The freedom and closeness to the elements at sea have always fascinated humans. However, many materials commonly used in boat building today eventually end up polluting that very environment because they end up in landfills. Our natural fibre solutions ampliTex™ and powerRibs™ do not only offer environmental benefits and viable end-of-life options, but also novel design opportunities and excellent vibration damping.
Improve environmental impact
CO2 neutral fibre
Thermal energy recovery within municipal waste management system at end-of-life
Technological advantages
Increased vibration damping improves comfort and reduces noise
Radiotransparent and non-conductive
Same CTE as carbon fibres, allowing for hybrid layups
Unique design opportunities
Beautiful aesthetics and new lighting opportunities with ampliTex™, thanks to its natural translucency
Possibility to dye and color the fabrics
As society is increasingly concerned about the well-being of our planet and the eco footprint left for future generations, sustainable materials are increasingly sought after also in the marine sector.
Our high-performance natural fibre reinforcements ampliTex™ and powerRibs™ materials offer viable alternatives to carbon- and glass fibres. These technologies enable new opportunities in the construction of more sustainable and lightweight structures, from structural (hull, stringers, bulkheads) to semi- and non-structural (floorboards, cable trays and furniture) components.
We are very proud to present the beautiful creations of three customers: Baltic Yachts, Greenboats and Melker of Sweden Kayaks. Each of them a technology leader and innovator in their sector and all sharing a desire to explore how sustainability does not have to be a compromise.
© Baltic Yachts
The Baltic Yachts Café Racer is a 68-foot daysailer. Using the latest technologies to reduce its eco footprint, it is fitted with an electric propulsion and generation system and with a hull made of 50% ampliTex™ low density flax fibres.
Baltic Yachts’ Café Racer 68
© Greenboats
The Greenboats Flax 27 daysailer is built with ampliTex™, using bio resin and recycled materials. This natural beauty attracts plenty of attention through beautiful shapes, great sailing and through the extensive use of sustainable materials.
Greenboats Flax27 sailing with ampliTex™ natural fibre
© Melker Kayaks
The latest generation of kayaks by the innovative Melker of Sweden are made of natural and sustainable ampliTex™ flax fibres. Lightweight, strong, aesthetic, durable and versatile, they offer great playfulness and paired with excellent manoeuvrability, these kayaks are extremely well received.
Melker Kayaks on a quiet sea
Our flax fibres are CO2 neutral over their life cycle, and the fibres themselves are biologically decomposable. The production of parts made from ampliTex™ and powerRibs™ has a 85% lower CO2 footprint than that of thin-walled monolithic carbon fibre parts with equal stiffness and weight. Production consumables are reduced, saving both costs and waste. At the end of their life, parts can be used for thermal energy recovery without residual waste within the standard waste management system rather than ending up in landfills.
Bcomp’s ampliTex™ is available as dry fibre, Gurit SPRINT or natural fibre prepreg from trusted partners, making it suitable for vacuum infusion, autoclave, prepreg compression moulding (PCM) or RTM processes. The powerRibs™ technology is available as dry fibre, but can be infused by a resin-rich layer of ampliTex™ prepreg. The Bcomp engineering team is happy to provide its expertise with natural fibre composites and the optimisation of layups in collaboration with naval engineers. We support our clients all the way to their finalised part.
ampliTex™ technical fabrics offer novel design opportunities. Naturally, it has a beautiful organic vintage look closely reminiscent of hardwood, but it can also be coloured to fit special design requirements. The material is translucent which allows for endless creative design options.
With the ampliTex™ and powerRibs™ product ranges, we offer solutions for sustainable lightweighting from sports to space.
The ampliTex™ and powerRibs™ product ranges of natural fibre reinforcements for sustainable lightweighting.
