Gurit Materials for Wind Turbine Blades

Introduction Gurit has been supplying materials to the wind energy market for the manufacture of composite blades since 995 and has been actively involved in the development of specialised blade materials as blade designs have increased rapidly in size and complexity. Gurit has a product portfolio to cover all current manufacturing approaches including wet lamination, resin infusion, and prepreg. With the advent of larger blades and increasing Health and Safety awareness, the majority of blades are now manufactured either by the resin infusion or prepreg process, and therefore whilst Gurit also manufactures wet laminating resin systems, the focus of development has been on prepreg and infusion technology and associated products.

Materials for Infusion Blades Infusion Resin: Structural Adhesives: Structural Core:

PRIME Infusion Family Spabond 340LV G-Balsa, PVCell, Corecell T-Foam

Materials for Prepreg Blades Prepregs: Coatings: Structural Adhesives: Structural Core: Advanced Prepregs:
Gurit Materials Portfolio

WE91 Prepreg Family CR3400 Process Coat Spabond 340LV Corecell T-Foam SPRINT, SparPreg

Gurits development philosophy is based on the overall objective of reducing the cost of blades, and therefore the Cost of Energy (COE) for wind power, by using advanced materials and structural design to eliminate blade manufacturing processes or make them as efficient as possible. The COE is also calculated over the entire lifecycle of a Wind Turbine Generator (WTG) and therefore the cost of quality of a turbine blade is also a key parameter. As a consequence Gurit materials are also developed to provide a robust and consistent blade manufacturing process with exceptional quality. As blade design becomes more sophisticated the number of products specified in a bill of materials is increasing. As the industry drives to reduce the COE it has put more emphasis to engineer out over-specified materials and replace with them with more cost efficient alternatives that are fit for purpose. This has created more niche applications for materials with more specific material characteristics and appropriate
WE Handbook- 5- Gurit Composite Materials for Wind Turbine Blades 

cost base. In response to this market trend, Gurit is using its materials and engineering know-how to identify, develop, and expand its product range to maintain its position as the leading supplier of composites materials to the Wind Energy Market. The maturing Wind Energy market has also driven the demand of product quality towards 6 sigma standards in order to further reduce process variability and subsequently the COE. As a supplier to both the Aerospace and Automotive markets, Gurit understands the importance in understanding customer needs through their Critical To Quality requirements (CTQs) and therefore Gurit designs, manufactures and supplies products accordingly by ensuring that stringent quality checks are made to provide a consistent product. A composite structure is by definition a mixture of very different materials and therefore the properties and interaction between materials during processing need to be well understood to produce a high quality component. Gurit supplies the full product portfolio for the manufacture of infusion and prepreg blades and as a consequence is very well placed to understand the complexities of blade material design and manufacture. This section of the Wind Manual takes a look at some of the key products in the Gurit portfolio for both infusion and prepreg blade manufacturing and highlights some relevant technical features of the materials.

Materials for Infusion Blades

The four main components in the Bill of Materials (BOM) for an infusion blade are the dry fabrics, the infusion resin, the core material, and the structural adhesive. The manufacture of fibres, and/or the conversion of fibres into bespoke fabrics, are not part of Gurits business strategy and therefore not discussed further. The remaining three material categories are all areas of expertise for Gurit where considerable development activity has been focused to provide a product range with market leading performance. The product offering from Gurit in these three categories is as follows: Infusion Resin: Structural Adhesives: Core: PRIME Infusion Family Spabond 340LV G-Balsa, PVCell & Corecell T-Foam

Infusion Resin
Deciding whether a resin system is suitable for an infusion process requires careful thought to be given to many different aspects of the production process including the component size, ambient conditions, reinforcement, thermal & mechanical properties and blade certification. The future optimization of the production process must also be considered; mould utilization and cycle time is paramount to reducing cost. In order to achieve this a robust infusion resin that offers a range of speeds that can be tailored to continually improved processes is essential.

WE Handbook- 5- Gurit Composite Materials for Wind Turbine Blades 

By recognizing this need to reduce cost through process optimization, Gurit is able to offer such a versatile system through the PRIME infusion system, which has excellent properties and a range of hardeners that can tailored to fit vitually any production process.

PRIME Infusion Resin Family

Very low viscosity minimising infusion time and blade production time Variable infusion times a range of different speeds of hardener to fit any process Very low exotherm even in thick sections extending mould life Suitable for infusing very large structures even in hot climates Certified - Germanischer Lloyds approved

Infusing with PRIME Infusion Resin

PRIME Infusion Resin has a reduced viscosity resin and long working time, which makes it ideal for infusing very large parts with complex reinforcements in one operation. It maintains an exceptionally low exotherm characteristic, which allows thick sections to be manufactured without risk of premature gelation due to the heat of exothermic reaction. This low exotherm will also help to extend the life of the tools due to the reduction in thermal cycling. The PRIME infusion system has been used successfully for the single-operation moulding of components ranging from narrow carbon yacht masts, up to 80 yacht hulls and wind turbine blades. It achieves excellent mechanical and physical properties from a moderate (50C) postcure, offering the finished laminate properties that lie between hand lamination and low-temperature cure prepreg. The PRIME infusion system system is available with a range of hardeners, offering a range of working times and cure speeds providing versatility to manufacture a wide range of components. The cure speed can be characterised by a variety of techniques such as gel time and pot life. These characteristics have been summarized below for Gurits standard hardener range. Also provided are estimates for the time at which the resin will stop flowing under vacuum, the earliest time that the vacuum can be removed and the minimum time before de-moulding can occur at a range of temperatures. However, it should be noted that these estimates are only valid for relatively thin laminates without exothermic behaviour.

