Syensqo OOA Prepreg Selected for Noemi Electric Seaplane

Updated on September 11, 2026 • 8 min read

Norwegian aircraft developer Noemi Aerospace has selected Syensqo as a composite materials partner for its nine-passenger all-electric amphibious aircraft, including an out-of-autoclave carbon fiber prepreg intended to support the manufacture of 21-meter single-span wing structures.

Noemi plans to use Syensqo MTM 45-1 carbon fiber prepreg for the aircraft’s airframe and AeroPaste structural paste adhesive for wing assembly.

The material selection supports an ambitious structural and manufacturing objective.

Rather than dividing the wing skins and spars into smaller sections, Noemi wants to manufacture them across the aircraft’s 21-meter span while avoiding the need for a correspondingly large autoclave.

For an electric aircraft, where battery mass places additional pressure on structural weight, that manufacturing decision could be particularly important.

Noemi Targets a Certified Electric Amphious Aircraft

Noemi Aerospace is developing an aircraft designed to carry nine passengers while operating from both conventional runways and water.

The company is targeting regional passenger transportation alongside cargo, search and rescue and medical evacuation applications.

Its goal is to develop what it describes as the world’s first certified fully electric amphibious seaplane.

The combination of electric propulsion and amphibious operation creates several demanding structural requirements.

Weight must be tightly controlled because the aircraft needs to accommodate its propulsion and energy-storage systems while maintaining useful payload and range.

At the same time, an amphibious aircraft operates in an environment where water exposure, repeated takeoffs and landings and long-term durability must be incorporated into the structural design and qualification strategy.

Composite materials therefore have a role extending beyond simple lightweighting.

21-Meter Wing Drives the OOA Material Decision

According to Noemi chief engineer Simon Bendrey, the company intends to manufacture the wing skins and spars as 21-meter single-span structures.

That requirement influenced the choice of processing technology.

Large aerospace composite structures have traditionally been associated with autoclave curing, where elevated temperature and external pressure help consolidate prepreg laminates and control void content.

But autoclave dimensions can become an industrial constraint as components grow.

A 21-meter single-span structure requires not only large tooling but, if conventional autoclave processing is selected, access to curing equipment capable of accommodating the complete component.

Noemi instead selected an out-of-autoclave (OOA) prepreg system.

OOA processing can enable prepreg structures to be consolidated and cured without the external pressure supplied by an autoclave, although achieving the required laminate quality still depends on tightly controlled material handling, vacuum processing, tooling and cure conditions.

For Noemi, the attraction is the ability to pursue very large integrated wing structures without making a large autoclave fundamental to the production architecture.

MTM 45-1 Targets Primary Structural Applications

Noemi selected Syensqo’s MTM 45-1 carbon fiber prepreg for the airframe.

Bendrey points specifically to the material’s suitability for primary structures and the availability of established qualification data.

According to Noemi, MTM 45-1 has FAA approval and independently verified NCAMP material data that can support the aircraft’s certification strategy.

This is significant because aerospace material selection is not based solely on mechanical performance.

For a new aircraft program, generating a complete material qualification database independently can require substantial testing, engineering resources and time.

Established material allowables and independently generated datasets can therefore influence development risk as well as material performance.

That becomes particularly relevant for a startup attempting to move a new aircraft architecture toward certification.

The exact carbon fiber format, laminate configurations and cure parameters Noemi will use for individual airframe structures were not specified in the supplied announcement.

Structural Adhesive Becomes Part of the Wing Architecture

The material agreement also includes Syensqo’s AeroPaste structural paste adhesive.

Noemi intends to use the adhesive to bond components within the wing assembly.

This deserves attention because large integrated composite structures do not eliminate joining.

Instead, they can change where and how joints are introduced.

Manufacturing a wing skin or spar as a long continuous component can reduce some intermediate structural discontinuities, but skins, spars and other elements still need to be assembled into the finished wing.

Adhesive bonding provides one method of transferring load between those composite components without relying entirely on mechanical fastening.

