When correctly applied, vacuum infusion makes it possible to produce components in fibre composite technology with very low emission levels. However simple and comprehensible the technology is, the more it depends on a meaningful interaction of the single components. Below we would like to present this technology to you briefly and give you a rough demonstration of the process. For any further questions, please contact our partners who will be pleased to provide you with help and advice.
The advantage of this process lies in the even and almost bubble-free impregnation of the fibres used. This allows a high quality of the components produced as well as a good reproducibility.
Process
The vacuum infusion process requires a mould, tacky tape, woven cloth, vacuum film and a flow aid. First the dry cloth (grey) is laid in the mould (yellow) and a sealing edge is then glued with tacky tape.
A flow aid is laid on the cloth, resin supply lines and a suction pipe for the vacuum pump are applied and the entire assembly is sealed with a vacuum film (turquoise).
The resin feeding pipes
are sealed and put into the bucked containing resin.
The vacuum pump (orange) is then switched on and the assembly is placed under
vacuum. Resin is now fed into the system. The resin/hardener mixture is sucked
through the cloth by vacuum. This is clearly marked in the image by the green
areas.
After a while the entire
component is saturated with the resin/hardener mixture and the supply lines have
to be closed.
The vacuum pump has to continue running so that the laminate is compressed
further.
In addition to air, the vacuum pump unfortunately sucks in a certain amount of
resin..
This causes the clogging and therefore destruction of the vacuum pump!
How the resin trap works. The resin trap (blue) is installed between the vacuum pump and the mould. It successfully stops resin from penetrating the vacuum pump by collecting any excess resin.