Rexford H. Bradt
Fiberfill Corporation
Inducted 2002
Rexford H. Bradt (1908 – 2001) graduated in 1930 from the University of Indiana with a degree in chemistry. He held ten U.S. patents in the compounding and processing of thermoplastics and invented the process and concept of reinforcing thermoplastics with high-modulus glass fibers.
In 1952 he also developed the first commercially available glass fiber-reinforced thermoplastic compound (based on a styrenic polymer matrix), and in 1954, the first compound for the advanced composites process of pultrusion (based on a polyamide matrix resin).
Bradt founded the Fiberfill Corporation (then becoming a division of DSM Engineering Plastics), the original compounder of reinforced thermoplastics, in Evansville, Indiana.
Bradt was responsible for many innovations in the field of reinforced plastics. One included the ancestor of the high-performance fiber-reinforced composites used today in aerospace components was a flame-resistant molding compound developed by Rexford Bradt in 1955 for the nozzles of jet-assisted take-off (JATO) aircraft.
Areas of Expertise:
Plastic processing, Plastic materials