Gurit reports that Airstream coated products address the fundamental problem of creating a very high quality, low void content laminate without the use of expensive automated equipment or a temperature controlled environment. With fast deposition rates and no requirement for intermediate de-bulking steps, glass and carbon prepreg technology is now readily accessible for all wind turbine blade manufacturers.
Gurit cites the main benefits of the new product as:
- excellent handling and mould conformance characteristics from 15 to 35°C;
- extremely low void content in any thickness without the need for cold lay-up or de-bulking;
- low exotherm resin matrix enabling low Tg infusion grade tooling;
- suitable for manual, automated and semi-automated lay-up;
- available for glass or carbon unidirectional SparPreg; and
- high mechanical performance.
“Airstream coating technology further reduces the barriers for using high performance prepreg as a component manufacturing technology and enables our customers to design new advanced blades with confidence that the required manufacturing solutions are available,” states Damian Bannister, Director Innovation Products and Solutions at Gurit.
WindPower 2012 took place in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, on 3-6 June.
