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Wood and Natural Fibre Composites: Hot Trend at WPC Congress

12/25/2015

The worldwide biggest expert conference , "Sixth WPC & NFC Conference, Cologne" is all about the latest developments and applications of these new upcoming materials. To be held on Dec 16-17, the conference will witness leading companies present their WPC and NFC granulates as well as their application in consumer goods and automotive industries. Several of these companies are also candidates for the prestigious "Wood and Natural Fibre Composite Award 2015", which will be chosen by the conference participants and awarded at the gala dinner.

For many years research institutes and industrial labs have been developing Wood-Plastic Composites (WPC) and Natural Fibre Composites (NFC) and use the materials in small series of consumer goods. So far relevant volumesare only placed at the decking market. But it seems that the time has come to implement these materials in large-scale production.

The end products have a more refined look as pure plastic products, they stand out, look more natural, have a nice feel and need less plastic due to the wood and natural fibres - whichbenefits the environmental footprint. The mechanical properties are also nothing to sneeze at. But the most important part: the products appeal to consumers.

In November, Tchibo (DE) carried a WPC bedside table clock, two weeks later a series of toys from plantoys (TH) with wood particles from old rubber trees as filler. The surfaces of the toys have a pleasant rubber-like feel, quite different from traditional plastics. Bamboo fibres are also more and more frequently found in consumer goods, such as in trays from Yong (CH) at organic restaurants. The drugstore chain dm (DE)has been selling a comb made of WPC for about three years and recently added a second model.

Sixty commercial WPC and NFC granulate producers and dealers with web addresses and the plastics and fibres they use are listed in the latest edition of nova-Institute's market study "Wood-Plastic Composites (WPC) and Natural Fibre Composites (NFC): European and Global Markets 2012 and Future Trends in Automotive and Construction" (http://bio-based.eu/markets). The most commonly used plastics are PP, PE and PVC, but also bio-based materials such as bio PE and PLA are used. Wood fibres are used in many variations, main contenders in natural fibres are bamboo, flax and hemp. Many producers, global players and small and medium sized companies alike, are in business for the past few years. Only this newly developed professional infrastructure allows the consumer good manufacturers to use the new materials without technical risk. The higher-quality look more than compensates for slightly higher granulate prizes.

The worldwide biggest expert conference "Sixth WPC & NFC Conference, Cologne" is all about the latest developments and applications of these new upcoming materials. Leading companies present their WPC and NFC granulates as well as their application in consumer goods and automotive industries. Several of these companies are also candidates for the prestigious "Wood and Natural Fibre Composite Award 2015", which will be chosen by the conference participants and awarded at the gala dinner. More on the conference at http://wpc-conference.com

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			WPC & NFC Conference 2015
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