Good morning,

I have to build a +- 2.5 liter CF air tank that hold 10 bars continuously.
My plan is to shape a cylinder (7.5 cm diameter and 15cm long) in a block of foam that need to resist epoxy resin under vacuum, wrap it with 6 layers of CF, after cooking I will drill two holes where I will later install some plugs, filling through them acetone to dissolve the foam and get a final clean inside piece.

My questions are :

- is my plan the easiest or do you have a better idea ?
- which foam to use (I want to avoid glue in the process and 10cm height is your only option) ?
- how many layers of 400gr CF would you recommend (my intention is 6) ?

Thanks for your kind advice.

               

My first concern would be ensuring you take the appropriate engineering design processes very seriously so you don't end up with a carbon fibre "bomb" that explodes the first time you pressurise it.  Commonly tanks and pressure vessels are engineered to very high safety factors as well as having extensive testing in the design phase as well as batch testing and in many cases individual pressure tests.

Although 10bar isn't massive in terms of pressures cylinders can be made to, it is still plenty high enough to pose a serious hazard should a cylinder fail.

Warren Penalver
Easy Composites / Carbon Mods - Technical Support Assistant