From Aerospace to Infrastructure: Mapping FRP’s Adoption in Mainstream Markets

Use of fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites in infrastructure applications continues to expand. Today, it is widely considered the go-to material where steel, concrete and wood fail due to harsh environmental conditions. Documented results have helped FRP gain a firm footing as an alternative material. However, it has taken decades of hard work and education from countless people to advance this technology from best-in-class aerospace applications to mainstream markets like infrastructure. As founder of Composite Advantage (now part of Creative Composites Group, Dayton, Ohio, U.S.), I’ve had the opportunity throughout my career to help pioneer these efforts.

When I was studying aerospace engineering at Purdue University (concentrating on fiber composite structures), I never imagined I would one day own a business. After finishing another Master’s degree [this time in engineering management at Washington University], I started my career with McDonnell Douglass. During the 1980s/1990s, the aerospace industry ramped up its use of composites, moving from secondary parts to primary structures. McDonnell Douglass was collaborating with NASA and the U.S. military on extensive composite structural research programs, looking for ways to lightweight aircraft without compromising performance.

In 1991, Lockheed Martin won the initial contract for the F-22 Raptor. I went to work for them the same year because it was an opportunity to learn the practical applications of applying composites to a real-world design/build. Composite material covered about 70% of the stealth fighter jet’s exterior. I gained foundational experience in complex structural design with high-performance materials.

The advantages of FRP soon attracted the attention of other aerospace companies and generated interest in an industry handbook. I was asked to help prepare the Composites Material Handbook MIL-Handbook-17 (CMH-17) which established some of the standards and procedures for using composites on aircraft. The FAA took over management of the handbook in 2006, but it continues to be used today.

From Lockheed Martin to Composite Advantage

These early programs were critical steps that helped move composites from the research and development phase to production in aerospace applications. Lockheed Martin also collaborated with a not-for-profit composite technology incubation center to transition labor-intensive composites manufacturing into cost-effective commercial industrial methods. Through component consolidation, out-of-autoclave processes and development of advanced robotic ultrasonic testing, Lockheed and other aerospace companies were able to reduce part counts, eliminate costly fasteners and lower structural assembly costs.

During my 8 years with Lockheed Martin, I oversaw their engineering and development division, but the work with the incubation center — in addition to its work with aerospace companies it was looking into adapting FRP to automotive and infrastructure — began to draw my attention to FRP’s potential in infrastructure applications. The center’s particular focus was bridges. In 1992, Lockheed Martin developed and tested its own FRP bridge decks to pioneer lightweight, corrosion-resistant and seismically resilient infrastructure solutions. In 1995, Lockheed spun off its materials division into a separate company to commercialize and market composite bridge deck products. With these advances I thought it would be challenging and exciting to take composites beyond the aerospace and automotive markets to other mainstream uses. For me, that target market was infrastructure.

I joined the center in 2000 and was asked to spearhead its role as a commercialization agent and manufacturing accelerator for composites. That included being a key contributor to Project 100. The $94 million plan saw the construction and installation of 100 composite bridge decks across the state of Ohio. The aim was to demonstrate that FRP could be easily installed on existing substructures, weighed about 80% less than concrete, could reduce overall costs, eliminate maintenance [due to its corrosion resistance] and extend bridge life. The first FRP bridge decks were manufactured using hand layup (Kansas Structural Composites) and pultrusion (Creative Composites and Lockheed’s spin-off Martin Marietta Composites.)

About that time some new manufacturing methods came online which helped accelerate the use of FRP for infrastructure projects. Vacuum infusion opened up a whole new realm of large part applications that you couldn’t do before with hand layup and pultrusion. You didn’t need big, costly equipment, and tooling was not as expensive.

The ability to make larger parts for less cost and what that might mean to the industry really fueled my imagination and I soon found myself taking on the role of a business owner. I founded Composite Advantage in 2005 at the center, which acted as an incubator for my at-the-time one-man operation. The center offered space, staff and equipment while we developed technology for molding large parts. We were able to move to our own facility north of downtown Dayton in 2007.

At Composite Advantage, we weren’t interested in competing with existing FRP products. Our goal was to go after applications where composites had never been used before. Partnering with organizations like the American Composites Manufacturers Association (ACMA) proved to be an important stepping stone to helping to educate the construction industry about FRP. I served ACMA in different capacities including as a member of the board of directors and the executive committee. I received the ACMA Chairman’s Award in 2012, and in May 2019 I testified before Congress about the benefits of composites.

Two decades of FRP infrastructure applications: What worked and what didn’t

Over the last 25 years, the Composite Advantage team and I have worked to standardize the use of FRP in the infrastructure, waterfront and rail markets by creating benchmark product lines, developing prefabricated systems to AASHTO requirements, proving FRP’s performance in demanding projects and making it easier for agencies to adopt composite material and reduce costs through repeatable solutions.

