Industries / Defense
Galvorn® takes weight out of defense systems, from the harness under the hatch to the kit on the warfighter.
Galvorn advanced carbon material is a conductor, a shield, and a textile fiber in one. It gives ground vehicles and unmanned systems lighter wiring and EMI shielding, gives the warfighter conductive, high-strength textiles, and gives composite structures a conductive layer, all made in Houston, Texas.
Context
What lightweight conductive materials are used in defense systems?
Lightweight conductive materials for defense systems are measured against copper, which is almost everywhere: copper wire in vehicle harnesses, copper braid around shielded data cables, copper mesh as lightning protection on composite airframes, and stainless steel or silver-coated thread in soldier-worn electronics. Each one works, and each one is heavy, and the coated threads corrode. The lighter alternatives, aluminum wire and carbon fiber, are weaker or conduct poorly.
Galvorn is an advanced carbon material that conducts like a metal wire, weighs a fraction as much, and is strong enough to be knitted or embroidered like a textile fiber, so one material can do the job of the wire, the shield, and the thread. DexMat supplies Galvorn as twisted yarn, braided yarn, fiber tow, fabric, and film; your team, or its cable, garment, and composite makers, build the finished part.
The problem
Defense platforms have no weight or room to spare, and the warfighter carries the rest.
The Army's two workhorse armored vehicles have run out of room to grow: the Bradley infantry fighting vehicle “does not have enough space, weight, and power (SWAP) for additional armor or electronic systems,” and the Abrams main battle tank “can no longer grow its capabilities without adding weight” (Congressional Budget Office, Nov 2012; Congressional Research Service, Apr 2025). The same squeeze runs down to the squad: the average Army combat load is 119 pounds, and a soldier carries about 20.8 pounds of batteries on a 72-hour mission (GAO, May 2017; U.S. Army, Jul 2019). Copper is in all of it; the Department of Defense counts copper as its second most widely used material (Federal Register, Aug 2025). Taking copper's weight out of wiring, shielding, and textiles is one of the few places left to find margin.
Galvorn at a glance
The figures that matter most for defense.
Every comparison below is against the material Galvorn replaces, weight for weight unless noted. Figures are for Galvorn fiber; the data sheet for each product gives the specification for that grade and form.
Ground vehicles and armored platforms
Lighter harnesses under the hatch, where every kilogram competes with armor.
Power and data cabling competes for weight and volume with armor, electronics, and crew. The Army lists 36 combat-vehicle wiring harnesses among its top readiness drivers (Army PS Magazine). Galvorn takes weight out of both the conductor and the shield in that harness: weight for weight, Galvorn fiber is 97% as conductive as copper (6,150 vs 6,300 S·m²/kg), and it safely carries about 3x as much current per gram.
By volume copper is the better conductor (58 vs 10 MS/m), so a Galvorn conductor sized to match a copper conductor's resistance weighs about the same. The weight comes out on the runs sized by signal, strength, or room instead, which covers most of the signal and data wiring in a harness. For EMI shielding, Galvorn film wraps the insulated conductor in place of the metal braid: in NASA-funded testing of prototype RG 316 cables, insertion loss met the military specification before and after 1,000 flex cycles at a 0.83 cm bend radius, shielding effectiveness matched a commercial double silver-plated copper braid cable, and the film shield was about 95% lighter than the double braid. Customers are also evaluating braided Galvorn sleeves and overbraids for harness shielding.
Unmanned systems and counter-UAS
Less wiring and shielding weight leaves more payload and flight time.
A small drone can lift about its own weight or less, a payload-to-weight ratio that DARPA puts at 1:1 or below, and the Army plans to buy about one million drones over the next two to three years (DARPA, Nov 2025; Breaking Defense, Nov 2025). Every gram of wiring, tether, and shield is a gram of payload or endurance. Galvorn gives the airframe a conductor that carries about 3x as much current as copper per gram, and a film shield about 95% lighter than the metal braid on a data or RF cable: in NASA-funded testing of prototype RG 316 cables the whole cable was projected to weigh about 50% less. Counter-UAS systems add radars, RF effectors, and in some cases 50 kW class lasers to vehicles with no SWaP (Size, Weight, and Power) headroom, and the same conductors and shields apply there (Congressional Research Service, Jul 2024).
Soldier power and data
Lighter cables, and conductors that run inside the garment.
Carbon that pulls its own weight: the same yarn that carries the signal can be the thread that holds the garment together.
