During this period, the businesses were acquired by a group formed to consolidate companies that specialised in a growing sector defined as ‘advanced materials’.

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These companies either had proprietary processes or produced high quality engineered products for specialist market areas. 

 

As well as providing fibres for use in refractories in steel manufacture, aluminium processing and petrochemical, some products were sold into:

• The filtration sector for further processing into filtration media used in very aggressive environments

• The automotive sector to provide heat-dissipation and sound absorption within the exhaust systems

• The chemical processing where custom alloy fibres provided a structure for certain catalytic reactions

 

In late 1997 the group acquired Dynamic-Ceramic, an advanced ceramic manufacturing company known specifically for its expertise in extremely durable zirconias and zirconia blends. It also supplied components in aluminas, silicon carbides, boron carbides, aluminium titanates, silicon carbide and other composite materials.