MultilayeredFabrication Containing Wind Turbine BladeSolid Wastes for High-Performance Composite Fibers

Plant fibers can be used to produce composite materials for automobile parts, thus reducing plastic used in their manufacture, overall vehicle weight and fuel consumption when they replace mineral fillers and glass fibers. Soybean stem residues are, potentially, significant sources of inexpensive, renewable and biodegradable natural fibers, but are not curretly used for biocomposite production due to the functional properties of their fibers in composites being unknown. The current study was initiated to investigate the effects of plant genotype on the performance characteristics of soybean stem fibers when incorporated into a polypropylene (PP) matrix using a selective phenotyping approach. Fibers from 50 lines of a recombinant inbred line population (169 RILs) grown in different environments were incorporated into PP at 20% (wt/wt) by extrusion. Test samples were injection molded and characterized for their mechanical properties. The performance of stem fibers in the composites was significantly affected by genotype and environment. Fibers from different genotypes had significantly different chemical compositions, thus composites prepared with these fibers displayed different physical properties. This study demonstrates that thermoplastic composites with soybean stem-derived fibers have mechanical properties that are equivalent or better than wheat straw fiber composites currently being used for manufacturing interior automotive parts. The addition of soybean stem residues improved flexural, tensile and impact properties of the composites. Furthermore, by linkage and in silico mapping we identified genomic regions to which quantitative trait loci (QTL) for compositional and functional properties of soybean stem fibers in thermoplastic composites, as well as genes for cell wall synthesis, were co-localized. These results may lead to the development of high value uses for soybean stem residue.

Delamination at ply drops in composites with thickness tapering has been a concern in applications of carbon fibers. This study explored the resistance to delamination under fatigue loading of carbon and glass fiber prepreg laminates with the same resin system, containing various ply drop geometries, and using thicker plies typical of wind turbine blades. Applied stress and strain levels to produce significant delamination at ply drops have been determined, and the experimental results correlated through finite element and analytical models. Carbon fiber laminates with ply drops, while performing adequately under static loads, delaminated in fatigue at low maximum strain levels except for the thinnest ply drops. The lower elastic modulus of the glass fiber laminates resulted in much higher strains to produce delamination for equivalent ply drop geometries. The results indicate that ply drops for carbon fibers should be much thinner than those commonly used for glass fibers in wind turbine blades.

Improving the applicability of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) by carbon fiber/glass fiber reinforcement is of great interest. Glass fiber (GF)/carbon fiber (CF)/PET hybrid composites were fabricated by direct fiber feeding injection molding (DFFIM) process. The aim of DFFIM is to obtain longer fibers in composites in order to improve their mechanical properties. In this study, the mechanical properties of GF/PET composites fabricated by conventional injection molding and hybrid GF/CF/PET composites fabricated by DFFIM process were investigated. The influence of GF and CF volume fractions on fiber distribution, fiber orientation, and fiber length is discussed. Fiber distribution status was quantitatively measured by the fiber distribution index. Fiber agglomeration problem was observed by scanning electron microscopy. The results indicate that incorporating CF in GF/CF/PET hybrid composites by the DFFIM process greatly enhances mechanical performance even when only a small amount of CF is added. Too high GF content leads to less effective CF hybridization because it causes poor fiber distribution and poor fiber orientation and intensifies fiber attrition. The ideal volume fractions of GF and CF for fabricating GF/CF/PET hybrid composites by using DFFIM are provided.

At low wind speed, modern commercial wind turbines have low efficiency for electricity generation. This research hence aims to design a new small wind turbine blade that is suitable for practical applications. Higher torque has to be obtained properly to generate electricity. In order to design and evaluate performance, our mechanical model has been developed based on Blade Element Momentum theory. And, the model is consequently employed to determine the optimized blade shape with the rotor diameter of the wind turbine no higher than 3 m, a design wind velocity of 6 m/s, using 12 V and 24 V battery chargers. The new wind turbine blade has been manually made from fiberglass (GRP) with safety factors of 4 (for 12 V battery) and 2.8 (for 24 V battery). Experimental study is conducted by testing both the commercial blade and our new blade with a specific wind turbine set. It is found that, at designed wind velocity, the efficiency of the novel wind turbine blade of 27% is obtained while that of the commercial wind turbine is only 16%.

