Good morning everyone,

your engineer should be able to calculate any shrinkage as it will be his/her design, spec of resin with spec'd post cure etc so all are interdependant

I guess It can be calculated but like Chris says it depends on so many factors:

I did think it would take a bit of trial and error, the guy I'm working with and myself are novices to composites, so I was looking for a couple of possibilities that we must take into account before starting.

Hi I forgot to mention before, if you infuse with a close mould system i.e. matching top and bottom moulds, the thickness will be the whatever you want it to be.

Just so you know, shrinkage is also dependant on the size and shape of the item. A flat shape will be easier to calculate but also it depends on what your limits are... either way it won't be much, you are more likely to get warping due to shrinkage/incorrect layup.

If you use pre-preg (and depending on the system) also depending on the weight and weave, each layer will be between 0.1mm and 0.75mm so it's pretty easy to do a rough thickness calc

Thanks Chris!!