vacuum resin infusion - flow media

Discussion in 'Fiberglass and Composite Boat Building' started by mcollins07, Mar 5, 2009.

  1. mcollins07
    Joined: Jan 2006
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    Location: Texas

    mcollins07 Senior Member

    I am looking for a US source of flow media to be used in vacuum resin infusion. This media is external to the laminate, outside the peel ply or perforated film and not to be integrated into the core. I would like the material to be compatible with both epoxy and polyester resins. The material used in the past was an orange colored plastic mesh. I am not certain but I believe the material was a soft nylon with the short dimension of the diamond mesh about 0.5 cm and the long dimension about 1.0 cm. The guy in Houston who found the material said it was used in industrial water filters … probably made by 3M, Dow or some large chemical company. I’d like to find a reliable low cost source or supplier of flow media material for multiple and various size projects.

    Also, interested in hearing about the flow rates others have observed with various dimensions and shapes of mesh flow media.
     
  2. 13AL
    Joined: Oct 2008
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    Location: Sunny California

    13AL Junior Member

    Check out the thread on vacuum pump size. A few guys were using shade cloth from Home Depot or Lowe's with some good results.
     
  3. jim lee
    Joined: Feb 2007
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    Location: Anacortes, WA

    jim lee Senior Member

    try..

    Composites one [ Phone:1 (800) 283-0809 ] Ask for PN 536598 41" roll cost of.. lesse'.. $210 bucks a roll. Don't remember how much is in the roll.

    Its a plastic mesh, looks like cyclone fence for legos.

    You put it over the peelply. If you forget the peel ply, it becomes part of your part. :)

    -jim lee
     
    Last edited: Mar 5, 2009
  4. ahender
    Joined: Jan 2009
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    Location: Athens, GA USA

    ahender Junior Member

    Delstar Technologies -- Naltex (100 yards about $2.11 per yard direct from company)

    Colbond, Inc. -- Enkafusion (84 yards at $4.76 per yard at Fibreglast)

    Airtech International -- Resinflow 75 (100 yards about $2.50 per yard at Fiberglass Supply)

    I have not tried any of the above products.

    I just bought some $.99 per yard mesh fabric at Hancock Fabrics I will be testing later on.

    alan
     
  5. mcollins07
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    mcollins07 Senior Member

    13AL,
    I’ve read about the 30% Shade cloth material from Lowe’s being used. And went to Lowe’s in Lindale Texas and found a Sun Screen Fabric from a company called Easy Gardener of Waco Texas. The material would probably work somewhat, but it is not what I am looking for. Although I have not tested this material, it does NOT appear to have the flow through of the diamond shaped plastic mesh material. Their website says the material is a polypropylene and will withstand 160 degrees C. I found no reference to the coverage, such as 30%.
     
  6. mcollins07
    Joined: Jan 2006
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    Location: Texas

    mcollins07 Senior Member

    Jim & Alan,
    Thanks for the contact information. I've called Composite One and they are sending some info. I'll follow up on these other suppliers also and let you know what I find.


    Michael
     
  7. AndrewK
    Joined: Mar 2007
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    Location: Australia

    AndrewK Senior Member

    For me 30% shade cloth worked out most economical, 1/3 the cost of infusion mesh but the cost differential for you in the states may not be as great.
    Delstar has at least 6 different grades, if you contact them they will mail out small samples to you. The faster the media the more resin it will waste.
    Main difference between shade cloth and diamond patterned mesh is that shade cloth mostly feed along the knitted lines and not sideways where as mesh will feed in all directions, for me this has not been an issue.
    I suggest you trial both and decide, there are advantages and disadvantages with both.
    Shade cloth should conform better to very compound shapes and comes in 1.8 & 3.2m wide rolls.
    Have a read through the various infusion and vacuum pump threads, I think I posted some flow rates and resin consumption numbers.

    Andrew
     
    1 person likes this.
  8. JRL
    Joined: May 2007
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    Location: Palm Beach Gardens, FL

    JRL Im with stupid

    Mcollins07: Sounds like you used Airtech's Resinflow 60. Its orange and patterned like you described.

    There is also Airtech's Resinflow 75 that is green and moves a little faster (twice as fast supposedly) than the Resinflow 60.

