Polyurethane, polyester resin, carbon fiber and other new blade materials are constantly emerging, and the innovation process of fan blade materials is obviously accelerated. Recently, the blade manufacturer Zhuzhou Times New Materials Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Times New Materials”) and the material supplier Kostron announced that the 1000th polyurethane resin fan blade has been officially rolled off the assembly line, creating a precedent for batch production of polyurethane resin blades.

In recent years, China’s wind power industry is developing at a high speed. Lighter, bigger and more sustainable wind turbine blades have become the main development direction. Besides polyurethane resin, new blade materials such as polyester resin and carbon fiber are constantly emerging, and the innovation process of wind turbine blade materials has obviously accelerated.
The permeability of polyurethane blade is improved.
It is understood that under normal circumstances, fan blades are mainly composed of resin, reinforced fibers and core materials. At present, epoxy resin is the main resin used in the production process of fan blades. Considering the resin cost, manufacturing efficiency, recycling and other factors, fan blade manufacturers are actively seeking other solutions. Among them, compared with traditional epoxy resin materials, polyurethane resin materials have the advantages of easier curing and higher durability, and are regarded as a new generation of potential resin materials for fan blades by the industry.
“Polyurethane resin is a high-performance polymer material. On the one hand, the toughness and fatigue resistance of polyurethane resin are relatively good, meeting the requirements of fan blades; On the other hand, compared with epoxy resin, the cost of polyurethane resin also has certain advantages, and the cost performance is relatively higher. ” Feng Xuebin, R&D Director of New Materials Wind Power Products Division, said in an interview.
At the same time, Costron also pointed out in its product introduction that polyurethane resin fan blades have better mechanical properties, faster production speed, and have certain market competitiveness, and the penetration rate in the fan blade market has also started to increase.
Up to now, Times New Materials has manufactured various types of polyurethane resin fan blades, with lengths ranging from 59.5 meters to 94 meters. The blade design and layer structure are also different. Among them, the 94-meter blade can be applied to the fan with a single power of 8 megawatts. It is understood that polyurethane resin blades have entered the stage of commercial application and have been put into use in many wind farms across the country.
Material innovation of blade is obviously accelerated.
In fact, besides polyurethane resin, in recent years, other innovative researches on raw materials of fan blades at home and abroad are constantly emerging. The main products of Danish fan blade manufacturer LM are polyester resin and glass fiber. According to the company’s website information, after many times of design improvement and optimization, the company’s polyester resin fan blades have repeatedly set the world’s longest fan blade record.
More attention has been paid to carbon fiber as a new substitute for glass fiber. Under the requirement of lightweight fan blades, carbon fiber is favored by the industry for its high-strength material properties. Just this year, among the domestic manufacturers, the fans introduced by mainstream fan manufacturers such as Goldwind Technology, Yunda, Mingyang Intelligent, etc. all adopt blades with carbon fiber as reinforcing fiber.
Feng Xuebin told reporters that at present, the innovation and development of wind turbine blade materials are mainly concentrated in three directions. First, under the pressure of wind power parity, blade production has higher cost control requirements, so it is necessary to find blade materials with higher cost performance. Second, the blades need to further adapt to the wind power development environment. For example, the large-scale development of offshore wind power will promote the application of high-performance materials such as carbon fiber in the blade field. The third is to solve the environmental protection demands of blades. The recycling of composite materials of wind turbine blades has always been a difficult problem in the industry. For this reason, the industry is also seeking a recyclable and sustainable material system.
New materials or wind power cost reduction tools.
It is worth noting that a number of industry insiders told reporters that the wind turbine blade industry is facing great pressure of cost reduction in the current situation of rapid price decline of wind turbines. Therefore, the innovation of blade materials will become a great weapon to promote wind power cost reduction.
Cinda Securities, an industry research institute, pointed out in its research report that in the cost structure of wind turbine blades, the cost of raw materials accounts for 75% of the total production cost, while among the raw materials, the cost of reinforced fiber and resin matrix accounts for 21% and 33% respectively, which is the main part of the cost of raw materials for wind turbine blades. At the same time, people in the industry also told reporters that blades account for about 25% of the cost of fans, and the cost reduction of blade materials will greatly push down the manufacturing cost of fans.
Cinda further pointed out that under the trend of large-scale wind turbines, optimization of mechanical properties, light weight and cost reduction are the iterative trends of current wind turbine blade technology, and its realization path will be iterative optimization of wind turbine blade materials, manufacturing processes and blade structures, the most important of which is the iteration of the material side.
“For the parity target, the innovation of blade materials will drive the industry to reduce costs from the following three aspects. First, the cost of the blade material itself decreases; second, the lightweight blade will promote the reduction of the wind turbine load, thus reducing the manufacturing cost; third, the wind turbine blade needs higher performance materials to adapt to the trend of large-scale wind turbine, thus realizing the reduction of the power cost. ” Feng Xuebin said.
At the same time, Feng Xuebin also reminded that in recent years, the domestic wind power industry technology iteration has been rapid, which has rapidly promoted the development of the industry. However, in the process of development, the industry should pay more attention to the reliability of new technologies, reduce the application risks of new technologies, and promote the high-quality development of the whole industry.
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