Ahlstrom-Munksjö has introduced HighFlow, an innovative fabric which optimizes resin infusion permeability, helping designers and manufacturers deliver better, lighweight turbine blades.
As blades become larger and laminates thicker, the infusion process becomes critical. Ahlstrom-Munksjö HighFlow is the solution.
”We are very pleased to introduce Ahlstrom-Munksjö HighFlow to the wind energy industry today” states Pekka Helynranta, vice president, Building and Wind. “As blades are getting longer and laminates thicker, resin infusibility is becoming more critical; Highflow Wind Energy delivers unrivalled resin infusion, minimizes air voids and reduces total cost of ownership by up to 15%. We believe that this new fabric will become the product of choice as trend towards longer blades and thicker laminates further develops in this industry."
HighFlow Wind Energy is the first product launch from the HighFlow platform, a range of high performance reinforcement fabrics designed to deliver unrivalled performance for lightweight composite materials.
“We now have the expertise to develop reinforcement fabrics with customized infusion speeds, without limitation of fabric construction or weight. This opens up clear opportunities in wind energy but also in other composite applications where improved and tailor made resin infusibility constitutes a clear benefit. We are already exploring applications outside of wind energy and are planning to launch Highflow products to other markets shortly,” concludes Pekka.
The HighFlow Wind Energy product range consists at this point of several unidirectional and biaxial reinforcement fabrics with various infusion speeds for wind turbine blade manufacturing. They are currently available in E and High Modulus glassfiber versions and will be available in carbon version very shortly.