JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #113 - June 2017 - 67

technical textile TECHNOLOGY

New bio-based hybrid woven fabric
as an alternative reinforcement
Saint-Gobain Adfors and Dehondt Composites investigated the addition of flax
fibre into glass fabrics to form a hybrid material. The new structure shows
promising results, as it enhances a number of characteristics and can reduce
final weight.
michal DouBrava,
Business Development Manager
Saint-Gobain Adfors Construction Products
Europe
JonaS BoucharD,
R&D Project Leader, Saint-Gobain Recherche,
European Adfors Lab
EDouarD PhiliPPE,
Innovation Manager, Dehondt Composites

F

ibre-reinforced polymer composites currently use two main
reinforcement materials: glass and carbon fibre. Over the
past ten years, new plant-based continuous reinforcements
have been developed and improved in terms of processability
and performance. Flax fibre is one of the most reliable plantbased reinforcements. Traditionally, composite manufacturers
have used carbon fibre for its low weight and high strength, and
glass fibre for its low cost, good mechanical properties and availability. Flax fibre also has clear potential for the composite market,
in particular due to its low density (lower than carbon), its good
mechanical, acoustic and vibration damping performance, and
its recyclability (renewable resource). Therefore, an alternative
for composite manufacturers, OEMs and end users is to propose
a combination of different types of reinforcements to benefit
from the advantages of each fibre. In this context, Dehondt Composites (a co-founder of Fimalin in the technical flax sector) and
Saint-Gobain Adfors are working together to develop innovative
woven fabrics combining flax and glass rovings.
Strong synergy
Dehondt Composites has been involved in the composite market
for ten years now, industrializing and marketing a new range of
flax fibre-based reinforcements. Dehondt Composites wants to
make flax fibres the third most used fibre in composite materials
after glass and carbon fibres. The Flax Technic range, which benefits from more than 60 years of expertise and knowledge in flax
fibre, ranges from flax roving to prepregs, and uses oil-based and/
or biosourced polymer resins.
Saint-Gobain Adfors is a global company that offers reinforce-

ment solutions based on a complete range of textile and coating
technologies using glass-fibre yarns, synthetic fibres and natural
fibres, for both industrial customers and building distribution.
The collaboration between the two companies grew out of the
synergy between Dehondt Composites' skills in the manufacture
of twistless flax roving and Saint-Gobain Adfors' know-how in
glass-fibre manufacturing and weaving.
Development of innovative glass/flax hybrid woven
fabrics with an industrial approach
New hybrid fabrics combining flax and glass rovings were produced at an industrial scale using a specific co-weaving process
and the Nattex® twistless flax roving from Dehondt Composites.
Several woven configurations were developed with different
compositions: 100% glass, 100% flax and glass/flax hybrid (see
Table 1). These woven reinforcements (F1 to F4) were compared
with a non-woven glass fabric (F5). In the woven structures conTable 1: Characteristics of the woven and non-woven materials tested

Sample
Fabric
N°
Composition
F1

77% Glass/
23% Flax

F2

100% Flax

F3

20% Glass/
80% Flax

F4

100% Glass

F5

100% Glass

Structure

Grammage
(g/m²)

Flax weight Glass weight
content
content
(wt.%)
(wt.%)

850

23

77

450

100

0

575

81

19

1100

0

100

600

0

100

Woven

Non
woven

No113 June 2017

/ jec composites magazine

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #113 - June 2017
