Experimental study on the properties of Alfa/wool woven fabrics reinforced epoxy composite as an application in wind turbine blades

Abstract

Wind energy is the kinetic energy of wind transformed into electrical energy by a system known as a wind turbine. All of the different parts of a wind turbine, like blades, hub, gearbox, nacelle, and tower, blades are usually made of glass and carbon fibers for better strength, lower weight, and better resistance to corrosion. The main limitations of these materials are the availability, non-biodegradable, health hazards, and fabrication cost. The development of interwoven fabric based on natural fiber for composite production is a novel approach that can be adopted to address the challenges of the balanced mechanical properties of composites. In this paper, alfa and wool fibers were selected as reinforcing materials to develop four woven fabrics, and unsaturated low viscosity epoxy resin was chosen as the matrix, the wovens were produced using the weaving of taffetas technique. The vacuum molding process was adopted to produce the hybrid composite due to its superior advantages over the hand lay-up technique. Alfa fibers have been previously treated with various concentrations of NaOH (1, 2, 3 mol) for 2 h. The effect of the alkaline treatment on the interface fiber matrix is analyzed. The results of static tests on composites showed an improvement in the tensile and flexural strengths of composites reinforced with woven fabrics. The mechanical performances of Alfa/wool yarns and fabrics obtained allow us to predict the actual perspectives of substitution of glass fibers by natural fibers for the application in wind blades.

Africa's natural fibres used in polymer composites: A systematic review

“…Upon closer scrutiny of the 467 examined documents, only a few studies revealed composites designed explicitly for targeted applications, as outlined in Table 3. Additionally, other studies explored the development of composites for potential applications, including wind turbine blades, 36,37 automobile body parts, [38][39][40] ballistic armour components, 41,42 non-structural building panels, 43,44 pressure vessels, 45 electric circuit boards, 46 and composite film for packaging applications. 47,48…”

Natural-Fibre-Reinforced Composite-Based Micro-Size Wind Turbines: Numerical Analysis and Feasibility Study

“…E-glass/epoxy composites are ideal for use in small-to-medium-sized wind blades. S-glass/epoxy composites which are made of S-glass fibres can also be used in the wind blade manufacturing [41]. This type of S-glass fibre is much more durable and rigid than E-glass fibre and has an increased tensile strength and modulus.…”

“…The flax fibre employed in this study shares the same drawback as any other natural fibre with a hydrophilic character [48]. Figure 4 shows the weight comparison of micro-size HAWT blades manufactured from the mentioned composites, where it is apparently evident how lightweight flax-based composites are [41][42][43]45].…”

Wind Turbine Technology Trends

“…The development of fabrics based on natural fibers for the production of composites is a new technology that can solve the challenge of balanced mechanical properties of composites. In the work of Lamhour et al [19], alfa and wool fibers were used as reinforcement for the development of four fabrics and low viscosity unsaturated epoxy resin as matrix. The fabrics were fabricated applying the taffeta weaving technique.…”