Graphene Oxide - Epoxy Resin Nanocomposites: A Potential Candidate for Improving Lightning Protection Systems of Wind Turbine CFRP Sparcaps

Wind energy is one of the fastest-growing sources of electricity worldwide. The emergence of upscaling on the WT size results in research and development on new materials, especially for the WT blades, that will also fulfil the LP requirements. In the present work, graphene oxide (GO) will be utilised as a nanofiller for epoxy resin systems used as binding polymers or adhesives for CFRP components. The main objective of this study is to increase the conductivity of the epoxy resin system without compromising the mechanical and thermal properties. For this purpose, different filler loads of GO were incorporated in epoxy resin matrix in order to achieve increased electrical conductivity. It was found that at 2 % wt filler content of GO the sample exhibits higher conductivity, strongly dependent on the applied electric field. Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) was used to examine the structure of the nanocomposite system as well as the dispersion level achieved. The Differential Scanning Calorimentry (DSC) showed no apparent alterations of the Tg of the attained nanocomposite samples. The Young’s modulus and tensile strength of the examined samples showed a variation with the filler content without being decreased. The viscometric analysis showed a slight increase of the viscosity as the filler content increases.