By JimWarrington - 7/1/2020 12:50:38 PM
I've been making carbon tubes on aluminium mandrels and then wrapping in shrink tape and putting in oven. What I was wondering was could I do the same but vacuum bag the tubes rather than shrink wrap them. Thinking I could vacuum bag a number of tubes at a time and wouldn't have the faff of shrink taping them all. Thanks Jim
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By explorecomposites - 7/4/2020 1:22:59 AM
Many manufacturers use a combination of pull tape and vacuum bag - this is how most (the mandrel molded ones at least) boat spars are made. The tape-wrap/pull-tape is used for both debulking and then before cooking a final wrap is made (with a neat step-over) and then the laminate is bagged and cooked in an oven or autoclave. Works great!
The tape is different though - it isn't a heat shrink. It is stretchy-ish and is used to keep the wrinkles Fasta mentions from happening. You can also use rolls of slit peel ply but this is only good for non-cosmetic situations - and you'll want to release film or tape-wrap over this too. This is a supplier of the tape: https://www.flexiconpacific.com/composite-tubing-release-films/
It really works best with a spinning machine and a tension-adjustable roll feeder (like a lathe) that advances the roll of clear tape...
See 1:18 in this video of the process: https://youtu.be/_GYivh0lKRA
Tube bag works great for small parts and this lets you cook them in any orientation and in large numbers. You won't avoid removing the tape, but it is a very well sorted method that works great for prepreg tubes on mandrels.
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