    The fastest Ive heard of is Enka Fushion. Its also the most expensive, and not worth it IMO.
     
  9. jim lee
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    Location: Anacortes, WA

    jim lee Senior Member

    I don't like the Enkafuse stuff. We find that it holds a large blob of resin to the part causing way too much heat and print through. Looking at the gelcoat we can see exactly where the Enkafuse was run on the back of the part.

    We have a whole roll of it here. Anyone in the PNW want some?

    -jim lee
     
  10. KnottyBuoyz
    Joined: Jul 2006
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    KnottyBuoyz Provocateur & Raconteur

    I'd like to try some Jim.

    I'll pay the shipping to Ogdensburg NY 13669
     
  11. ahender
    Joined: Jan 2009
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    Location: Athens, GA USA

    ahender Junior Member

    Jim:

    What resin flow media do you like best?

    alan
     
  12. jim lee
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    Location: Anacortes, WA

    jim lee Senior Member

    We use the green stuff that looks like Lego cyclone fence with the feed lines. We actually sew the feed line into the stuff and leave a double tail for it to sit on..

    Wow this is hard to explain in text... Take a two foot wide strip of the plastic mesh and wrap it over 1/2" plastic spiral tube. Then sew it on.. This gives you about a one foot wide foot of mesh that goes on the part, on top of peel ply, with about a six inch riser to keep the tube, and its heat, off the part.

    Mostly we only use this to feed the resin into areas of core and rely on the core as the main flow medium. We don't trust the mesh over the core 'cause we fear it may give a false reading on how things are flowing.

    Knotty boys, post your address and I'll send you a sample box, cheap USPS, to try out.

    -jim lee
     
  13. rehanmerchant
    Joined: Dec 2009
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    Location: Mumbai, India

    rehanmerchant New Member

    Try Soric by www.lantor.nl

    http://www.lantor.nl/index.php/id_structuur/10599/soric.html

    See how Rocat uses it to create their cat pontoons
    http://www.rocat.co.uk

    There are 2 images I have attached from Rocats website
    1 shows you soric beign infused and the other shows the 3 layers
    1 soric and 2 biaxial fiberglass fabric

    Also visit the link below and scroll down the left navigator to see how they use soric in vacuum infusion

    http://www.rocat.co.uk/galleries/development.htm

    Here are some of the flow medias I have tested succesfully
    1. Burlap or jute
    2. Mousquito net
    3. Garden mesh - Green Color

    Now I am using soric as it is a very professional flow media.

    Some other sources for combination flow media.
    1. Search for coremat on google
    2. Comflex and Breatex at:
    http://www.fibertex.com/en-GB/business-areas/Composites/Pages/Composites.aspx
    3. Diabgroup.com
    4. Nidacore
     

    Attached Files:

  14. yimannuer
    Joined: May 2011
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    Location: china

    yimannuer New Member

    We are a factory named SANNO PLASTIC&WIRE MESH CO.,LIMITED-CHINA for making resin flow netting, you can visit our website following to get more infomations.
    http://www.plastic-nets.com/artsingle-en_23.html
    We supply our infusion netting to a lot of companies with cheaper price and higher quality.
    Now we have two kinds of resin flow netting, one is 100g/sqm and price is US$0.50 /sqm fob tianjin port china ; the other one is 230g/sqm and its price is US$0.92 /sqm fob tianjin port china.
    SIZE DETAILS:
    1) 100g/sqm roll size= 1.2m x 100m
    2) 230g/sqm roll size= 1.2m x 50m

    If you want to get more info, so please send us a email by sales@plastic-nets.com then we will reply to you soon.
     

  15. sean mastro
    Joined: Dec 2012
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    Location: U.S.

    sean mastro New Member

    Infusion Flow Medium final layer, or Interlaminar

    Polynova composites materials has two products that are designed for resin infusion method, they offer Hiflux 90 and Polybeam, which is a three dimensional infusion flow reinforcement fabric. I believe, one of these materials can be used inter-lamina. Polynova has technical staff to help you further with your specific application. This material is great, it can get you to optimum low resin to material ratios that end result in stronger built parts.
     
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