Complex engineering challenges are revealed in the wind industry; one of them is erosion at the leading edge of wind turbine blades. Water jet erosive wear tests on carbon-fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) and glass-fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) were performed in order to determine their resistance at the conditions tested. Vacuum Infusion Process (VIP) was used to obtain the composite materials. Eight layers of bidirectional carbon fabric (0/90°) and nine glass layers of bidirectional glass cloth were used to manufacture the plates. A water injection platform was utilized. The liquid was projected with a pressure of 150 bar on the surface of the specimens through a nozzle. The samples were located at 65 mm from the nozzle at an impact angle of 75°, with an exposure time of 10, 20 and 30 min. SEM and optical microscopy were used to observe the damage on surfaces. A 3D optical profilometer helped to determine the roughness and see the scar profiles. The results showed that the volume loss for glass fiber and carbon fiber were 10 and 19 mm3, respectively. This means that the resistance to water jet erosion in uncoated glass fiber was approximately two times lower than uncoated carbon fiber.
In this research work, temperature erosion wear tests, on composites materials (carbon fiber and glass fiber), were carried out. The tests were made on uncoated and coated materials using a polyester resin (Gelcoat), which is used to protect the leading edge of wind turbine blades against the weather and UV rays and is of interest, in this study, to know the behaviour of this coating subjected to hard particles erosion. The tests were performed at 50°C, in order to simulate de extreme temperature in the coast of Oaxaca, Mexico, where some wind turbines are installed using blades made of fiberglass coated with gelcoat. Erosion tests were performed in a platform that was developed from the ASTM G76 standard. The rectangular samples had 25×18 mm and thickness of 4 mm. Sea sand from coast of Oaxaca was utilized as erosive particle. Three different impact angles were used 75°, 85°and 90°. The particle velocity was adjusted at 12 m s −1 . To determine the mass loss, the samples were weighed before the test and reweighed every 2 min to measure the amount of mass loss until complete the 6 min of the test. In order to identify the wear mechanisms, Scanning Electron Microscopy was used. The average roughness (Ra) and profiles of the samples tested were determined with a 3D optical profilometer. The results showed that Carbon fiber composite material had 3 times more resistance to erosive wear than fiberglass.
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