Three-Dimension Woven Carbon-Glass Hybrid Wind Turbine Blades

70360 The increased use of environmentally-friendly wind energy would help reduce pollution and the emission of hydrocarbons. Wind energy is a fast growing business area, with state-of-the-art turbine blades approaching design limits based on glass reinforced composite materials. New materials and blade design approaches that utilize higher performance carbon fibers would enable lighter materials and larger blades that are more efficient and cost effective. In this project, the inherent property, processing, and cost advantages of three-dimensional woven fabrics will be combined with balsa cores to make superior sandwich materials. These structural laminates will be stronger, stiffer, and lighter. Phase I will analyze and design suitable carbon-glass hybrid three-dimensional woven fabrics and subsequent composite sandwich materials. These materials will be fabricated and mechanically tested, and the resulting data used to evaluate the effectiveness of carbon-glass hybrids. A simple cost analysis will be performed and a design strategy for an optimized sandwich design of wind turbine blades will be developed. Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee: The materials, data, and design approaches should be directly applicable for the design and manufacture of large wind turbine blades. This technology should enable the use of larger blades and more efficient wind energy systems, making wind energy more competitive and more wide spread.