Design and Analysis Of Bamboo and E-Glass Fiber Reinforced Epoxy Hybrid Composite for Wind Turbine Blade Shell
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Date
2013-10
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Design and Analysis of Bamboo and E-glass Fiber Reinforced Epoxy Hybrid Composite for Wind Turbine Blade Shell
Abiy Alene
Addis Ababa University, 2013
The main goal of this study is to investigate the performance of bamboo and E-glass fiber reinforced epoxy hybrid composite (BGREC) with different unidirectional (UD) of bamboo to E-glass fiber fraction for wind turbine blade shell application. Manual method of bamboo fiber extraction from Ethiopian highland bamboo ‘Yushania Alpina’ species was undertaken.
A 5% sodium hydroxide was used for further lignin, hemicellulose and other fiber remnants removal for the improvement of bond & interfacial shear strength of the bamboo fiber.
Next, BGREC was fabricated with 45% total fiber volume fraction. Of this total fiber volume, the composite is fabricated in different bamboo to E-glass fiber ratio using hand lay-up vacuum assisted technique. Then tensile, in-plane shear, compressive, and flexural tests were carried out. A bamboo to E-glass fiber ratio of 0:100 was found a higher tensile strength; whereas bamboo to E-glass fiber ratio of 50:50 had higher compressive strength. Similarly, a bamboo to E-glass fiber ratio of 50:50 had higher elastic modulus for all the tests carried out. At the end, surface morphology of bamboo fiber; and tensile fractured surfaces morphology, homogeneity & porosity of BGFRECs were observed using SEM. The result showed that the bamboo fibers experienced a substantial changes occurred during alkaline treatment, and good result also attained from interaction among bamboo & E-glass with epoxy. Furthermore, it is found out that the bamboo and E-glass fiber ratio of 50:50 output can have a potential to be used for wind turbine blade shell construction.
Key words: Bamboo, E-glass, Epoxy, composite, Alkaline, blade, shell
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Bamboo; E-glass; Epoxy;composite; Alkaline; blade; shell