Materials

A small scale wind power generator has several components consists of a rotor which has a hub with blades attached; a nacelle mainly contains a gearbox, a generator and other machinery; a tower and ground-mounted system. Each part is composed of different materials in a certain percentage. In general, a wide range of materials are applied on the wind turbines, and also there are various percentage of materials used on each component in current market. In this report, there is only a rough description on percentage of materials used in some main components

Components	Materials properties	Materials used
Rotor Blades	Strength and low weight  composites	GFRP (i.e. E-glass fibers, S-glass fibers ) or CFRP
Nacelle :   Gearbox	-	Steel
Generator	Permanent magnetic	Permanent magnetic materials, copper and steel
Frame and                       machinery	Light and corrosion preventive	Steel,  aluminium, copper and a little FRP
Tower	Reinforced and corrosion preventive	Steel or prestressed concrete

There are several basic requirements that the materials of wind turbine should satisfy.

a.    Low density

b.    High fatigue strength

c.    Another property that wind turbine should have is corrosion resistance, especially for off-shore wind turbine.

d.    Lower-cost and low maintenance costs for wind turbine.