The use of natural fibres to make a composite material that’s more sustainable than carbonfibre is something mainstream car manufacturers have been looking at for a few years.
One of the favourite materials is flax, an ancient plant widely grown in the UK and elsewhere for the linseed it produces. Tellingly, its fibres are also used to manufacture linen.Swiss firm Bcomp has made great strides with the new material, producing a reinforcement called Amplitex that consists of woven fabric made of flax fibres that can be impregnated with standard epoxy resin. Like carbonfibre, it can be woven in different ways and weights to suit various applications. For semi-structural use such as body panels, Amplitex is bonded on inside surfaces with ‘Powerribs’, also made from flax but resembling a kind of 3D grid to add stiffness to the finished component - link
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