In 2019 Gurit started a collaboration with Bcomp, a Swiss high-tech start-up specialised in sustainable lightweighting solutions based on natural fibres. Gurit now sells Bcomp’s ampliTex™ and powerRibs™ products, often in combination with Gurit’s accredited biobased or low toxicity resin solutions.
The powerRibs™ technology is an extremely lightweight natural fibre reinforcement grid. Inspired by leaf veins, it provides maximum stiffness at minimum weight by creating a rib structure on one side of a thin-walled shell element. The ampliTex™ range of reinforcement fabrics feature a range architectures optimised for a variety of applications.
Thanks to these reinforcements, the CO2 footprint of semi-structural parts, e.g. exterior panels, can be reduced by 75% vs carbon fibres while matching performance. For interior panels, weight can be reduced by up to 50% and plastic by up to 80% at matching performance. The combination of Gurit’s bio resin and Bcomp’s natural fibre solutions now provide an important first step for a bio-based composite panel solution for multiple industries.
Bcomp ampliTex is a next-generation natural flax fibre novelty enabling innovative composite material solutions for various applications. It includes different technologies – non crimp, low twist, no twist, braids and ampliTex™ fusion. AmpliTex is designed to serve several different purposes. Hence, it involves different technologies and offers diverse range of the products in order to adapt to all customer needs.
