Products & Solutions
Nothing on this page comes off a shelf. You bring us the gap. Our engineers design the part that fills it, qualify it on rigs we built in Retford, and keep making it for as long as your platform is in service.
Doors, not a shelf
Icon Aerospace Technology designs, qualifies and manufactures application-specific polymer and elastomer components for aerospace, defence and industrial platforms. A seal qualified for one aircraft will not fit another. So every part is designed for one application on one platform, qualified to the standard that platform answers to, then made to the same specification with full traceability on every repeat order — for twenty or thirty years if that is how long the platform flies.
If you already work with us on one of these, the rest are made by the same engineers, on the same site, to the same standards. Bring us the next problem.
Nine categories. One discipline.
Formed to the envelope you actually have, single run or multi-branch.
Air has to get where it is going through whatever space the design has left, which is rarely a straight line. We form low-density polymer formulations and engineered fabrics into almost any geometry, single run or multi-branch, so the duct fits the envelope you actually have. Where it helps, we build the seal into the duct — removing joints, stress points, leak paths, and the weight of them.
Close airframe gaps without adding load paths or fastener count.
A gap in an airframe is drag, noise and an ingress path. An aerodynamic seal closes it without adding load paths or fastener count you cannot afford. We fuse silicone, fluorosilicone or neoprene with glass cloth, Nextel™ or polyester reinforcement, then add metal or composite inserts where the seal has to carry load or mount simply. Prototypes are 3D printed or built by hand, so fit is proven on the aircraft before a production tool exists.
Approved fire-proof to FAA AC 20-135, holding 1,093°C for 15 minutes.
In a fire zone a seal has one job for fifteen minutes. Ours came out of an eight-year materials programme and are approved fire-proof to FAA AC 20-135, holding at 2,000°F (1,093°C) for 15 minutes under vibration, airflow and pressure differentials, with materials rated for continuous service above 300°C. We test on rigs we designed and built in Retford to replicate how the seal is loaded in service — so formal qualification confirms what we already know rather than discovering it.
Built to your dimensions for high pressure, high temperature and tight routes.
High pressure, high temperature, a tight route, or all three at once. Where a standard hose fails early or will not route at all, we build one from the elastomers, low-density polymers and engineered fabrics the application calls for, in your dimensions rather than the nearest catalogue size.
Flexiflo™ air-to-air refuelling hoses with Braidlock® end couplings.
Flexiflo™ hoses do one of aviation's hardest jobs: moving fuel between two aircraft in flight, at altitude, in any climate. Each one is optimised for weight, durability and flow rate, and supplied with Icon Braidlock® end couplings — so the joint is engineered as part of the hose rather than fitted to it afterwards.
Crush, kink and vacuum resistant, with comms leads built into the hose.
Aircrew life support fails in two ways: the hose kinks or crushes under a load nobody planned for, or it weighs more than the aircraft can justify. Ours are crush, kink and vacuum resistant, made to CBRNe protection standards, with communications leads and end fittings built into the hose rather than added to it. Every gram on the aircrew side is a gram the aircraft carries.
Precision mouldings and rubber-to-metal bonded parts, from aircraft pipe clamps to tank road wheels.
A moulded part is where most programmes assume a catalogue will do, and where the wrong compound shows up years later as wear, swell or a failed bond. We transfer, compression and injection mould, and bond rubber to metal where a part has to carry structure. The range runs from hydraulic pipe clamps and coupling covers on commercial and business aircraft to road wheels and track pads on tracked armoured vehicles.
Absorb axial, lateral and angular movement, sized to your movement envelope.
Vibration and movement travel through ducting and pipework until something absorbs them. Our silicone and fabric bellows take up axial, lateral and angular movement through single or multiple convolutions, at high or low pressure and temperature, designed around your movement envelope rather than a stock size. Fire-proof and fire-resistant constructions are available.
Most projects start here
Most of our projects begin with a gap rather than a part number: a seal that almost fits, a hose that fails early, a duct that will not route through the space left in the design. Tell us what the part has to do and what it has to survive, and we will show you what we would build.
Requirements that do not fit a category are our specialty: RF and microwave absorbers, hand-fabricated parts, replacements for components whose original supplier has moved on, and compounds formulated from scratch. Low minimum order quantities and low tooling costs mean a one-off is worth engineering properly.
Explore Specialty SolutionsFitted from a catalogue
The design bends to the part. An extra bracket, a heavier section, one more joint to leak.
Qualification is attempted, then attempted again. The industry budgets up to three fire tests per seal.