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Fast Hardener Properties Initial MixedViscosity (cP) Geltime Tecam 150g in water (hr : min) Pot life 500g in air (hr : min) 20C 318338 01:09 00:28 25C 219232 00:30 00:23 02:40 03:20 05:00 30C 127134 00:17 00:16 01:50 02:15 02:30

Slow Hardener 20C 308328 05:00 01:15 05:20 07:30 25C 214228 03:20 01:00 04:50 06:30 30C 172182 02:20 00:45 04:10 05:50

Extra Slow Hardener 20C 347369 10:20 06:00 10:50 15:10 25C 220234 08:00 04:05 08:50 11:30 30C 155165 06:15 02:10 06:40 08:50

Latest flow under vacuum (theoretical, thin 03:10 film, hr : min) Earliest vacuum offtime (theoretical thin film) (hr : min) Demould time (hr : min)
PRIME Infusion Properties

04:15 06:45

21:00* 15:30* 11:50* 88:00* 50:00* 28:00*

*Demoulding components made with Slow or Extra Slow Hardener should only be carried out after the part has received an elevated temperature cure in the mould.

In recent years there has been a move to infusing larger blades in hotter climates. In order to address this, Gurit has developed two additional hardeners specifically for the Wind Energy market that are capable of achieving exceptional pot-lifes in excess of 0 hours, whilst maintaining thermal and mechanical properties.

Matrix Performance The cured PRIME resin matrix has been formulated to offer excellent mechanical and thermal properties irrespective of the speed of hardener used. The table opposite summarizes the key properties for each speed of hardener.
Hardener Cure Schedule Tg (DMTA - peak tan ) TgUlt (DMTA) Tg1 (DMTA) H - DSC (J/g) Estimated HDT Tensile Strength (MPa) Tensile Modulus (GPa) Strain to failure % Cured density (g/cm3) Linear Shrinkage (%) Barcol Hardness 82.8 74-76 68-70 1.54 67 75 3.2 4.1 1.153 1.83 21 82.6 87-89 68-70 7.3 68 73 3.5 3.5 1.144 1.765 27 Fast Slow 16hrs @ 50C 82.9 90-92 69-71 0 67 69 3.5 3.1 1.132 1.541 25 Extra Slow

PRIME Infusion Mechanical and Physical Properties

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As part of the infusion process it is common to use  component mixing machines capable of mixing to a high degree of accuracy ideally less than  part for any epoxy based infusion system. However, it is sometimes required that small quantities of resin be mixed by hand or drill for repairs or other such applications that only require small quantities of resin. Therefore, it is important to know that the infusion system is robust to be mixed of ratio. The mechanical performance of the PRIME infusion system using Fast hardener is maintained even when mixed off-ratio by up to  parts (subject to customer requirements).

Effect of Mix Ratio on Mechanical Properties

The PRIME infusion system provides excellent laminate properties as shown in the Table below, which considers a 5mm thick UD laminate manufactured using PRIME infusion resin and stitched UD fabric.
Property Normalised Tensile Strength @ 53% FVF (MPa) Normalised Tensile Modulus @ 53% FVF (GPa) Normalised Compression Strength @ 53% FVF (MPa) Normalised Compression Modulus @ 53% FVF (GPa) ILSS (MPa) Test Standard DIN EN ISO 527 DIN EN ISO 527 DIN EN ISO 14126 DIN EN ISO 14126 DIN EN ISO 14129 PRIME Infusion Resin 990 43.7 645 42.7 68.0

PRIME Infusion Laminate Properties

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Structural Core
As the Wind Energy Market has matured the optimization of blade design has become critical as blade lengths and weights have increased. As a consequence the one core fits all approach is no longer relevant for a modern wind turbine blade. Structural core is used in both the structural shell and shear webs of a standard infusion blade design. The material requirements for a structural core can vary considerably from shell to shear web and also from one area of a shell to another. Therefore, to optimize the design, weight and performance of a blade the blade designer may make use of a number of core products. In response to the demand for multiple core designs Gurit has recently extended its product range and now covers PVC, Balsa and SAN core types all with a distinct range of properties and attributes. Corecell T-Foam Environmental stability High tolerance for heat and chemical exposure Built in toughness High ductility and damage tolerance compared to cross-linked PVC and Balsa Fine cell size Resin absorption is very low, saving both weight and cost Superior uniformity Low density variation Eliminating outgassing Corecell eliminates the problems of foam outgassing Compatibility Suitable for use with all polyester, vinylester and epoxy resins No inhibition - Corecell does not inhibit any epoxy resin curing mechanisms Handling Tough and easy to machine

An Introduction to Corecell Corecell T-Foam has been developed as a technological step-change from traditional PVC and Balsa structural core. Corecell T-Foam is an outstanding core material in every application where balsa or PVC is commonly used. High mechanical toughness and thermal stability give Corecell T-Foam excellent fatigue characteristics. This reliability makes Corecell T-Foam a natural replacement for cross-linked PVC or balsa in applications where a significant service life is required.

