Infusing long thin components

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Infusing long thin components

Author	Message
Trevor Harris	Trevor Harris posted 5 Years Ago Topic Details
Group: Forum Members Posts: 22, Visits: 116	Hello, I want to infuse and long thin item, circa 1 metre long and 50mm wide. It will have a Soric core with layers of carbon 2/2 twill either side. Is best to either feed resin along one edge, along the centre line from one end, from the middle to both ends or something I have not considered yet? Trevor
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JasonFL	JasonFL posted 5 Years Ago HOT Post Details
Group: Forum Members Posts: 51, Visits: 707	1 meter resin line on one side, 1 meter vacuum line along the other. Leaves no imprint on the final cloth, and only 50 mm of distance to cover after the resin line is full. Jason
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Trevor Harris	Trevor Harris posted 5 Years Ago HOT Post Details
Group: Forum Members Posts: 22, Visits: 116	+x JasonFL - 5/10/2019 8:32:07 PM 1 meter resin line on one side, 1 meter vacuum line along the other. Leaves no imprint on the final cloth, and only 50 mm of distance to cover after the resin line is full. Hello Jason FL , Thank you for the info will give it a go. Trevor
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Hanaldo	Hanaldo posted 5 Years Ago Post Details
Group: Forum Members Posts: 2.5K, Visits: 28K	As Jason said. Just be sure to have a sufficient brake zone. 50mm is extremely short, and without a brake zone the resin will certainly reach your outlet before it reaches the ends of the feed spiral.
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Trevor Harris	Trevor Harris posted 5 Years Ago Post Details
Group: Forum Members Posts: 22, Visits: 116	+x Hanaldo - 5/22/2019 11:45:16 PM As Jason said. Just be sure to have a sufficient brake zone. 50mm is extremely short, and without a brake zone the resin will certainly reach your outlet before it reaches the ends of the feed spiral. Hi Hanaldo, Thank you for your input. Can you enlighten me on what a 'Brake Zone' is? I am a relative newbie but have done several successful infusions on components, but nothing this narrow and long before. I have found in the past that the resin always takes the path of least resistance. Trevor
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MarkMK	MarkMK posted 5 Years Ago HOT Post Details
Group: Forum Members Posts: 338, Visits: 2K	A break zone is a deliberate gap between the forward edge of the infusion mesh and the outlet port. A gap of between 10 and 20 mm's is usually sufficient between the mesh and another strip of mesh running the width of the part placed under the outlet connector. This acts to slow down the flow of resin in front of the connector to allow for full wetting-out of the furthest reaches of the part before resin starts to flow up the tube and can allow any air in the resin to be evacuated more fully across the part. If the area around the outlet port is fully enclosed by resin and the furthest reaches are still infusing, this can make it hard for any air still in the resin to evacuate fully. As the resin flow can lag behind the areas closest to the inlet port, especially on wider parts, extra strips of mesh can be placed over the main piece at the widest points to help speed things up a little. This can be useful where ambient temperatures a little cooler than normal, especially I sometimes make parts of a similar dimension to the one you mentioned and tend to trim the mesh so that there's only enough to cover the first 20 mm's or so in the area closest to the inlet connector, which helps to make sure the parts wet-out fairly evenly
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Trevor Harris	Trevor Harris posted 5 Years Ago Post Details
Group: Forum Members Posts: 22, Visits: 116	+x MarkMK - 5/23/2019 7:30:31 AM A break zone is a deliberate gap between the forward edge of the infusion mesh and the outlet port. A gap of between 10 and 20 mm's is usually sufficient between the mesh and another strip of mesh running the width of the part placed under the outlet connector. This acts to slow down the flow of resin in front of the connector to allow for full wetting-out of the furthest reaches of the part before resin starts to flow up the tube and can allow any air in the resin to be evacuated more fully across the part. If the area around the outlet port is fully enclosed by resin and the furthest reaches are still infusing, this can make it hard for any air still in the resin to evacuate fully. As the resin flow can lag behind the areas closest to the inlet port, especially on wider parts, extra strips of mesh can be placed over the main piece at the widest points to help speed things up a little. This can be useful where ambient temperatures a little cooler than normal, especially I sometimes make parts of a similar dimension to the one you mentioned and tend to trim the mesh so that there's only enough to cover the first 20 mm's or so in the area closest to the inlet connector, which helps to make sure the parts wet-out fairly evenly Hello MarkMK, Your post has been a great help in explaining the technicalities of the 'Break Zone'. This I find one of the attractions of composites in that even if the mould is made on a CNC machine, there is still a ' Skilled Craft' element in placing the stack elements to ensure a correct resin flow in the component. Trevor
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