Dear all,

I would like to know if someone can provide me information (not MSDS, I already have it) regarding the use of phenolic glass prepreg. Do you know any kind of manual or work-book with good practices, protection equipment (like the kind of gloves) or other type of information when working with this material? I'm preparing a document/specification but since it will be the first time working with this kind of material, I would appreciate – if possible - your help in this issue. I'm trying to reunite the best amount of information I can.

 

Beyond the material safety issue I've got some more important questions related with this phenolic glass prepreg material:

 

1) 

Problem found:

Extreme difficulty in taking out one of the protective foils from the phenolic prepreg.

 

Problem description:

After normal defreeze and plies cutting, we found out that is extremely difficult taking out the blue foil from the phenolic prepreg. We have the green foil side and this one is ok but the blue foil had the following behavior (as we can see in the photo-sequence below) which make it very hard to lay up, almost impossible. This prepreg behavior doesn’t seem us normal, so we questioned the manufacturer who replied saying that "Phenolic prepreg can be very tacky and due to raw material, the tack can vary from tack to extremely tacky. Some customers are peeling the foil at low temperature (freezer or cold room)."

 

Does anyone already face this type of situation?

 

Figure 1

Green protective foil taking out easily

 

Figure 2

Blue protective foil

 

Figure 3

Blue protective foil extreme difficulty to be taken out

 

Figure 4

Blue protective foil continuously difficulty to be taken out and starting to deform the fibers and integrity of the prepreg

 

2)

Another situation is that due to the high tack, gloves (latex) are trapped in prepreg, completely glued. How do I avoid this?

 

3)
I've heard of ice spray to facilitate the removal of foils. Do you know any application of it in prepreg's?

 

4)

To clean up the molds (metal), beyond MEK or acetone, do you know or advise some other product(s) to clean the phenolic waste?

 

 

Thank you all in advance!

Rui V.

Hello Fred!

That's what we're trying to do, after room temperature, use again a short time in freezer and then peel off the foil. We're now making some prototypes to test it and to see the minimum time necessary because of condensation.

Do you have problems during the lay-up? As far as I can see, maybe will be necessary two persons to lay-up because when a plie sticks into another it's very complicated to take it out again, so it must be very accurate! 

Thank you Fred!

I have a similar problem with a product from PRF.

When its at room temperature its fine, but when you start handling it, your hands warm it up and it gets messy.
What I do is peel off the first layer and handle it from the other (still filmed) side. I then laminate, not worrying about getting my hands sticky as im touching the plastic film. Push, tuck, nib, slice etc. When Im  happy with placement, I take a razor blade and nib a corner, kinda like a stab/flick/scratch movement. This peels off about 2-3mm of film. I grab that corner and........ rip it with furious anger and no remorse! When you peel it quickly, it just comes off without pulling the prepreg. In a controlled way mind you! Not perpendicular to the surface, but as close to the laminate as possible, as if you were peeling vinyl wrap. otherwise you risk pulling the prepreg and creating a bridge. Although if this happens all you have to do is get some of that same film and push it back.