LabCom_2021 - V2 - Laboratoires communs organismes de recherche publics – PME/ETI - Edition 2021 - Vague 2

Joint laboratory for a better knowledge of flax fibres and an adaptation of its cultivation to future climatic changes – NEW FLAX

Submission summary

France is the world's leading producer of flax fibre, accounting for 50 to 60% of the world market. In Normandy and in Hauts de France, the flax industry represents a significant economic weight. Whether in the cultivation or fibre processing sector, it employs more than 8,000 people. For a long time dependent on Asia and China, particularly for the fibre processing stages for the textile industry, we are now seeing relocation phenomena within this sector and the establishment of new companies, particularly in the spinning sector. At the same time, the increase in the flax cultivated surfaces and the appearance of new outlets, in particular in the technical and materials industries, is encouraging fibre producers to diversify and to consider other applications than textiles for the future. Like any agricultural sector, the flax industry is highly dependent on climatic conditions; the evolutions and climatic changes we are facing, and which will be more marked tomorrow, impose changes in strategy, particularly in terms of cultivation.
The NEW FLAX joint laboratory brings together two partners: the scutching company Van Robaeys Frères (VRF), one of the leading producers of flax fibres in France, and the Dupuy de Lôme Research Institute (IRDL), a CNRS laboratory, which has nearly 30 years' experience in the characterisation and use of flax fibres in composite materials. It has two major scientific and industrial objectives. The first is linked to climatic changes, and its ambition is to develop new crops, which are still not very widespread in the flax sector, but which are less sensitive to climatic hazards; this is the case for the cultivation of winter varieties, which are currently considered to be less rich in fibre, but which also allow a period of growth during periods when the risk of water stress is lower. Pilot cultivation trials will be conducted and, thanks to the know-how developed by the laboratory, the properties of the fibres from these crops will be evaluated and compared with the fibre yields obtained by the VRF Teillage Centre; part of the work will also focus on the adaptation of existing conventional varieties to water stress; work will be carried out with variety breeders in order to evaluate new varieties put on the market and to select terroirs that are less prone to climatic risks. The second major objective of the joint laboratory is to work on understanding the performance of flax fibres; work will be carried out to set up mechanical and morphological characterisation tools that will enable the company to reliably control the properties of its fibres. In addition, the influence of the transformation processes, and in particular that of the carding and refining stages on the performance of the fibres, will be evaluated with the support of the laboratory.
The main objective of this work is to improve VRF's knowledge of fibres, by benefiting from the know-how and characterisation means developed in the laboratory, in order to develop new product ranges with optimised properties. The operational phase of the joint laboratory will be followed by a sustainability phase during which new fibre ranges, used to design new industrial products, will be put on the market.

Project coordination

Christophe BALEY (Institut de Recherche Dupuy de Lôme)

The author of this summary is the project coordinator, who is responsible for the content of this summary. The ANR declines any responsibility as for its contents.

Partner

VRF Van Robaeys Frères
IRDL Institut de Recherche Dupuy de Lôme

Help of the ANR 362,992 euros
Beginning and duration of the scientific project: April 2022 - 54 Months

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