UC1 Uni-Mould Vinylester Coupling Coat Resin

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This is a chemical product. Before storage or use you must download and read the accompanying safety and technical datasheets.

	Safety Datasheet (SDS)	1 MB
	Dutch Safety DataSheet	531 KB
	Technical Datasheet (TDS)	281 KB

Specification

Product Data

Colour	Beige
Chemistry / Material	Vinylester
Viscosity	800	mPa.s

Pot Life and Cure Times

Full Cure Time	7	Days
Pot Life (Typical)	17	mins
Initial Cure Time	2	Hrs

Cured Mechanical Properties

Max Service Temp	90	°C
Hardness	80 (Hard)	Shore D
Flexibility	Hard / Rigid
Tensile Strength	120	MPa
Flexural Strength	149.6	MPa
Flexural Modulus	8.3	GPa
Elongation at Break	3.0 - 4.0	%

General Properties

Gross Weight	1.158	kg

Shipping Information

Restrictions

In the currently selected pack size, this product is classed as dangerous goods in limited quantity for the purposes of transport.

Shipping is possible to all UK addresses, including the Channel Islands, without restriction. However, due to being classed as 'dangerous goods', delivery times are not guaranteed on any delivery service.

Shipping to EU countries is now done through our European subsidiary based in the Netherlands. All EU customers should use www.easycomposites.eu.

To check availability of shipping to any other country, add the item to your basket and use the shipping calculator on the basket page.

For a full information regarding the shipment of dangerous goods to all destinations, see our delivery information page.

Package Size

There are no package size restrictions or surcharges for this product.

Delivery Cost

To find the availability and cost for delivery of this item to your address, add it to your basket and then use the instant shipping calculator on the basket page.

UC1 Uni-Mould Coupling Coat is part of the Uni-Mould universal mould making system and should be used in conjunction with UG1 Uni-Mould Tooling Gel Coat and UT1 Uni-Mould Tooling Resin to produce hard-wearing, polishable moulds of any size with zero shrinkage suitable for use in just about any composites process.

UC1 Uni-Mould Coupling Coat is a vinylester laminating resin.

Requires MEKP catalyst (not included)

Suggested Purchasing Quantities

Use the table below to help you purchase suitable quantities of the resins and glass for a given mould size.

For full details on the Uni-Mould system, read our Uni-Mould Introduction and Application Guide.

	Uni-Mould Resin			Chopped Strand Mat
The table is NOT an exact guide to the ratios of the materials but is rounded up to the nearest purchasable pack size or weight of mat.
Mould Area	Tooling Gel	Coupling Coat	Tooling Resin	100g	450g
0.6sqm	1kg	1kg	5kg	2sqm	2kg
3.5sqm	5kg	5kg	25kg	7sqm	7kg
13sqm	10kg	25kg	100kg	26sqm	25kg

Further Information

Application

The UC1 Uni-Mould Coupling Coat is designed to eliminate print-through of the mould reinforcement, to reduce the risk of blisters underneath the gel coat by ensuring the gel is reinforced with a skin of resin and glass and to provide an ideal substrate for the main reinforcement.

UC1 Uni-Mould Coupling Coat should be catalysed with standard MEKP catalyst (not included) at 1.5 - 2%. Apply a layer of the coupling coat over the mould surface and then two layers of 100g chopped strand mat . We do not recommend the use of glass surface tissue in lieu of the 2 layers of 100g CSM.

Wet out the CSM thoroughly with the coupling coat resin and ensure that all air is removed from the reinforcement, that it is well wetted through and that the reinforcement is conforming to all the contours of the mould, particularly any tight corners.

UC1 Uni-Mould Tooling Coupling Coat should applied to cured UG1 Uni-Mould Tooling Gel Coat and then be reinforced with Uni-Mould Tooling Resin as per the guidelines for those products.

