Study on recycling wind turbine blades into reinforcement for filaments used in 3D printing

Abstract

Heavy applications like power production through wind energy requires light weight but strong material like composites with customizable properties. When the lifetime of the wind turbine blades ends, the parts are dumped in landfills and results in environmental pollution. Natural fibers are great option for improving the biodegradability of the conventional plastic which also ends up in the landfills. Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) is chosen to combine the benefits of both materials, as the technique is highly customizable and sustainable. Wind turbine blade wastes are recycled using mechanical grinding. Recycled Fiber glass (FG) material is tested for contamination with Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). Wood fiber (WF) is also added in order to improve biodegradability of the materials. Filaments are produced using a single screw extruder with various combinations of 9 wt% fiber content and recycled pellets. Tensile test shows comparable performance of reinforced filaments with recycled Polypropylene (PP) filaments. 6% WF + 3% FG sample withstood up to 380 MPa Young’s modulus.