Not a dumb question, I’m assuming it’s been treated with flame-retardant chemicals, but I’m surprised that it’s fireproof-ness wasn’t addressed in the article.
Since they are the tallest thing around, wind turbine blades get struck by lightning regularly.
Fiberglas is an insulator. Aluminum is a good conductor. But carbon fiber is a resistor. Carbon fiber blades have to have embedded conductors to prevent from being blown up by lightning strikes. So there's a layer of aluminum foil or similar to provide a low-resistance discharge path.
Same problem as carbon-fiber aircraft, with similar solutions.
Animats|2 years ago
Same problem as carbon-fiber aircraft, with similar solutions.