Complex engineering challenges are revealed in the wind industry; one of them is erosion at the leading edge of wind turbine blades. Water jet erosive wear tests on carbon-fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) and glass-fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) were performed in order to determine their resistance at the conditions tested. Vacuum Infusion Process (VIP) was used to obtain the composite materials. Eight layers of bidirectional carbon fabric (0/90°) and nine glass layers of bidirectional glass cloth were used to manufacture the plates. A water injection platform was utilized. The liquid was projected with a pressure of 150 bar on the surface of the specimens through a nozzle. The samples were located at 65 mm from the nozzle at an impact angle of 75°, with an exposure time of 10, 20 and 30 min. SEM and optical microscopy were used to observe the damage on surfaces. A 3D optical profilometer helped to determine the roughness and see the scar profiles. The results showed that the volume loss for glass fiber and carbon fiber were 10 and 19 mm³, respectively. This means that the resistance to water jet erosion in uncoated glass fiber was approximately two times lower than uncoated carbon fiber.

This study presents the effect caused by the saline environment (artificial seawater) on the physical and tribological properties of laminated composite materials reinforced with aramid fibers when they are subjected to erosive wear by sand particles. Composite materials made by epoxy resin and reinforced with glass fiber, carbon fiber and hybrid fiber (aramid with carbon) were studied. The laminates were superficially reinforced with layers of Kevlar fiber and prepared by the vacuum-assisted resin infusion process. The samples were subjected to a seawater accelerated aging process at 70°C for 1122 h. To reproduce erosive wear conditions of marine structural components, sea sand was used as solid particle under conditions of 4.5 bar of pressure, impact speed of 4.7 m/s and impact angle of 90°. The results showed that aged materials absorb more impact energy with respect to unaged counterparts, causing less material loss and a less depth in the wear track. The information generated by this research work may serve for the design and durability analysis of marine structures such as tidal turbine blades.

In this research work, temperature erosion wear tests, on composites materials (carbon fiber and glass fiber), were carried out. The tests were made on uncoated and coated materials using a polyester resin (Gelcoat), which is used to protect the leading edge of wind turbine blades against the weather and UV rays and is of interest, in this study, to know the behaviour of this coating subjected to hard particles erosion. The tests were performed at 50 °C, in order to simulate de extreme temperature in the coast of Oaxaca, Mexico, where some wind turbines are installed using blades made of fiberglass coated with gelcoat. Erosion tests were performed in a platform that was developed from the ASTM G76 standard. The rectangular samples had 25 × 18 mm and thickness of 4 mm. Sea sand from coast of Oaxaca was utilized as erosive particle. Three different impact angles were used 75°, 85° and 90°. The particle velocity was adjusted at 12 m s⁻¹. To determine the mass loss, the samples were weighed before the test and reweighed every 2 min to measure the amount of mass loss until complete the 6 min of the test. In order to identify the wear mechanisms, Scanning Electron Microscopy was used. The average roughness (Ra) and profiles of the samples tested were determined with a 3D optical profilometer. The results showed that Carbon fiber composite material had 3 times more resistance to erosive wear than fiberglass.

This study reports the tribological performance of a family of PMMA/SiO2 hybrid coatings with graphene oxide applied on composite laminate substrates. The transformation from graphite to graphene oxide was carried out using a high-energy mill for 90 minutes. The composite laminates of epoxy resin matrix and layers of bidirectional carbon fiber were obtained through the vacuum infusion process. The coatings were applied on the composite laminates using the dip-coating method. To disperse the graphene oxide in the hybrid solutions, an ultrasonic bath (40 kHz) was used during the immersion of the substrate. Tribological tests of erosive wear by solid particle impact (beach sand) were performed on a horizontal erosion test platform under conditions of pressure of 45 psi, impact velocity of 6 m/s, distance between nozzle and specimen of 10 mm and impact angle of 90°. The results showed that coatings with graphene oxide increase their protection against erosion by 50 (9-PMMA/1-SiO2-2GO) to 54% (9-PMMA/1-SiO2-1GO) more than the coating without graphene oxide. The results obtained could be considered for using this type of coating as an alternative protection on the leading edge of wind turbine blades that are exposed to conditions of erosion wear by solid particle impact.

The use of biodegradable materials in all types of applications has increased, benefiting from reduced environmental impact and increasing sustainable development. This work presents the mechanical comparison between a henequen—epoxidized vegetal oil (EVO) bio-composite and a henequen—synthetic epoxy composite. Tensile (ASTM D3039), flexural (ASTM D7264 ), and low-energy impact (ASTM D7136) tests were carried out to infer the mechanical properties. For the production of laminates a two layers of henequen plain weave were used. On one part, for EVO, the Vacuum Assisted Resin Infusion was used. On the other hand, RTM was used for bio-synthetic composites with EPOLAM 2015 resin. For both processes, a 24-h curing reaction at 25 °C is carried out to obtain laminates of 300 mm × 300 mm × 3 mm thickness. Biocomposite and bio-synthetic composite show a flexural modulus of 5.7 GPa and 5.65 GPa, and 88 and 89 MPa of flexural strength, respectively. However, the nature of the resin greatly influenced the tensile and impact properties. Even, when biocomposite and synthetic composite showed a similar elasticity modulus, around 6.3 GPa, the difference can be appreciated for the ultimate tensile strength, showing 72 MPa and 60 MPa, respectively. Positive results were found on the low-energy impact test, where the maximum absorption occurred at 5J, exhibiting 124 kJ m⁻¹ for the bio-composite and 104 kJ m⁻² for the bio-synthetic composite. Scanning Electron Microscopy shows a visible separation of the fiber-matrix interface as well as fiber pull-out and fiber breakage as dominant failure mechanisms. With these results, bio-composites based on henequen fiber can be an alternative material for structural applications.