Aluminum mold for prepreg


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I'm about to start machining my mold but I have a few concerns. The composite part is an 800m long tapered tube. 46mm diameter at one end, 30mm at other end. The closed mold is 75mm square by 800mm long. This means the mold walls will be as thin as 15mm at one end and as thick as 22mm at other end. One concern is the time it takes for this big chunk of aluminum to heat up, the other concern is uneven heating, thinner walled end heating up first. How should I approach this with my ramp cycles? Just go slower in general? Hold temps longer? I'm really not sure what to expect for how long it's gonna take for it to heat up. If the varying wall thickness is gonna be a big problem, I can do some machining on the outside to even it out, but would rather not if it isn't needed. First few parts will be done with vacuum bag so the laminate will be exposed to the heated air but later on I'll be trying silicone expanding plug so I'm sure that will change things as far as heating. Any advice on how to approach this? Thanks
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Hanaldo - 1/8/2019 10:32:10 PM
Easy Composites dont sell the single sided pre-preg anymore, that was the old EasyPreg system. The new X-Preg system is double sided, with no specific surface ply, and works extremely well. I dont see why you cant get their stuff because you are in the US? I'm in Aus and I use lots of pre-preg from Easy Composites. 

As for bagging method, you've got it sussed. Dont skimp on the bag - make it bigger than you expect you will need to. The breather will depend a bit on the pre-preg you end up using and how well it breathes. The EasyPreg system worked better with breather on both the back of the mould and over the laminate, while the X-Preg doesnt need it over the laminate. You may have to experiment if you get a less 'guided' system, however I dont think you will have too many problems by only doing breather on the outside of the mould. 

Ok, sounds good. I didn't actually look into ordering prepreg from easy composites, I just assumed shipping would be ridiculous cost to US and probably longer ship time than I want for prepreg that needs to stay cold, but I'll look into it. I'm sure a lot of the technique will come to me and get better with experimentation. Each part is only about 5 bucks worth of prepreg so no big deal if the first few tries aren't great. Also an added perk that it's now only a few hours for each try rather than 24 to 36 for infusion. That will be nice. I'll go for the double sided stuff and see how it works out. 

GO

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