A remote sales hub takes the enquiry. The factory is somewhere else.
A supplier for this order, at this price, until the strategy changes.
Engineered for the application
The part is designed to your envelope, your environment and your standard. Nothing else on the platform has to move.
Qualified on rigs built to replicate service conditions, by the engineers who developed the compound.
The engineer who answers is the engineer who makes the part, on one site you are welcome to walk.
The same part, to the same specification, for as long as the platform is in service.
How we engineer
Three steps. Your engineers and ours, face to face, from the first conversation to lifecycle support.
Share the application, platform, space envelope, temperatures, fluids, pressures and the specification you have to meet. A drawing helps. A clearly described problem is enough. An Icon engineer — not a remote sales hub — comes back to you within two working days with a first view on feasibility and what it will take.
Design work, linear and non-linear FEA, feasibility studies, lash-up samples and 3D-printed prototypes, reviewed engineer to engineer. With an order in place we build the tooling and take the part through new product introduction, then into formal qualification and first article inspection, with fire, thermal, pressure and environmental testing where the application demands it.
Approved parts move into routine production in Retford, delivered to specification order after order, with full traceability, change control, and obsolescence planned rather than discovered.
What we build with, and what we build to
Silicone, fluorosilicone, FKM (Viton™), polychloroprene (neoprene), butyl, nitrile, AEM (Vamac®), natural rubber, and in-house compounds including ENDURANCE®
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Glass cloth, Nextel™ ceramic fabric, polyester and other engineered textiles; metal and composite inserts
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Transfer, compression and injection moulding hand lay-up and fabrication rubber-to-metal bonding forming of complex duct geometries 3D-printed prototypes and mould tools
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Design and FEA, linear and non-linear dynamic testing fire, thermal, pressure and environmental qualification on in-house rigs
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AS9100 Rev D ISO 9001 DEF STAN 00-970 DEF STAN 05-123 MIL-H-4495D FAA AC 20-135 ISO 2685 first article inspection to AS9102
Learn moreWhere our products go to work
Airframe, aerodynamic and fire seals, ducting and moulded components for airliners and business jets.
Explore commercial aerospace
Air-to-air refuelling hoses, aircrew oxygen and G-suit hoses, and seals for military aircraft, from a UK source.
Explore defence aerospace
Road wheels, track pads, bushes and running gear for tracked and armoured vehicles.
Explore land defence
Brake seals, cable coverings and elastomer components for rail and transport systems.
Explore transport
Bellows, expansion joints, vibration control, custom mouldings and RF and EMI absorbers, for equipment that needs aerospace-grade materials and traceability.
Explore industrialFAQ
No. Everything we make is designed and qualified for a specific application. Once a part is approved we manufacture it on repeat for that application, often for as long as the platform remains in service. If you need a commodity part, we are the wrong supplier, and we will tell you so.
A clear description of the problem is enough. Helpful details include the application and platform, space envelope, operating temperatures, fluids or media, pressures, movement, the specification you have to meet and expected volumes. A drawing or model helps, but you do not need one to start.
Yes. Alongside design-led projects we offer make-to-print manufacturing, including low-volume and one-off parts, with first article inspection to AS9102. If we see a change that would improve performance or make the part easier to produce, we will say so.
Silicone, fluorosilicone, FKM (Viton™), neoprene, butyl, nitrile, AEM (Vamac®) and natural rubber, reinforced with glass cloth, Nextel™ ceramic fabric or polyester where needed, and combined with metal or composite inserts. When no standard elastomer meets the requirement, we develop our own compound.
Icon Aerospace Technology is certified to AS9100 Rev D and ISO 9001. Flexiflo™ refuelling hoses comply with DEF STAN 00-970, DEF STAN 05-123 and MIL-H-4495D. Fire seals are approved fire-proof to FAA AC 20-135 and tested to ISO 2685. First article inspection is to AS9102.
Quickly enough to prove fit before you commit to production tooling. We 3D print prototypes and mould tools in-house.
Often, yes. We make replacement parts to drawing or specification in single and low quantities, which helps operators keep older platforms in service when the original supplier no longer can.
Everything is designed, qualified and made in Retford, Nottinghamshire, England, where the company has produced rubber and polymer components since 1863. We supply customers across the UK, Europe, the United States and worldwide. Icon Aerospace Technology is not connected to any US company trading as Icon Aerospace.
Tell us what it has to survive
Tell us what the part has to do and what it has to survive. We will work through it with you, engineer to engineer, and show you what we would build.
No call centre, no remote sales hub.Your enquiry is handled by our engineering team in Retford.
