Wind Turbine Blade Coatings: New Advances, Application and Challenges

Dear Colleagues,

Wind energy has become one of the most promising technologies due to being a sustainable energy supply in the world.  Wind power generation capacity has shown a constant growth over recent years and  shows a maturity trends towards larger wind turbines with longer blades. Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) composite materials are used in the design and manufacture of wind turbine blades due mainly to the versatility offered in the structural optimization and material performance enhancement. However, composite materials perform poorly under transverse impact (rain droplets, hail, and solid particles) and also are sensitive to environmental factors. Wind turbine blade manufacturers employ surface coatings to protect the composite structure from exposure to these concerns. Furthermore, the increasing rotor diameters have posed a dramatic problem regarding blade durability.  Protection against possible surface damage of coated blade composites is a multifaceted problem since it combines, among others, the consideration of environmental degradation of materials, operational loading rate effects, impact fatigue loading, fluid-structure interaction, interaction of solid particles on deformable materials, erosion and progressive damage modelling, life cycle prediction, coating application methods in the factory and in field repairs, and reliable coating experimentation and validation methods. The complexity of the problem requires a significant research effort to comprehensively tackle the challenge of developing appropriate coatings materials and solutions for the wind industry.

About the Topics of Interest:

In particular, the topics of interest include but are not limited to

• Coating aging and environmental degradation factors.
• Coating damage mechanics, modelling and lifetime prediction.
• Coating micro and nano-structure and fundamental properties based innovations.
• Coatings recyclability and bio-based materials.
• Coatings as a multilayer system. Interface/interphase chemical and mechanical interactions and compatibility.
• Coating application process and wind blade manufacturing/repairing issues.
• Coatings characterization and testing reliability.

Dr. Fernando Sanchez Lopez
Guest Editor

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