Leading UK-based nonwoven manufacturer Technical Fibre Products (TFP) has announced that they will launch Ecoveil, a new range of sustainable nonwovens, at the JEC World event in Paris on April 27, 2023. The customisable nonwovens are produced from naturally derived or recycled fibres and have been designed for use in advanced composite structures. The new range aims to enhance the finish, fabrication, or functionality of a component while promoting environmental responsibility without compromising on performance.

The Ecoveil range includes nonwovens made from jute, recycled carbon, bio-derived polyamide fibres, and modified cellulose acetate (MCA) fibres, which are readily biodegradable. The jute and polyamide 11 veils are produced with a shellac binder, which means that these veils are entirely manufactured from natural materials. Other binder choices are also available to suit the specific application and fabrication requirements, TFP said in a press release.

The Ecoveil nonwovens offer performance and quality similar to TFP's traditional Optiveil range for composites, while also enabling users to demonstrate environmental responsibility. These nonwovens can be easily integrated into a composite as a surfacing or semi-structural layer, providing a number of solutions for composite applications. Typical uses include enabling a high-quality resin-rich surface finish, acting as a lightweight adhesive carrier or support, improving resin flow, and aiding consistent wet out of the resin during infusion.

The lightweight Ecoveil polyamide 11 veil is an ideal choice for an effective support or carrier for adhesive films and fragile materials. The veil ensures a uniform wet-out of adhesive, ensuring a defined and consistent film thickness, improving the resilience and handling of the final product. Its highly porous structure means that it, along with the jute and MCA veils, can be used to facilitate improved resin flow in composite vacuum infusion techniques, enhancing resin transportation, removing the need to use additional flow media, and ultimately lowering resin usage and scrap.

All Ecoveil variants offer a sustainable alternative to traditional surfacing veils due to their even fibre distribution and consistent basis weight. The veil is incorporated at the surface of the composite on top of the structural component, minimising print-through from the underlying reinforcement, ensuring uniform resin uptake to provide a high-quality resin-rich surface finish with minimum microporosity, and reducing the amount of further processing required, the release added.

The veils can also simultaneously confer surface functionality to the part, ranging from electrical conductivity & chemical resistance for the recycled carbon veils, to thermal insulation for jute and MCA.