Sustainable Lightweighting to Decarbonise the World
At Bcomp we decarbonise the world through high-performance bio-based materials. We are offering solutions for a cleaner future without compromising performance, and we help our customers until they can successfully launch by offering first class engineering support.
Product Overview
We are the leading solutions provider for natural fibre reinforcements in high-performance applications.
Our ampliTex™ technical fabrics offer a versatile array of options from dry fibres to prepregs and thermoplastic variants pre-impregnated with PP. Similarly, our powerRibs™ reinforcement grid is available in dry and thermoplastic versions. They can be used individually or combined to meet diverse performance goals.
From large-scale back injection moulding, over thermoplastic compression moulding up to low volume prepreg autoclave processing and more, Bcomp offers the right material for your process of choice.
ampliTex™
The ampliTex™ range of technical fabrics includes different colours and weaves – bi-axial, twills, UDs and hybrid fabrics, optimised for lightweight reinforcement.
powerRibs™
Inspired by leaf veins, the powerRibs™ reinforcement grid enables natural fibre parts to match the performance in stiffness and weight of carbon fibre parts.
ampliTex™-PP
ampliTex™-PP, high-performance fabrics pre-impregnated with polypropylene, provide a plug-and-play solution for industrial production processes in large-scale applications.
powerRibs™-PP
Designed to create lightweight yet stiff components in a fast compression moulding process, powerRibs™-PP are pre-impregnated with polypropylene.
Our Impact
Lower CO2 footprint
-85%
Reducing cradle-to-gate CO2 footprint by up to 85%*
* depending on the specific application
Lightweight
-50%
Reducing weight of entire components by up to 50%*
* depending on the specific application
Less plastic
-70%
Reducing use of plastic by up to 70%*
* depending on the specific application
Circularity
Viable end-of-life solutions like recycling into a new base material or energy recovery from a renewable base material*
* depending on the specific application
Our Mission
At Bcomp we work every day towards one big goal – to decarbonise the world through high-performance bio-based materials. Our proprietary natural fibre-based reinforcement technologies ampliTex™ and powerRibs™ reduce environmental impact in a wide range of high-performance applications, from automotive interiors to the highest levels of motorsports, from luxury yachting to sports, infrastructure, aerospace and even space.
Applications
Our high-performance material solutions build on the exceptional properties of renewable flax fibres to replace standard engineering materials in areas from automotive to mass transportation and from motorsports to luxury yachting and sports without sacrificing any performance.
Automotive
Our solutions for large-scale automotive interior and exterior parts enable exceptional weight- and plastic reduction while introducing completely novel design opportunities.
Mass Transportation
Buses, trains, subways, and airplanes – thanks to our specialist products like fire resistant ampliTex™ natural fibre reinforcements, the benefits of sustainable lightweighting that have already convinced the automotive industry can also have an impact across the full bandwidth of mass transportation.
Motorsports and Supercars
Match the performance of carbon fibres with natural fibres thanks to our proprietary motorsport solutions. Improve safety and vibration damping while reducing environmental impact.
Sports
Natural fibres for enhanced performance and feeling. Sustainable and lightweight, our ampliTex™ flax reinforcement fabrics enable innovation in sports gear by increasing performance, delivering a signature feeling and reducing environmental impact.
Marine
From kayaks and sailing boats to ultimate luxury yachts, we provide beautiful, sustainable and vibration damping material solutions for both interior- and exterior applications.
Lifestyle
Luggage, designer watches, consumer electronics and luxury furniture, our sustainable natural fibre materials are extremely versatile and offer a distinct and customisable natural beauty and aesthetic while adding functional benefits.
Infrastructure
From bridges to entire building facades and interior structures, our ampliTex™ and powerRibs™ solutions can create architectural objects with extraordinary design and aesthetics while using a renewable material instead of conventional fossil-based materials.
Manufacturing Processes
We have collaborated closely with industry leaders from different markets to help them work with our natural fibre composite solutions in the best possible way and optimise our products for the most efficient and widely used production processes.
Compression Moulding
For years, we have worked closely with leading OEMs and Tier 1s to assure that our natural fibre solutions are compatible with efficient compression moulding processes. Our thermoplastic ampliTex™-PP technology pairs with a layer of NFPP to efficiently create very light yet stiff components from a recyclable mono-material. ampliTex™-PP allows you to achieve a highly customisable appearance with a stunning natural aesthetic, or can be combined with any standard cover material if desired. The powerRibs™-PP reinforcement grid can be added to a layup to further boost stiffness and reduce weight even more. Our thermoplastic ampliTex™-PP solution has been validated by leading OEM groups for both UV and scratch resistance.
