Applications

1. Faculty of Science & Engineering University of Brighton Prof. Sergey Mikhalovsky s.mikhalovsky@brighton.ac.uk Applications for Flax fibers and flax by-products Biomedical and Food Industry Composites for Car Industry & Construction • Applications • Composites from short flax fibers and polymers for Car industry (doors, panels) • Biodegradable part of a Wind turbine • Flax dust /chaff for soil strengthening • Short fibers/chaff for reinforcing of concrete • Flax fibers for medical plaster preparation • Applications • Flax fibers for biomedical needs e.g. surgical sutures, implant materials to reduce post-surgical complications • Flax fabrics for Healthcare products as reservoirs for antimicrobial agents • Short fibers/PLLA composites for the hot/cold-food packaging • Techniques • Swelling rate in comparison to commercial cotton products • The feasibility of biodegradation • Drug adsorption/desorption • Culturing of human cells • Advantages • Non toxic • Bioresorbable • Low inflammation • Techniques • Flax and PLA were hot compressed by molding and “sheet composite workshop“ process (LTP / GroupeDepestele / ACT ENER / Université du Havre).http://www.jeccomposites.com/upload/docs/cp_jec_awards_paris_2010%20gb5.pdf • Composites from Flax fibers with polymer for use in car industry (car door panels with PP – flax short fibers elaborated by extrusion) (EcoTechnilin). http://www.eco-technilin.com/productfinder.asp • Advantages • Increased tensile strength • Enhance shock adsorbing properties • Reduce cracking Plaster formulations Concrete Replace synthetic materials with biodegradable and a renewable resource !