New lightweight plastic composites will play an important role in boosting the potential for wind power. One interesting example is a project under way between Bayer MaterialScience, Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, and Molded Fiber Glass Companies, based in Ashtabula, OH.
The consortium is testing the viability of polyurethane composites reinforced with carbon nanotubes for potential use in 1.5+ megawatt wind turbine blades. Funded in part by a $750,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, a core element of the research calls for optimizing the base formulations and functionality of carbon nanotubes to meet or exceed existing material performance.
In addition to providing a stronger composite structure, polyurethane-based systems can be tailored to eliminate the post-cure step, reducing energy costs. This project will explore zero volatile organic compound (VOC) polyurethane-based systems as a low emissions technology to further reduce the carbon footprint. Bayer MaterialScience’s polyurethane-based systems reinforced with carbon nanotubes during the resin phase can create as much as a 50 percent increase in strength-to-weight ratio by modifying the resin component of the composite to percolation levels ranging from 0.1 percent to 0.4 percent.
Development of stronger, lightweight composite technology could lead to as much as a 35 percent increase in turbine energy output.
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