I'm looking to make moulded cowlings for use in Automotive engine bays. This will be a reasonably clean environment, however the materials will have to withstand temperature in the range of 100-130 DegC. What material would you recommend for this type of application. 

Hi,

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you. For parts with an operating temperature of 100-130'C you don't have too many options really, option one would be composite marts laminated using a special high temperature epoxy resin (we have a system that can take 200'C) - you could use this resin in a wet-layup process, vacuum bagging or resin infusion (although it's not designed for infusion so allow a lot longer for it to infuse through).

Option 2 would be to make them using pre-preg carbon and ensure that you cure the parts at a high temperature in order to achieve the highest possible Tg. Curing our Vari-Preg Pre-Preg Carbon Fibre at 140'C should give you a Tg in excess of the 130'C operating temperature you quoted.

You'd need to ensure a good finish on your moulds because there arn't many clear pains (lacquers) that you can use at this temperature so the finish straight out of the mould will be important.

With either of these technlogies you'll need the ability to either cure (in the case of the pre-preg) or post-cure (in the case of the hgih temp epoxy system) at temperatures up to 140'C so please ensure you have that means available.

I hope this starts you off on the right path.

Best regards, Matt

Matt Statham
Easy Composites / Carbon Mods - Technical Sales