How resistant is epoxy/ vinyl ester cured with carbon or glass to common substances such as gasoline, acetone, diesel and things like that…in terms of structural integrity?
Different resins have different properties. You can normally find ratings for common chemicals like these if you ask the manufacturer, some will even include it in their TDS.
i’m looking to make a fuel tank in the future. I believe vinyl ester resin is fuel resistant. the problem though is Ethanol, which none seem to play nice with. I’ll be using race fuel with no ethanol so hoping i can get by without coating the inside of the tank.
There are very few resins which have ethanol resistance. I use a base Phenol Novolac from a UK supplier who lets me have my own spec of resins if I need. You have to allow for expansion of the ester based resins compared to the epoxy resin too and know if the resin will self release in the case of any expansion and not crack if you get contraction.
I would stick to epoxy resins and seal with a good phenol novolac resin. I would not make the tank with the resin as it may be much more expensive if you use it fully. I use pre-pregs and seal them. I would not make a tank in an ester based resin though. More a personal thing and I am used to working with pre-pregs so I stick to what I know…
@ Morepower. Looking at the quality of your fuel tank it’s worth sticking to what you know. Best thing about your image is it’s taken outside in sunlight. Always a true teller whether the item has cosmetic flaws or not. Nice work
Not kidding… Images taken inside can hide a LOT of problems but sunlight shows any problems up and you need to be sure your parts are good if you want to take photos outside in sunlight.