CARBIO

The goals of CARBIO were to reduce the weight, cost, environmental impact and noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH) of carbon fibre automotive components by incorporating novel flax / bio-epoxy composites to create hybrid structures, and to demonstrate this by producing a case study component.

The project made significant progress on the issues it aimed to address. Specifically, novel flax and bio-epoxy composites were developed and their mechanical and vibration properties tested in detail. Hybrid flax-carbon lay-ups and structures were also developed and optimised for automotive applications including exterior components with class A surface finish requirements. For the first time, a flax-carbon hybrid automotive roof was designed and manufactured to demonstrate the benefits of the technology.

The project team included KS Composites, Delta Motorsport and Jaguar Land Rover as the end-user.