Suchergebnisse

An Optimistic Look into the Future We have successfully achieved the first milestones: we have entered into initial partnerships with companies from over 10 countries that have successfully incorporated our UD tapes into their products, and we are finding more and more international customers for our sustainable fiber composite materials. Beyond our personal experiences, the bio-composite market is also emerging as a clear growth and demand market: globally, the projected growth of the composite market between 2022 and 2027 is 8.1% CAGR. We look to the future of our product with confidence and enthusiasm, and we are excited to take an important step towards a greener industry with the further establishment of our biobased composites. Our Own Production Line With the assurance that the demand for our product is continuously increasing, we are now ready to take the next step and pursue our goal of making renewable raw materials as naturally accessible to product developers as synthetic ones. To succeed in this transition to large-scale industry and meet the demands, significant developments will occur at our production site in Mausitz over the next few months. We are working diligently to bring our FUSE UD Tape production line into operation soon. To ensure a secure raw material supply, we are simultaneously building our own natural fiber production line. A crucial component in installing this line is the steel frame for our long fiber swing, which will be set up in our production hall in mid-June. Additionally, we are expanding the site for the sales and logistics departments. This way, we can produce our own raw materials in the long term and have maximum control over quality and delivery reliability.

Silbaerg snowboard built with our FUSE Micro Tapes wins ICNF 2023 Award One of our product development partners is the snowboard manufacturer Silbaerg from Chemnitz. The company has been successfully building snowboards based on its specially developed and patented A.L.D.-Tech.® technology since 2011. For years, Silbaerg has been continuously working on improving the sustainability of its products. Currently, topics such as bio-based plastics, reduction of waste in production and the use of natural fibres (flax and hemp) are at the centre of the company's development activities. In the case of flax and hemp, Silbaerg and FUSE-Composite cooperated closely. The result is impressive: A snowboard with preforms made of hemp fibres and recycled carbon fibre fleece. Silbaerg decided to work with our FUSE HMP Micro Tapes to replace the synthetic fibres that were previously used. Customers do not have to expect a reduction in performance. A positive side effect is the good vibration damping of the natural fibre in the snowboard, which leads to a smoother ride and less vibrations. The successful development work on this snowboard has now been recognised by ICNF 2023 with the Natural Fibrenamics Award. The focus of ICNF2023 is on "Nature-inspired sustainable solutions", with the aim of exploring the potential of natural fibres as key materials for smart design and sustainable solutions for future generations. To achieve this important goal, a Natural Fibrenamics Award competition will be organised alongside the scientific presentations to promote and showcase new innovative natural fibre-based products from around the world. The development of functional, cost-efficient and innovative value-added products is one of the key strategies to increase the competitiveness of industrial sectors working with natural fibres. The mere argument of ecological potentials is not enough in new products to inspire customers. The innovative product applications were presented during the conference in a specially designed exhibition room and evaluated by a selected jury in terms of innovation, design and functionality. The competition is a showcase for the latest innovations in the field of natural fibres, both for science and industry. We are delighted for Silbaerg to receive this award and are proud to have contributed to it.

FUSE Composite is nominated for the DBFZ Award 'Best Innovative Practice 2023' - Voting runs until 23 June 2023. In April, we applied to the DBFZ German Biomass Research Centre for the 'Best Innovative Practice 2023' competition. Our natural fibre UD tapes made it into the final public vote. Between 12 and 23 June 2023, the public is being asked to vote for the best project. An overview of all projects can be found here: https://www.dbfz.de/netzwerk-biooekonomie/wettbewerb-fuer-die-beste-innovative-praxis/oeffentliche-abstimmung-2023 Voting is also open online via this link: https://survey.dbfz.de/limesurvey/index.php/696315?lang=de The competition takes place once a year and is part of the Bioeconomy in Practice Network. This is a national platform for the engagement of key actors in the German bioeconomy within the H2020 project BRANCHES. It aims to support knowledge transfer and dissemination of innovative practices. These practices include technologies or systems along the value chain and innovations that address the challenges of the (regional) bioeconomy. The platform also supports networking between actors in the German bioeconomy and provides a network for initiating new ideas and joint projects.

