PSI - Issue 48

Muhammad Rizky Arga Wijaya et al. / Procedia Structural Integrity 48 (2023) 41–49 Wijaya et al. / Structural Integrity Procedia 00 (2019) 000–000

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The results of tensile tests for all nine composites are included in Table 3. Results clearly show that the nanocomposite with 1% Al2O3 is the best in terms of tensile strength. Among the SiO2-based nanocomposites, the one with 2% nanoparticles showed the maximum tensile strength. But, this is much lesser than that of 1% Al2O3. The results of fatigue tests are displayed in Table 4. The same nanocomposite with 1% Al2O3 exhibited the highest fatigue strength. While considering SiO2-based nanocomposites only, the specimen with 2% SiO2 shows maximum fatigue strength. Interestingly, in the case of Al2O3-based nanocomposites, fatigue strength decreases as the percentage of nanoparticles increases. Nevertheless, this trend is not there in the case of Al2O3 based nanocomposites. Tensile strength and fatigue strength are required for the long life of wind turbine blades. Based on data in Tables 3 and 4, it is clear that nanocomposite with 1% Al2O3 is better than other composites in terms of tensile and fatigue strength. Nanocomposite with 2% SiO2 is the best among the SiO2 based nanocomposites.

Table 2. Details of the fabricated composites.

Composite Composite 1 Composite 2 Composite 3 Composite 4 Composite 5 Composite 6 Composite 7 Composite 8 Composite 9

Reinforcement

Epoxy

Nanomaterial (%)

Glass fibre Glass fibre Glass fibre Glass fibre Glass fibre Glass fibre Glass fibre Glass fibre Glass fibre

AW106 AW106 AW106 AW106 AW106 AW106 AW106 AW106 AW106

- SiO 2 SiO 2 SiO 2 SiO 2

Al 2 O 3 Al 2 O 3 Al 2 O 3 Al 2 O 3

Table 3. Results of the tensile test.

Composite

Nano particle added

Percentage of nanoparticles (%)

Tensile strength (MPa)

- Al 2 O 3 Al 2 O 3 Al 2 O 3 Al 2 O 3

Composite 1 Composite 2 Composite 3 Composite 4 Composite 5 Composite 6 Composite 7 Composite 8 Composite 9

- 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

62.53 105.7 97.39 92.56 62.70 59.25 67.51 62.28 61.57

SiO 2 SiO 2 SiO 2 SiO 2

Table 4. Result of the fatigue test.

Composite

Nano particle added

Percentage of nanoparticles (%)

Number of cycles

- Al 2 O 3 Al 2 O 3 Al 2 O 3 Al 2 O 3

Composite 1 Composite 2 Composite 3 Composite 4 Composite 5 Composite 6 Composite 7 Composite 8 Composite 9

- 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

273 963.4 947.2 865.4 819.1

SiO 2 SiO 2 SiO 2 SiO 2

160 287 251 190

The blade is the most important part of a wind turbine blade and at most care is required while selecting the material for the same. In this work, SiO 2 and Al 2 O 3 nanocomposites with varying percentages of nanoparticles fabricated and tested to check their feasibility in wind turbine blade construction. According to the results obtained, nanocomposite with 1% Al 2 O 3 is found to be the best one. It holds the highest tensile strength, fatigue resistance, and optimum hardness.