When polyester resin is past its shelf life what happens?

My supplier of surfboard resin warned me about the shelf life of the
typical slighly greenish surfboard resin. Also, I have read that
catalyst or MEKP has an even short lifespan.

I have had a can of resin and some catalyst stored in my upper Midwest
backyard shed since last summer. It went through a winter with many
subfreezing days. I have read that once a can of resin is in freezing
cold that it will never be the same.

The stuff looks fine. Yesterday, I made a batch. It cured normally.
I have a 3/8" thick disk now. I cannot break it with my hands.

All I have to say is: huh?

wrote:
When polyester resin is past its shelf life what happens?

My supplier of surfboard resin warned me about the shelf life of the
typical slighly greenish surfboard resin. Also, I have read that
catalyst or MEKP has an even short lifespan.

I have had a can of resin and some catalyst stored in my upper Midwest
backyard shed since last summer. It went through a winter with many
subfreezing days. I have read that once a can of resin is in freezing
cold that it will never be the same.

The stuff looks fine. Yesterday, I made a batch. It cured normally.
I have a 3/8" thick disk now. I cannot break it with my hands.

All I have to say is: huh?

Polyester resin will eventually cure even if it's uncatalyzed, but as
you've seen, it can last a year or more at times. I've got some that's
at least that old and it still works fine. Keeping it cool extends it's
shelf life, but I've seen warnings against freezing on the cans.

It certainly 'goes off' sitting my rather warm garage (South Africa). It
turns to jelly first and is quite obviously no use. Can't say how long it
takes but not more than a couple of years. Epoxy, on the other hand, seems
to last for ever - I had some more than 30 years old that cured perfectly.
J

I've had polyester resin and catalyst sitting in the back of my 'fridge for 20
years and still good. It was leftover from some boat repairs. I used it
occassionaly for body work on cars and for minor boat work until it was all
used up.

I've read that polyester can crystalize like honey does and all you have to
od is warm it up. I've not had polyester crystalize on me so can't confirm
from personal experience.
--
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
William R Watt National Capital FreeNet Ottawa's free community network
homepage: www.ncf.ca/~ag384/top.htm
warning: non-FreeNet email must have "notspam" in subject or it's returned