Change Epoxy traits – fill materials

[Slowmo]

Change Epoxy traits – fill materials

There are a few additional materials that are sold almost everywhere.

But... if I remember right there is a flood of substances that can be used to alter the characteristics of matrix polymers.

Do you know of any, not so common that are usefull?

[hoytedow]

http://www.acp-composites.com/acp-efm.htm

[Hunter25]

There are a lot of modifiers you can use. Is there something specific you want to do?

[hoytedow]

slowmo hasn't posted in years. My post was for the benefit of any others who might have the same question.

[Herman]

A lot is possible. Make sure the filler does not contain high water levels.

-Cotton flock
-Aerosil (fumed silica)
-White microballoons
-Red microballoons
-Stewathix (Aerosil replacement, MUCH lower dust and health effect)

All from: http://www.cesense.nl/webshop/index.php?cPath=2_27

But also possible:

-aluminium powder or flake
-lead powder
-copper powder
-iron powder
-graphite
-sand
-talcum
-wood flour
-small stones (epoxy granite, composite worktops)

And even maizena (steal this from the kitchen)

[dacarls]

How about air?
There is a French-produced epoxy foam not available in the USA????

[mark775]

Herman, I am curious about the Stewathix. I found it on another site (I couldn't well read yours) and it looks like it has fibers. Does a thixotropic resin putty made with this go on very smoothly?

[souljour2000]

Maizena....is that the stuff the Mexicans make tortillas with? I got a good mexican grocery here...I think I bought some of that stuff once and tried to make tortillas but it ain't like normal flour...

[guest03062010]

maizena is purified starch thats why you cant use it as flour, as filler for eopxy that is u can use almost anything dry to mix with it expept any weird plastics like teflon and some other types that really doesnt stick to it, just imagine yourself using hot pepper powder as filler, just as someone else wrote.
but there are some preferred more thn others and used with experience. so go with the known types rather unknown so u know how the outcome will be with choosen filler.

p.s. you can also go to your local hobby shop michael's or home depot for any fiber or particle just use you imagination, make 5mm rods with different types of additive and then break(bending) those with known weights and you will see wich one is stronger than other u could also test with push(crush) and pull(stretch), push is easier to do and u will see when material breaks down pulling apart is also possible but trickier to do with normal house hold appliances or tools.

/mike

[souljour2000]

hmm..maybe not the stuff I was thinking of then..but probably similar..it's very starchy...probably dries quite fast...like super-fast if I recall...just was hard to flatten without breaking it was so "slicky starchy"...this stuff was...you could maybe do fillets with it...maybe I'll get some and try it on the dinghy where I need some areas built up....anyone else have any cheap fillers that work besides the ones mentioned...teak sawdust maybe? I got lots of teak here...pulled it from a dumpster a while back...still to epoxy -slurping like most sawdust ?.

[Herman]

A lot to reply on:

Epoxy foam:

Sicomin is the company that you are referring to. They have a wide range of epoxy foam.
-density from 170 to 600 kg/m3 (divide by 16 to get lb/qft)
-for thick and for thin sections (fast and slow curing)
-for wet substrates
-warm curing or cold curing
-Tg up to 147 degrees C

Sicomin is a larger epoxy supplier in France. They have epoxy solutions for about anything, and their resins are top both in terms of handling (toxicity, or lack of that) and quality.

It took me 10 years or so to get their dealership for NL.

----
maizena: Indeed tacos!
The story:
One of my customers was installing a router in Switserland. They were parked in a very old hotel (17th century) and the toilets were halfway up some very old stairs. Their room was next to the stairs, so when some guest went up the stairs to use the toilet (middle of the night) the squeeking noise that the stairs made, woke them up every time.
They decided the cracks in the stairs needed filling, so they went to the car, took epoxy, but they did not have any filler. They sneaked into the kitched, and found maizena. In the middle of the night they filled the cracks and made fillets where needed.
Next night the stairs were silent...

---
Stewathix
It is slightly fibrous. It does not make the nice and smooth fillets like Aerosil, just slightly courser, but it contains no silica, which can cause health problems. And there are not clouds of silica dust.

[souljour2000]

Muy interesante....good post Herman!

[dacarls]

Thank you Herman from NL
Do you ship overseas to US?
I tried Sicomin/FR and they blew me off, explaining one can isn't worth the importation problem/cost of fooling with.

Is it any better from NL? I looked at your website but it switches back to Dutch before details come up.
Otherwise I have to try to import small amounts from Australia.

What is an estimate of 1 shipment to USA of: your smallest amount of 170kg/m3 slow epoxy foam: about 1kg epoxy/ 0.6kg hardener?

Apparently We cannot buy Sicomin anywhere in the USA, do not know about Canada???

[mark775]

An epoxy foam (expanding?) that adheres to wet substrate would be in my emergency supplies! Thanks, Herman

[Herman]

@ mark: expanding, yes. expect an increase in volume of 400%

@ dave: I will try and find out. Shipping hazardous goods by air is a complete nightmare. Sicomin is right about that. I will see what I can do.

Smallest size is 0,95 kgs or approx 2 lbs, by the way. Get back to you soon.

The www.Cesense.nl website is in Dutch. www.brandscomposiet.nl is bi-lingual, but Sicomin is not on it yet. However, at www.sicomin.fr you should at least find some info. Or drop me a mail:

hbrouwerjr at brandscomposiet dot nl

[guest03062010]

i mean there are boatbuilders in us as well that use similar or same products, are there no boat builders u can check with instead of importing chemicals into us as i dont know regulations about that i know sweden has some rules so u cant import some things without checking rules first and checking with chemical inspection wich is a part of the state if chemical is legal to import or not. and from experience they can chenge the name of it only to confuse the customer even more even thought it might be the same or very similar product, you got 3M and du pont which are very big chemical corporation, i bet u can find that product in us cant be a big place like that not having what youre looking for.

/mike