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Sand erosion may cause severe damage of blades in wind turbine and helicopter blades as well as many surface compo- nents of airplanes. In this study, thin nanopapers made of carbon nanofibers (CNFs) are used to enhance the resistance of solid parti- cle erosion of glass fiber (GF)/wind epoxy composites. Finite element computer simulations are used to elucidate the underlying mechanisms. The much higher particle erosion resistance of nanopapers compared to GF-reinforced epoxy composites is attributed to the high strength of CNFs and their nanoscale structure. The excellent performance in particle erosion resistance makes the CNF- based nanopaper a prospective protective coating material for the turbine blades in the wind energy industry. V C 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 000: 000-000, 2012

Polyaniline (PANI) “nanograss” was grown on carbon nanofibers (CNFs). The cure behavior of an epoxy resin with and without unmodified CNFs or PANI modified CNFs was studied by means of non-isothermal and isothermal differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). CNFs accelerated the reaction of epoxy and diamine. PANI surface modification further increased the reaction rate and the extent of reaction. An autocatalytic cure kinetic model was used to fit the reaction curves. It was found that activation energies of the epoxy reaction decreased in the presence of CNFs and PANI modified CNFs. The observed catalytic effect of CNF and PANI surface coating can be very useful for low temperature cure of large epoxy composite products. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2010