Development of Self-Healing Glass Fiber–Reinforced Laminate Composites for Wind Turbine Blades

Among the various renewable energy sources, wind energy offers an effective solution to energy providers. Onshore wind turbines are generally designed for sites with low wind resources, while offshore wind turbines can be more efficient in producing energy, thanks to their longer blades that provide more than 10 MW of rated power. Offshore wind turbine blades are subjected to significantly higher stresses and harsh environmental conditions. Therefore, self-healing composites can offer cost-effective and long-lasting solutions for wind turbine blade manufacturers since self-healing is a prominent mechanism used in various industrial applications to repair the structures in the presence of a crack. In this study, the advantage of using self-healing mechanism in laminate composites is studied. Following manufacturing of self-healing microcapsules, they are incorporated into laminate composites by means of vacuum-assisted resin transfer molding (VARTM) method. Then, mechanical characterizations and microscopic examinations are carried out through tensile and Charpy impact tests. In this study, it is intended to examine the mechanical influence of using the self-healing microcapsules, as well as the curing scenario is analyzed in detail by comparing the test results. It is seen that the self-healing agent ratio of 2.5% has the optimum ratio when we compare it with 5% and 7.5% healing agent ratio. In addition to that, curing temperature of 100 °C increases the UTS when it is compared with 80 °C.