Primarily used in the production of linen, flax is an incredibly versatile plant that has been around for millions of years. It differs from many biomaterials in that it’s ideal for use in crop rotation programmes and can be grown without directly competing with food crops. Flax is a CO2-neutral raw material and its fibres are biodegradable. At the end of the seat’s life, for example, it can be ground down into a new base material or thermally recycled without residual waste, rather than end up in landfill.

Inspired by the thin veins on the back of leaves, Bcomp’s powerRibs technology provides a three-dimensional grid structure on one side of the seat, which is then used to reinforce the spun and woven flax fibre reinforcement fabric, ampliTex. Made by twisting flax fibres to form a thick yarn, the powerRibs act as a backbone to the ampliTex flax fabric that is bonded to it

With the introduction of the new regulation in 2019, the seat now forms part of the driver’s weight budget, so it’s over-engineered as a result

McLaren saw a clear opportunity to use this technology in this area of the car based on the current F1 technical regulations. Since 2019, a minimum driver weight of 80 kg has been mandated. And if a driver weighs less than that, ballast must be used to bring them up to the minimum weight. But instead of allowing this ballast to be placed in other areas of the car, which could improve weight distribution, it must be located within the immediate area of the driver’s seat.

While the environmental benefits are clear, the mechanical properties of flax make it an attractive renewable raw material for high-performance composites. The tubular structure of flax fibres provides low density and high stiffness, which affords the opportunity to reduce weight while simultaneously improving vibration damping, as well as resistance to breakage, torsion and compression.

Flax fibres are 9% lighter than any equivalent carbon material and offer significantly better vibration damping. 

Greater vibration absorption and impact resistance make the natural fibre material well suited to use in the driver’s seat. It improves comfort and reduces vibration in the cockpit, which can have a fatiguing effect on drivers and if the seat were to break, unlike carbon fibre, it’s not prone to brittle fracture and splintering.

The ductile fracture behaviour of natural fibre composites opens the door to other possibilities too. One of the most spectacular, but equally dangerous, aspects of an on-track incident is the shards of carbon fibre that result from a collision. Not only do they present an immediate risk to the drivers, but they are also notorious for causing punctures and leaving a driver’s race in tatters. By using natural fibre composites in other areas of the car, such as front wing endplates and the floor, it’s possible to reduce carbon fibre debris and therefore the risk of punctures.

The cost of materials is going to be a big focus and the use of natural fibre composites has the potential to help in this area

With a budget cap set be introduced from 2021, many F1 teams will need to reduce costs while maintaining and improving performance – no mean feat in a sport where, typically, a team can pursue more development routes the more resource it has available. Teams are going to have to work even smarter, McLaren says that using these natural composite solutions has seen a reduction in raw material cost by up to 30% compared to traditional carbon fibre.

Most of the moulds used to make parts of the car are made from carbon fibre composite because of its low thermal expansion. However, flax fibres also possess this property, potentially making them a suitable tooling material for moulding performance parts that are made from standard composites. So even if the part being produced isn’t made from natural fibre materials, the tool to produce it can be – allowing us to reduce the cost of mould tools and our carbon footprint.

With so many potential applications, McLaren sees the natural fibre racing seat as just the beginning and will continue to work with Bcomp to identify other components that can be replaced. The seat was run in pre-season testing without any problems and McLaren hope to be racing with the Bcomp flax seats in the near future.

The post McLaren Teams Up with Bcomp to Develop a Flax Fibre F1 Racing Seat appeared first on Composites Today.

The DTM (Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters) is a touring car series sanctioned by the German motorsports federation. The series is mostly based in Germany but has rounds elsewhere including Belgium and the Netherlands, Manufacturers taking part in the series include Audi and BMW while the vehicles used are based on mass-produced road cars.

The first natural fibre parts using bcomp’s flax fibre technologies have already been validated by BMW Motorsport and Audi Sport during the last DTM tests in Jerez (SPA) and Vallelunga (IT). As a result, the technologies are being introduced into mandatory parts and the technical regulations to enable a direct material changeover from carbon fibre to natural fibres on further applications.

With high exposure to contact, the DTM shoebox is a typical motorsport bodywork wear part which needs to be replaced or repaired after almost every race. With Bcomp’s natural fibre technologies the part can achieve the same weight as with carbon fibre while additionally taking advantage of the anti-splintering and environmental benefits.

Bcomp’s patented powerRibs reinforcement grid, has the same weight as carbon fibre parts, but significantly lower the eco-footprint, improving cost-efficiency, and eliminating the risk of sharp carbon fibre debris.

Further parts to showcase the potential to transfer the sustainable lightweighting solutions from race to road are already in development and will be introduced by the DTM and Bcomp through-out the season.

The post German Touring Car Series Changes Regulations to Allow Bio-Composite Materials appeared first on Composites Today.

The guitar named ‘el capitan’ has been crafted from ekoa, a natural fibre composite made from flax linen and bio-resins. It’s currently the only guitar made using ecologically sourced composite materials and as rainforest wood becomes increasingly scarce could be the material of choice going forward.

Blackbird’s patented unibody construction and hollow neck developed over years of research and development allows the natural fibre guitar to be unaffected by temperature and humidity whilst also staying in tune much longer says the company.

Over the last 10 years, blackbird’s founder joe luttwak has focused on building non-wood acoustics to take on the road, that effort culminated in the development of ekoa as the first material designed to be better for instrument-making than wood.

With ekoa the company wanted to create a naturally derived material that for the first time offers a more dynamic range than the traditional rainforest wood as well as a better player’s experience with significantly stronger and more stable construction.

The post Blackbird Release New Natural Composites Guitar appeared first on Composites Today.

New methods of processing flax have led to renewed interest in the use of the material as an industrial fibre. Flax fibre used in engineering applications provide the high performance and easy processing normally associated with glass fibre composites but with lower weight and environmental impact.

[padding type=”small_left”][quote_colored name=”” icon_quote=”no”]The strength of the frames is due to our unique manufacturing processes that is completely new in this industry, compressing laminates with pressures of up to 8 times that of a conventional carbon monocoque frame we can create stronger laminates and use more exotic materials.[/quote_colored][/padding]

[padding type=”full_left_right”][/padding]

The frame, which weights just 3.3kgs is a combination of bamboo and flax, the former gives the frame its wooden good looks while the latter adds strength and impact absorption. To ensure minimal void content in laminates and an optimum fibre volume fraction, Guapa engineered their own pre-preg flax, creating a bike that the company say is probably the most sustainable and highly engineered available today.

The frame is protected with a special UV and water stable coating that prevents any water ingress and maintains the natural wood.Once made, the frames are shipped off to Germany for testing, here they are put under a week long routine of repetition and impact tests to pass the newest ISO European standards. The Urban One passed these tests with the same frame for all 5 tests, putting it through an equivalent of about 10 years of use.

The Urban One starts at around £2,100 and goes up depending on the options, the company plan to increase the range of bamboo bikes in the near future with a Dutch-style and folding design all in the pipeline.

Images Copyright: Guapa

The post The Urban One Bamboo Flax Bike appeared first on Composites Today.

Lake Constance build the canoes in-house, in a vacuum infused all-natural-fibre construction, the integrated gunwales are made from cork cores which provide improved shape and the moulded seat bars and thwarts were made of western red cedar and ash.

The Flax materials supplied by Composites Evolution are a sustainable alternative to high-performance materials such as glass fibre. The biotex materials are designed by composites experts specifically for composites processes and are suitable for a wide range of applications such as automotive, sports and consumer products.

The post Watch Lake Constance Make a Canoe from Flax Fibre appeared first on Composites Today.