You need to efficiently produce large series of lightweight and sustainable components? Then look no further than our ampliTex™-PP and powerRibs™-PP solutions.
Related applications
Back-Injection Moulding
As a readily available drop-in solution, ampliTex™-PP can be used in a traditional back-injection moulding production – one of the most wide-spread processes – to create high-end parts with supreme visual quality directly from a one-step-process. Thanks to the customisability of ampliTex™, different aesthetic surfaces can be achieved from a single existing tool. Therefore, ampliTex™-PP offers design freedom and ease of implementation in a back-injection moulding process. Furthermore, ampliTex™-PP has passed the strict UV & scratch resistance specifications of several OEMs and, unlike many other materials, does not need any additional coating.
Related applications
Autoclave & Prepreg Compression Moulding
Bcomp’s ampliTex™ natural fibre reinforcements are available as prepreg material from our trusted partners. By working in close collaboration with the best prepreggers, we can assure that ampliTex™ prepregs provide the best resin-to-fibre-weight ratio, ideal tack and our engineering team is here to support our customers with the right parameters for both autoclave and compression moulding production. Our ampliTex™ and powerRibs™ reinforcements can be used in the exact same moulds as carbon and glass fibres, making for an easy transition to a more sustainable material.
Related applications
Resin Transfer Moulding
Dry ampliTex™ and powerRibs™ reinforcements are fully suited to resin transfer moulding manufacturing processes. This opens new doors for parts manufacturers from all sectors to take advantage of the countless aesthetic opportunities and sustainable lightweighting benefits of our natural fibre composite solutions. Let us help you to replace glass and carbon fibres with a renewable and beautiful alternative.
Related applications
Vacuum Infusion
ampliTex™ and powerRibs™ natural fibre reinforcements can be used in vacuum infusion processes in the same moulds as carbon or glass fibres. The powerRibs™ grid adds another significant benefit to the manufacturing process as its properties make the additional flow media superfluous. This means that by switching to a natural fibre layup with ampliTex™ and powerRibs™ or a hybrid layup of carbon or glass fibres with powerRibs™, you can significantly reduce the use of consumables and therefore waste from production. Our experienced team of engineers supports our clients from idea to final product, to assure the best possible outcome.
Related applications
News
Sustainable lightweighting
Dematerialisation
Circular solution
Customisable appearance
Why Us?
Bcomp’s unique approach to applying the latest composites knowledge to natural fibres has caught the interest of many – the proprietary powerRibs™ reinforcement solution and the ampliTex™ technical fabrics have been developed to fully industrialised products, ready to help decarbonise large industries. From our roots in the sports industry to collaborating closely with the biggest OEMs, the Bcomp team is working tirelessly to make sure that we maximise the sustainable impact of our natural fibre solutions and help decarbonise the world for a better tomorrow. Natural fibre composites are the high-performance engineering material of a future that favours circular solutions without compromising performance. From automotive interior and exterior components to mass transportation applications like trains, buses and airplanes, from boats, sailing yachts and kayaks to surfboards, skis and rackets all the way to large infrastructure and everyday items like furniture, luggage or consumer electronics – our ampliTex™ and powerRibs™ solutions can help you to reduce weight, CO2 emissions and plastic use.
Lightweighting
powerRibs™ and ampliTex™ reinforcements allow you to create lightweight parts and components with a renewable bio-based material that is compatible with standard manufacturing processes. Compared to traditional IMPP plastic, our natural fibre composites enable 50% lighter components and parts.
Renewable materials
Bcomp’s flax fibres are CO2 neutral cradle-to-gate. Taking part in a natural cycle of biogenic CO2, the flax plant absorbs CO2 from the atmosphere during its growth and stores it for the entirety of its lifetime as a plant and composite reinforcement.
Dematerialisation
Making the most of this multifunctional performance material, allows us to simultaneously reduce weight and material use while providing a luxury aesthetic where it is desired.
Circular solution
Bcomp’s natural fibre composites are trail blazers for a circular economy. Combining ampliTex™-PP with NFPP and our patented powerRibs™-PP results lightweight parts made from a monomaterial which can easily be recycled into a new base material for injection moulding parts.
Naturally beautiful aesthetic
ampliTex™ stands out with its ability to infuse a modern and natural aesthetic into the design of your components. With a wide range of customisation options, it allows for a multitude of looks and colours, adding a touch of personalisation and uniqueness to each part.
