Andy. . .I have used a lot of this stuff in spar making. It does bond pretty well, but compression stresses can pop it loose. You really need to wrap the spar assembly with Kevlar thread or unwaxed dental floss to help assure no separation will take place. Such wraps, however, are rougher than the texture in the CF and thin balsa caps applied with a light coat of epoxy and sanded smooth are the easy fix. Of course, all these things need to be sized to fit accurately in the core or whatever other kind of construction is involved.
Harley, LSF023. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Andy Page" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, October 29, 2001 12:16 PM Subject: [RCSE] Textured surface on carbon laminate > I bought some unidirectional carbon laminate strips for my upcoming Bird of > Time project, and was surprised to see the fabric weave texture on them - I > thought they'd sent the wrong items... the response from CST is below. I > still think it seems odd - I was expecting to just lightly sand the surface > and clean with alcohol to prep for laminating to the wood spar. Is a > texture formed by excess resin really the best situation? Seems like it > will be more difficult to get it perfectly clean before gluing... > > >We texture the surfaces of our carbon laminates so you will not have >to > >sand them. The carbon fibers are unidirectional. The surface >texture is > >done during the curing process with Teflon Coated Glass >that is removed > >after the carbon is cured. The result is the epoxy >bleeds into the fabric > >texture and cures on the surface with the >weave of the TCG. This process > >improves your bond with the carbon >since the bondable surface area is > >increased. > > > >I hope this answers your questions. Please feel free to inquire >anytime > >you have questions or concerns. > > > _________________________________________________________________ > Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp > > RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
