Hexcel has developed a new product range that combines resin systems made with bio-derived content with natural fibre reinforcements to create material solutions for automotive, winter sports, marine and wind energy applications.

The HexPly Nature range includes proven resins such as HexPly M49, M78.1-LT and M79 but with bio-derived epoxy resin content. The resin characteristics remain unchanged in the new Nature Range products, maintaining high mechanical performance and consistent processing properties.

In addition, the range provides prepreg options with natural fibre reinforcements that can be seamlessly integrated into existing production processes.

Hexcel worked with TÜV Austria to provide independent, high-quality measurement and assessment of the bio-content. TÜV Austria’s OK biobased certification uses a standardised measurement of the biobased carbon content enabling transparency and easy like-for-like comparison between products.

At JEC World in Paris on May 3-5, Hexcel presented an alpine ski produced by the Tecnica Group Ski Excellence Centre which produces skis for Blizzard and for Nordica using HexPly Nature M78.1-LT UD flax fibre prepreg. In addition to providing a bio-based material solution, the natural fibre-reinforced prepreg also offers the potential to improve impact performance and vibration damping in the ski.

“Our new HexPly Nature range forms an important part of providing customers with biobased, TÜV-certified material options based on our established prepreg resin systems,” said Claude Despierres, Hexcel’s VP of industrial sales and marketing. “Marine, winter sports, wind energy and automotive manufacturers can now have the choice to switch from petroleum-based material solutions with no compromise in performance or process efficiency.”

www.hexcel.com