IP2 Polyester Infusion Resin (ISO)

The reason we can’t ship MEKP outside of the UK is because it is highly oxidizing, and standard carrier services do not permit it to be transported.

However you can purchase MEKP from any suppliers of composite materials including fibreglass (GRP) shops, roofing suppliers, boat buildings, car bodyshops etc. There is nothing special about the MEKP we supply, you can ask at your local supplier for ‘Standard reactivity MEKP’; brands such as Andanox KP9, Akperox A30, Butanox M50 (Akzo Nobel) are all suitable and  widely available.

Yes, IP2 works well with carbon fibre cloths as well as other advanced composite materials such as woven glass fibres, aramid based cloths, diolen and even natural fibre cloths such as jute and flax. It’s worth pointing out that for the best mechanical performance, especially from higher performance reinforcements such as carbon fibre, that an epoxy resin will result in a higher strength to weight ratio but if the application is more cosmetic then our IP2 polyester infusion resin is a more cost effective option.

Yes it does. Being a polyester resin, it uses styrene as a solvent which evaporates during the cure.  It is the styrene that has a strong odour.  

No, we only stock standard reactivity MEKP. However you can normally achieve sufficient time for the infusion process by simply reducing the the catalyst ratio, especially considering that the IP2 is very low viscosity and infuses a lot quicker than you might expect. You can also keep the mixed batch size relatively small and mix fresh batches to use as the infusion progresses. That way the resin in the feed pot is always fresh and less likely to run out of pot life before it is used.

This would rather depend on the temperature the outer can would be running at which is influenced by the pipe diameter, baffle thickness, engine performance, end-cap arrangement and other things. Assuming fairly typical values you're likely to be 80°C for the can with the end-cap potentially conducting more heat to the can at one end.

The IP2 has a deflection-under-load value (similar to HDT) of 75°C which means you're definitely at risk of the IP2 softening and therefore - at the very least - showing some surface 'print through' or possibly even some slumping/distortion, especially if the can does run hotter.

For a high temperature stable infusion solution my suggestion would be to use our EL160 High Temperature Laminating Resin which has a maximum service temperature of 160°C (comfortably higher than you'll need). Although the EL160 is a laminating resin and so is higher viscosity and will therefore infuse slower, it does have a very long pot-life and since you're only infusion a small component you should have plenty of time for the part to infuse slowly using this resin.

... I have read that polyester resin has a lower boiling point and will not reach the full 30 inches of mercury without bubbling.

Good question and not an entirely straightforward answer. You're right that polyester resins will start to boil before they reach full vacuum (this is the styrene evaporating) and so it's logical to think that the infusion should not be run at full vacuum however, in our experience it is actually OK (in many situations) to infuse at full vacuum. Although you may initially get a small amount of bubbling, the relative vacuum level in the bag is reduced slightly as the resin flows in meaning that, in practice, resin boiling/bubbling is normally not an issue and running the infusion at full vacuum does offer improvements in terms of the risk of air voids and consolidation. Having said this, it is something you will need to test for yourself under the specific circumstances of your mould/laminate.

No, IP-2 is not a UV curing resin so UV light will not increase the speed of the cure.

IP2 Polyester Infusion Resin can be used no problem in epoxy based moulds as long as a good coating of a reliable release agent is used (as with most moulds).

Yes, IP2 infusion resin has a strong styrene based odour due to the presence of styrene in the resin itself.

Yes, our IP2 does cure to a clear resin with a good level of clarity compared to other infusion resins, certainly the clarity is absolutely fine for unpainted carbon fibre parts for example; the appearance of the carbon fibre is not really changed by the resin at all.

At 20°C and 2% catalyst ratio, you will have a pot life of approximately 48 minutes and a cure time of 24 hours.