Talk Composites - The Forum for Advanced Composites

Resin draining from sidewalls of mould after infusion but before full cure

http://www.talkcomposites.com/Topic40466.aspx

By itsmeagain81 - 6/21/2022 12:11:21 PM

Hello - Can anyone suggest or know why after full resin infusion, the resin would decide to fall away from the top of a mould and "pool" at the bottom of the bag.

After shooting the resin but waiting for the resin to kick, I often get resin that falls from a vertical face of a mould, back down the infusion mesh, creating dry material at the top, almost like its flooded up to the the resin break along the bagging tape, then loses suction or momentum and just slips back down the face wall of the mould, therefore making the lower part of the mould resin rich and the upper part dry?

Layup:
Dry Layers: 18 up to 25 of Basalt 
Resin: Elium 188X0
Cure time:1hr30
100% Vac drop test over 15mins.

(Please note - Elium resin does not share the same infusion characteristics as vinylester when infusing and requires significantly more skill and attention than the regular glass and vinylester combination infusion)
Thanks in advance 
By Hanaldo - 6/26/2022 12:39:15 PM

I feel you should do a longer drop test to be sure. Perhaps if your cure time is 1hr30, do a 1hr30 or even 2hr drop test. Have you got a digital vac gauge to check your actual drop rate, or are you just going off an analogue gauge? For a small part, you want a drop rate of less than 3mbar over 10 minutes. A leak that small won't show up on a 15 minute test without a good digital vac gauge. 

It just feels like more of a leak problem than a material problem. In a good vacuum, the pressure differential won't let the resin drain from verticals. Shouldnt matter what type of resin, you could theoretically even infuse water and it shouldnt drain - its being supported by the resin underneath it, like a ladder.