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8
Tensile properties of ﬂax ﬁbers

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Christophe Baley , Antoine Le Duigou , Claudine Morvan ,
Alain Bourmaud 1
1 2
Université Bretagne Sud, Lorient, France; Université de Rouen, Mont-Saint-Aignan, France
8.1 Introduction: general data on ﬂax, culture, and use
of ﬂax ﬁbers

Flax is a dicotyledon of the Linacea family. There are many varieties and cultivars.
There are 298 species of linum (Montaigne, 1997), but the plant Linum usitatissimum
L. (which means useful ﬂax) is the most grown. It is an annual plant, meaning that it is
sown each year, it provides ﬁbers and seeds rich in oil. For the primary production of
ﬁbers, the crop is called “textile ﬂax”; in contrast to “oilseed ﬂax.” According to the
aim of the crop (ﬁbers or seeds) producers, the varietal selection and the cultivation
techniques change (number of plants per square meter, maturity of the plant during
harvesting, agricultural equipment used, etc.). Oleaginous ﬂax, which also produces
quality ﬁbers (Pillin et al., 2011) used for the production of paper, must be added to
these two types of ﬂax.
This chapter concerns the ﬁbers from textile ﬂax, the production of which provides
the greatest income for the farmer.
For a quality production, this plant requires deep soil and temperatures that do not

exceed 25 C during the 100 days of its growth. Flax is cultivated in Western Europe
(France, Belgium, and the Netherlands), Eastern Europe (Russia, Belarus, etc.), China,
and Egypt. It is not easy to determine the relationship between the growth areas and the
commercial volumes available. Indeed, the ﬁber yield per hectare and the quality can
be very different.
Moreover, different industrial sectors use ﬂax ﬁbers (textile, composite materials,
paper mill, rope, etc.) and each has its own selection criteria and selling prices.
For example, at the end of the scutching step, which removes impurities and
prepares the ﬁbers for spinning, ﬁbers are in one of the two possible states (scutched
ﬂax or tow), which are not always considered in the same way. Flax represents
about 1% of the world’splant ﬁber production, between 200,000 and 240,000 tons
per year. Western European production is between 120,000 and 140,000 tons,
with a cultivated area of 96,870 ha in 2015 (104,000 ha in 2016). In 2015,
France was the main producer with 79,664 ha (14,831 in Belgium and 2375 ha
in the Netherlands). Since 2013, cultivated surfaces have increased, because a
demand exists and prices are attractive to the farmer. To illustrate this point, in
France, the cultivated area was 60,695 ha in 2013, 67,032 in 2014, and 79,664 ha
in 2015.

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