Greene Tweed Introduces Rapid Prototyping Process for Xycomp Thermoplastic Composite Components
BY Composights
Published: 01 Jul 2026
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Greene Tweed has introduced a rapid prototyping process for its Xycomp thermoplastic composite materials, enabling engineers to accelerate product development with production-representative components while significantly reducing tooling costs and lead times.
The new manufacturing approach shortens prototype delivery times by nearly 50% compared with conventional production methods. According to the company, the process combines proprietary tooling strategies with an optimized balance between machined and net-molded features, allowing functional prototype parts to closely replicate the material properties and performance expected from full-scale production components.
By reducing the complexity of prototype tooling, the process enables manufacturers to obtain production-quality parts earlier in the development cycle, offering greater design flexibility before committing to final production tooling.
Greene Tweed recognized the need for a faster, more cost-effective way to support the development of lightweight, high-performance components for customers, said George Rawa, General Manager, Structural & Engineered Components at Greene Tweed. This process expedites the timeline to evaluate Xycomp composites in real-world applications by putting production-quality parts in engineers hands in a fraction of the time.
The rapid prototyping platform incorporates several manufacturing innovations to improve development efficiency. An optimized mold architecture reduces tooling complexity by strategically combining machined and net-molded features, while simultaneous engineering of parts, molds, and fixtures compresses overall development schedules.
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Greene Tweed also leverages in-house manufacturing expertise to accelerate mold preparation, completing mold fit-up activities within one to two days. The process further supports rapid and economical design iterations by allowing customers to evaluate, refine, and optimize components using easily modified, lower-cost tooling before transitioning to production.
The development is expected to benefit industries requiring lightweight, high-performance composite components, including aerospace, defense, energy, and industrial applications, where reducing product development time while maintaining production-quality performance is becoming increasingly important.
Source: Green Tweed | News
