EC! Laminate Sample #5:
- Reinforcement: 12oz (EBX400) biaxial e-glass, 6oz (200g)carbon unidirectional
- Resin: Totalboat 5:1 Epoxy
- Core: 1/2″ Corecell M80 w/perf holes
Total weight: 9.375 oz (266g) per square foot. Approx 2.86kg per square meter.
Thickness 0.55in / 14mm.
Video:
Laminate Schedule:
Things to Improve:
Doing this again, it would be important to make a few changes to get a better result. The overall resin content is too low, resulting in visibly “dry” glass and a poor surface finish. Here are some changes to make for better results:
- Using no infusion mesh would result in much less “bleed” – this would be good.
- Reducing the vacuum to 15 inHg or so would still give adequate compaction while reducing bleed.
- Rolling the surface ply with a “bubble popper” or “wet-out roller” would help remove air and give a resin-rich surface.
- Alternately for a cosmetic part, an “in-mold” primer or skin coat could really help by making a cosmetic surface separate from the structural reinforcement.
- Using more resin when wetting out the glass would help too.
- Using a thickened “putty” for core bedding would be a good idea, especially in cases where contour-cut core is used.
I will re-visit this bagged wet-layup in future laminate samples, because it is an excellent choice for one-off high performance parts, especially when you are trying to make-do with cheap tooling! I really tried to make the “over-bleeding” obvious here because it is one of the most common mistakes with bagged wet-laid parts.
You can do this process is separate steps for more complex parts – curing off first the outside skin, then the core fitting and bonding, and then the top skin after the core has been carefully detailed. This gives much more control and better results at each step, but it much more work!