On Tue, 16 Mar 2010 13:42:41 -0400, Paul Oman
wrote:

wrote:
On Mar 14, 12:31 pm, Paul Oman wrote:

wrote:

Two questions for people with knowledge or experience with the UV
curing polyester resins:

1) Are they (any of them) compatible with polystyrene foam?

2) Once the UV light has initiated the polymerization, will it spread
through the layup even into places where the light did not
penetrate? I'm thinking, for instance about the underside
of carbon fiber cloth.

Thanks.

--

FF

it makes more sense to use thermo set epoxies. Stronger, better bond,
probably cheaper.
epoxies will not dissolve foam


Thermo set meaning that they don't begin to cure until they are
heated?
I ask because I am looking for a very long working time.

If so, do you have a recommendation?

Otherwise, can you answer the first question? I was quite aware of
the
other issues.

----------------------
thermo set means a chemical reaction between parts a and b and these
reactions produce heat. This is how epoxies work. You can get slow
epoxy curing agents and you can also slow down the reaction by working
in cooler temps.

paul oman - progressive epoxy polymers inc

More importantly, it means crosslinks between molecules, as when parts
a and b or their reaction intermediates have more than two reaction
sites per molecule. This leads to a network molecule with no melting
point, although it will decompose with enough heat. I made a variety
of thermoplastics (more or less linear molecules) using epoxy and a
reactant in my old r&d job.

Pete Keillor