Technological watch

Technical Fiber Products (TFP) is delighted to announce that they will be launching ECOVEIL, a new range of sustainable nonwovens, at this year’s JEC World on 25-27 April.
ECOVEIL is a new customizable range of nonwovens produced from naturally derived or recycled fibers. These materials have been specifically developed for use in advanced composite structures to improve the finish, fabrication or functionality of a component, simultaneously providing the means to demonstrate environmental responsibility without compromising on performance.
High-quality Resin Rich Surface Finish
TFP’s new ECOVEIL range includes nonwovens manufactured from jute, recycled carbon and bio-derived polyamide fibers, as well as a modified cellulose acetate (MCA) fiber which is readily biodegradable. To offer a fully sustainable choice, the jute and polyamide 11 veils are produced with a shellac binder, meaning that these veils are manufactured entirely from natural materials, although other binder choices are also available to suit the specific application and fabrication requirements.
The innovative new ECOVEIL nonwovens are specially designed to deliver the performance and quality synonymous with TFP’s traditional OPTIVEIL range for composites, whilst also enabling the user to demonstrate environmental responsibility. Like OPTIVEIL they can be easily integrated into a composite as a surfacing or semi-structural layer and provide 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, as well as improving resin flow and aiding consistent wet out of the resin during infusion.
The lightweight ECOVEIL polyamide 11 veil is an ideal choice for use as an effective support or carrier for adhesive films and fragile materials. The veil enables the uniform wet out of adhesive, ensuring a defined and consistent film thickness, whilst ultimately improving the resilience and handling of the final product. In addition, 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 also offer a sustainable alternative to traditional surfacing veils due to their even fiber distribution and consistent basis weight. The veil is incorporated at the surface of the composite on top of the structural component. It minimizes print through from the underlying reinforcement (for example, woven patterning), 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 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.
To find out more about our latest ECOVEIL range of materials, designed with both sustainability and functionality in mind, speak to the TFP team at JEC World on stand P32 Hall 5.
Source: Technical Fiber Products