Quote:
Originally Posted by 2011 Nismo#91
You have access to an autoclav big enough for a splitter?
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You don't need an autoclave unless you're using an epoxy resin that requires high temp cure or you're trying to drastically accelerate your cure process. Prepreg also often requires a high temp or autoclave cure due to the nature of producing a carbon which contains a gelled resin.
The resin I chose is high impact and high temp (325*) with a 1 hour pot life and should take approximately 24 hrs to cure at room temp. The same epoxy can be cured for 18 hrs at room temp and 6 hrs at 185* to have a 450* temp resistance, but that also requires a different catalyst.
Edit: If you're referring to the use of "dry carbon" vs "wet carbon" in context, technically laying down your own resin layers is considered "wet" by the newer definitions but adding in the vacuum process and layering the resin/epoxy with a final higher cure temp also produces a "dry carbon". The goal is to get to 40% resin by weight to carbon and most well done vacuumed setups can get you pretty close. When I first worked with carbon in 2007 anything with resin content below 60% was considered "dry carbon".