how are molds effected during the oven curing process? im asking because in any tutorial i see molds are left to cure in room temps when being made, but the product being made from the mold could be oven cured cured.

cool. im hoping to go with resoltech resins as they appear to offer the highest temps (from a 2min google search )

 I assume from that and your other posts you are going pre-preg. You must have some wealthy customers if they can afford a pre-preg bonnet.

Carbon Copies Ltd

Uni-mould systems are mostly made to be postcured properly with very less deformation. 

As said already, if you wnt to post cure a part at 120deg then you need a mould that can withstand that temp i.e. been post cured so the mould Tg is higher than the part post cure temp.

Before you go spunking all that money on high to very high temp resins for the mould and part, get a temp guage under the bonnet in a few places and drive around, leave the car ticking over with the bonnet closed etc and actually measure the temperatures the part will be subjected to. I think you will be suprised how low they are unless you have the exhaust or turbo running 2mm from the bonnet I doubt you'll see anything over 70odd degrees. Polyester resins have been used in kit cars for years as bonnets, ducting etc in the engine bay and they don't normally have a problem. Sometimes you can get a faint distorsion in the pannel where the ribs are but thats polyester with CSM typically.

Even if you do see higher than that good heat management within the engine bay should reduce it siginficantly.

it's economy of scale and level of risk.

Why spend 10-15% more on resin that HAS to be cured at a higher temp to reach certain properties, then you have to run the oven hotter and longer than a lower temp resin so you may have a 100deg Tg resin cured for 8hrs at 90 with steps to reach that temp so you're looking at 12-14hr cure time + cool down rather than a higher temp that may need 50deg for 3hrs, 90deg for 4hrs, 120deg (or higher) for 4hrs etc so you're adding another 3-4hrs to the cure time with an extra 4+hrs electric. If you're under time pressure then you loose that time for the next part

The finished product will be more difficult to work, the resin will be harder, more tool wear, more chance of burn out, higher wear on the oven etc... the higher temperature the cure, the more controlled the ramp rate needs to be to prevent uncontrolled exotherm and increased risk of fire and destroying the part, mould and oven. Not to mention higher temperature consumables i.e. bagging tape, vac bag, release film and depending on the release agent, a more expensive and specialised release agent. If you intend to infuse then you won't be able to use PVC or even PTFE infusion hose. You may even have to infuse and cure at a lower temp then remove the low temp elements, re-bag and post cure to the final temp so again adding more cost and time to each project.

That's why you need to know the operating temp of the part.

going with 360composites resoltech resins. ds-1800 epoxy resin and their ds7090 gelcoat. great pricing, great support, no question left unanswered. #recommend