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Fatigue Performance of PVC and SAN Foam

The formulation of Corecell T-Foam generates a remarkable thermal stability for a polymer foam. At 00C, conventional cross-linked PVC foams retain less than 0% of their room temperature compressive properties, whereas Corecell T-Foam retains almost 60%. This stability means that Corecell T-Foam structures exposed to temperature variation will maintain their properties and cause very little core printthrough. The high temperature stability of Corecell T-Foam also means that it can be used in manufacturing processes to at least 0C with short durations during a cure cycle to over 50C. This makes it ideal for use with conventional prepregs and in some liquid infusion processes where high resin exotherms can often be seen. Corecell Cutting Patterns
Corecell T-Foam is available in every resin infusion format and is compatible with polyester, vinylester and epoxy resin systems. One of the key variables of the infusion process is the consistency of the resin flow from blade to blade, and the subsequent variation in blade weight and quality. To overcome these phenomena, Gurit have developed customized cutting patterns in the core material to optimise resin flow and distribution, whilst maintaining low resin uptake within the structure and eliminating the need for sacrificial meshes.

WE Handbook- 5- Gurit Composite Materials for Wind Turbine Blades 

Corecell with Infusion Knife Cut Pattern

This cut system uses a thin knife cut (typically 0.8mm) at a 30mm cut spacing on one side of the sheet, coupled with the same pattern but in the perpendicular orientation on the opposing face. Using the cuts in this way provides excellent flow characteristics, whilst providing the conformability required to suit difficult mould shapes and curvatures. The low cost characteristics of this type of pattern are enabled firstly by the material requiring no glass scrim to be applied (often used to provide stability to heavily cut infusion core patterns), and that no drilling or perforating is required the depth of the cuts and the regular 30mm by 30mm intersection provides a perfect infusion flow between the laminate skins. In wind energy blade manufacturing, this cut configuration has been proven to:

Reduce overall resin consumption Provide consistently faster infusion times (as much as 0%) Provide more repeatable infusion quality Reduce dry areas caused by scrim cloth Improve flow from perforations created by cross-cuts rather than drilled holes

As a practical example two test panels were manufactured simultaneously using the two foam types: T400 and a PVC foam of an equivalent density. Both core materials were prepared using the same kitting patterns and used in infusion panels manufactured using PRIME 0 resin system and slow hardener. It was immediately apparent that despite both infusions starting simultaneously, the Corecell panel infused before the PVC. This is due to the surface characteristics of the Corecell foam and the low resin drag of the foam.

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Infusion Rate Testing Experiment

A summary of the finished panels is included in the table below.

Panel Status Total dry weight before infusion Total weight after infusion Trimmed panel weight with mesh and peel ply removed Resin difference (of Type A) Resin difference per square metre Percentage of Type A
Resin Uptake Comparison

Corecell T400 Panel (g) 2152 4530 3055 -115 -250 96.37%

PVC Panel (g) 2000 4625 3170 100%

The Corecell panel had a higher initial weight due to the higher density of the T400. But despite this the reduction in resin uptake, resulted with the final trimmed T400 panel being 5g lighter. This equates to 50g over a full square metre of the same panel or up to 60kg in a 40 m blade. G-Balsa* Excellent in-plane properties - high in-plane shear and compressive properties Renewable material a natural product from a sustainable source Design-specific ideal for existing blades designed using balsa as structural core Finished kits available PVC or hybrid solutions can be machined to customer requirements

* G-Balsa only available in China.

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PVCell* Wide Range of formats available with standard densities and cut patterns Suitable for existing blade designs any approved design using Diab or Airex PVC core Finished kits available PVC or hybrid solutions can be machined to customer requirements Manufactured on China mainland ideal for domestic Chinese market

* PVCell only available in China.

Structural Adhesives
Of highest importance in advanced composite turbine blade applications is lifetime mechanical performance of these large dynamic and active structures. Performance of the structure through cyclic loading and often severe operational climates puts high demands on all materials in their design, but even more so on the adhesive bonds holding the major components together. To achieve the best properties in pure adhesive bonds, there are trade offs in matching the ultimate cohesive and adhesive strength of the adhesive, with its ability to absorb shock or deformation before failure. Some of these trade offs are due to fundamentals of polymer chemistry that can only be overcome at extremely high formulation cost or with complex application processes. The challenge is to find a solution that is compatible with wind turbine blade economics. The choice of adhesive is often based on these mechanical properties. However, for structures of the size being considered in wind turbine blade, manufacturing issues are always key considerations. This should include: Preparation of surfaces to be bonded The time for dispensing, mixing and application of adhesive in relation to adhesive gel speeds: Open assembly time the time between the adhesive mixing and application to the first bonding surface before the components have to be clamped together and how this varies with ambient temp and humidity changes - avoiding dry joints Closed assembly time - how long the adhesive continues to flow and compress to ensure intimate contact and allow component repositioning while ensuring the glueline meets the expectation of the structural calculations The cure speed at given temperatures, the resulting thermal shrinkage as well as thermal softening point of the adhesive will all influence the design of the curing and demoulding cycle

