Talk Composites - The Forum for Advanced Composites

High Temp Resin for Hood?

http://www.talkcomposites.com/Topic11329.aspx

By turboshad - 5/15/2014 5:43:34 PM

Hi all. I made a CF hood for my car a couple years ago but have never been completely happy with the pin holed results. I would like to try another using infusion with epoxy resin vs. the wet layup vacuum bagged VE I used the first time. I originally used VE because of its higher TG but from all my searching I can't find any mention of people using high temp resins for their hood creations. Is a 180-200F TG high enough for a hood? I could always make an oven for post curing a high temp epoxy but that just adds extra work and cost. What have others been using as an epoxy resin choice and how have they held up? Thanks for any help.

DJ
By Hanaldo - 6/18/2014 2:39:26 AM

Yes I did the same thing with very similar results to you. Good to see someone else in Australia getting the same results as me. 

I also use the Kinetix R118, though I only use it with the H120 hardener for my room temp parts. For parts that are exposed to heat, I use Renlam K3600. It isn't an infusion specific resin, but with a 300cps viscosity it works fine. It's also very popular in motorsport, lots of professional teams using the K3600 for body panels. 

The reason I use it is because it it has a very simple post-cure schedule; bake at 80 degrees for 4 hours and that's it. Tg of 92 degrees C, which is enough for most things I do. I also prefer it's clarity to the Kinetix system.