Summary:

This page is a basic outlining of resin infusion processing during carbon fiber composites manufacture as detailed in this video. Needed materials and equipment will be compiled here, and the page will be expanded to include a standard operating procedure and example tests if time is allowed.

Important:

Resin infusion should theoretically work for any composites layup setup, be it carbon fiber, glass, Kevlar, or other materials.

Easy Composites says a vacuum pump with 5mbar or lower is strongly recommended (can probably just use existing pump)

A “Catch Pot” airlock is needed to make sure that any resin that is drawn out of the part does not go into the vacuum

Generally infusions are cured at room temperature

***no AMAT oven ??? :((

Changelog:

• 9/24/2024 - authored

Materials Needed:

Fabrics:

• Your laminating fabric of choice (in 2024 AMAT’s case, this is 45/45 carbon fiber)

Chemicals

• Spray Adhesive such as the FUSIONFIX EP
  • will be needed to position the dry reinforcement in the mold in lieu of carbon fiber (unless the part is relatively flat)
  • note to ryuya: using a spray adhesive is a question of either waiting for purchasing to buy said spray adhesive or allowing more time to produce test parts (ie, making one without spray adhesive and seeing how it goes). as time is our biggest constraint i think whichever is more time efficient would be best. personally im for spray adhesive
• A dedicated epoxy infusion resin

Consumables:

• Peel Ply
  • allows the part to be separated from consumables stack after curing
• Infusion Mesh
  • Allows resin to freely flow through channels underneath the vacuum bag (without, the resin flow would be unacceptably hindered)
  • Would breather cloth work?? (doesnt look like it)
• Infusion Spiral
  • Creates distributed flow of resin to part under vacuum, ensures even flow and prevents blockages