Sustainable Composites Society has a strong focus on circular economy and sustainable solutions. The UN has defined 17 sustainability goals that society and companies must succeed in creating a better world. Carlos Barreto
carlos.barreto@norner.no
Katrin Nord-Varhaug
katrin.nord-varhaug@norner.no
It is important that all industries contribute to less waste, more reuse, and more sustainable solutions. This also applies to us who work with composites. When companies choose material solutions, composites will often represent a more sustainable solution than for example metal. In the aerospace and automotive industries, replacing metal with composites has resulted in significant weight reductions, which in turn contribute to lower fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. Choosing a composite can also make the product more durable and give it a longer lifespan than other materials. The downside is that these materials are challenging to reuse and recycle, especially composites made of thermosetting plastic. THERMOPLASTIC COMPOSITE SOLUTIONS CAN REPLACE TRADITIONAL THERMOSETTING COMPOSITES From 2013 - 2017, Norner participated in a large EU project, Walid (Wind blade using cost-efficient
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Advanced Lightweight Design), to develop new thermoplastic composite solutions in wind turbine blades. Traditional wind turbine blades are usually made of glass and carbon-reinforced thermosetting plastic, which is difficult to recycle. In this project, we developed and demonstrated, together with 10 other European companies and institutes, that it is entirely possible to use thermoplastic composites in components such as rotor, wind turbine tip (leading edge) and reinforcement inside the wind turbine wing (shear web). The advantages of replacing thermosetting plastic with thermoplastic are that it is easier to recycle, it is easier to repair damage and it gives a shorter cycle time during processing. Another benefit was weight reduction, which is especially important for offshore wind turbines, where the challenge is to make longer wind turbine wings that can produce more wind energy. In addition to developing
