JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #87 - March 2014 Special JEC Europe - 32

awards

official partner

Sustainability

Co-creation in Wind Works
The wind energy market requires
reliable wind turbines, which can
generate energy without interruption
and at the lowest investment and
operating cost. The current material systems used for making wind
turbine blades are in majority based
on epoxy resins. While they bring
resistance to fatigue these resins are
difficult to process, sensitive to process variations, and require a timeconsuming post-cure for reaching
optimum physical properties.
A new-to-the-world composite system is being evaluated by Siemens
Wind Power for its next generation
wind turbine blades. It offers the best
of both worlds: easy resin infusion
and processing, zero styrene emissions, and excellent fibre/ resin
interaction yielding superior strength
and fatigue resistance. The system is
based on DSM's Beyone™ 201-A-01,

a resin that is styrene-free, cobaltfree (based on BluCure™ Technology), and is 40 % bio based. The
system also uses 3B's novel SE3030
glass rovings: the enhanced adhesion
to the reinforcement is achieved
through an optimized sizing applied
on the glass filaments.
For wind turbine suppliers the new
composite system provides many
benefits, including a major reduction
in blade manufacturing cost and an
increased process output. his sizing
gives excellent fibre/resin interaction, resulting in improved composite
properties that ensure a long-lasting
blade operation.
In addition, it has been demonstrated that this system can be used for
making long blades at a record speed
(through faster resin infusion and limited post-cure), giving an increased

Composite hopper car body produced by vacuum infusion
The composite hopper car body is
produced by vacuum infusion. The
structural scheme represents a selfsupported monocoque shell reinforced
with the internal rib web consisting of
a central beam which goes along the
end walls of the body bottom, seven
transverse stiffeners and four longitudinal beams in the passage zone of the
car roof maintenance personnel.
The use of composite materials in the
car body structure has made it possible
to:
- Reduce body weight by 35-40% compared to the metal analog;
- Increase the cargo volume by
20%;
- Increase service life of the hopper car
from 23 to 32 years.
The total market size of hopper cars

for bulk cargo transportation for Russia and CIS countries is estimated at
32000 pieces. Currently an agreement
has been signed up for production and
delivery of 1500 hopper cars with the
composite body.
As a result of this work, the unique
structure of the composite hopper car
body with no analogs in the world was
developed, which resulted in creation
of a brand new hopper car conception
using vacuum infusion of large-size
structures. This brand new hopper car
has improved technical and economic
characteristics including 20% increase
in cargo volume and increase in life
cycle from 23 to 32 years.

32 jec composites magazine / No87 March 2014

Winner: DSM Composite Resins AG
(Switzerland)
Partner(s): Technical University of
Denmark (Denmark), 3B Fibreglass (Belgium), Siemens Wind Power (Denmark)

output per mould and an outlook for
excellent process consistency.
It is estimated that the world composites market for wind turbine blade
is in the order of 450-500,000 MT of
composite materials per year, with an
average growth anticipated of 7 % until 2020. The partners are convinced
that the new composite system can
largely contribute to that growth.

Railways
Winner: Apatech-Applied Advanced
Technology Company Ltd (Russia)
Partner(s): Lightweight Structures B.V.
(Netherlands), Research and production
corporation «Uralvagonzavod» (Russia)

JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #87 - March 2014 Special JEC Europe

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #87 - March 2014 Special JEC Europe