JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #90 - June/July 2014 - 26

epoxy

New materials for various rotor
blade manufacturing technologies
A new epoxy system and polyurethane resin are now available
for rotor blade production by filament winding and pultrusion
technologies.

t the last JEC show, BASF presented two new materials that can
be used in the manufacture of
components used in wind power generation. With its Baxxodur® System 6100,
the company now offers a new epoxy system for the special requirements of the
filament winding technology that is suitable for the production of root segments
for rotor blades. The system (approved
by Germanischer Lloyd) exhibits good
impregnation characteristics and has an
open time that permits the production of
larger parts. The filament winding technology simplifies the time-consuming
production process for rotor blades, thus
lowering manufacturing costs.
To securely attach the rotor blade root
to the hub of the wind turbine, a fibrereinforced component pultruded from
Elastocoat® C6226-100 polyurethane
resin can be used. The company also
developed this resin to manufacture
pultruded rods together with its partner
Fiberline Composites A/S in Denmark.
Pultrusion allows better alignment of the
fibres as well as in-line incorporation of
a threaded metal bushing. This ensures
consistently high production quality
and an extremely stable part. Furthermore, fewer process steps are needed in
production, which reduces the manufacturing time and material costs. Both
the pultruded part produced from the
Elastocoat material and a 12-centimeter

thick root ring manufactured from glass
fibre-reinforced Baxxodur were exhibited
at the booth.

Blade cross-section demonstrates
a wide range of offerings

a spar cap was also on display - manufactured with carbon fibres immersed in
Baxxodur. Because of their strength and
rigidity, these spar caps are being increasingly used for large rotor blades. During
the infusion process, the Baxxodur system ensures fast and complete impregnation of the carbon fibre layers.
Overall, the range available from BASF
encompasses a variety of epoxy resin
and hardener systems that address the
trend toward ever larger parts as well as
the increasing number of production
processes encountered. The use of socalled latent hardeners gives processors
a considerably longer processing time
while shortening the production time by
up to 30%. n

BASF also presented the cross-section
of a wind turbine rotor blade that is
intended to demonstrate the wide range
of products and solutions available for
rotor blade manufacturing - from the
Baxxodur epoxy resin system through the
Kerdyn® PET (polyethylene terephthalate) structural foam and from the
RELEST® gelcoat system to the Elastan®
semi-structural polyurethane adhesive.
PET foam ensures stability under static
and dynamic loads, which is why it is primarily used inside rotor blades. Kerdyn is
More information:
certified by German Lloyd and available
www.basf.com
in densities
of 80, 100
and 115
kilograms per
cubic meter.
In addition
to the wind
power sector,
PET foam is
also used in
the transportation,
construction
and marine
industries.
Next to the
rotor blade
cross-section, A new epoxy system for the production of roof segments for rotor blades

26 jec composites magazine / No90 June - July 2014

http://www.basf.com

JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #90 - June/July 2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #90 - June/July 2014