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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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™ 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.
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.
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.
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.
The requirements that do not fit a category, which in our experience includes most of the interesting ones. This is where materials knowledge does the work: absorbers that dissipate RF and microwave energy at source, hand-fabricated parts, replacements for components whose original supplier has moved on, and compounds formulated from scratch when nothing on the market survives the environment.
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.
| Fitted from a catalogue | Engineered for the application |
|---|---|
| The design bends to the part. An extra bracket, a heavier section, one more joint to leak. | The part is designed to your envelope, your environment and your standard. Nothing else on the platform has to move. |
| Qualification is attempted, then attempted again. The industry budgets up to three fire tests per seal. | Qualified on rigs built to replicate service conditions, by the engineers who developed the compound. |
| A remote sales hub takes the enquiry. The factory is somewhere else. | The engineer who answers is the engineer who makes the part, on one site you are welcome to walk. |
| A supplier for this order, at this price, until the strategy changes. | The same part, to the same specification, for as long as the platform is in service. |
Already have a drawing? Send it. We manufacture to print with first article inspection to AS9102, low tooling costs and low minimum quantities, including one-offs for platforms whose original supplier has moved on. If we see a change that would improve the part, we will say so before we quote.
Request a QuoteAcross the industry a seal can need up to three attempts to comply. When we developed engine fire seals for a major aero-engine OEM, every seal passed at the first attempt: 11 qualification fire tests out of 11, each holding a 1,093°C flame for 15 minutes under vibration, airflow and pressure differentials.
There is a reason, and it is not luck. The people who formulate the compound are the people who run the rig, and the rigs were designed in Retford to replicate how the seal is loaded in service. By the time a seal reaches formal qualification it has already been through fire here, 26 times across that programme.
First-time passes
Flame held for 15 minutes
Fire tests across the programme
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.
| Elastomers | Silicone, fluorosilicone, FKM (Viton™), polychloroprene (neoprene), butyl, nitrile, AEM (Vamac®), natural rubber, and in-house compounds including ENDURANCE® |
| Reinforcement | Glass cloth, Nextel™ ceramic fabric, polyester and other engineered textiles; metal and composite inserts |
| Processes | 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 |
| Engineering and test | Design and FEA, linear and non-linear · dynamic testing · fire, thermal, pressure and environmental qualification on in-house rigs |
| Certification and specifications | 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 |
Airframe, aerodynamic and fire seals, ducting and moulded components for airliners and business jets.
Explore →Air-to-air refuelling hoses, aircrew oxygen and G-suit hoses, and seals for military aircraft, from a UK source.
Explore →Road wheels, track pads, bushes and running gear for tracked and armoured vehicles.
Explore →Brake seals, cable coverings and elastomer components for rail and transport systems.
Explore →Bellows, expansion joints, vibration control and custom mouldings for equipment that needs aerospace-grade materials and traceability.
Explore →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. On our fire seal programme, 3D-printed tooling cut mould development from six weeks to one.
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 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.