For aerospace structures, however, adhesive selection is only one part of the engineering problem.

Surface preparation, bondline geometry, process control, inspection, environmental durability and certification requirements all influence the performance of the final joint.

Noemi’s use of both prepreg and structural adhesive therefore reflects a broader material-system approach rather than two independent material selections.

Electric Aircraft Put Structural Mass Under Additional Pressure

Lightweighting matters in virtually every aircraft.

For battery-electric aviation, the mass equation becomes especially restrictive.

Batteries currently provide much lower specific energy than aviation fuel. As a result, the propulsion energy system can consume a substantial part of the aircraft’s allowable mass.

Structural efficiency therefore directly affects how much weight remains available for batteries, passengers, cargo and other systems.

Noemi specifically identifies low structural weight as an important requirement for its first prototype aircraft.

Carbon fiber composites can contribute through high specific stiffness and strength, but material selection alone does not guarantee an efficient structure.

The larger opportunity comes from combining the material with structural integration and manufacturing decisions that reduce unnecessary mass while still meeting load, durability and certification requirements.

The proposed 21-meter single-span wing components are therefore particularly relevant.

Professor’s Analysis: OOA Is Not Just About Eliminating the Autoclave

It would be easy to describe this project as another example of an aerospace manufacturer switching to out-of-autoclave composites to reduce manufacturing cost.

That would oversimplify the engineering decision.

For Noemi, component scale appears to be one of the central drivers.

If the company wants to manufacture 21-meter wing skins and spars as continuous structures, its curing strategy becomes inseparable from its aircraft architecture.

An autoclave large enough for such components represents substantial infrastructure.

OOA prepreg potentially changes that equation by allowing large structures to be cured using a different equipment architecture.

But eliminating autoclave pressure does not eliminate process-control requirements.

Large OOA structures can present challenges involving vacuum integrity, temperature uniformity, volatile removal, laminate consolidation and porosity control.

Those issues become increasingly consequential as component dimensions increase.

A defect in a small composite panel is one problem.

Maintaining consistent laminate quality across a 21-meter primary structure is another.

This is where Noemi’s material choice becomes technically interesting.

The company is not merely asking whether MTM 45-1 has sufficient mechanical properties.

It is asking whether the prepreg’s processing characteristics, qualification history and structural performance can support a specific large-scale manufacturing strategy.

Certification Data May Be as Valuable as Material Performance

There is another important dimension to the partnership.

For emerging aircraft manufacturers, certification can become as challenging as manufacturing.

A novel aircraft already introduces substantial development work in propulsion, structures, systems and flight testing.

Using a composite material with an established aerospace qualification history and an independently verified material database can potentially reduce the amount of material characterization that must be built entirely from the beginning.

It does not eliminate aircraft-level structural substantiation.

Noemi still has to demonstrate that its actual manufacturing process, laminates, bonded joints and complete structures meet the applicable certification requirements.

But established material data can provide a more mature starting point.

For advanced air mobility and electric aviation programs, this distinction matters.

The newest material is not necessarily the most useful material.

Sometimes the stronger engineering choice is a material that combines performance, manufacturability and a credible pathway through certification.

The 21-Meter Wing Will Be the Test

Noemi’s first prototype will provide an important test of that strategy.

Producing long OOA composite skins and spars is one challenge.

Turning those components into a lightweight, durable and certifiable amphibious wing is the larger one.

The program will have to bring together material processing, bonded assembly, structural testing and environmental durability while controlling the mass demanded by electric flight.

If Noemi successfully manufactures the proposed 21-meter structures, the project could also provide a useful case study for a broader aerospace question:

How large can primary composite structures become before the manufacturing infrastructure becomes the limiting factor?

Syensqo’s role in the aircraft therefore extends beyond supplying carbon fiber prepreg.

Its materials are being integrated into a manufacturing philosophy in which OOA processing, large structural integration and certification strategy are being developed together.