Each new device on the soldier adds a cable to the power and data network; the Nett Warrior program reported that “connectors and cables were a continuing challenge” (PdM Ground Soldier Systems, Oct 2017). Galvorn gives that cable a conductor that weighs less than a fifth as much as copper for the same volume, and the yarn can be knitted or embroidered on textile equipment, so a lead can run in the fabric instead of alongside it. Galvorn® 1000 Twisted Yarn at 200 microns has more than 10x lower resistance per length than silver-plated nylon embroidery thread, and Galvorn is more conductive than stainless steel thread per unit mass. DexMat has embroidered Galvorn electrodes and leads into a commercial wearable garment.
Protecting the warfighter
Strength and energy absorption per unit mass, for protection that weighs less.
Personal protective equipment averages about 27 pounds, and the Army is pursuing lighter soft armor and hard plates (GAO, May 2017). Galvorn fiber has about the same tensile strength as Kevlar (3 GPa) and conducts where aramid insulates, and under blade loading single Galvorn fibers absorbed more than 2.4x the energy per unit mass of Kevlar, Dyneema, and fiberglass fibers in a published study; that is a single-fiber result, not a fabric rating. A 2019 Rice University study also found that the fibers become significantly stronger under rapid, high-force impacts.
DexMat expects Galvorn's strength and energy absorption per unit mass to support lighter ballistic protection.
Third-party test
807gf
ANSI/ISEA 105 cut level A2, ASTM F2992-15, accredited lab
A 100% Galvorn knit reached ANSI cut level A2.
A 200 g/m² (5.9 oz/yd²) open knit of 100% Galvorn reached ANSI level A2 in third-party cut testing. In this test a weighted razor blade is drawn across the fabric, and the gram-force (gf) rating is the load it takes to cut through in 20 mm of travel, so a higher number is harder to cut.
A published NASA study recorded 742 gf for a Vectran cut-resistant glove knit 17% heavier (234 g/m²) under a comparable TDM method (Jones et al., ICES-2024-52, 2024); Vectran is a liquid crystal polymer fiber in the same class as Kevlar, chosen by glove makers for cut resistance. Per unit weight the Galvorn knit scored about 27% higher, from a construction that had not been engineered for cut performance.
Body-worn sensing, shielding, and antennas
Conductive textiles that sense, shield, and transmit on the body.
The Army wants fabrics that monitor vital signs and antennas that conform to the body, and it has found that conventional conductive textiles “fail to endure significant wear-and-tear due to corrosion and lack of durability” (MIT Lincoln Laboratory, Jun 2017; Army Research Laboratory, Jun 2016). Galvorn is carbon, so there is no plating to wear off. In a Rice University study, sewn advanced carbon thread electrodes produced EKG signals with no significant difference in signal-to-noise ratio from commercial electrodes, and kept that signal after 10 machine washes and after being stretched to the textile's maximum strain (about 60%) more than 1,000 times. The fiber was non-irritant in an in vitro skin irritation test. Galvorn fabric and film can be used for EMI shielding layers in a garment, and film is a candidate for body-worn antennas.
Multifunctional composites
A conductive layer for composite structures, in place of the copper mesh.
Carbon fiber composites are light and stiff but barely conduct, so composite airframes, radomes, and enclosures carry a metal mesh for lightning protection and shielding that adds 150 to 200 g/m² and can corrode against the carbon fiber (ACS Omega, Aug 2024). Galvorn fiber is about 100x more conductive than carbon fiber, fiber to fiber (10 vs 0.1 MS/m), and about 24% lighter than high-end carbon fiber for the same volume (1.6 vs 2.1 g/cm³). Galvorn fabric has been integrated into a resin composite panel, and customers sew Galvorn yarn through carbon fiber laminates for z-direction reinforcement. Galvorn fabric and film can be used for EMI shielding and lightning strike protection layers, and customers are exploring the yarn for strain and damage sensing in the structure, a use that published research on this class of yarn supports and DexMat expects for Galvorn. Where a part needs the peak strength and stiffness of high-end carbon fiber (6.4 vs 3.0 GPa), customers use Galvorn to add function alongside it; where the part is sized by conductivity, weight, or flexibility instead, Galvorn can take a larger share of the layup. Galvorn is also flexible rather than brittle, so composites built with it are expected to fail less suddenly than carbon fiber: in DexMat's overhand knot test, Galvorn fiber kept 70% of its tensile strength, while bundles from a 24K carbon fiber tow kept 1.5% to 3%.
