TY - JOUR

T1 - Determination of as-built properties of fiber reinforced polymers in a wind turbine blade using scanning electron and high-resolution X-ray microscopy

AU - Rosemeier, Malo

AU - Lester, Catherine

AU - Antoniou, Alexandros

AU - Fahrenson, Christoph

AU - Manousides, Nikolas

AU - Balzani, Claudio

N1 - Funding Information: We thank our colleagues Lisa Schudack, Irene Preuß, Konstantin Kinsvater and Henning Schnellen, who prepared the samples and conducted the experiments, and Basem Rajjoub, who carried out the manual segmentation of the two-dimensional images exported from the micro-CT reconstructions. Moreover, we thank our colleague Florian Sayer, who acquired the funding for this research. Finally, we would like to thank SSP Technology A/S for providing the samples for this research. This work was supported by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) within the ReliaBlade projects [grant numbers 0324335A and 0324335B]. Funding Information: This work was supported by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) within the ReliaBlade projects [grant numbers 0324335A and 0324335B ].

PY - 2022/10

Y1 - 2022/10

N2 - The fiber volume fraction (FVF) and porosity in fiber reinforced polymers (FRPs) depends strongly on the manufacturing process. These parameters influence the mechanical properties and thus the performance of an FRP. For this research, an epoxy-pre-impregnated glass FRP was investigated to determine the FVF and matrix mass fraction taking into consideration all material constituents, including sizing, stitching thread, as well as the porosity, the area density and the fiber orientations of each lamina, the filament fiber diameter, and the inter-laminar void size and shape. Therefore, samples from a commercially manufactured wind turbine rotor blade were experimentally investigated using scanning electron (SEM) and high-resolution X-ray microscopy (micro-CT), as well as a standardized calcination method and geometric measurements. Post-processing techniques such as thresholding and edge detection were used to analyze the images. There was good FVF agreement between SEM and the method of calcination. Micro-void cross-sectional shapes were well captured by SEM while meso- and macro-voids were volumetrically resolved with a reproducible void size distribution for two sample volumes by micro-CT.

AB - The fiber volume fraction (FVF) and porosity in fiber reinforced polymers (FRPs) depends strongly on the manufacturing process. These parameters influence the mechanical properties and thus the performance of an FRP. For this research, an epoxy-pre-impregnated glass FRP was investigated to determine the FVF and matrix mass fraction taking into consideration all material constituents, including sizing, stitching thread, as well as the porosity, the area density and the fiber orientations of each lamina, the filament fiber diameter, and the inter-laminar void size and shape. Therefore, samples from a commercially manufactured wind turbine rotor blade were experimentally investigated using scanning electron (SEM) and high-resolution X-ray microscopy (micro-CT), as well as a standardized calcination method and geometric measurements. Post-processing techniques such as thresholding and edge detection were used to analyze the images. There was good FVF agreement between SEM and the method of calcination. Micro-void cross-sectional shapes were well captured by SEM while meso- and macro-voids were volumetrically resolved with a reproducible void size distribution for two sample volumes by micro-CT.

KW - Calcination

KW - Fiber reinforced polymer

KW - Fiber volume fraction

KW - Image processing

KW - Micro-CT

KW - Porosity

KW - Pre-preg

KW - SEM

KW - Void content

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85138052039&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.jcomc.2022.100310

DO - 10.1016/j.jcomc.2022.100310

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85138052039

VL - 9

SP - 1

EP - 12

JO - Composites Part C: Open Access

JF - Composites Part C: Open Access

SN - 2666-6820

M1 - 100310

ER -