Composite Materials

for Wind Blades

As new materials are being developed, PPG
Industries provides insights into the current
performance and future directions of those
utilized in manufacturing high-tech blades.
By James C. Watson and Juan C. Serrano

James C. Watson is associate director and Juan C. Serrano is an engineering associate

at Fiber Glass Science and Technology, PPG Industries, Inc. Visit www.ppg.com.

The technology used in manufacturing wind

turbine blades has evolved over the past 20-plus
years. Blade making has migrated toward processes
that minimize cycle time and reduce both cost and
the probability of defects. Early blade building techniques grew out of the boat building industry, using processes that were high in labor and prone to
inconsistencies and defects. Vacuum infusion took
blade manufacturing technology to a higher level,
with improvements in consistency and performance of a blade. Prepregor pre-impregnated
technology further enhanced blade performance by
combining resins and reinforcements in a more rigorously controlled manner before placement in the
blade mold. Today the trend is toward Automated
Tape Layup (ATL) or Automated Fiber Placement
46 SEPTEMBER | 2010

(AFP) to reduce labor and improve quality, whether

one uses dry fiber or prepreg tape (fig. 1).
Input materials in blade production have not
evolved as rapidly. Resin technology has expanded
somewhat to include both polyester and epoxy on
a broad scale. Wood or foam cores are still used
in many cases. Skins are comprised of multiaxial
fabrics with some use of unidirectional materials.
The root end section of the blade is comprised of
rovings and/or multiaxial fabrics. Spars have been
manufactured with fiberglass rovings and a combination of unidirectional and multiaxial fabrics.
Throughout the early growth of the industry, basic
fiberglass reinforcements have changed very little.
The pace of that change, however, is now beginning
to accelerate.

Performance of turbine blade composite materials has been documented by many agencies and
universities, including Sandia National Laboratories and Montana State University in the U.S. and
the Optidat database in the Netherlands. Figure
2 outlines these data sources and provides links
to some excellent public Web sites. As part of an
ongoing DOE project on Wind Blade Manufacturing Innovation (DE-EE0001373) we have collected
and analyzed the performance of turbine blade
materials and utilized these databases for input
into an electronic database. We have also included
PPG internal data and publicly available information from different material suppliers. This data
was aggregated and analyzed for performance
characteristics based on material type. Detailed

analysis of the data shows a basic split in material

performance between prepreg and infusion based
composites. The highest performance is obtained
from unidirectional and biaxial prepreg materials. These materials are utilized on the latest generation of wind turbines. Material properties are
more varied in infusion-based composites, particularly as a function of resin selection, reported
fiber volume fraction, and material complexity. As
fiber orientations shift from unidirectional to biaxial to triaxial, the dominant material characteristic
changes as well.
The data contained in these public forums provide a rich body of work for all who take the initiative to explore them. Much credit must go to
organizations like Sandia National Labs and their
ongoing sponsorship spanning many years of Professor John Mandell and his group at Montana State
University. The Wind Center in the Netherlands has
also been a leading data provider, as has the Risoe
DTU National Laboratory in Denmark. We are able
to gain much insight as a result of this work.
The data based on prepreg composites allow us to
compare various fiber types as well, including high
performance fibers like carbon. The mechanical
properties of unidirectional materials when loaded
under tension are clearly fiber dominated, which
means in the tensile and compressive direction the
property of the fiber dominates the composite mechanical property. Specifically, the type of fiber and
the amount of fiber determines the performance
of the composite material as dictated by the rule
of mixtures relationship. The advantage of a high
performance fiber like carbon is most prevalent in
the tensile properties. In the design of a wind blade
the advantage of novel fibers like carbon is realized
in the tensile direction, and hence is the reason that
it is used in parts that undergo high tensile stresses
such as a spar cap. In contrast, the compressive
properties for carbon fiber reinforced laminates do
not differ greatly from cost-effective alternatives like
E glass based composites.
The properties of composites based on biaxial
fabrics or fiber structures are dominated by the resin
when loaded in the primary direction. The use of a
high performance fiber does not provide a significant boost in mechanical property values. This is basically a result of moving the fiber orientation away
from the load direction. So in using composites fabricated with biaxial fabrics, E glass continues to be a
good cost-effective solution for this ply schedule.
The same trends are evident when comparing infusion-based uniaxial and biaxial fiber composites.
Once again, higher performance fibers show benefits in uniaxial laminates but not in biaxial laminates.
This trend continues in laminates based on triaxial
fabrics. In the complex triaxial laminates the improvement in tensile properties is reduced such that
there are negligible differences in laminate performance, even when fiber properties are substantially
different.
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47

Fig. 1: Evolution of wind turbine blade production.

