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Wet Infusion or Prepreg?
Wet Infusion or Prepreg?
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Wet Infusion or Prepreg?
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Charles Woo
Charles Woo
posted 6 Years Ago
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I had these parts made for a project I am working on and the manufacturer claims they are 'autoclave dry carbon', which should mean pre-preg, but to my untrained eye it looks like regular vacuum bagged wet infusion. There are tiny bubbles along the edges and the outer clear resin layer seems thicker than what I would expect a pre-preg.
Are there any carbon experts out there that can help me identify what process they used to make these parts?
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JasonFL
JasonFL
posted 6 Years Ago
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Look up debulking during an autoclave layup. Slowly removes excess resin and air over time to ensure the plys stay uniform and the desired resin to weight ratio is hit.
Jason
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Wet Infusion or Prepreg?
Charles Woo
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6 Years Ago
I would say it doesn't matter way process is used. What matters is if you are pleased with the parts or not. Optically and physically. However, watching the perfectly straight diagonals I would...
oekmont
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6 Years Ago
Thanks for the reply. I am concerned about the bubbling and the overall weight. Also prepreg was considerably more expensive than wet infusion. So I want to know I am getting what I paid for. Have yo...
Charles Woo
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6 Years Ago
Are we talking about infusion or about vacuum bagged parts? As I said above, I doubt the parts are vacuum bagged wet layup parts. Infusion is a different thing. from the pictures I would say, that.....
oekmont
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6 Years Ago
So you are saying, if it was infusion, the top clear layer would not look as thick. A resin rich surface prepreg can have enough excess resin to mimic the look of having gloss gelcoat and may also...
Charles Woo
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6 Years Ago
Is the porosity on the outside? Can you get in the white spots with a needle? If so, it can be gelcoat. Gelcoat would be smooth on the outside. The little bubbles would be under the gelcoat.
oekmont
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6 Years Ago
I get what you are saying. If there was gel coat, the bubbles would be under it. The gel coat is already hard so the bubbles won't be on the outer surface. From what I can see the bubbles are mostly....
Charles Woo
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6 Years Ago
Agreed with Oek. You’d see the flow media marks on the back if it was resin infusion.You can see the release film marks on the back surface from traditional bagging with breather cloth. Looks like ...
JasonFL
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6 Years Ago
Thanks for your help guys. I really appreciate it.Learned a lot. I didn’t know that prepreg could be so resin rich.
Charles Woo
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6 Years Ago
Look up debulking during an autoclave layup. Slowly removes excess resin and air over time to ensure the plys stay uniform and the desired resin to weight ratio is hit.
JasonFL
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6 Years Ago
Those parts look good. With infusion the carbon is rarely straight as an arrow like your parts. That looks prepreg. Am I right?
Jason B
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5 Years Ago
You really shouldn't be able to tell the difference between an infused part and a prepreg part just by looking at them. Sometimes theres a couple of tells, but generally speaking - exactly the same.....
Hanaldo
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5 Years Ago
On eBay I’ve seen many carbon parts where the pattern on carbon, whether going left or right isn’t straight as an arrow. I’d assume this would have to be infusion?
Jason B
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5 Years Ago
Most likely wet-lay, as it's difficult to keep the weave pattern looking straight when applying resin by hand. There's no reason why the pattern shouldn't be completely straight when infusing. As...
MarkMK
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5 Years Ago
Parts made in Chinese factories just aren't good quality in general, more likely to be the result of a hurried layup than a result of the process. Of course complex parts with extreme geometry will....
Hanaldo
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5 Years Ago
Would say this is prepreg but this could be a "self made" prepreg as well. By this I mean they wetted out a piece of carbonfiber with resin and placed it in the mould, then bagged. If you want to be...
matthieutje65
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5 Years Ago
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