I am having several issues using your epoxy coating resin as a top coat over a laminate  composite layup consisting of wood and glass fibre. The outer layer of the layup is .6mm veneer which has a thin coat of infusion resin applied to it at the layup stage in order to give an even colour when the laminate comes out of the press. (previously some infusion resin had soaked through the veneer and given a patchy look to the outer surface even after the coating resin had been applied.

Hi Matt,

Hi Ben,

One small thing, ive just contacted a old friend who has a paint shop and oven. If i give him my finished boards to sit in his oven for a while, how long? how hot? and what sort of effect will this have on the overall strength , impact resistance and flexibility of the epoxy used?

Post-curing, if done properly, can only ever be a good thing for epoxy resin although, over enough time just at ambient temperature, the resin will naturally reach something very close to a post-cured resin (it will just take a huge amount longer). The exception is where resins will be used at high temperature - they should always be post-cured up to this operating temperature before use.

In terms of post-curing your boards, I would recommend a moderate post-cure as follows:

6hrs at 40'C
4hrs at 50'C
4hrs at 60'C

This steady ramp and not excessively hot post cure will ensure full cure of the resins without putting too much strain on them. The difference you would expect would be a harder feeling resin with more fully develped structural properties (and more of a 'ring' when you hit it, rather than the 'thud' of a resin that's not fully cured).

--Matt

Matt Statham
Easy Composites / Carbon Mods - Technical Sales