I received a call this morning from the nice folks at Dow Chemical re: UV epoxy resin for surfboards (not to be confused with those evil folks at Dow Chemical who make Napalm to burn human flesh) The guy was very knowledgeable and seemed to think it was a piece of cake… “You just take some epoxy acrylate, thin it down with some diacrylate to lower the viscosity so it saturates the fiberglass easier and add some UV photo initiater so it cures in seconds after exposure to UV light waves.” “WOW!!!” I said, “Is that all there is to it? - How about yellowing when exposed to sunlight for a long time?” “Well, that IS a problem with epoxies in general” he said. “So, I’m just a small time guy experimenting in my garage… how much would it cost for a couple of gallons to fool around with?” I said. “Gallons?!.. Oh gosh, we only sell by the tanker truck load” he said(!) “Well, isn’t there somebody out there retailing the stuff?” I asked. “You might be able to find somebody willing to sell you a 55 gallon drum or something” he replied. “Well, thanks a lot and I’m sorry to have bothered you…” and I hung up. Greg Loehr - I suspect you’re reading this. I’m not sure if I got all that correct but I have high hopes that you’ll come up with something soon for us small timers.
Hey John, I will sell you a tanker load, I will make you a killer deal. By the way were you speaking with the Dow Epoxy or Dow Epoxy VE rep? Sluggo
Yes, that’s an upcoming project. The yellowing you mentioned is one of my specialties. I should be able to solve that one. One problem might be the acrylate. Modulas has to be right. I see a challenge there. These tech guys just don’t know our product. It ain’t that easy.
Here’s something else I dug up… No idea on cost, availability or even suitability for surfboard use - I just have a hunch there has to be something. Sluggo - I don’t know which division the guy was from. And Greg - I know you’ve got the surfboard application down like nobody’s business. I’m thinking with UV cure to speed things up and maybe get around the temperature thing some of us in colder climates deal with, you will gain quite a few converts as regular customers. http://www.sartomer.com/wpapers/4306.pdf
I was curios since the way Dow lists their VE products it kind of sounds like standard epoxies. Sounds like you spoke with an Epoxy guy. Atofina (French Co.) is one of the largest companies in the world. I think the 4th largest petrolium company. Not to get political, but probably the main reason France didn’t want us to go to war with Iraq is Atofina has a huge contract with Iraq to get the oil out of Iraq. We are talking multi, multi billions of dollars. One of their many divisions is a hardener/initiator division. Sounds like these are used in the coatings industries. Not sure how they would relate to composites. I know of a few places that have played with UV curing epoxies in filament winding. ACPT in Huntington Beach uses UV cure in their process. John, check out www.fusionuv.com for more info on UV cure applications. Sluggo
Hey Epoxy people, Went to San O’Nonfre with the teen scene and my son Mickey. Guy next to me talked about our boards since I brought a bunch for the youngbloods. He said he had several epys and some guy who hangs out at “Rocky’s” Bar in San Clemente,or Capistrano, does great ding repairs on these boards. Call the Bar. Bruce Jones at Bruce Jone Surfboards. com has a bulletin board. He responsed readily. He is always staying on top of the products. French Tip Nail Polish works on the chips and small cracks /tape off and pour / wait and watch till it stops moving The village idot TC