  As far as the tensile properties of natural fibres as reinforcements for
composites are concerned, flax fibres will stay at the top-end. However, an
efficient conversion of fibre properties into their corresponding composite
properties has been a challenge, due to the fibre damages done through the
conventional textile methods utilised to process flax. These techniques impart
disadvantageous features onto fibres at both micro, and mesolevel, which
degrade the mechanical performances of flax fibre reinforced composites, FFRC.
Undulation of fibre is one of those detrimental features that occur during
traditional fibre extraction and fabric manufacturing routes. The undulation or
waviness causes micro compressive defects or kink bands in elementary flax
fibres, which significantly undermines the performance of FFRC. Manufacturing
flax fabric with minimal undulation could diminish the micro compressive
defects up to a substantial extent. In this research, nonwoven flax tapes of
highly aligned flax fibres, blended with a small proportion of PLA, Polylactic
Acid have been manufactured deploying a novel technique. Composites reinforced
from those nonwoven tapes have been compared with composites reinforced with
woven Hopsack fabrics and warp knitted unidirectional,UD fabrics from flax that
are comprised of undulating fibres. The composites reinforced with the highly
aligned tape have shown 49 percent higher fibre bundle strength, and 100
percent higher fibre bundle stiffness in comparison with that of the Hopsack
fabric reinforced composites. The results have been discussed in the light of
fibre undulation, elementary fibre individualisation, homogeneity of fibre
distribution, extent of resin rich areas, and impregnation of the fibre lumens.