Spabond 340 LV Excellent gap filling properties ideal for variable bondline thicknesses High strength and toughness industrial adhesive, even when mixed up to 5 parts off-ratio
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Variable Clamp Times three hardener speeds to give a range of working times Low exotherm and shrinkage minimizing risk of cracking High Temperature Resitance high performance up to 5C

Mixing and Application Spabond 340LV is a toughened, thixotropic adhesive system with a simple : by weight and by volume mix ratio. It is designed for use with a mixing machine and has a sag resistance of 30mm on a vertical surface. The range of hardeners available make this product ideal for bonding small or large structures. The resin & hardeners are pigmented to give a visual indication of mix quality. The robust formulation ensures that the high strength and toughness performance of Spabond 340LV can be achieved even off-ratio by up to 5 or 0 parts (subject to customer requirements).

Effect of Mix Ratio on Mechanical Properties

Structural adhesives used in wind turbine blade manufacture are often applied in thick bond-lines up to 40 or 50mm in diameter and often in vertical areas of the blade. This demands that the adhesive has good wet adhesive and thixotropic properties to ensure that it remains in place up until the point at which the to parts are brought together. Spabond 340LV offers not only excellent sag resistance, even at high temperatures but also has a remarkable shear recovery after being dispensed through a mixing machine. This is a property that can be overlooked, but forcing an adhesive through a static or dynamic mix head places high shear forces onto the adhesive in order to achieve a good mix quality. However, this process also has the tendency to shear thin the adhesive which reduces the thixotropy (sag resistance) of the material. Once dispensed the adhesive is no longer under a shear load, but it takes time for the adhesive to achieve its original thixotropic properties which could lead to the adhesive sagging or falling from the point of application.
WE Handbook- 5- Gurit Composite Materials for Wind Turbine Blades 

Blade weight The high volumes of adhesive used in the turbine blade assembly raise another factor in choice of adhesive, namely consumption. Not only is it vitally important to consider the cost per volume not per mass of an adhesive but also the rheology or flow characteristics of the product which may significantly affect the shape and size of the adhesive bondline and the amount of squeeze out or material wasted by inadvertent flow away from the desired position. Choosing the right adhesive for both density and flow can significantly influence total weight of adhesive in a typical blade by as much as 50-00Kg. As blade makers push larger stretched blades onto existing unchanged turbine platforms to pick up lighter winds, keeping blade weight reduced in this way can be critical. This highlights another unusual characteristic of Spabond 340LV adhesive, that it has a considerably lower density when compared to an equivalent glass toughened adhesives as the table below shows.
Sample Spabond 340LV with Extra Slow Hardener Equivalent Glass Filled Adhesive resin 1.120 g/cm3 1.270 g/cm3 hardener 1.060 g/cm3 1.110 g/cm3
Mix Ratio (R:H) mixed

100 : 50 100 : 45

1.099 g/cm3 1.216 g/cm3

Mixed Density Analysis of Spabond 340

A lower density can not only reduces the overall weight of the blade, but as the industry tends to buy structural adhesives by the kg, Spabond 340LV is also more cost effective per unit volume.

Reducing blade costs In recent years there have been significant improvements in the overall mould cycle time for blade component manufacture. Assembly of the basic constituent components such as the sparcaps, shear webs, shells and roots has been the main focus of development work to assist in reducing these cycle times to achieve higher output. However, the heating and cooling processes used to speed the curing cycle can lead to thermal variation in the adhesive joints between the components, resulting in built-in stresses which may be large, especially in thick bondlines used in rotor blade assembly. These stresses can affect the lifetime fatigue performance. Spabond 340 LV was formulated to provide excellent toughness by preventing crack propagation both in static and dynamic fatigue stress states. The single lap shear fatigue performance of Spabond 340 LV resin with Extra Slow hardener compared to a typical glass filled/epoxy based adhesive is shown in the schematic below. The substrates were made of epoxy/glass UD laminates and the testing was performed at 5Hz and at R=0..

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Fatigue Performance of Spabond 340 LV

Rotor blade manufacturers have detailed specification for their adhesive to try and address as many manufacturing and in-service risks as possible. This combination of properties required is a constant trade-off between cure progression for strength, shrinkage stresses caused by heat and exotherm and the ability to achieve a correct thermal resistance, often expressed as a glass transition temperature (Tg). Such fast heating and cooling also requires a tough adhesive to prevent thermal cracking, a property that usually reduces Tg. This becomes particularly important in large blade production since dimensional variation in moulding 30 - 50m long composite components can be significant. Careful consideration is given to these thicker adhesive regions that will show even higher cooling shrinkage stresses. For many blade manufacturers who have had to avoid brittle adhesive cracking, the preferred option has been to address the risk of cracking by lengthening cure cycles to provide lower thermal stresses*.
*Lengthening cure cycles has a detrimental effect on productivity and is therefore a considerable compromise. Typical cure development data is shown overleaf for Spabond 340 LV.

