Vacuum Infusion Process

Hi guys,
I need info.from someone that allready did this.
If you can help me about all material that i need for do vacuum infusion by it name for epoxy resin and polyester resin.
I mean what c
kind of materials i have to use for that two resins?
which of them come first,second third....
how long i have to keep vacuum pump On after i am finish with job? until tomorow? Couple of hours?
Please advice!!!!!!
thank you for your futur answer!!!!!
best regards
Roko

 

Why not try and do a practical at a yard that already does these kind of things.

also try and contact www.polyworx.com. This guy makes prediction software for resin infusion, and he might be able to help you as well.

Some simple answers:

Resin: low viscosity resin with long open time (whether epoxy or polyester)
The vacuum pump should at least be running untill all resin has gelled to such a stat that cutting the vacuum will not spoil the laminate (compressed fiberglass will not come back into its thicker shape). How long this is is very dependent on the resin.

 

Vinyl ester resin can also be used for vacuum infusion. It is better than polyester and not as expensive as epoxy. Definitely leave the vacuum on at least until the resin is gelled or until it is completely hardened if possible.

 

You can use pretty much any resin. Fibres with some space between the fibre bundles work best to distribute the resin. Unidirectional fibres are therefore not so good. You can also use a cheap porous cloth on top of the peel ply to better distibute the resin. Here in Australia shade cloth works well but you might have trouble getting it in Norway. There are special cores with grooves as well to help the resin flow. If you use cut cores expect a slightly heavier laminate because all the cuts will be filled with resin which is very good for strength.
Reduce the vacuum so that no resin is sucked out of the bag once the laminate is wetted out. If you keep pumping you could end up with a very dry laminate and no vacuum is obviously not good either.

 

Check http://www.boatdesign.net/forums/showthread.php?t=7357 a thread from a month ago on this.

Infusion is a lot harder than plain vacuum bagging. It's also a lot more sensitive to leaks. Can use most resin types and most fabrics with proper procedures, which aren't easy. You need resin traps and a system to feed captured resin back into the laminate. If you haven't done it before you need to at least see it done professionally before trying. Much easier to do a conventional layup and vacuum-bag with a breather cloth if you're new to this. And ANY loss of vacuum in infusion, at ANY point before the resin is fully gelled, will wreck the entire part.

 

I have done many resin infusions at the shop where I work and we have repaired dry areas that occurred as a result of a leak or difficult geometry in the part. You can either reinfuse these areas after the part is fully cured OR apply extra vacuum to the dry spot if you can get to it before the resin has gelled. However, if a gigantic rip in the bag occurs you pretty much are out of luck. If you want specific instructions on how to do this, email me separately and I will tell you.

There are infusion-specific glass reinforcements that you can buy. The kind we use are made by Vectorply Corporation (www.vectorply.com). One has continuous filament mat (CFM) stitched to one side of the roving (i.e. E-QXCFM 4715- 47 oz quad with 1.5 oz/sq.ft CFM, or E-TTXCFM 2315- 23 oz triax with 1.5 oz CFM). The CFM helps flow tremendously. The other kind we use has built in channels between the roving bundles (i.e E-2LTi 3600... two layers of a 0/90 fabric so it has 2 layers total in the 0 direction and 2 layers in the transverse [90] direction). We have had a print through problem with these fabrics but once we started using a thicker skin coat the print through wasn't a problem. The materials with CFM haven't caused any print through problems. I believe you can get Vectorply in the Norway. Just look on the website or give their customer service an email to find out pricing, etc.

All said... infusion definitely is challenging. We hired a subcontracter to teach us how to do it properly and he has been a HUGE key to our success. So the more opportunities you can get to see it for yourself before trying your own part, the better.