Fig. 2: Performance data sets.

Fig. 3: Driving performance through material enhancements.

Fig. 4: Sizing chemistry drives fatigue performance.

48 SEPTEMBER | 2010

Further reducing the value of

high performance fibers in these
complex fabric architectures is
that other defects can take over.
For example, the tensile strength
of a fiber is a flaw-dominated
property. Damage imparted to
the fiber surface in the fabrication of these complex fabrics can
reduce the value of the fiber. Since
these fabrics are more complex,
there is also a higher probability
for basic defects (voids) that can
compromise the properties. As
we move further into more complex fabric architectures, the fiber
property difference starts to blur
in the performance data given
the complexity of the load path,
the loss of fiber alignment, and
the reduction in effective fiber
volume fraction.
Moving from historical data
to future developments, the
industry is clearly moving toward larger turbines with longer
blades. Larger blades produce
more energy, and this is a basic
target for driving costs down. To
grow the size of turbines there
are two approaches one can take.
Knowing that the deflection of a
wind blade is inversely proportional to the moment of inertia of
its cross section and the stiffness
of the blade material, the goal is
to increase moment of inertia
or stiffness to reduce deflection.
Changing the moment of inertia
requires a change of the blade design or blade cross section. This
is a design issue best tackled by
wind turbine designers and builders, not by material suppliers.
The second option is to change
the materials properties to increase flexural stiffness of the
composite. From the perspective of the materials supplier,
there are a number of ways to
accomplish this goal (fig. 3). The
first is modification of the sizing
chemistry on the surface of the
glass fiber. The surface treatment
drives wetting, composite tensile
strength, and ultimately fatigue
life. While these do not affect
stiffness directly, they are critical
to overall blade performance and
durability. Secondly, we can make
a stiffer structure by increasing

Fig. 5: Volume fraction scenario

(idealized model).

the volume fraction of the fibers

within the composite. Another
approach is to change the fiber
composition to provide a stiffer
fiber. Lastly, providing composites with low probability for defects ensures fewer flaws that can
become crack initiation sites in
the event of large stresses.
Sizing chemistry effects can
be illustrated by comparing two
PPG products, HYBON 2002 and
HYBON 2026. Both products are
used in wind energy composites and are multi-compatible in
that they perform well in many
organic resin systems. HYBON
2002 is a workhorse product for
the wind industry, and its performance is well established. An
improved sizing chemistry using the same base fiberglass can
be demonstrated by comparing
properties with HYBON 2026.
This product provides improvements in tensile strength, flexural
strength, and interfacial shear
strength. The value of these improvements is seen more dramatically in dynamic mechanical
properties, specifically fatigue
performance (fig. 4). In fatigue
measurements the improvement
of HYBON 2026 over HYBON
20002 translates to roughly 10
percent on a log scale (from ~5.5
to 6.0), and greater than double
the absolute number of cycles
to failure (320,000 cycles to
1,000,000 cycles). Benefits from
sizing chemistry are especially
meaningful when one considers
that the chemistry is applied at
the fiber level at a thickness on
the order of 50-100 nanometers.
In addition to fatigue performance, the latest generation sizing developments can provide
property improvements that
are controlled at the fiber level,
which improve strength characteristics and strength retention of
the composite. However, sizing
chemistry does not have a direct
effect on fiber stiffness.
The second option to increasing blade stiffness is to change

the fiber volume fraction of the composite. Sizing chemistry can play
a role here by providing improved wetting and lower resin demand.
In general higher volume fraction laminates are more difficult to
fabricate, as the permeability of a larger fiber array will be reduced
as fiber volume fraction is increased. This can lead to a higher prob-

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Fig. 6: Volume fraction directly affects beam deflection.

