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3120 |
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Wednesday, March 28, 2012, SuperC, Hall Ford 12:00 PM Materials 2 |
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High-strength steels joined with non-vacuum electron beam welding for tubular steel towers of wind turbines |
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Rudolf Konya* / Leibniz Universität Hannover
Institut für Werkstoffkunde, Deutschland Alexander Beniyash / Leibniz Universität Hannover / Institute of Materials Science, Germany Nils Murray/ Leibniz Universität Hannover / Institute of Materials Science, Germany Friedrich-Wilhelm Bach/ Leibniz Universität Hannover / Institute of Materials Science, Germany Thomas Hassel/ Leibniz Universität Hannover / Institute of Materials Science, Germany |
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The quota of renewable sources for energy production is to be increased until 2020 to 35% by government decision. The wind energy is a key technology to reach this aim. The success of wind energy is a result of continuous development. This is closely connected with the increase of plant unit sizes. The wall thickness of the tower construction is rising accordingly and leads to increasing costs for the joining technology. The rising number of weld passes for submerged arc welding (SAW) leads to rising process times as well as a greater heat input. The employment of Non-vacuum electron beam welding (NVEBW) can significantly reduce the number of passes and the heat input as will be shown in this contribution. A substantial aspect of the control of the welding process is the formation of solidification cracks. Formation mechanisms and solutions will be presented and experimentally backed up. An additional aim of current research is the overall reduction of the wall thickness of wind turbine towers applying high strength steels. Here it is of chief concern to preserve the advantages of the novel material especially in dynamic stress scenarios. |