28/03/13

Business Name

Through Hulls

Submersible Build Log

Results:

1 RS medium vicsosity epoxy, machine mixed.

 

Remove from tube:  Medium.  Had to chizel it a bit.

How many bubbles?:  Loads.

Bend\Break Test:   Very hard.  It was solid.

Notch test with a chizel:  Hard.

Thump it with the lump hammer, side on:  No damage.

Thump it with the lump hammer end on:  Shattered first hit.

 

2 RS medium vicsosity epoxy, hand mixed with a stick.

 

Remove from tube:  Medium.  Had to chizel it a bit.

How many bubbles?:  Quite a lot, better than the above.

Bend\Break Test:   Very hard.  It was solid.

Notch test with a chizel:  Hard.

Thump it with the lump hammer, side on:  No damage.

Thump it with the lump hammer end on:  Shattered first hit.

 

3 Eli Chem Resins low visosity epoxy composite.

 

Remove from tube:  Impossible.  Product is like solid glass and stuck solid.

How many bubbles?:  Very Little. (also optically very clear).

Bend\Break Test:   Impossible. 

Notch test with a chizel:  Very Hard.

Thump it with the lump hammer, side on:  No damage.

Thump it with the lump hammer end on:  Broke at the end after a few hits.

 

4 ResinTech RT310 low visosity epoxy.

 

Remove from tube:  Easy. 

How many bubbles?:  Very Little.

Bend\Break Test:   Slightly flexible.

Notch test with a chizel:  Medium, I could dig out a hole with effort.

Thump it with the lump hammer, side on:  No damage.

Thump it with the lump hammer end on:  Very tough, only chipped at the top after multiple hits.

 

5 Eli Chem Resins Polyurethane.

 

Remove from tube:  Hard, chizeled it off.

How many bubbles?:  Cant see, looks like very little.

Bend\Break Test:   Very Flexible, I could bend it until it started to tear.

Notch test with a chizel:  Easy. 

Thump it with the lump hammer, side on:  No damage.

Thump it with the lump hammer end on:  Very tough, no damage at all.

 

Conclusions:

 

The RS product is really just a basic potting compound and not really designed for this job.  The medium visosity caused problems pouring it but mostly in air entrapment.  Machine mixing it filled it with bubbles which could not escape.  Thats why I did 2 tests, one with machine and one with hand mixing.  It was very hard though.

 

Eli Chem epoxy composite was extreemely hard and I was very tempted to use this.  The product is like a lump of glass you find on the beach.  Hard, but brittle.  Stood up well to the impact tests but also stuck to the PVC very well.  Did shatter eventually.

 

Eli Chem Polyurethane was very very tough and wouldnt break.  It was like a thick piece of rubber.  It was just a bit too bendy for my liking and I could tear it. 

 

RT310 seemed a good all rounder and was particually tough on the impact test.  Took some hammereing to get it to break.  The only fault was it had not taken very well to the PVC.  It had taken though and Im hoping it will be better in contact with the grit blasted steel.  This was the one I used in the end.

 

So after all that fuss, I went with the one I had used originally, the RT 310, except mixed properly.  I think that must have been what I had done wrong first time.