Fig. 7: Edge deflection on spar model; as fiber modulus increases,

deflection is reduced but cost per lb of input material increases.

Fig. 8: Composition shift from E to R glass reduces deflection

at a given volume fraction.

ability of defects. As the laminate

approaches the maximum theoretical fiber volume fraction, the
likelihood of dry spots and direct
fiber-to-fiber contact leads to a
higher incidence of flaw generation. Another negative is that the
50 SEPTEMBER | 2010

weight of the composite increases as the fiber volume fraction

increases, which is something we
want to manage when making
larger wind blades.
To further explore the increased fiber volume fraction im-

pact, we will consider the case of

a hypothetical spar with a circular cross section (fig. 5). Assume
for simplicity that it is produced
with all the fibers aligned along
the length of the spar. The physical dimensions are held constant,
as well as the modulus of the fiber. Using a self weight deformation criterion for the analysis we
can see that changing the volume
fraction from 50-60 percent does
provide tip deflection decrease
(fig. 6). At the same time, however, there is a respective increase in
the mass of our hypothetical spar.
Additionally, more-complex fabric architectures are somewhat
limited in their ability to achieve
these high volume fraction levels.
There is room to increase the fiber volume fraction and increase
stiffness without incurring fiberto-fiber contact. However, there
is a weight penalty for increasing
the fiber volume fraction on a
composite laminate.
The third means of improving
stiffness is through changes in the
basic glass composition. Every
glass manufacturer has a space in
which they operate, so we must
recognize that there are ranges
for the resulting properties. E
glasses are well known, and most
widely used in the composites industry. However, there are other
fiber types that offer higher modulus. These are commonly known
as R and S type glasses. Carbon is
the ultimate fiber based on very
high mechanical properties. As
modulus increase it must be recognized that this benefit generally comes at a higher cost.
Using the same equation for
tip deflection and changing fiber
modulus, we see that tip deflection decreases (fig. 7) as modulus increases. Further comparisons of fiber composition can be
made when taking fiber volume
fraction into account. In this figure the comparison is made between E and R type glasses. One
can obtain the same deflection
using 50 percent volume fraction of R glass compared to 59
percent for E glass (fig. 8). Furthermore, note that R glass has
a 0.23 m tip deflection at 58 per-

fraction. Volume fraction would

need to exceed 60 percent to
achieve this deflection with E
glass, which is an unlikely scenario. These benefits are driven
by fiber modulus, which is on
the order of a 10-12 percent
change. This can be coupled
with an increased fiber volume
fraction, which can result in further improvements in laminate
stiffness.
The last point of improvement
is defect reduction. A number of
ongoing current developments
are focused in this area. Automation is one means to reduce
defects. Current material forms
are not adequate for fiber placement and automated tape laying. On the chemistry front,
resin specific sizing technology
will provide better bonding to
the resin and can reduce defects
at the micro-scale. There is further value that can be obtained
through higher tensile strength,
interfacial shear and strength
retention properties. This approach can also give greater fa-

tigue performance. Faster processing can also be enhanced through

sizing chemistry changes.
In conclusion, the focus has shifted from incremental improvements in performance to performance leaps. Interest in the reduction of defects and in cycle times by the introduction of high-end
processes will drive this change. We are working on developing
materials that are appropriate for the emerging technologies. Considerable research is ongoing in improving wet-out characteristics
of rovings and fabrics and providing higher mechanical property
retention over the life of a blade. New technology developments in
fiber reinforcements, resin systems, and production concepts will
continue to drive wind energy to lower cost of energy levels in the
future.
Acknowledgment: This material is partly based upon work supported by the Department of Energy under Award Number(s)
[DE-EE0001373)]. Disclaimer: Part of this presentation was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United
States Government. Neither the United States Government nor
any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents
that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference
herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by
trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or
favoring by the United States Government or any agency thereof.
The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or
any agency thereof.

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