BASF offers epoxy resins for wind turbine blades

Tag : accelerator hardener

By Staff | June 16, 2008
BASF (Florham Park, N.J.) has launched an expanded offering of epoxyresin systems for fiber-reinforced composites developedspecifically for the production of wind turbine rotor blades.

To achieve higher efficiencies, the rotor blades of modern windturbines are becoming bigger and bigger. To fabricate rotors thatmay exceed 300 feet in length requires exceptionallyhigh-performing materials. Consequently polyester-based compositesare being replaced by highly resilient fiber-reinforced materialsthat use epoxy resins.

“BASF is bringing important innovation to the rapidlyevolving wind energy market,” said Jay Bhatia, industrymanager for epoxy and polyurea in the BASF Intermediates business in North America. “For example, ourlatest epoxy system with latent hardener offers a longer pot-lifecombined with shorter curing time, enabling blade producers toreduce cycle time significantly