Our experience with our FUSE-UD tapes in building custom skis In March 2023, we made our way to Innsbruck to visit the ski manufactory SPURart. SPURart is known for its handmade and custom-made skis, snowboards and splitboards. The goal of the workshop was to once again use and test our FUSE UD tapes ourselves in the production of a composite product. The workshop provided an excellent opportunity to gain a more profound understanding of the intricacies of ski design and construction. These insights will in turn be incorporated into the product development of our FUSE UD tapes. Simon Mayenschein from SPURart, who had previously built skis from our FUSE UD-Tapes (Click here for the interview with Simon), led the workshop. Michael Halbfurter, an Austrian organic farmer who grows hemp for various markets, and Valentine Troi from Standortagentur Tirol, which is working on a hemp research project, were also there. Valentine has already made ski poles from our Micro Tapes. So there was concentrated expertise on the subject of hemp and composites - the ideal prerequisite to thoroughly test our FUSE UD tapes. The workshop started with choosing the ski shape we wanted to build - the ski shape is based on the skiing style, for example, touring or freestyle. The size of the ski is determined according to the skiing ability and the size of the rider. Next, the construction of the skis began. The process involved laying down the base and FUSE reinforcement material, adding edges, and pressing the skis under heat and vacuum pressure. Each ski also received a custom top sheet with a design. Once the skis were sanded and bindings were added, it was time to test our new FUSE hemp skis on the slopes. The material behaved extremely reliably. This means that the skis are very smooth-running due to their strong vibration damping. The fiberglass material used in most skis does not have this property. But the workshop was not just about having fun on the slopes, it was also about gaining knowledge for our product development. Finding 1: It is important to keep the amount of resin low to avoid the ski becoming too heavy. With a little manual effort, the tape can be impregnated perfectly. Insight 2: To apply the material without bubbles, you need to impregnate from the bottom through the material to avoid air pockets between layers and create a good impregnation quality. Finding 3: There is a preferred direction of the material alignment, which is noticeable by protruding fiber ends and influences from which side the resin should be rolled onto it. This is an issue that we will revisit in product development to have more flexibility in processing. We took our filmmaker friend Florian Schurz along to the workshop, who documented the construction of a ski with FUSE UD tapes. Of course, he also got to join us on the slopes. How we implement our findings within our product development will be documented here in our blog. We are currently working on new products such as the cross-laminate and PrePregs. More about that soon here as well. Video by Florian Schurz from CoLab Film.

In early December 2022, co-founder Lovis Kneisel was a guest on the Sachsen-Leinen e.V. podcast Fibers at Work. In each Fibers at Work Podcast, an expert is interviewed on the topic of hemp as an industrial raw material and its potential for manufacturing sustainable products. In episode 4, we had the opportunity to introduce FUSE Composite. For those who want to delve more into the topic of hemp as a solution for manufacturing sustainable industrial products, there is a lot of helpful information in this podcast. Topics include hemp farming, processing technology, and product applications. The experts come from both research and practice and discuss the opportunities and challenges of hemp. So, you'll learn what the state of the art is and where the journey is heading towards. Here is the link to the episode with FUSE. Here you have access to all episodes: https://www.sachsenleinen.de/podcast All interviews are in German language but you may also watch the recordings on YouTube with English subtitles.

Industrial processing of renewable raw and residual materials The AFBW as well as the DITF Denkendorf had invited to the 1st NATURALfiberEXTRACTION congress in Stuttgart at the end of October 2022. The content was about the industrial processing of renewable raw and residual materials. The aim of the NATURALfiberEXTRACTION congress was to promote sustainable management and to demonstrate solutions for effectively processing plant-based raw materials and residues into fibers for clothing, home textiles, and technical applications. The focus of the congress was on industrialized fiber production, as this is where fiber and textile technology know-how is most urgently needed. In an accompanying exhibition and a start-up and material slam, companies and institutes presented their competencies. Workshops continued to provide opportunities for dialogue and exchange. FUSE was also on-site and led a workshop on the topic focus Natural Fibers for industrial use cases. Participation in such innovative conferences concerning natural fibers for industrial applications is always a priority for our FUSE team. The exchange with other industry and research experts from other sectors let us learn about new emerging approaches, which in return help us to make FUSE even better.

In our initial development phase, we focused on UD tapes made from flax and hemp for thermoset processing. However, we soon realized that our process can do even more and is also suitable for the production of thermoplastic semi-finished products. Thus, we started to develop our FUSE thermoplastic HMP UD Tape together with our research and development partners at TU Chemnitz and Fraunhofer IMWS. The first thermoplastic UD Tapes use PP or PLA together with hemp. However, since our manufacturing process is very flexible, we can vary matrix type, volume fraction as well as natural fiber types according to customer specifications. This allows us to respond individually to our customers' product requirements and develop solutions together. Are you looking for a semi-finished product that exactly fits your product requirements? Then contact us to find out how our FUSE semi-finished products can be tailored to you.