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Thermal Properties of Spabond 340 LV

Materials for Prepreg Blades

A prepreg blade typically comprises of a root and spar manufactured using UD glass or carbon prepreg, biax prepreg & structural core; and a shell using multiaxial prepreg, structural core and an in-mould process coat. These components are then assembled using a structural adhesive (for female box spar construction) such as Spabond 340LV or a non-structural PU adhesive (for male mandrill box spar construction). Gurit has a long history supplying prepreg, core, processs coats and structural adhesive for the manufacture of prepreg blades, as well as leading the way in developing advanced prepreg technology. The product offering from Gurit in these five categories is as follows: Prepregs: WE9 Prepreg Family Coatings: CR3400 Process Coat, UV stable Top Coat Structural Adhesives: Spabond 340 LV Structural Core: Corecell T-Foam Advanced Prepregs: WE9LE, SPRINT, SparPreg

Prepreg Technology Prepreg technology is used in applications where weight, performance and consistency of quality are prerequisites. Wind Energy prepregs are characterized by their high areal weights, cost-effective resins, high deposition rates, and simplistic fibre orientation:
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Glass/epoxy multiaxials (300-000gsm) Glass/epoxy unidirectional (600-600gsm) Carbon/epoxy unidirectional (300-800gsm)

Choosing prepreg for wind turbine blade manufacture, effectively reduces the complexity of the component manufacture by eliminating mix ratio, mix quality, resin content, fibre alignment and impregnation quality issues. WE91 Prepreg Family Reduced Cycle Times - lower peak exotherm in thick sections Diuron-free - improved Health and Safety Versatile - long out-life at room temperature & available with a range of reinforcements Recommended cure between 85C and 0C - excellent laminate quality, low bleed

An Introduction to the WE91 Prepreg Family The WE9 series is part of the WE and WT range of prepreg, SPRINT, and AIRSTREAM products. This unique product range provides technically and commercially competitive engineering materials, ideal for use either solely, or in conjunction with other SP products from within the range. The WE9 series is a high flow, Diuron free epoxy prepreg ideally suited to the manufacture of thick sections. It can be cured at temperatures as low as 85C, but can also be used for the rapid manufacture of components through its 45-minute cure at 0C. All of this can be achieved together with an out-life of 60 days at C. The WE9 series is designed for vacuum bag processing and offers excellent mechanical performance on glass and carbon fibre reinforcements. WE9 is pre-impregnated into three types E-glass fibre, unidirectional, biaxial and triaxial, all of which are manufactured in large volumes in order to make it a cost-effective composite building block for a range of applications. Other WE9 products include pre-impregnated peel ply, and needlemat. The unidirectional glass prepreg uses E-glass in 600 - 600g fibre weights. This provides a very economical way of laying down a large thickness of high performance material. It is particularly suitable as the primary composite material in structures which are subjected to longitudinal compression and bending, such as masts, poles and other beam like structures. It can be supplied in widths of up to 400mm. The unidirectional carbon prepreg is suited for use when high mechanical properties are required, it is available from 300 to 800g fibre areal weights. The biaxial prepreg is a 45 stitched E-glass fabric using a fibre weight of between 300 and 800g. This material can either be used alone as a thick drapeable fabric or as
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a secondary product in conjunction with the unidirectional product, where it imparts tensile and torsional strength and shear stiffness. It can be supplied in widths of up to 400mm wide. The triaxial prepreg is a 45 biaxial E-glass stitched to unidirectional fabric giving a total fibre weight of 900 - 800g. This material can be used as a thick drapable fabric. The triaxial prepreg is available with a glass tissue on the biax side, which helps to prevent print-through onto in-mould process or top coats. Tack Tack is a very important characteristic of a prepreg. It is a surface sensitive and viscoelastic property, which depends on both the resin and fibre properties, the degree of impregnation, and the process used to define tack. Tack is essential when manufacturing prepreg components as it helps to ensure that the prepreg and core materials stay in place whilst the lay-up and vacuum application is completed. However, differences in tack and impregnation can also cause final parts to perform differently than expected. This can include costly problems such as de-laminations of prepreg plies, wrinkling and voids. To prevent such problems occurring, it is important to choose the right level of tack for the each material in the laminate stack. There are two tack variants of the WE9 resin matrix; WE9- (high tack) typically used for UD glass or biaxial prepeg and WE9- (medium tack) used for biaxial, triaxial or UD carbon prepreg. Resin Content Resin content is another very important controlling parameter for the processing of prepregs. In high performance prepregs, the resin content is determined by the trade-off, for optimal mechanical properties, between higher fibre packing density and void content. This tradeoff varies for the consolidation pressure. In high pressure autoclave processing, lower resin contents can be reached before the void content starts to increase significantly. In vacuum consolidated glass prepregs typical of those manufactured at Gurit, resin content is usually limited to a minimum of around % by weight, corresponding to a FVF of 59%. Below this value the void content rises sharply, as shown by the figure below for a biax laminate, which has a dramatic effect on resin-dominated mechanical properties such as inter-laminar shear and compression strength.

