Wet Infusion or Prepreg?

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Wet Infusion or Prepreg?

Author	Message
Jason B	J Jason B posted 5 Years Ago HOT Post Details
J Group: Forum Members Posts: 3, Visits: 6	Those parts look good. With infusion the carbon is rarely straight as an arrow like your parts. That looks prepreg. Am I right? Edited 5 Years Ago by Jason B
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Hanaldo	Hanaldo posted 5 Years Ago HOT Post Details
Group: Forum Members Posts: 2.5K, Visits: 28K	You really shouldn't be able to tell the difference between an infused part and a prepreg part just by looking at them. Sometimes theres a couple of tells, but generally speaking - exactly the same visually. Certainly shouldn't have any issues keeping the weave straight with infusion.
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Jason B	J Jason B posted 5 Years Ago HOT Post Details
J Group: Forum Members Posts: 3, Visits: 6	On eBay I’ve seen many carbon parts where the pattern on carbon, whether going left or right isn’t straight as an arrow. I’d assume this would have to be infusion?
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MarkMK	MarkMK posted 5 Years Ago HOT Post Details
Group: Forum Members Posts: 338, Visits: 2K	Most likely wet-lay, as it's difficult to keep the weave pattern looking straight when applying resin by hand. There's no reason why the pattern shouldn't be completely straight when infusing. As Hanaldo said, assuming that infused parts haven't been made with an in-mould coating, the only obvious way of telling the difference between those and pre-preg parts would be to look at the 'B' side for evidence of the different release film/fabrics that are commonly used The OP's parts certainly seem to be pre-preg ones, judging by the appearance of the 'B' side
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Matthieu Libeert	Matthieu Libeert posted 5 Years Ago HOT Post Details
Group: Forum Members Posts: 955, Visits: 3.4K	Would say this is prepreg but this could be a "self made" prepreg as well. By this I mean they wetted out a piece of carbonfiber with resin and placed it in the mould, then bagged. If you want to be sure, put your part for 1h at around 100°C in an oven and see what happens, If it's not prepreg it will have a big impact on the finish and will be very flexible at those temperatures. If it's prepreg it will more or less stay the same but there is a small chance the clearcoat or topcoat will have some effect. That's how I would try to figure out if it's real prepreg or not, as I assume they won't be using a high temp resin if it's just bagged. Matthieu Libeert Founder MAT2 Composites X Sports website: www.mat2composites.com
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Hanaldo	Hanaldo posted 5 Years Ago HOT Post Details
Group: Forum Members Posts: 2.5K, Visits: 28K	+x Jason B - 1/5/2020 3:40:00 PM On eBay I’ve seen many carbon parts where the pattern on carbon, whether going left or right isn’t straight as an arrow. I’d assume this would have to be infusion? Parts made in Chinese factories just aren't good quality in general, more likely to be the result of a hurried layup than a result of the process. Of course complex parts with extreme geometry will test both the skills of the laminator as well as the material conformability, however the parts the OP posted are very straight forward and I would expect a straight weave even with wet-laid parts.
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