Amber Composites (Nottingham / UK; www.ambercomposites.com) has introduced a prepreg with fabric made from sustainably-sourced woven flax. The company said the “Biotex” flax fabric, made by Composites Evolution (Chesterfield / UK; www.compositesevolution.com), provides the high performance and easy processing normally associated with glass fibre composites, but with lower weight and less environmental impact. Additionally, improved damping characteristics make it ideal for certain applications.

The prepreg is available in Amber’s “Multipreg” 8020 epoxy resin system, a low-to-medium cure prepreg that can be used with or without an autoclave. It is suitable for semi- structural and decorative applications in automotive, marine, sports and consumer goods. The initial fabric options are a 400g/m² 2 x 2 twill, and a 500g/m² plain weave.

Amber Composites and Composites Evolution will be showing both the dry fabric and cured flax prepreg at the “JEC Europe: Composites Show & Conferences”, in Paris / France from 27 to 29 March 2012 – see Plasteurope.com of 02.01.2012.