Cambium Launches Laser Eye Protection for Pilots and the ApexFrame 5000 High-Temperature Adhesive

Cambium, a Veteran Ventures Capital Fund I portfolio company and developer of advanced materials for defense and high-performance applications, launched two products in the first week of September.

On September 8 the company announced laser eye protection eyewear for commercial and private pilots: Flying Eyes frames fitted with Cambium LEP lenses. The lenses provide full-spectrum coverage across visible and near-infrared laser threats and remain photostable under hundreds of seconds of continuous 532 nm exposure. The FAA logs thousands of laser strikes against aircraft each year, and a single second of exposure can cause flash blindness. The eyewear is the first commercial product from Cambium's SentinelOps photonics platform and was announced ahead of its launch at the ALPA 70th Air Safety Forum in Washington, D.C. (September 14 to 17).

"Flying Eyes is the go-to brand for pilots everywhere. Launching with them gives us a proven commercial product and frame that pilots already seek out and trust, which enables this technology to reach the cockpit at the speed of relevance rather than the speed of procurement," said Stephan Herrera, Cambium's co-founder, Chief Marketing Officer and Head of Government Affairs.

On September 3 Cambium launched ApexFrame 5000, a phthalonitrile-based film adhesive for high-temperature, non-structural bonding of polymer films and metallic foils in aircraft and drone applications. It sustains operation to 600°F (315°C) and short-duration exposure to 800°F (427°C), is solvent-free, stable at room temperature and needs no freezer storage. It ships as an unsupported film in 12-inch and 38-inch roll widths.

"A customer came to us with a challenge that existing adhesive technologies couldn't solve: bonding performance in extreme thermal environments for demanding aircraft and drone applications. By combining our materials expertise with a rapid development approach, we delivered ApexFrame 5000, a high-temperature laminating adhesive built for defense applications, that helps customers meet demanding performance requirements without compromising manufacturability," said James Griffin, Cambium's Chief Technology Officer.

The launches follow the August appointment of Rick Dunn as Chief Financial Officer and the July announcement of Cambium's rapid manufacturing center in Mooresville, North Carolina. Separately, SHD Composites, a Cambium company, supplied seven lightweight material formats to Shell's Triple 10 Challenge concept vehicle, and CompositesWorld published a feature on Cambium and SHD on September 9. Cambium is headquartered in El Segundo, California.

Sources: Cambium, laser eye protection; Cambium, ApexFrame 5000; SHD Composites; CompositesWorld.