Hello,
Is there a method to stop, reduce or otherwise control racetracking?
When infusing laminates with foam cores, like Divinycell for example, resin will sometimes flow around the core (racetrack), even with beveled edges and tight fits.
At worst, this can interfere with the fabric getting saturated through to the mold side, even with perforations or scoring. Which you don’t find out until later!
I have tried additional feed lines to the center of the core panels, but this gets more complicated and can introduce other problems.
What can be used as a flow reducer where core butts up to mold edges or between core pieces?
Could one use a slow catalyst thickened epoxy mixture to bed the edges of the cores? Not ideal, because the clock starts ticking. If you did this and gradually post cured the part, in the mold, do you think you might see a witness line?
Or, between the core pieces, maybe lay in strips of carbon or other cloth, cut to the thickness of the core, or roving, to soak up and impede resin flow?
If it didn’t migrate with the resin front, maybe pack in some milled fibers or other filler to act as a resin flow reducer?
Any ideas?
I’m using MTI hose and valve, ProSet INF 114/210 resin system, 3/8",1/4" scored and perforated Divinycell, 1/8" Divinymat and green mesh, although I just got some white to try. The white, being finer, will slow down the process which may give the core perforations more time to saturate. Or it could backfire and have the racetracking beat the through core resin travel. If so, maybe I should use the red mesh as it flows faster?
These are small parts about 2’x3’.
Thanks for any insight,
Doug