Some products gained traction and some didn’t. We adapted closed molding processes, reconfigurable steel molding tools and bi-directional internal sheer webs to large structures and initially applied the technology to the rehabilitation of historic vehicle bridges such as Rocks Village Bridge [Haverhill, Massachusetts], Peevy Road Bridge [Montgomery County, Pennsylvania], Hogs Back Bridge [Ottawa, Canada] and Hudson Run Road Bridge [Summit County, Ohio]. These high-profile projects demonstrated FRP’s ability to provide a durable, lightweight, low-maintenance solution for older bridges handling vehicular and large truck loads.

However, we found there were a lot more applications for smaller pedestrian bridges. The vehicle bridge market didn’t prove to be a profitable primary business for us to pursue at the time due to higher upfront costs and lack of industry-wide standardization and familiarity among civil engineers and transportation officials.

The large molded panels used for vehicle bridges were a great fit for rail platforms, though. Chicago Metra was beginning to express interest in composites and approached us about prefabricating and installing an FRP platform for their New Lenox Station in 2009. That installation was successful, , but it still took us more than a decade to grow that business. We spent years nurturing interest among customers and getting our rail platforms qualified to their requirements. Very often, education has to take place before you can start filling a production pipeline. It’s part of the reason that large structural applications have a longer sales cycle.

Size and long production cycles didn’t deter our company. We prefabricated and installed one of the world’s longest pedestrian bridges in 2012. The S-shaped Anacostia Riverwalk bridge deck in Washington D.C. features a 690-foot-long composite deck. In 2013, Composite Advantage also installed the world’s largest FRP composite vehicle bridge deck for Rocks Village Bridge in Haverhill, Massachusetts. The bridge deck covered nearly 19,000 square feet. Our vacuum infusion process allowed us to create large panels for faster installation and the infusion allowed us to create the internal structure needed to handle vehicle weight. These projects showed people that FRP was a viable choice over conventional materials, and we were able to refine our designs to make installation simpler and more cost effective.

Waterfront was another area suited to the use of FRP.  When we were given the opportunity to develop composite camel separators for the U.S. Navy, the sheer size of the structures at 28 feet ×18 ×17 feet for submarine camels and 60 × 55 feet × 6 feet for aircraft carrier camels, made it a very interesting job to tackle. As a result, we were able to develop a standardized FRP composite camel for all submarines and aircraft carriers. The camels start with infused sandwich panels that are bonded together in the shop into transportable modules. At a shipyard near the naval base, the modules are assembled into a full camel and towed by tug boat to the piers at the base. These are still used today, and the success of that project has led to other waterfront applications such as fenders for ferries and pipe piles.

Where the FRP industry goes from here

In 2018, Composite Advantage became part of Creative Composites Group (CCG), a step I felt opened the door to new pathways for FRP. As composite structures and projects get larger and more complex, a larger budget was essential to successfully design, manufacture, assemble and deliver these products. It is very valuable to customers to have a supplier that can employ the best manufacturing method for their application. Customers should not spend time learning about the various composite processes and the nuances to match processes and applications — they know their application requirements and should expect that composite suppliers deliver products using the correct process. CCG is skilled at all methods of manufacturing (pultrusion, infusion, winding, hand layup, spray-up) under one umbrella.

I retired at the end of 2025 and have handed off the Composite Advantage sales baton to Corey Sechler, the new vice president of sales for civil infrastructure (including waterfront applications) and Blake Heger, vice president of sales for the industrial and OEM division.

As I look at closing out my career, I remain confident that the group of companies CCG has put together has the bandwidth to continue pushing FRP into new spaces to help grow the industry with applications that have shorter sales cycles to offset the longer pipeline typically associated with large structural projects. It is an exciting time in the industry, and there have been a lot of recent wins. For example, prefabricated bridge, decking and rail platforms have helped pave the way for construction applications that can benefit from faster installation times, less labor and corrosion resistance. Building construction is using large bridge panels turned vertically. Applications for delivering and cleaning water in the wastewater management arena are growing as populations get bigger in areas that don’t have enough natural water to sustain them.

What’s next? Composite Advantage started out with a focus primarily on large structural applications, but when you look ahead at the continued growth of the FRP industry, we still have to push [made-to-stock] products more than pull [build-to-order triggered by demand]. In the last couple of years for example, the Army Corp of Engineers (USACE) has adopted FRP for wicket gates, bulkheads and other components they use in locks and dams. But it took more than a decade to move from prototype to large, high-value projects where USACE is now pulling FRP products through the system.

There is still work to be done to get non-FRP contractors and engineers to ask for FRP. We want FRP to be the standard and move beyond the niche spaces. CCG’s utility and power distribution poles are shifting from forecasted demand to these products being pulled. Cantilever sidewalks are another area where our FRP product is in demand due to light weight and a growing demand for safe, shared-use paths.

Another complement to big projects is feeding FRP components into private commercial applications. OEM products have the potential to provide consistent production, but education remains a factor. As an industry, we have to show value for the cost and make the case for why FRP is the better choice.

Creating applications for a newer technology is very rewarding. While we know lots of details, the most important (and tough) part is listening to the customer. It is amazing the number of times that these customers have envisioned new ways to use FRP in their markets. Our job remains to help deliver on those visions.