Erosion wear assessment of sugarcane fibre reinforced polymer composites for applications of wind turbine blades

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

9-2023

Abstract

This research reports erosion wear characteristics of polyester matrix composite reinforced with short fibres of sugar cane. Erosion tests were conducted using silica sand particles of size (200–500 μm) using a locally designed air jet-type erosion test rig. The sugarcane fibre-reinforced polyester composites (5% wt.) with different fibre lengths (3, 12, 48 mm) were impacted by sand particles at a fixed velocity of 60 m/s, impact angles (30°, 60°, 90°) and erodent weight of (2500,7500) gm. ANOVA approach was used to determine the most significant parameter and their combinations that minimize the erosion rate. Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) observations were conducted to investigate the erosion mechanisms. Results indicated that the erosion rate is greatly influenced by fibre length as well as the erodent weight. Moreover, at an erodent weight of 2500gm, the behaviour of the material turns from brittle into ductile. At an erodent weight of 7500gm, the erosion rate is inversely proportional to the fibre length.

Comments

The erosion characteristic of sugar cane fibre reinforced polyester (SCFP) composite with different fibre lengths (3mm,12mm,48mm) were investigated under the conditions of impact angles (30°, 60°, 90°) and erodent weight particles (2500gm,7500gm) and the main conclusions may be drawn: 1. Erosion rate is greatly influenced by erodent weight, i.e., at a lower value of erodent weight (2500gm) the behaviour of the composites turns from brittle into ductile. Also, at higher erodent weight (7500gm) the behaviour of composites is ductile. 2. Erosion rate of SCFP composite decreases with increasing the fibre length because of better adhesion properties. 3. At 2500gm erodent weight, the changes in the erosion rate with the increase of fibre length depends on the impact angle, i.e., increasing fibre length from 3 to 48mm causes an increase in the erosion rate by 14% (at 30°) while decreases the erosion rate by 20% (at 60°) and 83% (at 90°). Meanwhile, at 7500gm erodent weight, the erosion rate decreased by 63% (at 30°), 8% (at 60°) and 26% (at 90°). 4. The SEM morphologies showed that the nature of surface damage is influenced by the fibre length. That is, damage to composite surface with a fibre length of 3 mm is characterised by polymer matrix cracks and fragmentation. By contrast, damage to composite surface with a fibre length of 12 mm is characterised by small matrix fragmentation only. As to removal of the composite surface material with a fibre length of 48 mm is caused by relatively large matrix fragmentation. 5. The ANOVA showed that the three controllable factors are fibre length, impact angle, and erodent weight and their higher-order interactions are all significant. 6. A mathematical Regression model with R2 = 0.9168 which can be used to predict the erosion rate within the range limits of the controllable factor. 7. The Design Expert program predicted that using 37 mm fibre length at conditions of 90° and a higher level of erodent weight will yield minimum damage to wind turbine blade

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