The course covers polyester, vinyl ester, acrylic urethane, and epoxy resins.
Special attention is given to manufacturing processes for composite parts using closed-mold techniques: infusion/vacuum, RTM injection and lightweight RTM, as well as manual vacuum-assisted laminating.

Additionally, the course will focus particularly on high-impact and fire-resistant urethane-acrylic type resins (Crestapol and Crestafire).

We will produce the hull of a small three-meter fiberglass-reinforced polyester boat and a 4-meter wind turbine blade made with sandwich structures, using infusion/vacuum techniques, employing glass fabrics and various core materials for high bending strength sandwich laminates.

New thin sandwich core materials for lightweight, highly bending-resistant parts will be used (Millifoam and Sphere.core/tex).

THEORY

Study of the most important thermoset resins in the composite materials sector and their main properties. Applications of polyester, vinyl ester, urethane-acrylic, and epoxy resins.
Analysis of resin reactivity: crosslinking monomer, catalysts, hardeners, accelerants, and inhibitors.
Low-styrene-emission resins: dicylopentadiene (DCPD) and vinyl ester-dicyclopentadiene resins.
Polyester, vinyl ester, and epoxy gel coats: types and application standards. Common defects in gel coat applications and how to avoid them. Gel coats for manufacturing parts and molds.
High-performance, corrosion-resistant resins: vinyl ester resins. Main properties and uses.
Epoxy resins: key properties, chemistry, and types. Glass transition temperature (Tg). Polymerization: gel time, hardening, and curing.
Urethane-acrylic resins (Crestapol): a new generation of high-tenacity resins for applications with carbon, aramid, and high-impact polypropylene fibers. Fire-resistant resins.
Adhesives: urethane-acrylic (Crestomer), methacrylates (Crestabond), and epoxy (Resoltech). Study of T-joint lap bonds for bulkheads. Composite-to-composite, composite-to-metal bonds, etc. Adhesives for materials with different coefficients of thermal expansion.
Reinforcing fibers: glass, carbon, aramid (Kevlar), and Innegra. Mechanical properties of composite laminates and fibers individually.
Materials for manufacturing sandwich structures (PVC cores, balsa wood, PET, PU, SAN, CORE CORK, Sphere.tex, honeycomb cores). Compression and shear strength.
Mold release agents: semi-permanent systems Chemtrend and Mikon.
Focus on manufacturing processes such as infusion/vacuum and RTM.
Advantages and disadvantages of these processes, and a comparison between them.

PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS

Manufacturing of composite parts with polyester, urethane-acrylic, and epoxy resins.
Use of high-fire-resistance resins: Crestafire (polyester) and Crestapol (urethane-acrylic).
Building molds using Rapid Tooling with low-shrinkage resins (low profile), low-shrinkage vinyl ester-DCPD resin, and vinyl ester gel coat.
Constructing an epoxy mold or master with compatible polyester gel coat, high Tg epoxy, and high-performance epoxy resin, using vacuum compression techniques and glass fabrics, including multidirectional and silone fabrics.
Adhesive practice: bonding metal parts, composite laminates, wood, and plastics.
Manufacturing a small epoxy and carbon fiber part in a split mold (two halves), injecting a high-strength, low-density epoxy foam.
Producing a 4-meter wind turbine blade shell via infusion-vacuum, using polyester gelcoat (Isoftálico) and Crestapol 1261 resin reinforced with fiberglass, employing cores such as Millifoam (PVC), Spherecore, and Spherecel.
Creating a small boat hull (3 meters long) using infusion-vacuum, with polyester resin (Crystic U904LVK30 or Recapoli 955 INF-G). Materials like Metycore, Polymat fabrics, multidirectional fabrics, sandwich cores (80 kg/m³ PVC, Spherecore, balsa wood), peel plies, resin distribution meshes, vacuum bags, etc., will be used.
Manufacturing a fire-resistant component with urethane-acrylic resin (Crestapol 1211A) injected via lightweight RTM for a sled.