On June 14, the Biopolymer Innovation Award 2022 was presented during the Biopolymer Processing & Moulding Congress. The main prize of EUR 2,000 went to the Belgian company Home Eos. FUSE HMP-Thermo - biobased and degradable UD-tape for fiber composite applications was awarded second place. Third place went to the Brazilian company ERT. During the awards ceremony, moderator Simone Fischer recognized FUSE as follows: FUSE "produces UD-tapes for lightweight construction from natural fibers and biopolymers, which represent an alternative to currently frequently used material combinations of polypropylene with glass fibers. The fiber composite material can be produced and processed using established manufacturing technology. Among other things, the jury was impressed by the uniformity with which the fibers are covered by the biopolymer. The development is also a signal to many regions around the world that, like the Central German brown coal Region, have embarked on or are planning to embark on the transformation from a fossil-based to a biobased raw material focus. In Markkleeberg, natural, regionally growing materials such as hemp or flax are used in combination with bioplastics to create highly technical products. These products are recycled at the end of their use phase and given a second life as short-fiber-reinforced plastics before they can even be recycled biologically at the end of their life cycle, depending on the plastic selected. An innovation that we are pleased to award." We are delighted that FUSE made it to the final 3 nominations in an international competition. Being able to compete in such an environment helps us in our product development. Many thanks also to the organizer Polykum e.V., who created this award. The BIOPOLYMER Innovation Awards have been presented worldwide since 2019 by the non-profit funding association POLYKUM, which is based in Merseburg (Saxony-Anhalt).

Techtextil, the world's largest trade fair for technical textiles, will take place in Frankfurt/Main between 21-24 June 2022. FUSE Composite will also be present at the fair. During Techtextil you will have the opportunity to ask your questions about our materials and get a first haptic and visual impression. You are cordially invited to visit the stand C50 of the Association of the North-East German Textile and Clothing Industry (Vti) in Hall 11.1 to find out more about the potential of FUSE.

The Swedish start-up company Norrcycle specialises in the production of sustainable bicycles made of laminated wood. The production of Norrcycle bikes with FUSE UD tape reinforcement is in development to create even lighter and stiffer frame constructions from European renewable raw materials. The start of production is planned for autumn 2022. For the production of the Norrcycle frame sets, wood layers of light domestic wood are pressed in veneer layers by selectively adding high-strength FUSE UD natural fibre (FLX or HMP) to form a fibre-optimised laminated wood structure. The combination of very high strength of the unidirectional FUSE fibres with the low density of the wood layers is ideally suited to use the properties that can be achieved with them in such a targeted way to build lightweight and high-strength wheels that, in addition to a high level of comfort, also demonstrate convincing sustainability potential. Besides the sustainability benefits, the laminated natural fibres also offer technological processing advantages compared to fibreglass or carbon fibre due to significantly better processing options with machining tools (e.g. milling machine and saw) as well as the possible use of a laser cutter. Significantly less harmful and visible dust is produced and the possible processing temperature of the FUSE fibre is comparable to standard wood. In cooperation between Norrcycle and FUSE, tests are being carried out to see how FUSE HMP can replace wood veneers, which are becoming increasingly difficult to obtain, or supplement them in a technically sensible way. This will help improve the stability and rigidity of the bicycles produced in Germany and enable improvement of sustainability aspects.

The winners of this year's Biopolymer Innovation Awards provide impressive evidence of new applications for bioplastics. FUSE HMP-Thermo - biobased and degradable UD tape for fiber composite applications, has been nominated as one of three winners of the Biopolymer Innovation Award 2022. The winners of this year's Biopolymer Innovation Awards provide impressive evidence that bioplastics are conquering new areas of application, from housing to the automotive industry. They are helping to minimize dependence on oil and gas and the CO₂ footprint. In addition, biopolymers are also becoming interesting alternatives in terms of price. At the award ceremony at the "Biopolymer - Processing & Moulding" congress on 14 June 2022, the winners from Belgium, Brazil, and Germany will present their innovations exclusively. The abundance of high-quality applications from Belgium, Brazil, the Netherlands, Italy, and Germany once again presented the jury of the Biopolymer Innovation Award with an exciting and challenging task this year. After a multi-stage selection process, the jury nominated three companies as candidates for the main prize of 2,000 Euros. In addition to FUSE Composite, the companies Earth Renewable Technology (ERT) from Curitiba, Brazil, and Home Eos from Farciennes, Belgium, were selected. More information about the award can be found here.

Natural fibers and sustainability, relevant for many composites manufacturers and processors From May 3-5, 2022, JEC World, the global trade show for composites and their applications, took place in Paris. As previously reported, FUSE Composite was also on-site. Spread over a total of 2 halls, visitors from over 100 countries were able to interact with over 1000 exhibitors at JEC World. Various topics were covered in special areas, one of which was dedicated solely to natural fibers. Here, flax showed itself as the dominant reinforcing fiber and was portrayed in various application examples. Interestingly, apart from the FUSE HMP, no other semifinished products made of hemp were on display. This encourages us to focus on our stable regional supply chains for high-quality hemp semifinished products. With our FUSE HMP, we can thus offer the composites market economically attractive alternatives to flax fiber materials, which often suffers from price and supply security.