Natural fibre reinforced sheet moulding compound

This paper describes a newly developed system, which enables utilisation of short flax fibres for SMC (Sheet Moulding Compound) production. It is shown that by using an evenly distributed layer of short dried flax fibres, after controlled impregnation and maturation, a homogeneous flow of the prepreg in the mould is obtained, and accordingly a flax fibre reinforced SMC can be produced. Mechanical data indicates that for applications designed with respect to stiffness, flax fibre reinforced SMC materials compete with glass fibre SMC, especially when the fibre length exceeds 25 mm. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.