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Curing of dry fibre/wet resin (after hand layup) in autoclave

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July 31, 2010 by Laraib
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Hi,
Has anyone come across curing of dry fiber/wet resin after hand lay up in autoclave?

Is autoclave specific for prepregs? What issues can be raised if dry fiber/ wet resin is cured in autoclave i.e LY/HY 5052 epoxy resin and T300 carbon fiber. LY/HY 5052 is room temperature cured epoxy resin but another cure cycle is at 100 C for 4 hrs. However, when it is cured in oven, loads of voids were observed, so autoclave may be a suggestion..Please comment..

Regards

Laraib

Curing of dry fibre/wet resin (after hand layup) in autoclave

Submitted by Karl on Thu, 08/12/2010 - 11:41am.
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Dear Laraib Alam Khan,

I don't know why anyone would like to do this, as it combines perfectly the disadvantages of both processes. The (relatively) low quality of an hand layup laminate and the costly autoclave process.
Your problem are the small air voids which you can not avoid when you are doing hand layup. If you heat the laminate before it is cured, the air in these voids expands (like any gas when you heat it) and the quality of your laminate drops.
If you have further questions, feel free to contact me. If you fancy, I can develop a void-free process for you.

Best regards, Karl Kaeser