Where to source them, prices, uv and wear resistance, spec sheets, advantages/disadvantages, etc., etc.
Flexible kites are made using fabrics, while the solar balloon is made using plastic film.
The xf-film is a plastic (polyethylen multi-layers http://www.barrierbac.com/process.html) film, that is not good for kites (excepted pehaps for static kites) due to both low dimensional qualities and low (but high in regard to other plastic films) tear resistance, with perhaps an exception for not crosswind kites with low efficiency (L/D ratio) like parachutes. In the other hand its UV resistance is very high (I tested its lifetime outdoor for more than 3 years (I indicated 2 years by mistake)), far higher than fabrics and other plastic films.
Perhaps a suitable way for AWES allowing power kites (whose single skin wings) to scale more and last longer.
Dyneema sounds great for pure tensile kites.
I’m slightly concerned how slippy it is… Can deformation at load focus points affect porosity. What’s the initial porosity? I guess it can weld so… probably very good
The fabric made by blending Dyneema with carbon fibre provides good impact resistance and shatterproof capacity… that could improve aspects of more rigid carbon epoxy blades.
I think all AWES will have to plan for flexion
Compliant mech designs for the full structure deformations we’re looking for… are complex.
I’d suspect we’d see them first as linkages between blades and rims before becoming skeleton designs placed inside an epoxied rigid skin mould, injected with foam… sorta designs.
I suspect - Squirting material out for AWES can be very efficiently coordinated in factories.
Legacy planar weft and warp roll stock will not make the cut. Scaling the precisely-laid, fused-fibre fabrics of high end yachting seems to me more likely profitable from sheet designs.
That was a lot of supposing
