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Vertical infusion from a resin bath idea
Vertical infusion from a resin bath idea
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Coldever
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Coldever
posted 5 Years Ago
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I'm trying to laminate a carbon part that's essentially a Y-shaped tube where the outside surface needs to be a dimensionally defined mold surface - inside dimensions don't matter much. Ideally it would be made with prepregs but that's not an option for me at this time so I'm trying to come up with an alternative method. Initially I was planning to make it by wrapping and wet laminating a printed water soluble core and then clamping that between two female molds (also 3d-printed). I have made one project with this method before and it worked surprisingly well but it's a bit tricky to pull off - the main challenge is getting an even laminate thickness so there is compression everywhere while still being able to close the female molds without any carbon being pinched in between them.
So I came up with this idea that's illustrated in the attached image: the soluble core is wrapped in dry fibers and closed inside two female molds. Everything is then placed into a vat of epoxy and vacuum is pulled at the top of the mold hopefully infusing the dry fibers with resin. Would make layup a lot easier and less messy if it works. Molds breaking during demolding isn't an issue, this would be a one-off part. Has anyone here tried something like this before, is it feasible? I haven't done any infusion work, just wet layup stuff with vacuum bagging, so there might be some problem I'm not seeing. Alternative manufacturing method ideas are welcome too!
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5 Years Ago by
Coldever
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Vertical infusion from a resin bath idea
Coldever
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5 Years Ago
There's potential, but I can see so many issues already. The biggest one is that infusion needs to remain under vacuum until full cure. If you only have the resin bath to create the vacuum chamber,.....
Hanaldo
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5 Years Ago
There is a inherent problem with vacuum infusion between rigid walls and my best explanation is a bit hand wavy, but i never managed to get a good void free part, without pressuring the resin as well...
SleepingAwake
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5 Years Ago
I disagree with the last post. Printed mould will easily handle the pressure, as long as the filler pattern is thight enough and the wall thickness is sufficient. Remember that the vacuum does not.....
oekmont
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5 Years Ago
I was referring to the printed moulds not withstanding typical pressures of 2...3 bar of pressurized resin when working with vrtm, which is not the same as the hydrostatic pressure of a vacuum bag.
SleepingAwake
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5 Years Ago
Sorry, i misread your post. Light RTM is processed without pressure on the resin, wich is the difference to regular RTM. Yes, overpressure will be difficult for printed moulds. You could do it, but....
oekmont
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5 Years Ago
Thanks for the help, makes sense that you have to first suck the air out and then let in the resin. I think I'll try oekmont's suggestion and bag the molds and infuse it from the bottom. I'm going to...
Coldever
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5 Years Ago
Yes, low viscosity is crucial for good fibre penetration. But most regular epoxys are not that much more viscous than infusion resin and work ok. Middle viscous resin won't work.
oekmont
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5 Years Ago
If the mixed viscosity on the data sheet is higher than about 550cps, it wont work well. Infusion resins are around 150-300cps, low viscosity hand laminating resins are about 400-600cps, and regular....
Hanaldo
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5 Years Ago
I made a test piece during the weekend. I printed the female molds from PLA and the core from PVA and instead of spirals I printed a part witch resin channels guiding the flow from the resin hose to....
Coldever
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5 Years Ago
Doesn't look too good in my opinion. Did you restrict the resin flow? Seems to me that the resin went far too quick through the cavity.
oekmont
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5 Years Ago
I made a hose clamp that I used to limit flow speed, but it could be that it was still too fast.
Coldever
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5 Years Ago
Also looks like there was 0 compaction. Judging by some of that resin, it looks like there was way too much space in the cavity, like 1-2mm too much.
Hanaldo
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5 Years Ago
Yes, the interior had compaction because of the way I wrapped the fibers and it turned out good. I'll have to use more fibers on the next try.
Coldever
-
5 Years Ago
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