Wind energy has developed rapidly over the last two decades to become one of the most promising economical and green sources of renewable energy, responding to concerns about use of fossil fuels and increasing demand for energy. However, attention is now turning to what happens to end-of-life wind turbine waste, and there is scrutiny of its environmental impact. In this study, we focus on one aspect of this, the blades. We analyse and compare end-of-life options for wind turbine blade materials (mainly glass fibre reinforced plastic and carbon fibre reinforced plastic) in terms of environmental impact (focusing on energy consumption), using our own data together with results gathered from the literature. The environmental impacts of each end-of-life option are discussed, looking at processing energy consumption, the recycling benefits and the effect of blade technology development trends. There is considerable variability in the results, and lack of consensus on predictions for the future. We therefore analyse the results using a range of different scenarios to show how the ‘optimal’ solutions are influenced by trends in blade composition and end-of-life process development. The most environmentally favourable process is dependent on whether the materials used for the blades are glass fibre composite or carbon fibre composite. The extent to which process improvement might affect the viability of different end-of-life processes has been assessed by looking at ‘crossover’ points for when the environmental impact becomes favourable. This analysis gives new insight into areas where research into process technologies could be targeted to enable significant end-of-life environmental benefits.

Recently, Fiber Reinforced Polymers(FRP) has been emerged as an alternative material to solve the corrosion of steel reinforcement in reinforced concrete structures. FRP exhibits higher specific strength and lower weight compared to steel reinforcement. Moreover, good resistance to corrosion of the FRP may be useful in aggressive environments causing deterioration such as chloride environment. However, causes for higher initial cost of FRP than that of steel, little information on the long-term behavior of FRP, and brittle failure make the efforts to apply FRP in civil structures slow. Glass fiber among the fibers used to manufacture FRP can be seen as the most beneficial material with regard to initial costs. But its low elastic modulus, which attains barely a quarter of steel, nay thus lead to excessive deflections when used as reinforcement for flexural members. This research was carried out on the tensile properties of hybrid rods made with glass and carbon fibers to improve those of FRP rod made with glass fiber. Parameters were resin type and the arrangement of glass and carbon fibers. The tensile properties of hybrid rods were compared with those of rods manufactured with only glass or carbon fibers. The results indicated that the tensile properties of hybrid rod were good when the carbon fiber was arranged in the core.

Wind turbine blades are designed to several major structural conditions, including tip deflection, strength and b uckling during severe loading, as well as very high numbers of fatigue cycles and various service environments. The MSU Database Program has, since 1989, addressed the broad range of properties needed for current and potential blade materials through stati c and fatigue testing and test development in cooperation with Sandia National Laboratories and wind industry and supplier partners. This report is the latest in a series, giving test results and analysis for the period 2010 - 2015. Program data are compiled in a public database [1] and other reports and publications given in the cited references. The report begins with an executive summary and introductory material including background discussion of previous related studies. Section 3 describes experimental methods including processing, test methods, instrumentation and test development. Section 4 provides static tension, compression and shear stress - strain properties in three directions using coupons sectioned from a thick infused unidirectional glass/epoxy laminate. The nonlinear, shear dominated static properties were characterized with loading - u nloading - reloading (LUR) tests in tension and compression to increasing load levels, for +-45O laminates. Section 5 explores the origins of tensile fatigue sensitivity in glass fiber dominated laminates with variations in fabric architecture including speci ally prepared fabrics and aligned strand laminates. Several types of resins are considered, with variations in resin toughness and bonding to fibers, as well as cure cycle variations for an epoxy. Conclusions are drawn as to the limits of tensile fatigue r esistance and the effects of resin type and fabric architecture, including the behavior of a commercial aligned glass strand product. Interactions between cyclic fatigue response and creep are addressed for off - axis (+-45O) glass/epoxy laminates in Sectio n 6. The nonlinear fatigue and creep stress - strain and cumulative strain response are characterized in tension and compression as a function of stress level, cycles and cumulative time, using square and sinewave loading over a broad range of frequency. The results are analyzed in terms of the cycles and cumulative time under load. A cumulative strain failure criterion is established, and used to construct shear and tension constant life diagrams (CLD's) with data for nine R - values. The effects of a more duc tile urethne resin are also explored. A previous study of thick adhesives testing is extended to mixed mode fracture mechanics testing in Section 7. Mechanisms of static and fatigue crack extension near the laminate adherend interface are reported in deta il. Data are presented for mixed mode adhesive fracture, compared to mixed mode fracture in ply delamination. Fatigue crack growth exponents are also developed for a mixed mode cracked lap shear coupon. The data for fatigue trends and relative failure stra ins and exponents are compared for various blade component materials in Section 8. The effects of temperature and seawater saturation are considered for selected materials of interest for wind and hydrokinetic turbine blades in Section 9. Section 10 gives detailed conclusions for each section. A cknowledgements The research presented in this report was carried out under Sandia National Laboratories purchase orders 1325028 an d 1543945 between 2010 and 2015, with support from the DOE Wind and Water Technologies Office . In addition to the authors listed, significant contributions were made by Patrick Flaherty, Pancastya Agastra, Michael Schuster, and Michael Voth. Industry m aterials suppliers include Vectorply, Saertex, OCV, AGY, Bayer, Ashland, 3M and Nextel. Industry suppliers with significant contributions to the study were Hexion, PPG, Reichhold, Gurit and NEPTCO. Intentionally Left Blank

