Various Vinyl Ester Resins

[Holiday]

I am working on several fiberglass repairs and decided to give vinyl ester resin a try. My first supply of resin was green which appears to be correct and works well. For additional material I went a lower cost supplier. The resin supplied is pink (labeled as Areoguard 45). Does the color of the resin have anything to do with whether it is vinyl ester or typical polyester?

Does anyone have a favorite vinyl ester?

Randall

[ondarvr]

The color won't tell you much about a resin, they can be many different colors depending on how they're made, and some even have dye added.

[Jimbo1490]

I used to buy resin (both PE and VE) from a supplier that poured resin from his drum into customer-provided containers. Needless to say, he was the cheapest around. But there was one caveat with the VE resin. VE resin begins to gel on its own much sooner than PE; IOW it has a poor shelf life. But this is only true once it has a 'promoter' added. The promoter cobalt napthenate (CoNap) is what gives PE resin is blue/green color. The promoter reacts with a catalyst (MEK peroxide for CoNap) which cures the resin. Without the promoter, the resin won't harden no matter how much catalyst you add, so you need the promoter. But because of the shelf life issue, VE is packed into drums without the promoter so it will last longer; the end user is expected to add the promoter to the resin when it's known that it will all get used soon. Then when a batch is required for a job, you just mix in the catalyst and go.

The gist of all this is that you need to make sure with VE that you are getting resin with promoter already mixed in. My decanting guy didn't tell me (and I didn't know to ask ) so I got a big surprise. I do remember that the unpromoted resin was a peachy pink color that turned deep blue/green when the CoNap promoter was added later.

Jimbo

[ondarvr]

As Jimbo said, some VE's come promoted and some don't, and the color can be much different after the promoters are added, so make sure it's been pre-promoted, but just having a difference in color between two resins doesn't mean much. We make VE's that can be very dark and we also make low color VE's that are much cleaner looking for markets that need this type of product.

[Holiday]

Thanks for the info. Actually my pink resin seems to kick with no problem, but I used a little extra MEKP due to the cold weather.

Anyone have any favorite brands or suppliers of resin? In epxoies I have always used West or Interlux. My polyester resin repairs have always been small and above the waterline so I use Bondo brand or the stuff with a boat on it from Ace. This is my first below the waterline project with vinyl ester and there seems to be a real lack of specific info on the different resins available, so any brand specific info would be a great help.

[ondarvr]

There won't be much, if any, info on resin at the retail level, you'll find more info at a supplier that specializes in fiberglass, but even if they have their name on the container, they didn't make it. These companies buy resin from other distributors or from the manufacturer of the resin and then repackage it into smaller containers, the actual supplier may change frequently depending on price and availability. You may be able to tell if it's ORTHO, ISO, or VE, but the details will be much more difficult to come by. Sometimes they will tell you who manufactured it, so if you can also get the product code from that supplier you may be able to look up the data sheet online.

[carboncopy001]

favorite vinyl ester would be an 8084 vinyl, most vinyls are dark in color like coffee. They also will have a min of a 1 1/2 to 2% catyalizing rate. If you need to promote it you can get colbalt to promote it(handle this product with care). If you contact composite one or any of the companies they will help you to find the right resins. for laminating you may want to add some thix to vinyls so you elminate bleed out, now you can also get poly /vinyl blends also.

[bertho]

hello gentlemen, i have a question for specialist... did you experience already lamination with VE on a epoxy ??? like stripplanking epoxy, and lamination with VE ? any experience about that??
cheer's and thanks

[marshmat]

Some good points made above, by several contributors.

Thought I'd chime in with a quick reminder.... you probably know this already, but CoNap + MEKP = massive explosion. They have to be kept in separate rooms; the CoNap must be thoroughly mixed with the resin, then the CoNap container put away and any spills cleaned up, before the catalyst is brought out of its storage place. If the two touch, you probably won't be around long enough to notice what happened.

Bertho, I've heard of attempts to laminate with PE or VE overtop of epoxy, but I've never heard of any successes.