Autoclaves

[King_of_the_Hill]

Hi guys,

I'm new to the ski building community, however i work as a composites engineer at a Dutch aerospace university.
At my office i can use an aerospace autoclave ( Max: 175 psi, 250 deg C)
My idea is to use prepreg composites, glas and carbon as reinforcement layer. The prepreg is epoxy based and needs to be cured at 250deg F for 1.5 hours.
The pressure will be some thing like 50-60psi

My question is has anyone every cured at this temperature.

[endre]

F or C?

[King_of_the_Hill]

250deg F, 120 deg Celcius

[endre]

that should be ok, but you will probably get more camber than the shape of your mold, since the base and edges will expand during pressing. some manufacturers press at 135c.

[King_of_the_Hill]

Okay thnx a lot, however P-tex has a melting point of 130 wont that be a problem for manufactures?

And i'm probably using an aluminum mold is that an problem?

[endre]

That would seem like a problem, they probably go just up to where the humwpe they are using does not melt. I don't know all these numbers exactly, I just know they use redicilously high temperatures. If they use non-sintered pe, melting would not be such a big problem either. (it's all about time and production costs for some.
The alu will expand a bit to, but if you use wood underneath an alu sheet you don't have tocompensate for that expansion.