Aims: This paper presents an approach for predicting the fiber or ientation distribution in plastic injection composites. Methodology: By introducing fiber orientation tensor, the average distribution of fibers in the composite is acquired through injection molding simulation with Autodesk Moldflow Simulation Insight ver sion 2014 . Quantitative fiber orientation distribution along thickness at specific spot is obtained by image analysis on microscopic photos of samples. The proposed approach is demonstrated by a car instrument panel made from injection molding of thermopla stics with glass fibers. Tensile test samples are cut from the instrument panel with an angle of 0 o , 45 o , 90 o to the fiber orientation at sites where fibers are highly aligned for measuring tensile modulus. The fiber orientation distribution and its effect on the tensile modulus are investigated. Results: It is shown that the car instrument panel is heterogeneous in mechanical properties. The fibers are roughly distributed into three layers along the thickness with each layer having roughly

The objective of this study is to assess the commercial viability to develop cost-competitive carbon fiber composites specifically suited for the unique loading experienced by wind turbine blades. The wind industry is a cost-driven market, while carbon fiber materials have been developed for the performance-driven aerospace industry. Carbon fiber has known benefits for reducing wind turbine blade mass due to the significantly improved stiffness, strength, and fatigue resistance per unit mass compared to fiberglass; however, the high relative cost has prohibited broad adoption within the wind industry. Novel carbon fiber materials derived from the textile industry are studied as a potentially more optimal material for the wind industry and are characterized using a validated material cost model and through mechanical testing. The novel heavy tow textile carbon fiber is compared with commercial carbon fiber and fiberglass materials in representative land-based and offshore reference wind turbine models. Some of the advantages of carbon fiber spar caps are observed in reduced blade mass and improved fatigue life. The heavy tow textile carbon fiber is found to have improved cost performance over the baseline carbon fiber and performed similarly to the commercial carbon fiber in wind turbine blade design, but at a significantly reduced cost. This novel carbon fiber was observed to even outperform fiberglass when comparing material cost estimates for spar caps optimized to satisfy the design constraints. This study reveals a route to enable broader carbon fiber usage by the wind industry to enable larger rotors that capture more energy at a lower cost.

This study investigates the impact of fiber reinforcement, specifically carbon and glass fibers, on the flexural behavior and fracture performance of cementitious composites with varying strengths The strength grades of the composites were designated as high-strength, medium-strength, and low-strength. The composites were reinforced with woven glass and carbon fibers at different length/span ratios and subjected to flexural testing to evaluate key parameters such as strength, strain, and modulus. High, medium, and low-strength prism specimens were prepared using specific cement dosages (634.26 kg/m 3 for high strength, 535.26 kg/m 3 for medium strength, and 432.65 kg/m 3 for low strength) with corresponding water-to-cement ratios of 0.3, 0.4, and 0.65, respectively. The results indicate that fiber reinforcement significantly enhances the flexural properties of all composite categories, with the most notable improvements observed in the medium-strength and high-strength composites. Among the composites, the carbon fiber-reinforced high-strength composite (HS-CFRC-4/7) demonstrated the highest flexural strength (10.00 MPa), a 73% improvement over the control specimen. However, a diminishing return in strength gain was observed in high-strength composites, suggesting weaker anchorage bond between woven fiber and the specimen where the matrix strength becomes the dominant factor. Additionally, carbon fibers exhibited a higher strain capacity than glass fibers, with consistent increases in ductility across all composite groups. Fracture analysis revealed distinct failure modes, including flexural cracks, diagonal shear cracks, and delamination, especially in high-strength composites.

