Resin brake

This post we will go over a resin brake. A resin brake is nothing more then where peel ply is the only thing connecting the vacuum line to the part to be infused. The theory is that air can travel through it so you get full vacuum, but it is very difficult for epoxy to make it through. So what this does is allows areas that infuse slow to “catch up” to other areas. Below is a picture of how I typically set up an infusion. I stop my net about an inch or two before the parts trim line. The carbon is always a bit past the trim line, and then have a few inches of a resin brake. This particular picture I added a second patch of peel ply to extend right up to the gum tape. Once I switched to this method I have not had a need for a catch pot any more. This means less wasted epoxy, yay! This technique was backed up by the instructors at the seminar we attended a little bit ago as that’s how they set up all their test panels for infusion. The infusion will go slow towards the end tho so be aware of that. If your in a production environment like me and have your times down pat, you can sweep up, or start the next lay up during the infusion. If its just you tinkering with composites in your garage, then know you will be saving materials which is always a plus. Hope this helps!