Italian composites specialist Angeloni Group was one of the early adopters of natural fibres for high-performance applications. Eager to take natural fibre composites to the market, Angeloni Group closely collaborated with Bcomp to develop one of the first performance natural fibre prepreg materials. Since the initial development, these natural fibre prepregs have been constantly optimised and made their way into motorsport serial production through close collaboration with Bcomp and leading customers.
Seeing the potential and need for sustainable lightweighting solutions, composite specialist Angeloni was amongst the first to jump on the wagon and develop natural fibre prepregs for high-performance applications. We are proud that Angeloni chose to collaborate closely with us, as well as with leading customers, for the development of the first performance natural fibre prepreg made with Bcomp’s ampliTex™ reinforcement fabrics.
With their natural fibre prepreg, Angeloni set an early benchmark for the whole market. With natural fibres making their way into motorsports, the Angeloni prepreg started to take off and made its way into motorsports serial production. Today, Angeloni’s natural fibre prepregs with Bcomp’s ampliTex™ reinforcements are among the best-selling natural fibre prepregs on the motorsport market. From being an early adopter of sustainable lightweighting technologies, Angeloni Group has gone on to create a new market for natural fibre prepregs and become the leader of this young market.
Over the years development never stood still. Working tirelessly towards the best product possible has led to a prepreg with great workability in a lightweight package thanks to a specific focus on Impregnatex resin dedicated for natural fibers. With a resin weight content (RW) of only 44% the prepreg still manages to achieve great tack. This plays a significant role for the lay-up and production of high-end parts made of natural fibre composites. Next to the 44% RW ampliTex™ versions, resin rich versions were specifically developed for the combination with powerRibs™ and guarantee a perfect resin content for the patented sustainable lightweighting solution. The layups of 44% RW ampliTex™ + resin rich ampliTex™ + powerRibs™ are the proven go-to solution in multiple motorsport bodyworks, matching in many cases the performance of an equivalent monolithic carbon fibre laminate with no added weight. The prepreg developed by Angeloni combines this great workability with high-end results in terms of weight and surface quality. Thanks to these traits this natural fibre prepreg has been widely adopted by the motorsports market and helped to build the case for sustainable lightweighting with natural fibre parts now racing successfully in several series. Body panels and other semi-structural parts have moved into the spotlight of sustainable lightweighting in motorsports. In the light of these trends, we look forward to continuing this successful collaboration and developing innovative products with ever higher performance together with the Angeloni Group.
