This title could be an ad from the manufacturer… but i start this thread to get some infos and i think that nothing’s better than the feedback from those who experienced it. It looks like we can get easily the “new” (snowboarder manufacturers use it for ages…) bi axial flex glass cloth.
But should we reserve this cloth with EPS/epoxy “only” or can it work as well with the traditional PU/poly? I mean, of course we can lam with it but will we get the advantage…? Will it make or boards stronger and lighter?
My first and only experience with this cloth was with the Keahana kit and it went ok…
Biaxial (+/-45°) isn’t future of glassing. Form factor of surfboards produce max stress in lengh of board. In composit structure, it’s reinforcement who should take load. If all reinforcement are +/- 45° structure overflex and fiber take less load (and matrix take more shear stress that’s why you shouldn’t use poly with biax). So you need something to take load and to reduce flex (stringer for exemple). Biax is just something that can be use to optimize composits depending form factor and load type.
Some supplier sell biax with boat buiding or ski building arguments. It’s a big mistake: not same form factor, not same load, not same building.
As all industrial parts surfboard follow mechanical’s rules !
to use only biax in a surfboard doesn’t make any sense.
Using fibre reinforced plastics you have to align the fibres so that they take most of the load. In a surfboard thats mostly from bending. So you definitely need fibres in the longitudinal axis of the board. Biax doesn’t provide any of them. Biax is normally used to give your produvt( eg ski) torsional stiffness. If you want that in your surfboard, use biax. BUT you still need 0°-fibres. So triaxial NCF(non-crimp-fabric) with fibres in 0°/±45° could be used. Up to now I have not seen any light triax cloth. It’s mostly used for bigger parts such as wind turbine blades.
Biaxial cloth also comes 0°/90° …I think the term generally refers to non-woven cloth. It is usually stitched or glued together. This is to prevent crimping the strands, allowing for a higher strength fabric. Also, a cloth is 45°/-45°/90° is referred to as Multiaxial, not Bi (2). Just my .02 cents. -Carl