Use with Prepregs

Although it is possible to use Uni-Mould moulds with out-of-autoclave (oven cure) prepregs (such as XPREG® XC110) we no longer recommend Uni-Mould moulds for this purpose.

Instead – for prepreg use – better results will be achieved using high temperature epoxy moulds made using our EG160 / EMP160 tooling system or XPREG® XT135 Tooling Prepreg. These high temperature epoxy tooling systems allow the prepreg to be cured at the optimum 120°C which reduces the cure time and improves the mechanical properties of the component. Additionally, epoxy tools have been found to result in a better surface finish with prepregs such as XPREG® XC110.

Key Processing Information

Ease of Use: Suitable for professional and hobby use (follow SDS advice).
Odour: Coupling Coat has a strong styrene based odour.
Safety Precautions: Wear gloves and goggles and work in a well ventilated area. Always read the SDS before use.
Ambient Conditions: Can be used from 15 to 30°C although pot-life and cure time will be affected significantly. Recommended working at an ambient of 20-25°C.
Degassing: Not necessary in most cases. Simply mix and use.
Mix Ratio: Add MEKP Catalyst at a ratio of 1.5 - 2%. Use digital scales.
Mixing: Mix thoroughly by hand for at around 2 minutes.
Application: Can be applied by brush. Apply over mould surface with 2 layers of 100g CSM.
Pot-Life: The pot life at 20°C is 15 - 20 minutes. Be sure to use your resin before this time.
Exotherm (Over-Heating): Resin will heat-up whilst it cures. Mix in small batches and use expediently. Mixed resin in a pot will quickly overheat (exotherm) and can smoke/ignite. Never leave mixed resin unattended.
Cure Time/Demould: You can back up with Tooling Resin as soon as the Coupling Coat has Gelled. Typically this can take 1.5 - 3 hours depending on temperature and MEKP ratio.
Maximum Service Temperature: When fully cured and post cured, the maximum Service Temperature of Uni-Mould moulds is 90°C
Overcoating / Second coatings: Coupling Coat is normally applied in one session with 2 layers of 100g CSM.
Shelf Life: UC1 Uni-Mould Coupling coat has a shelf-life of 3 months.

Can’t find the answer you’re looking for?Ask our technical team a question.

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.

It's always worth testing a small amount on a discrete area first to check that the gelcoat wont attack the vinyl. If you still have the vinyl left over, you could even apply your chosen release agent and do a test with some of the gel to make sure that it releases okay. Apart from that it should be fine, applying vinyl over a part is a well used technique when the finish of the part may not be compatible with the chosen tooling gel and the original needs to be protected.

There is really very little you need to consider in terms of storing Uni-Mould moulds in the long term. We've had moulds that we've used for many years, sometimes using them every day, other times using them every few months. The only likely condition that could do them any harm would be if they were stored in very damp conditions or out exposed to the weather and elements. Because you'll have an exposed glass fibre edge, over time, water could 'ingress' into the glass fibre and the moulds would deteriorate; this would take a long time however and would need require constant exposure to wet weather.

It's also worth pointing out that if you're using a semi-permanent release agent, like Easy Lease, you would need to give your moulds a fresh coat of release agent when you use them again if they've been in storage for anything more than a few weeks.

Yes, you will need MEKP Catalyst to cure any of our Uni-Mould resins, including the Tooling Gelcoat. You can order the MEKP from the product page and can also find the MEKP separately here: MEKP Catalyst

Really, any more than 4 layers at a time would be risking the mould overheating. If you wanted to go thicker, then you will need to wait for the first 4 layers to cure, then key the surface and apply another 4 layers (you need the 4 layer thickness to give you the heat to cure the resin)

The Uni-Mould Coupling Coat can be backed up with tooling resin and CSM as soon as it is tacky and up to 48 hours later. The time for the resin to become tacky varies depending on catalyst ratio and ambient temperature but typically we would expect around 2hrs after application if using 2% catalyst in a typical 20°C ambient temperature.

ASK YOUR OWN QUESTION

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