Hi.
I have just begun my first ever vacuum infusion tests. Loving the results but there is one thing stopping further attempts with bigger infused area.
As soon as the resin starts filling the area on the right i can notice the same area is losing vacuum. The further it goes the more loose bag becomes in this spot. Additionally the loose area fills with more resin to the point you can just squeeze it around with your finger.
During my 1st attempt i did use a knitted infusion mesh, it took just 5 seconds to infuse. Immediately i have noticed the is almost no vacuum over the entire part and the bag became loose accumulating more resin than it probably should. I did shut off the feed first and vacuum line after. I was surprised to see some minor dry spots on the bottom of a finished composite plate though.
On a 2nd attempt i have decided not to use a mesh as during previous test it rushed the resin in just 5 seconds and i think did not allow for full wet out of reinforcement. This time during first 10 seconds the speed of infusing resin looked correct then it slowly started to lose the inertia slowing so much it took 50 minutes to infuse the whole part. Just after it started slowing down i have noticed same thing - loss of vacuum - this time the lose bag was only noticable over 1/3rd of the area on the right. I then decided to close the feed at 80% progress and waited untill it is finished, then waited 30 minutes with the pump still on hoping it would help distributing the resin form that oversaturated intake right side area.
As you can see the sample is small, 170x240mm area. Instead of a catch pot i decided on using MTI hose(on the left).
Sprial feed is located on the opposite side(on the right). (2x2 layers of 160g spread tow and 4x 200g bi-axial in between).
Bag sealed perfectly, no noticable leaks after 20minutes drop test. I am using IN-2 resin.
What is happening? Any suggestions? Is it because of the MTI?
