The European Confederation of Flax and Hemp (CELC) has partnered with JEC Group to set up the new Natural Fibre Village at JEC World 2022 taking place from May 3rd to 5^th in Paris.

Located in Hall 5, it will showcase the high-performance properties of CELC’s market leading European Flax label, present its latest technical reports detailing best practice guidelines and demonstrate the renewable materials and solutions of the confederation’s members.

The European Flax label provides composite manufacturers with fully traceable and certified premium-quality flax fibres that are sustainably grown in Western Europe and account for 80% of global production.

At JEC, CELC will present a full Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) study for European Flax scutched fibre that uses the new EU-recognised product environmental footprint (PEF) method. CELC is the first agro-industrial sector to measure its environmental impact according to these criteria and delivers accurate scientific data from European Flax fibre grown and processed in France, Belgium, and The Netherlands.

CELC is working to help composite manufacturers integrate renewable fibres into their products by providing technical support and resources. At JEC World 2022, it will launch its latest technical report A Moisture Sensitivity Technical Guideline, detailing the best practice guidelines on handling moisture sensitivity with flax and hemp fibres. The report has been completed by CELC’s European Scientific Council, gathering experts from top European universities to demonstrate and detail the advantages of technical flax and hemp fibres in composites. In addition, CELC will also showcase three technical reports compiled by its European Scientific Council and  co-published with JEC Group that will each detail optimum processing methods for working with flax and hemp.

Showcase

Lightweight flax and hemp fibres provide benefits such as high specific stiffness, fatigue performance, impact resistance, thermal insulation, acoustic performance, radio transparency and vibration damping, which can be engineered to create structural and semi structural composite parts.

In the Natural Fibre Village, on the Innovation Planets, and as finalists for the JEC Innovation awards, CELC members will exhibit a range of European Flax products that are specifically optimised for industrial scale applications – from automotive interiors to bio-composite building facades, bio sourced panels and motorsport components.

Solutions on display will include :

-High-performance natural fibre reinforcements for sustainable lightweighting from Bcomp.

-Injection, thermoforming and additive manufacturing solutions from Demgy,

-Thermoplastic prepregs with woven flax fibre and fiber composite panels – Flipts & Dobbels and Flaxco.

-100% flax and hybrid woven reinforcements from untwisted flax rovings from Depestele.

-Low-twist flax roving and yarns and a range of woven flax technical textiles from Safilin

-Specially selected and prepared flax fibers and rovings for composites fromTerre de Lin.

-Lower cost flax preforms and reinforcements for the composites industry developed by the Flower Interreg Project.

Market reality

On the first day of the show, experts from CELC’s European Scientific Council, Professor Ignaas Verpoest and PhD candidate Gilles Koolen, will also present a session entitled Flax and Hemp Fiber Composites, a Market Reality at the JEC Composites Exchange forum. The presentation will demonstrate how flax and hemp fibres meet manufacturer performance targets and match consumer demand for increasingly sustainable products using an analysis of several commercial bio-composite products.

“JEC World 2022 promises to be a fantastic opportunity for CELC to support its members in creating a powerful technical platform to communicate the remarkable properties and sustainable advantages of flax and hemp in composite applications,” said Julie Pariset, CELC innovation and CSR Director. “In partnership with the JEC Group, we will present our latest technical reports and best practice guidelines delivering proven, scientific data that confirm European Flax as the premium natural fibre for composites.”