aerospace-materials
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The Company That Stocks the Plastics Everyone Else Says Are Out of Stock
A family plastics business that started with two California branches in 1984 now stocks and machines the exotic polymers - PEEK, Vespel, Torlon, Ultem - that keep aerospace, chips and medical devices running.
AvCarb Material Solutions
AvCarb Material Solutions is a Lowell, Massachusetts manufacturer of engineered carbon fiber materials - gas diffusion layers, felts, papers, woven fabrics and molded graphite laminates - built for the toughest electrochemical, thermal and friction jobs. With roots tracing to AVCO in the early 1960s (the same Lowell operation that helped develop Apollo's AVCOAT heat shield), AvCarb now supplies the carbon guts of hydrogen fuel cells, electrolyzers and redox flow batteries, alongside legacy work in automotive wet friction and even fishing-reel drag washers.
Tidal Metals
Tidal Metals is a Trenton/Hamilton, New Jersey deep-tech company that extracts primary magnesium metal from seawater and desalination brine using nothing but renewable electricity and physical processes - no ore mining, no carbon emissions, and no waste stream. Founded by three plasma-physics PhDs who met at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, the company aims to rebuild a domestic U.S. magnesium supply chain currently dominated by China, serving aerospace, defense, and next-generation automotive manufacturing.
Z-Polymers
Z-Polymers is a Lowell, Massachusetts materials science company that emerged from the UMass Lowell Innovation Hub to build Tullomer, a PFAS-free liquid crystal super-polymer spun into ultra-fine fibers and 3D-printing filament. Founded in 2021 by materials scientist Dr. Michael Zimmerman, the company claims strength up to four times that of PEEK - and up to six times stronger than steel at a sixth of the weight - while printing on desktop machines without annealing. Its materials target aerospace, defense, medical devices, energy, and functional fabrics, and in 2026 it secured a strategic seed investment and joint development agreement with Japan's Kureha Corporation.
Gamma Alloys Inc
Gamma Alloys is a Santa Clarita, California advanced-materials company that reinforces aluminum with homogeneously distributed nano-ceramic particles to create metal matrix composites that are stiffer, stronger, more wear-resistant and stable across a wider temperature range than conventional aluminum. Its materials ship as wrought stock (bar, tube, plate), additive powders and additive wire for metal 3D printing, and are aimed at aerospace, defense, automotive, motorsports and even luxury goods. Founded in 2008 and led by CEO Mark Sommer, the company drew an investment from Boeing HorizonX Ventures in 2017 and partners with precision manufacturer Del West USA.