Upgraded flax fibres as reinforcement in polymer composites

A novel flax treatment process is presented. This process reduces the moisture and rot sensitivity of flax fibres to be used as reinforcement in polymer composites. The treatment of the fibres consists of heating straw-flax in an aqueous environment in an autoclave at temperatures above 160 degrees C, followed by drying-and curing at temperatures above 150 degrees C. After this process the fibres are easy to separate from the stem. Composites with fibres treated in this way have better mechanical properties and show a better reproducibility than those with untreated fibres. Some results are presented of treated flax as reinforcement in unsaturated polyester and polypropylene.