4TH International Congress on Technology - Engineering & SCIENCE - Kuala Lumpur - Malaysia (2017-08-05)

Investigation of Erosion Behaviour of Coated GFRP Composites for Wind Turbine Applications
In this study, experiments are conducted to study the erosion behaviour of various coatings on glass-fibre reinforced epoxy polymer composite (GFRP) substrate by silica sand particles for applications of wind turbine blades. The investigated factors and their ranges are: impingement angle (0°-90°), erodent velocity (20 m/s), coating types (2K acrylic-base, polyurethane-base, polyurea-base), and erodent size (300 µm). Morphological examination as performed on samples to reveal the underlying erosion mechanisms of uncoated as well as coated GFRP samples. Moreover, predictive regression models were generated in the form of equations to enable estimation of erosion rate at various factor combinations. Results show that elastomeric coating application on GFRP substrate can lead to reduction in erosion rate of up to more than 94% compared to uncoated GFRP. However, at other parameter combinations, an increase in erosion rate of about 4.5% due to coating is noted. Additionally, the application of coating on GFRP at certain parameter combination leads to change in erosion peak location from lower angles of 30° to around 45°. This constitutes a transition of erosion mechanism from ductile to semi-ductile behaviour. This transition may be attributed to the coating formulation as well as testing conditions. In fact, at other parameter combinations, erosion behaviour of coated samples remains unchanged compared to uncoated GFRP.
Tarek Ali Elmelegy , Nabil Eltayeb, Mostafa Elshazly, Mohamed Mohamed El-Sayed Seleman, Mohamed Zaky