Curing in as little as 2 minutes, Momentive’s low viscosity EPIKOTE™ Resin 05475 and EPIKURE™ Curing Agent 05500 system is said to facilitate industrial-scale high- or low-pressure RTM, with direct infusion of carbon fibres.
The features and benefits of the system include:
- a very low viscosity at the recommended injection and cure temperature of 115-120°C;
- a long injection window of about 1 minute, allowing for excellent fibre wetting and mould fill; and
- a very fast cure.
The cured system also shows excellent adhesion to carbon fibre, leading to superior thermal and mechanical performance.
This EPIKOTE Resin 05475 / EPIKURE Curing Agent 05500 epoxy system provides a solution for the production of structural carbon fibre automotive composite parts in a shorter cycle time compared to the EPIKOTE Resin 05475 / EPIKURE Curing Agent 05443 system, which takes 5 minutes to cure. At the same time, the outstanding resin flow, fibre wetting and mechanical properties of the latter system have been maintained.
The Heloxy™ Additive 112 internal mould release agent works very well with both of these fast-cure epoxy systems.