Potential uses for Terrafibre automotive include: door panels, rear package trays, load floors, instrument panels, centre consoles, pillars, seat backs, spare tire covers, and door bolsters. The composition of our mat can be customized to a particular application due to our unique ability to blend different fibres together. BioComposites Group Inc is situated in an ideal location to take advantage of relationships with our supply partners in both the wood fibre and agricultural fibre sectors. If necessary, given the application, our non-woven composite mat can be made from a blend of natural fibres and synthetic fibres.
BioComposites Group is developing and integrating renewable, bio-based materials as part of a long-term campaign to produce lighter components. One of the most significant recent developments in vehicle light-weighting and sustainability is the movement toward abandoning oil-based plastics in favor of natural substances for interior structures.
BCG utilizes wood fibres to produce a composite sheet that can be used in the traditional hot-compression molding process. BCG combines wood fibres with an oil-based binder (PF resin) to create a lightweight rigid part. This Terrafibre mat is composed of approximately 80% wood fibres. Potential automotive applications include: load floors, package trays, interior door panels, seat backs, spare tire covers, consoles, headliners, and more.
AGRICULTURAL FIBRE (NFPP) COMPOSITE SHEET PRODUCT
(THERMOPLASTIC – AUTOMOTIVE)
Agricultural hemp or flax fibres can be combined with polypropylene fibres to produce a Terrafibre panel product that will yield a 25% weight reduction over glass-reinforced plastics. BioComposites Group can develop and introduce green content into high-performance materials for instrument panels, door panels and center consoles. The substantial 20 to 25 percent weight savings in comparison with standard plastics contributes to make the car more fuel-efficient. It also reduces the overall environmental impact by 20 to 25 percent through the components’ lifecycle.
Called Natural Fibre Polypropylene (NFPP), the compression technology for this product type also enables faster production with its one-step compression and covering process.
LIGHT-WEIGHT REINFORCED THERMOPLASTIC
(LWRT) COMPOSITE SHEET PRODUCT (AUTOMOTIVE)
This product is a low pressure, thermo-formable composite of plastic resin and long chopped fiberglass combined with outer layers as needed for the application (i.e. adhesive film, barrier film, tough PP film, non-woven, reinforcing, or just the bare surface).
BioComposites Group also has the capacity to blend agricultural fibres into this product as well. LWRT is typically used in less demanding structural applications where a high stiffness-to-weight ratio is required. Typical applications include vehicle interior substrates (headliners, parcel shelves, etc).
