Hi all

Can the EC high-temp laminating epoxy, with appropriate thickening additives, be used as a substitute for the Unimould tooling gelcoat in making moulds for out of autoclave pre-pregs?

Any obvious problems with this approach and, if so, what are the appropriate alternative products to use in lieu of the Unimould range? I realise that tooling cost would be greater for one

Thank you

Unfortunately the surface finish will not be good enough for a tooling gelcoat.  It is a fine balance between temperature stability, hard wearing and a gloss finish which is hard to get right.  We are trying to source a high temperature tooling system but as yet have not found a suitable product.

Warren Penalver
Easy Composites / Carbon Mods - Technical Support Assistant

worth a try I think ...

I personally have not had much luck with thickening "standard" resins with fumed silica. I always get lumpy uneven stuff out of it, but I have had some success with using graphite powder and West systems "High Density filler"
(I think this is some sort of milled glass fibres)  The resulting "resin" becomes very strong and easy to sand, but does not polish up .. The mould will have a dull finish.

I've built some "plug moulds" using graphite powder filled coating resin, they are very good, and when waxed they release better than any other mould I have made.

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Thanks for the input gents

Out of interest Warren, what tooling system do you guys use or is commonly used for moulds seeing the inside of an autoclave? Do you still use the Unimould products?

Cheers