Fassmer and Greenboats have announced a formal partnership to enhance sustainable manufacturing technologies.
Greenboats has been developing composite materials from sustainable sources for several years. The lightweight materials made from flax are used in various applications including boatbuilding, with flax fibre mats used for both hull construction and interior finishing in panel form.
Greenboats says that its natural fibre-reinforced composites (NFC) are comparable to traditional glass fibre-reinforced plastics (GRP) and are now an equivalent substitute, however, mass production is required for widespread market adoption of the materials.
Directly source
The partnership with Fassmer follows on from Greenboats securing French family company Depestele as a partner to directly source roving for its technical fabrics from the manufacturer.
Further financial support from flax producer Depestele has enabled the purchase of a panel production street to press the sustainable composite panels and establish large-scale production.
Now Greenboats has found a 7,000msq production site with Fassmer where Greenboats aims to start large-scale production by 2024.
“With Fassmer by our side, we can achieve our ambitious goals and respond to the growing demand for sustainable products,” said Greenboats founder, Friedrich Deimann.
Combining expertise
Fassmer specialises in the production of components and systems, for boat and caravan construction, as well as wind turbine construction.
The partnership will allow both companies to combine their expertise in composite technology and invest more in sustainable composite materials.
The new panel production facility is designed for laminate production from environmentally friendly flax fibres and bio-based resins in sizes up to 6m × 2.5m meters.
The material will consist of between 40% to 100% biological resins.
