Check this out- fiberglass resin cure temp

[Buickgsman]

I've never actually paid attention to fiberglass resin as it cures.. I mean i know it gets warm but today a friend of mine was over making the fiberglass mess in my garage, ugh I mean spending quality time at my place, when we decided to check the temp of the resin as it was curing. I busted out the infrared temp gauge and was shocked to see it was close to 200 degrees. Crazy stuff. In the picture below the laser is pointing to the leftover resin from the paint cup it was mixed in. The highest temp we had observed was 199 degrees.

 

[n3480h]

Best to mix resins in a shallow container, and not too much at one time. I had a neighbor who mixed a too large quantity in a narrow container, and the results when about a half gallon of it kicked . . . were pretty exciting. Kind of like a cross between a volcano and pop rocks. He learned how to say "accelerating exotherm".

Tom

 

[Ed.]

Resin when it reacts, builds up heat, that is why you should never leave a thick quantity in a container, if you do mix up a large quantity then you need to spread it out quick so the heat doesn't build up, when fiber glassing boats I used to mix up about 3 liters at a time by myself but I made sure I had enough time to spread it out and roll it in before it gelled. Fires have been started by leaving excess catalysed resin in containers.

Cheers

Ed.

 

[DMS]

When I was in college we actually had some start smoking. Stinks even worse than usual (man I hate polyester resin...). It's definitely not a desired condition.

 

[Ed.]

Yes, it definitely has a distinct smell when it starts to over heat, the same thing can happen if you wet out too many layers of glass in one hit. That smell comes in handy as you can tell that there is something wrong and you can track it down by following the smell if you can't see it. Not so much of a worry when you are working on your own as you know where you left the excess, but in large factories where a lot of guys don't care or know better. Had one joker try to do it deliberately to see if he could get it to catch a container on fire as it was cool, he didn't realize that the air in most fiberglass places is full of styrene and acetone. It's a bit like lighting up a smoke in a paint spraying area, not advisable.

Cheers

Ed.

 

[Maxxwel]

cool thread, its amazing the things you can build in your shop with this stuff!

I used some sort of vinyl ester resin to build a stitch and glue boat, it was designed to be a car topper.....I slopped so much resin into that thing it is more like a car crusher


Floats great, and its a perfect place for my missus to read a book, while I catch lunch.

sorry couldnt resist, this thread brought back memories