Environmental exposure
Tested through salt fog, heat, and UV.
Defense hardware lives outside, in salt air, engine-bay heat, and sun, and a conductor that loses strength or conductivity out there becomes a maintenance item. In a defense harness a Galvorn conductor is insulated or jacketed like any other, and in that construction it kept its strength: ETFE-insulated Galvorn yarn kept 96 to 97% of its break force across salt fog, UV, and thermal cycling, compared with an earlier baseline, and its conductivity held as well: about 97% after salt fog, 96% after UV, and 94% after thermal cycling. Bare yarns were aged in the same program to show what the material itself does, aged at an independent lab and measured by DexMat, one sample per condition. After 500 hours of salt fog (5% NaCl at 35 °C) they kept 90 to 107% of their break force, and as-spun yarns kept about 77 to 83% of their specific conductivity: salt exposure costs the bare material some conductivity and no strength. After 1,000 hours at 150 °C followed by ten shocks from -65 °C to 150 °C they kept 92 to 108% of break force: the yarn holds its strength through engine-bay heat and a wide temperature swing. After 500 hours of xenon arc UV they kept 55 to 84%, the weakest result, and the reason the insulation does the work in sunlight. Galvorn itself does not rust or pit, and it does not melt and resists flame.
Qualification and supply
Production-stage, domestic, and ready to qualify.
DexMat is a production-stage advanced carbon materials company shipping Galvorn from Houston, Texas today. The process came out of Rice University, and development has been funded by NASA, the U.S. Air Force, the National Science Foundation, and the Department of Energy.
Copper is the second most widely used material by the Department of Defense, the United States imported a net 57% of its refined copper in 2025, copper joined the U.S. critical minerals list in November 2025, and a new copper mine takes about 16 years from discovery to production on average (Federal Register, Aug 2025; USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026; S&P Global, Jun 2023). Galvorn is made in Houston, and DexMat's production roadmap turns abundant domestic natural gas into a secure supply of conductive material at scale.
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Quality system | ISO 9001:2015 certified (ABS Quality Evaluations, certificate QMS10657, valid July 30, 2026 through July 29, 2029) |
| Contracting | Small business; multiple DoD SBIR Phase II awards |
| Data access | Joint Certification Program (JCP) certified, DD Form 2345, which qualifies DexMat to receive unclassified, export-controlled military technical data |
| Registrations | CAGE 7BJG5; UEI ELL1FLJJCPN9; NAICS (partial) 335991 |
| Export status | Galvorn is subject to the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) and is not controlled under the ITAR (ECCN 1C990) |
| Qualification path | MIL-DTL-32630 is the performance specification for carbon-based conductive fiber conductors. Ask us for the current test status against its methods. |
Product forms
Supplied in the forms your team already works with.
DexMat supplies the material, and your team or its cable, garment, and composite makers build the finished part. Galvorn yarn can be embroidered and knitted on standard textile equipment.
| Form | Typical use in defense systems |
|---|---|
| Galvorn® 1000 Twisted Yarn, Galvorn® 800 Twisted Yarn | Signal and data conductors, embroidered and knitted leads and electrodes, and stitching through laminates for z-direction reinforcement |
| Galvorn® 1000 Braided Yarn | Higher-current conductors |
| Galvorn® 1000 Fiber Tow | Braiding over conductors for shielding (sleeves and overbraids), and continuous conductor or structural element |
| Galvorn® 1000 Fabric | Conductive and shielding layers in garments and composite laminates |
| Galvorn® F10 Film | Cable shield wraps, shielding layers, and flat transmission |
Who it is for
For programs that count grams and inches.
Galvorn is for the teams that specify and build defense systems where weight, room, and durability decide the design: prime contractors and integrators, ground vehicle and unmanned system builders, harness and cable manufacturers, soldier systems and protective gear makers, composite structure makers, and the program offices and labs that fund them.
FAQ
Questions engineers ask about Galvorn in defense.
No. Galvorn is subject to the Export Administration Regulations (EAR), not the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), and its export classification is ECCN 1C990. Export requirements still depend on the destination and the end use, so tell us about your program.
Start with the data sheet.
Download the data sheet for full specifications, then tell us your platform, your specification, and your weight or room target, and our engineers will tell you what data we have and what testing would close the gap. Samples of any Galvorn form are in the store.