Natural fiber processing technology specialist Advanced BMT has partnered with industry leaders to develop an innovative new natural fiber supply chain using the company's patented technology.

Advanced BMT's natural fiber material provides high performance weight ratio and acceptable odor characteristics. The aspect ratio and density of the fiber material give it high stiffness and minimal weight. Equipment supply partner Cretes provides highly automated manufacturing equipment capable of producing consistent material in high volumes.

By optimizing natural fiber processing technology, the company seeks to deliver more consistent natural fiber materials than existing competitors already offer natural fibers for injection and extrusion molding.

Due to their cost advantages, natural fiber composites are expected to be the materials of choice for many applications, especially those where weight reduction is valuable. The composite produces less CO2 emissions than competing materials such as calcium and talc, and is an alternative to non-sustainable materials currently in use. Most importantly, a domestic supply chain that utilizes large amounts of scrap as raw material is expected to provide stable, low-cost, and continuously available materials, independent of fluctuations in oil prices or competition from international demand.

Advanced BMT's natural fiber polypropylene composite is the ideal combination to achieve a sustainable material that maintains a high level of performance. The production of natural fiber composite raw materials has traditionally been efficient but hampered by excessive material handling and transportation requirements. Advanced BMT's proprietary natural fiber processing techniques and models increase expectations and maximize economics.

The natural fiber composite is expected to find commercial applications in many industries, notably automotive interiors and computer casings.

Finished parts have a biomass content of 10%-30% of the finished part and can be combined with recycled materials to produce the most sustainable plastic products.

Easy to shape after drying

How hard is it to mix natural fibers and plastics? Obviously not very good, says Advanced BMT.

This material is processed well below 190C and shrinks very little due to the fibers. Natural fibers in plastics are gaining popularity among plastics processors, compounders and their customers, especially in the European Union. This trend is driven by environmental concerns and increasing quality and availability of natural fibers.

The use of fibers is limited to polymers that can be processed at low temperatures, such as PP, PE, PVC, and PLA.

For polyolefins, compatibilizers are used to enhance the adhesion between the fibers and the polymer matrix.

There has been a lot of interest in using natural fibers to reinforce PLA to maintain the 100% bio-based claim while delivering unique performance characteristics typically achieved with mineral or synthetic performance additives such as glass fibers or talc . TPS is also well suited as a polymer matrix.

Advanced BMT experience shows that when using a co-rotating twin-screw extruder, the polymer should be added through the main feeder, while the fiber is best added later through the side feeder. Due to the low apparent density of the fiber, which makes it difficult to consistently enter the extruder, it is important to consider the fiber's tendency to agglomerate, which can degrade composite performance if not managed effectively. One way to solve these two problems is to pelletize the fibers before compounding, but this increases the shear force required for dispersion and may cause the fibers to tear or degrade.

Adding fibers also affects the flow of the melt, often increasing viscosity. The optimum melt flow for the polymer matrix will depend on the application, ie: injection molding will require a higher mfi polymer than extrusion.

The maximum fiber loading that can be achieved depends on the manufacturing process, e.g. 30% fiber loading can be easily achieved in the extrusion, whereas it is difficult to achieve in the injected part. The maximum loading is also affected by the ability of the fibers to bond to the matrix, which may be affected by the presence and loading of compatibilizers. It is more critical to consider the desired outcome: the best balance of properties is achieved at relatively low loads, so high loads only make sense in certain applications - the optimal load is largely determined by the matrix polymer Availability and cost implications.

It is also important to consider that the same mass of natural fiber will fill about 2 times the volume of mineral filler, which means that not only is it possible to reduce the cost of additives/fillers, but also the volume of polymer required, which is a major potential source of cost reduction.

By far the biggest benefit of natural fibers is the potential for weight savings, especially in automotive and other transportation-related industries. Coupled with good strength and stiffness properties, it's easy to see the potential for this technology to play a huge role in efficient transportation in the future. Another benefit for automotive applications is that natural fiber-filled plastics provide better acoustic and vibration damping.

For the plastics industry, the fine, non-abrasive nature of natural fibers, especially those derived from flax, hemp, kenaf, and wood, plus their non-toxicity and non-irritating properties to the skin or respiratory system. Additionally, energy costs associated with compounding and molding are reduced compared to traditional, denser alternatives.

An upcoming opportunity is the market interest associated with environmental friendliness, carbon sequestration and fully renewable raw materials.

Advanced BMT companies acknowledge that they have struggled to overcome the challenges associated with natural fiber materials. Such as hygroscopicity, impact strength compared to glass fiber, processing temperature, pelletizing cost before compounding, these are issues that the team needs to discuss every day.

Advanced BMT is not the first to support the use of natural fibers in thermoplastics. Faurecia, a large global producer based in Europe, has commercialized a series of grades under the code name "NAFILEAN", a natural fiber-filled polypropylene for injection molding of automotive structural components, which to date has installed On more than 13 million vehicles. Many European synthetic companies, such as Beologic, Tecnaro, Advanced compound, etc., and Michigan-based synthetic company RheTech are well-known for providing natural fiber-filled PP and PE.

The team at Advanced BMT appears to have a vision to expand the possibilities of natural fiber plastics: to provide the industry with premium products at the highest possible cost-effectiveness, with the highest degree of quality and consistency, to increase the competitiveness of the material, and to increase Utilization of natural fibers in plastics. When asked why they pursued this opportunity, the BMT team stated that the sample parts we helped our strategic partners create proved to me that the properties of polypropylene filled with natural fibers can be very useful in certain applications, and we have a strong interest in lightweight automotive parts. Parts opportunities are especially exciting.