Fully customisable
The needs of our customers are as diverse and unique as themselves. Therefore, we do not confine ourselves to a standard portfolio only but offer a vast range of customisation. Bespoke weaves and colours to achieve your signature look, a reinforcement optimised for your mechanical needs or a fire-resistant solution – we have got you covered.
Testimonials
They trust in our high-performance solutions to work towards a cleaner future.
“We understood the huge potential of this material and, finally, after years of development together with our suppliers – and Bcomp – we’ve found the key to applying it in high volume production. Our own signature weave brings a luxurious and technical finish to this natural fibre composite, which means it can now be used as a functional and visual material.”
Maximilian Missoni, Head of Design, Polestar
“Our partnership with Bcomp has been a game-changer in helping us find new opportunities for incorporating natural fibre composites into our design and engineering. We worked with the Swiss cleantech specialist on Formula 1’s first natural fibre racing seat, which made its debut at the 2021 British Grand Prix.”
from the McLaren Racing Sustainability Report 2021
“We’re very encouraged by the possibilities offered by flax composites, which is why we used them both in the interior and on the exterior of the Volvo Cars Concept Recharge. It is a material that is environmentally responsible with a very low carbon footprint that also delivers an attractive and natural aesthetic.”
Robin Page, Senior Vice President Design, Volvo Cars
“We really enjoy working with the knowledgeable experts at Bcomp. Not only was the technical material information available, but the collaboration allowed for the R&D process and for us to appropriately specify the material for accurate performance and flex characteristics.”
Craig Tompkins, Product Designer, AK Durable Supply Co.
“Two of our most popular twin tips are now part of the Concept Blue range, featuring new materials for kiteboarding, flax and basalt. For the twin tips, we are using flax and basalt fibre to mainly replace glass fibre in the production process; it offers similar properties, but with many added benefits. It is a natural material that is eco-friendly to create, far more so than traditional glass fibre. It also offers superior damping capabilities compared to glass fibre. These attributes make it a great material to use in our twin tips.”
Manuel Zwinz, Product Designer, Duotone
“A large part of innovation in ski technology is in material research, particularly composites. So, to find a like-minded business focused on harnessing flax fibres in a unique way that aligned with our engineering efforts has been fantastic – it definitely helps that the Bcomp team are just as passionate about skiing as we are!”
Jed Yeiser, Ski Product Director, Elevate Outdoor Collective
“Product sustainability is increasing in importance in the world of motorsport too. So, we are delighted to have Bcomp on board as an official BMW M Motorsport partner for the BMW M4 GT4 project.”
Franciscus van Meel, Chairman of the Board of Management at BMW M GmbH
“[…] it is our aspiration to constantly adapt our long-standing engineering know-how to current environmental requirements in order to be able to offer our customers sustainable products at the highest technological level. In Bcomp, we have got a development partner with extensive experience in sustainable materials. The result of our cooperation shows that technologically equivalent components can be created from alternative materials.”
Anne Mink, Manager Technical Development, HWA AG
“We must all ensure that natural fibre composites are used more and more in the world of automotive components.”
Eduard Ene, Specialist Interior GT-Road Cars, Porsche Motorsport
“Bcomp’s natural fibre technologies are a perfect match for the goals we set for ourselves in Extreme E, achieving the highest level of sustainable performance and safety. We are very happy about the successful collaboration with Bcomp as both companies are technology leaders in sustainable motorsports.”
Théophile Gouzin, Technical Director, Spark Racing Technology
“Swiss natural fibre firm Bcomp came up with the idea of using fully sustainable flax to create high-performance composite materials… then we came up with the idea of using these composites in the Polestar Precept.”
Thomas Ingenlath, CEO, Polestar
Our Products
We are the leading solutions provider for natural fibre reinforcements in high-performance applications.
Our ampliTex™ technical fabrics offer a versatile array of options from dry fibres to prepregs and thermoplastic variants pre-impregnated with PP. Similarly, our powerRibs™ reinforcement grid is available in dry and thermoplastic versions. They can be used individually or combined to meet diverse performance goals.
From large-scale back injection moulding, over thermoplastic compression moulding up to low volume prepreg autoclave processing and more, Bcomp offers the right material for your process of choice.
Want to Join the Team?
Are you looking for a unique opportunity? Come and work with us! Bcomp is always looking for talented and experienced individuals that want to join us on our journey towards a circular economy and contribute with their technical and practical knowledge.
Let’s Decarbonise the World Together!
You want to learn more about how our sustainable lightweighting solutions can help you decarbonise your products, you have a burning question, or you just want to send us some love – then wait no longer and get in touch.