Crash-n-Burn
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- Aug 14, 2014
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I'm wondering if there is an impact on the strength of epoxy cured at different (high) temps. My basement is around 55 degrees and I've been less than thrilled at epoxy curing at that temp. I've read that folks out west in sunny Arizona put rockets outside to speed curing. I decided to implement this recently. I put some fillets on a rocket, then put the rocket in a box and sealed the box. I cut a hole and aimed my heat gun at the hole. Heat gun on low is supposedly 575 degrees, but it is a cheapo model.
Anyhow, I stuck a meat thermometer through the box and found that the temps got up to 185 inside. Needless to say my fillets cured in half and hour (I used West Systems). Normally in my chilly basement this would have taken four to six hours.
While I'm pleased with the results, is there such a thing as curing too fast? Can you goose that exothermic reaction to the point that it makes the epoxy weak?
Anyhow, I stuck a meat thermometer through the box and found that the temps got up to 185 inside. Needless to say my fillets cured in half and hour (I used West Systems). Normally in my chilly basement this would have taken four to six hours.
While I'm pleased with the results, is there such a thing as curing too fast? Can you goose that exothermic reaction to the point that it makes the epoxy weak?