In the aircraft manufacturing industry, the strength and weight of the material is one of the important considerations in structural design. Composite material is a material composed of two or more forming materials, each of which has different mechanical properties. Aircraft structure in this era are 50 - 80% composed of glass or carbon fiber composite materials as reinforcement. Unfortunately, these fibers when recycled produce harmful CO gas, difficult to degrade naturally and cause itching when in contact with human skin. For this reason, environmentally friendly and strong fibers are needed to replace the role of glass or carbon fibers. Is a bamboo plant, which is abundant in Indonesia which is considered suitable as a substitute material. In this study, a mechanical test and descriptive analysis were carried out on the strength of the composite material with variations in the types of bamboo fibers apus, wulung, tutul and petung. These fibers are arranged with epoxy resin and hardener as a binding material (matrix). And each fiber will be arranged in 0 ° pattern to the matrix. Then each material with a different fiber type will be tested for tensile and bending to obtain the value of stress and strain that occurs at its maximum loading. And the result is the average tensile stress value (Mpa) composite material of apus bamboo is 75.95, wulung bamboo 49.92, petung bamboo 112.73, tutul bamboo 83.85. Then the average bending stress (Mpa) composite material of apus bamboo was 239.073, wulung bamboo 214.236, petung bamboo 249.67, tutul bamboo 272.79. With this result, bamboo fiber composites are considered to be able to replace the role of carbon or glass fibers, as an alternative composite material in some parts of the interior fuselage of aircraft panels. Keyword: Composites material, Matrix, Bamboo Fibers, Carbon and Glass Fibers, Stress and Strain.

The development and testing of a pseudoductile hybrid fiber-reinforced polymer rod consisting of glass and carbon fibers is described. Two different hybrid forms were considered for the development of the hybrid rods, including (1) random dispersion of the glass and carbon fibers; and (2) a core-shell design with a glass fiber core protected by the carbon fiber shells. The mechanical properties of the hybrids were evaluated through uniaxial tension tests. The hybrid rods developed by way of the core-shell approach exhibited pseudoductile properties that included a yield point of 1,153 MPa and an ultimate strength of 1,191 MPa, with a strain of 3.5% at ultimate. The experimental program also included damage assessment by way of a single-channel fiber optic acoustic emission (AE) sensor. The acoustic emission technique was employed for real-time determination of the progressive damage due to rupture of fibers. Moreover, the spectral energies of the frequency spectrum from the AE signals were employed for assessment of the state of damage in the rods. The spectral energies distinguish between the carbon and glass fiber ruptures. This differentiation of signals provides information about the condition and the state of health of the hybrid rod.

High-Performance-Concrete made with glass fibers and polypropylene fibers are regarded as Composite Fibre (Glass and polypropylene) Reinforced High-Performance Concrete (CFRHPC). The development of cost-effective state-of-the-art procedures for producing, evaluating, and designing with CFRHPC will enhance the performance for each performance characteristic and can be reliably achieved in the field. This investigation evaluates the effect of cement being partially replaced by combined fly ash and silica fume with glass fibers and polypropylene fibers as an addition to produce high-performance concrete with composite fiber for resistance to sulfuric acid attack for 30, 60, and 90 days. The water to binder ratios of 0.275, 0.300, 0.325, and 0.350 and an aggregate to binder ratio of 1.75 were adopted. Fly ash and silica fume were replaced in the range from 0% to 15% each, glass fibers were added in volume percentages from 0% to 1%, and polypropylene fibers were kept constant at 0.25%. The combined effect of fly ash and silica fume at 5% each as replacement of cement and the addition of composite fiber dosage of glass fiber = 1% and polypropylene fibers = 0.25% for water to binder ratio of 0.275 was found to be the optimum combination to obtain maximum acid attack resistance.

This study investigates the Charpy impact strength of unidirectional (UD) carbon fiber, unidirectional (UD) glass fiber, and hybrid composite materials. The results revealed distinct differences in their energy absorption capacities and fracture behaviors. Carbon fiber composites exhibited brittle fractures and low energy absorption, while glass fiber composites displayed significant deformation without a complete fracture, absorbing more energy. The hybrid laminate showed enhanced impact strength, absorbing nearly one-third more energy than the carbon fiber counterpart, and offering a balanced performance improvement through fiber hybridization. Statistical analysis confirmed that the improvement in impact performance among the tested groups was significant. Microscopic analysis of the damaged specimens revealed different damage modes: glass fibers exhibited deformation and mode I delamination, while carbon fibers showed brittle fractures and extensive delamination. Hybrid specimens displayed a combination of damage modes, enhancing their overall impact resistance. These findings demonstrate the potential of hybrid composites for applications requiring balanced mechanical properties, particularly impact resistance. The hybridization method allows for the integration of carbon fibers' high strength with glass fibers' superior impact resistance, enhancing material performance under sudden impact conditions. Future research should focus on optimizing the hybridization process and exploring additional fiber combinations for enhanced material properties.

UV, FIRT and surface properties of fiber reinforced low-density polyethylene laminated composites