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Effect of Resin Content of Laminate Void Content

Conversely, a high resin content can also cause high void content as it becomes more difficult to evacuate air inside the prepreg stack when there is excessive resin between the plies. However, it is less common for a high resin content to be required and tends to be used in single ply laminates or next to core materials whereby excess resin is required for bonding. The table below shows a rough guide to the resin contents available for WE9 prepregs.
Resin System WE91-1 WE91-1 or -2 WE91-2 WE91-2 Reinforcement UD Glass Biaxial Glass Triaxial Glass UD Carbon 32% 35 50% 35 50% 32%

Drape Drape is the ability of a prepreg to conform over a tool surface to the required shape. This is an important factor in prepregs since they offer very limited drapability relative to wet laminated or infused reinforcements due to the interaction between the fibre and the higher viscosity resin. It is important to ensure sufficient drape to minimise bridging of the prepreg between the tool or neighbouring plies, whilst ensuring that the resin viscosity is high enough not to be squeezed out of the prepreg when in a roll or during lay-up. Drape decreases with decreasing application temperature since resin viscosity increases; therefore it is important to ensure that good drape is attainable down to
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the lowest application temperatures experienced for that prepreg. Similarly, higher application temperature will tend to provide much better drape, although it will also increase tack. Gurits prepreg resins have been tailored to work in real-life factory environments. Drape is also closely linked to the fabric architecture and in some instances such as triaxial fabric the stitching can restrict the drapability of a fabric. Gurits WE9- resin system isformulated to provide exceptional drape performance without compromising tack or fibre wet-out. Out-life Prepregs usually have a catalytic resin matrix, which reacts above the initiation temperature of approximately 5 C. However, some activity is initiated during the prepregging process and therefore the prepreg matrix will cure very slowly even at low temperatures (0oC), staging the product. Staging increases the viscosity of the prepreg matrix and it is therefore very important to use the prepreg before the resin stages to a point where resin flow is reduced below a critical point. This critical flow, which corresponds to a critical viscosity, corresponds to the point where resin flow during the cure is limited to the degree that the mechanical properties of the cured laminate will be affected. In all composite structures a level of matrix flow will be required to ensure wetting of adjacent prepreg plies and other laminate features such as foam surfaces and cavities. It must be ensured, therefore, that for optimal mechanical performance the out-life of prepreg must not be exceeded under the specific storage temperature. The out-life is determined by measuring the time for the viscosity of fresh matrix to increase to this critical point at a given storage temperature. Recommended storage temperatures for WE9 prepreg are shown below.

Outlife At -18C (months) At +5C (months) At 21C (days) 18 6 60

Reactivity The reactivity of a prepreg is fundamentally controlled by the type, proportion and quantity of catalyst present in the matrix, which defines the total enthalpy of cure at a certain mix ratio. The chosen catalyst and mix ratio is specific to the application of the prepreg, and it must be ensured that for the curing of thick sections, the reactivity is minimised to prevent excessive heat being generated by the reacting resin during curing this is known as an exotherm. When characterising a resin system, it is important to measure the total enthalpy of reaction, the onset and endset reaction temperatures, and the peak height, using a DSC with a standard cure. These parameters enable the behaviour of the system to be predicted in large laminate sections, by comparing against benchmark values.
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The glass transition temperature or Tg of a prepreg resin is another important parameter to characterise a resin matrix system, since it is indicative of the crosslink density, and therefore potential heat output during reaction.

WE91 Thermal properties (20C-250C @ 10C/minute) Enthalpy (J/g) DSC Tg2 (C) 250 50 110 - 125

Mechanical Properties Various critical mechanical properties are measured to characterise the mechanical performance of a prepreg. These include normalised tensile strength and tensile modulus, inter-laminar shear strength and compressive strength. Other secondary properties can also be considered such as foam and gelcoat adhesion which tend to be evaluated as part of a complete laminate design. In order to provide an overview of the mechanical performance of WE9 products, a Summary Table is provided below with some typical prepregs.

Reinforcements Prepreg 1600g UD Glass 600g UD Low Modulus Carbon WE91-2 35 Medium 600 923 1760 120 1.45 1040 115 0.95 75 600g Fleeced Biax WE91-2 43 Medium 600 + 50 Fleece 1140 135 15 0.76 435 25 1.45 490 25 1.45 35 1200g Fleeced Triax WE91-2 43 Medium 1200 + 50 Fleece 2193 600 30 2 40 380 25 1.5 40 Test Standard

Resin System Resin Content (%) Tack Fibre Weight (g/m2) Prepreg Aerial Weight (g/m2) 0 Tensile Strength (MPa) 0 Tensile Modulus (GPa) 0 Tensile Strain to Failure (%) 0 Compressive Strength (MPa) 0 Compressive Modulus (GPa) 0 Compressive Strain to Failure (%) 0 ILSS (MPa) 45 Tensile Strength (MPa) 45 Tensile Modulus (GPa) 45 Tensile Strain to Failure (%) 45 ILSS (MPa)

WE91-1 32 High 1600 2353 1185 50 2.4 60 -

BS EN ISO 527 BS EN ISO 527 BS EN ISO 527 ISO 14126 ISO 14126 ISO 14126 BS EN ISO 14130 BS EN ISO 527 BS EN ISO 527 BS EN ISO 527 BS EN ISO 14130

