Kilometro Rosso Honors Petroceramics' Milestone in CMC for Space Applications

Kilometro Rosso is a leading Italian innovation district and science-technology park in Bergamo, Italy. Famous for its 1-kilometer-long red wall along the A4 motorway, the large open innovation campus was inaugurated in 2009 and acts as a hub for industrial research and high-tech manufacturing, hosting more than 80 resident partners. Its lead and anchor tenant is the 28,000-square-meter Brembo Technical Center for brake research, production and testing which has also served to advance serial production of ceramic matrix composite (CMC) brakes and components.

Petroceramics (Stezzano, Italy), located adjacent to the Brembo Technical Center, was also one of Kilometro Rosso’s first tenants as a spin-off from the University of Milan. It has now progressed into a leader in CMC technology, championed by Kilometro Rosso as demonstrating how "deep tech" research can translate into a solid competitive advantage within the global space economy.

Applying its years of CMC experience and expertise, Petroceramics has developed components that can enable launcher exhaust nozzles. These high-tech panels resist temperatures up to 3,000°C without deforming or decomposing. Kilometro Rosso reports the strategic pillars of this innovative SME include:

• Intellectual property: A portfolio of more than 30 patents focused on high temperature performance.
• Diversification: Applications from automotive brakes to a variety of parts for major players in the space industry.
• Scale-up: The vital development of industrial processes, supported by know-how and partners such as Brembo.

Kilometro Rosso reports this type of success demonstrates how this ecosystem is an enabler for transforming materials and process innovations into industrial realities capable of competing on a global scale.