Aegis Fibretech: novel heat-shielding materials
Aegis Fibretech was launched in 2025 to commercialise a novel ultra-light-weight insulating material, that offer superior performance across a range of applications, in several different settings.
The team’s initial focus is on the automotive sector, and it is in talks with companies in cars, electric cars and motorsport.
The technical specifications for thermal insulators used in these industries are rigorous. Moreover, manufacturers are under pressure to improve efficiency by reducing vehicle weight, and engine compartments are tight, with little room for thick layers of insulating material.
Yet existing insulating materials that are currently can either provide low density, or low thermal conductivity, but not both.
The Aegis Fibretech materials are 10 times less thermally conductive than advanced materials currently used in the automotive industry, and 100 times less dense than ceramic fire blanket.
Aegis FibreTech’s materials are so light you can’t feel the weight of them. They provide an effective heat-shielding barrier to temperatures of up to 1000°C and could reduce the weight of a fire blanket to that of a couple of sheets of paper.
The research team behind the spin-out are material science experts and innovators electro-spinning, a manufacturing process that creates ultra-fine fibres from a polymer solution using a high voltage electric field.
The method allows for precise control of fibre thickness and structure and produces a wide range of materials with unique properties, including ultra-fine nanofibres with outstanding thermal insulation properties.
While attending an Innovate-UK funded accelerator programme, the researchers realised their work could be the basis of a platform technology that could transform the way industries approach thermal insulation.
The company has a range of advanced electrospun fibre products, which are engineered for exceptional thermal insulation.
The products are also versatile, and can be produced in a flexible 'cotton wool'-like consistency, multi-layered flattened fabric, or robust woven sheets.