I've got a kg of EL80 and I've been having a little play with some offcuts of cloth to see how it cures.  One thing I did notice is that its fairly viscous.  Is it OK to warm it a touch to thin it down a bit?

Would a review of my test pieces be of use?  If so I'd appreciate a few pointers of what people woould like to see.

Again sorry for the late reply.  Body grew an extra bit and not something useful like an extra arm!  Anyway, here's a pic of the bulging tow.



I suspect this to be operator error.  This was a quick try of 2x600g layed up wet on a piece of bag film.  Very rough and ready. I may have wanted to see how flexible it was before properly cured.  It has also had a few people having a bend of it so I might have knackered its mechanical properties.  My first molding with it has come out OK.  The finish is as-per the mold like any other epoxy.  This had a post cure but I did notice additional cure over the next week or two which surprised me.  The molding is now as you'd expect with a reasonable amount of flexibility.  Its not uber flexible so think of it as tough rather than floppy.  Ideal for the car splitter I made.

Hope this helps

Hi FLD,

Thanks for the picture; it sound look like the 'bulging tow' has been caused by being flexed when not fully cured. It appears that some of the carbon tows have been able to break free of the matrix and then not bedded back down afterwards (which is not a huge surprise if the resin was mostly cured by then). Once it's properly cured you should not be able to do anything like this - we have samples that get mauled quite a bit as demonstration pieces and they hold up well. Thank you for the post and I look forward to hearing how the part performs in use.

All the best, Matt

Matt Statham
Easy Composites / Carbon Mods - Technical Sales

I completely agree.  Operator error!  I was too keen to see how flexible it was.  My splitter has come out just fine.  I'll post up some pics of the final piece later.