone in Casablanca, Morocco. The facility oversees the transformation of lightweight honeycomb materials into engineered core parts for aircraft structures, engine nacelles and helicopter blades. Hexcel also signed a strategic alliance with Arkema in Colombes, France, to combine work in carbon fiber and PEKK. The alliance will result in a joint research and development laboratory in France. The companies aim to develop carbon fiber-reinforced thermoplastic tapes to produce lightweight parts for aircraft. Also in 2018, Hexcel opened a carbon fiber plant at the Les Roches-Roussillon Chemicals Industry Platform in Isère, France. The plant is based at the Osiris Chemicals Industry Platform. Hexcel's composite materials were used as part of a new boat design used in the

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. In July 2018, Hexcel opened an integrated factory in Salaise-sur-Sanne near

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan language, Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, third-largest city and Urban area (France), second-largest metropolitan area of F ...

, manufacturing

polyacrylonitrile Polyacrylonitrile (PAN), also known as polyvinyl cyanide and Creslan 61, is a synthetic, semicrystalline organic polymer resin, with the linear formula (C3H3N)n. Though it is thermoplastic, it does not melt under normal conditions. It degrades bef ...

(PAN), the carbon fiber precursor, the second after its

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plant. In December 2018, Hexcel announced the hiring of Colleen Pritchett as President - Aerospace, in America. In March 2019, Hexcel partnered with Lavoiseier Composites to up-cycle composite by-products to reduce emissions of 13 kg per kg of Carbonium used.

Financial data

Acquisitions

* 1996 – Ciba Composites * 1996 – Hercules Composites Products Division * 1997 – Fiberite satellite prepreg business *2017 – Oxford Performance Materials Aerospace & Defense Business *2017 – Structil SA *2018 - ARC Technologies

References

{{Authority control Manufacturing companies established in 1948 Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange Manufacturing companies based in Connecticut Companies based in Stamford, Connecticut Aerospace materials Aerospace companies of the United States American companies established in 1948 1980s initial public offerings