WE91 Prepreg Mechanical Properties

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One of the key characteristics of prepregs is that the fibre alignment is effectively locked during the impregnation stage of manufacture. This means that the fibre is less likely to be distorted during the lay-up stage and negates the need for additional reinforcements, and in particular stitching in UD laminates. This can be understood more clearly by considering the comparative mechanical performance of a UD laminate using prepreg and infusion production process, summarized in the Table below.
Property Normalised Tensile Strength @ 53% FVF (MPa) Normalised Tensile Modulus @ 53% FVF (GPa) Normalised Compression Strength @ 53% FVF (MPa) Normalised Compression Modulus @ 53% FVF (GPa) Mean Mean Mean Mean Prepreg 1010 44.1 1036 42.7 Infusion 989 43.7 644 42.8 % Change -2.11% -1.01% -37.81% +0.2%

Comparison of Prepreg and Infusion UD Properties

Whilst tensile and inter-laminar properties are comparable, the compressive strength can be greatly reduced due to fibre buckling caused by distortion due to fabric stitches.

Coatings
The manufacture of prepreg blades typically requires an in-mould UV stable gel-coat (as the finished surface of the blade) or process coat (as a substrate suitable for painting). However, most prepreg blade production processes will require leading and trailing edges to be filled and faired post-bonding as a minimum. Furthermore, whilst a UV stable gelcoat helps to protect the laminate, if a painting scheme is to be used as the final coating of the blade then the complex formulation will add unnecessary cost to the process. As well as the process savings with regards to finishing time, a process coat also acts to protect the mould surface and will help to extend the life of the tool and increase yield. Gurit is a leading manufacturer and supplier of epoxy coating products for the wind energy market with well established UV-stable top coats and process coats. For larger blades there has been a trend to use process coats with PU paints and therefore only proces coats is discussed further. CR3400 Process Coat CR 3400 is an in-mould epoxy process coat for epoxy laminates, and is designed to be used as the base for the subsequent application of a paint scheme. CR 3400 is therefore formulated to be easily sandable so that once released, the CR 3400 surface can be readily keyed prior to the application of the paint system. This feature gives additional benefits in that any minor surface defects caused by laminate print-through or mould imperfections can easily be sanded away.

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CR 3400 is applied into a mould in the same way as other epoxy gelcoats, and has similar handling characteristics. The product has a considerably longer overcoating window than other gelcoats - which means that the system can also be used in a very flexible manufacturing environment. However, care must be taken to validate the process window as factory humidity and potential contamination are also critical factors.
Property Initial Mixed Viscosity (cP) Pot Life - 500g Mix in Air (hrs:mins) Sag Resistance (m) Tack-off Time (hrs:mins) Latest Overcoating Time (hrs:mins) Min. Rec. Thickness (m)
CR3400 Processing Properties

15C 7655 550 05:50 61/2 300

20C 4780 01:00 400 05:00 24 300

25C 2930 280 04:20 16 300

30C 1830 00:45 200 03:40 12 300

CR 3400 is designed to be backed up with an epoxy laminate and is compatible with Gurits WE9 prepreg family and SPRINT materials.

Adhesives for Prepreg Blades

For some box beam designs (male mandrel), a structural adhesive is not required to bond the beam and shells together. These types of design typically use low cost, low performance adhesives like PU. For female moulded spar designs, a structural adhesive is still required to bond the two spar sections together. For this type of prepreg blade, Gurit supplies Spabond 340LV adhesive, which is discussed in more detail in Materials for Infusion Blades earlier in this section.

Structural Core
As the Wind Energy Market has matured the optimization of blade design has become critical as blade lengths and weights have increased. As a consequence the one core fits all approach is no longer relevant for a modern wind turbine blade. The material requirements for a structural core can vary considerably from shell to shear web and also from one area of a shell to another. Therefore, to optimize the design, weight and performance of a blade the blade designers may make use of a number of core products. Due to the higher thermal performance required for prepreg blade processes, foams with good thermal stability are required. Gurit supplies two foam types for prepreg applications in the Wind Energy market; Corecell and G-PET.

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Corecell T-Foam Environmental stability High tolerance for heat and chemical exposure Built in toughness High ductility and damage tolerance compared to cross-linked PVC and Balsa Fine cell size Resin absorption is very low, saving both weight and cost Superior uniformity Low density variation Eliminating outgassing Corecell eliminates the problems of foam outgassing Compatibility Suitable for use with all polyester, vinylester and epoxy resins No inhibition - Corecell does not inhibit any epoxy resin curing mechanisms Handling Tough and easy to machine

G-PET Gurit has recently added G-PET to its portfolio of structural cores. PET foam is a low cost core that is manufactured using low cost materials and the efficient extrusion manufacturing process. PET extruded foam has reasonable mechanical properties but at higher densities is suitable for Wind Applications. Therefore, where design is not weight critical, PET is a cost effective solution and as a result has found increasing adoption in prepreg blade manufacture. High process temperatures Excellent chemical resistance Good adhesion Cost-effective, especially in larger thickness Excellent mechanical properties Recyclable Compatible with all types of composite processes

Advanced Prepregs
Gurits long history supplying prepregs to the Wind Energy industry has also allowed Gurit to lead the way be introducing the next generation of prepregs specifically designed to make turbine blade manufacture faster, easier and cheaper. This section presents some of the advanced prepregs developed by Gurit and in use in turbine blade manufacture today.

