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BASF Coatings has revamped its line of wind energy coatings with a new brand, a new approach and new properties to meet today’s demands.
The longtime RELIUS industrial coatings line—for wind energy, aircraft, marine/yachts, heavy duty and general industrial coatings—has become RELEST.
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Images: BASF |
| The RELEST line consists of eight wind energy products, including a kit that includes everything needed for coating repair. |
The wind line consists of eight process coatings, sealers and topcoats. The flagship product is RELEST Wind High-Solid Topcoat, which is designed to provide fast drying, good UV and weathering resistance, and protection against rain erosion.
‘Innovatively Refined’
BASF says the products—part of its Industrial “Post Coatings” line—have been “innovatively refined” to deliver “new properties” and a “new orientation.”
The changes, in part, reflect global expansion of the wind energy segment, officials said.
For example, RELIUS has been used for coating rotor blades since the mid-1990s, but the market for much of that time was limited to northern Germany, said Dr. Achim Gast, director of Post-Coatings/Industrial Coatings Solutions.
Now, however, “the use of wind energy is booming worldwide,” said Gast. “RELIUS has been part of BASF since 2007 and can utilize its global network. We are now also providing international rotor blade manufacturers with paints—in North and South America as well as in China and India.”
The global spread of wind energy—including the trend toward offshore farms and plants—has meant a wider variety of exposures that demand higher-performing, more flexible coating systems.
Upgrading Performance
Changes in wind technology have also dictated changes in coating technology, says Anne Heimes-Scheller, Marketing Management, Industrial Coatings Solutions Europe.
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| The line has been reformulated for a variety of harsh exposures worldwide and today’s larger rotor blades. The finish consists of multi-layered polyurethane coats, with different erosion and UV resistance depending on requirements. |
For example, she says, “Rotor blades no longer measure 20 meters, but sometimes up to 70 meters. The speeds at the tips reach up to 300 kilometers per hour, which creates new demands in terms of erosion resistance.”
“And yet,” she adds, “they are supposed to last for 20 years. To meet these demands, we have improved the performance of the paints.”
The RELEST coatings are designed to be UV- and weather-resistant. “Rain erosion in particular is a challenge, considering today’s blade speeds,” said Heimes-Scheller.
The new coatings are also lighter and thinner than before, reducing weight for better performance and reducing drying time for faster turnaround, BASF says.
Finally, the line includes a new RELEST Wind RepKit, which contains everything needed to repair paint damage to blades, from abrasives to spray paint.
More information: www.windenergy.basf.com.
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