Anyone know what the maximum service temperature of polyester tooling gel coat is?
I lay up with VER ( good up to 230F degrees). But i use polyester tooling gel coat and not sure how hot i can get it?
Did you not get a data and safety sheet? Contact the manufacturer. You won’t be geting a high heat service from polyester.
Most polyesters have a Tg of 60 degrees or so. With vinylester you usually get 90-100 degrees.
All in celcius, by the way.
However, ask your supplier for the datasheet.
Using polyester (tooling) gelcoat and vinylester resin behind it sounds a bit strange to me. Not that it does not work, because it does, but you are not getting the most from your materials. If you are saving money, use a vinylester gelcoat, and a high-tg polyester resin.
ok, so near 140F degrees. Thank you
its not just what the resin can take temp wise but how the tool will react to those temps which is a important thing to remember.
yes i totally agree.
I lay up our molds with VE resin… supposed to have a tg of around 230. I suppose i could test a small mold in the oven to see how it reacts, see how the dimensions hold up.
I really want to build our new molds out of high temp epoxy tooling resins and epoxy high temp surface coats… two small problems… money and money lol.
What kind of temperature do you want to reach?
I was reading this on fiberglast today, just stumbled on it… Duratec clear helps raise the service temperature of the gel coat mold.