Description

powerRibs™ natural fibre reinforcement for high performance

The award-winning powerRibs™ technology is an extremely lightweight, high performance natural fibre reinforcement grid.

Tripled flexural bending stiffness – enables weight reduction and dematerialisation Improved safety with non-catastrophic crash behavior Up to 250% higher vibration damping.

Inspired by leaf veins, powerRibs™ add maximal stiffness at minimal weight by creating a 3D structure on one side of a thin walled shell element. This enables using less base material, decreasing weight, costs and consumables in production. The proprietary technology is perfect for high-performance applications such as replacing or reinforcing carbon fibres in motorsport bodywork or decreasing weight in automotive interior panels.

powerRibs™ natural fibre reinforcement for high performance
Different types of manufacturing
powerRibs™ can be used in different manufacturing scenarios:

Thermoplastic with a base layer in an award-winning one-step back injection process – for lightweight automotive interior parts in highly efficient large-scale production
Thermoset with vacuum infusion, prepreg in autoclave or RTM – for high-performance applications such as motorsport bodywork, aerospace or space applications

Flax fibre quality
The flax fibre quality, yarn thickness and twist are all highly engineered for optimal mechanical properties in the final composite part. The fibres are specifically treated to optimise the fibre-matrix interface. We use European flax and the fibremix is thoroughly controlled for consistent quality over time.

Increased performance
powerRibs™ can triple the flexural bending stiffness and thereby decrease both material use and weight, while improving vibration damping. When powerRibs™ are combined with our ampliTex™ technical fabrics it creates a full natural fibre layup that matches the performance of carbon fibres. powerRibs™ also work excellently to reinforce carbon fibres and glass fibres.