Spintech opens new composites manufacturing division, Hawthorn Composites

Spintech Holdings, Inc. (Dayton, Ohio, U.S.) announced on Jan. 18 the opening of a new composites manufacturing business division named Hawthorn Composites. This new division extends Spintech Holdings’ composite capabilities beyond the existing Smart Tooling division that provides formable and reusable composite tooling solutions for complex geometry composites.

Hawthorn Composites specializes in manufacturing complex geometry composite parts using novel dry fiber preforming and resin infusion techniques. When appropriate, additional value can be realized through the use of Smart Tooling solutions. According to Spintech, this combination of technologies significantly lowers labor and material costs, while maintaining structural integrity and weight neutrality when compared to conventional prepreg and autoclave-cured components.   

“A key to success for Hawthorn is the current shift in the aerospace and defense composites market,” says Craig Jennings, CEO of Spintech Holdings, Inc. “Paraphrasing what Jeff Sloan said in a CompositesWorld editorial, the past decade was the decade of innovation in the composites industry and the next decade will be focused on achieving higher efficiency and lower cost by changing how composite parts are made. Hawthorn Composites is positioned to be a composite parts market leader for the next decade.”

Leveraging partnerships with A&P Technology (Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.) for optimized carbon fiber braided solutions including preforms, fabrics and sleevings, and the University of Dayton Research Institute’s (UDRI, Dayton, Ohio, U.S.) experience in creating carbon fiber preforms using technical embroidery and tailored fiber placement, extends Hawthorn Composites’ abilities to engineer and deliver complex geometry composite solutions.

“We are excited to have collaborative relationships with technology partners A&P Technology and UDRI,” says Tom Margraf, president of Spintech Holdings, Inc. “Through the use of their automated dry fiber preforming technologies, combined with Hawthorn Composites’ resin infusion expertise, we can offer attractive pricing on complex structural composites for the aerospace, automotive and recreational industries.”