WE91LE Wind Energy prepreg laminates are typically cured with a dwell at 80-90C to control the exotherm that can result in thick sections, before being cured at higher temperatures to achieve the optimum thermal and mechanical properties. When cured in a laminate without such a dwell, Gurits WE9LE exhibits a significantly lower peak exotherm temperature compared to standard products. This characteristic can enable further cure optimisation for new and current processes to further reduce cycle times and increase productivity.
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Exothermic Behaviour of WE91 Prepregs

SPRINT With the advent of large blades, new prepreg technology was required to meet the increasing technical challenges in producing high quality components. Gurits award winning, patented SPRINT technology, was ideally suited to fill this need and continues to lead the market as a composites technology platform for very large structures. Available in multiaxial or woven formats, SPRINT enables the production of thick section laminates of very high quality (very low void content) using standard curing and vacuum bag operations. The product can also be used interchangeably and is compatible with other SPRINT and prepreg products to produce very high quality components. Some of the key benefits of SPRINT are: Autoclave quality but from vacuum bag processing Excellent materials handling Good health and safety Fast lay-up No De-bulking required Reliability and repeatability Excellent laminate quality Reduced Costs
SPRINT glass laminate 0 - 0.5% void content

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SPRINT is available in two main formats: 1. Standard SPRINT - whereby the SPRINT resin is sandwiched by a woven or multiaxial fabric on either side as shown in the diagram (left). This product can be supplied on large rolls or smaller tapes for spar winding applications. Another advantage is that this product can be supplied without a backer and reduce waste handling & disposal costs.
SPRINT Schematic

2. Single Sided SPRINT - typically for heavier multiaxials, the SPRINT resin is applied to one side of the reinforcement and to help with the lay-up process, a tack film can be applied to the other side. This product is particularly effective when used as the first layer applied to a gel or process coat in order to eliminate any surface defects that can occur whilst processing and reduce the overall finishing time. Another common application for SPRINT is as an additional air evacuation system within an existing prepreg stack. It is common to produce thick UD laminates for sparcap applications using heavy, high tack prepregs that cause excessive air entrapment between each ply. By interleaving every nd, 3rd or even 4th ply with a biaxial SPRINT, the resulting void content can be significantly reduced. The novel SPRINT concept opens up a new range of possibilities for optimizing not only the laminate but also the production process. More often than not any area of the prepreg lay-up that suffers from poor consolidation or a high level or air entrapment can be reduced or eliminated using SPRINT. It is even possible to use a SPRINT as the final layer of the lay-up to act as the breather to consolidate the laminate. This not only allows for a breather to be re-used, reducing the cost of consumables per blade, but with minimal resin bleed the resin content could also be reduced to save weight and money.

Sparpreg The main load bearing structure of a wind turbine blade is the spar component which is either integrated into a structural shell as a spar cap, or constructed in parallel production to the shell as a separate spar structure complete with shear webs. What is common to both approaches is that the utilization of unidirectional fibre (UD), glass or carbon, to provide bending strength and stiffness. The quantity of UD material required is significant, resulting in laminate sections up to 50mm thick. This provides some technical challenges when considering fibre alignment, resin content, void content, deposition rate, exotherm control, and connection to the shear web using multiaxial materials. Furthermore, as blade size has increased and carbon fibre is used
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more widely, the strength requirements have become the main design driver placing even more focus on fibre alignment and high quality laminates with low void content. With the current focus in the market to look at the Cost of Quality for blade manufacturing there has been an increasing demand for products that produce a consistent quality for a competitive overall blade cost. One of the key areas for improvement was that of the spar cap where the associated difficulties in processing had lead to variability in part quality and/or expensive engineering solutions. Using Gurits experience in air breathe materials and solutions, namely SPRINT and Airstream, a new uni-directional material has been developed known as SparPreg. This product has been specially formulated to facilitate the removal of inter-ply (between the plies) air within a UD stack using standard vacuum bag

Void Content Analysis

processes, and without intermediate debulking stages. SparPreg is also designed to be fully compatible with SPRINT multiaxial materials, providing a very versatile material solution for all structural spar concepts. Whilst being an ideal replacement for any UD prepreg used in spar manufacture where air removal is a problem, there is also a place for Sparpreg in an infusion process. There are many techniques for the manufacture of spar caps including wet laminating and infusion of woven UD fabrics, wet tow placement, and prepreg. These are often manufactured off-line to enable full quality validation of this critical component before integration with the shell structure. One of the key issues with spar cap manufacture is the attainment of low void content with large UD cap thickness. The problem is compounded by the low breathability of UD materials, making them notoriously difficult to infuse, or in the case of prepreg remove the interply air. These issues are normally overcome by integrating multi-axial materials within the UD laminate stack to provide faster infusion rates, and to facilitate air removal from a prepreg stack. Sparpreg provides another hybrid solution for infusion blades. As woven UD and multiaxial layers are not required with UD prepreg, the mechanical performance of Sparpreg is far superior to the wet system equivalent. Processing is also simplified and robust, enabling rapid deposition and curing of the cap with a very low defect rate. Although the raw material costs are higher for prepregs, the processing savings and reduced weight of the blade make Sparpreg spar caps an attractive option.

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