Question about epoxy resin chemistry..

On Thu, 08 Apr 2004 19:11:05 GMT, Ernest Christley
wrote:

Chris wrote:
Hello everyone.

I am attempting to find a suitable epoxy resin in SE Asia (Thailand
specifically) for building a composite airplane.

It doesn't appear that any recognized brands are sold here, however
there are factories that produce epoxy of all kinds.

However, in order to get the correct epoxy I need to know what to ask
for. Specifically, my research on the web has led me to conclude that
most aviation/aerospace epoxies are Bisphenol-A based resins with an
amine based hardener? Is this correct or have I interpreted the data
incorrectly?
Chris

I'm at the same stage, Chris, except that I'm in the states and still
can't sort through all the muss.

There are multiple brands that I can choose from. They all say they are
the best, and list 100 properties that seem to be important. The
newsgroups are full of people saying, "I used brand X, and I liked it!"
When questioned, they had never used anything else, and had basically
done the inny-minny-mienni-moe roututine out of aircraft spruce.

There were some interesting postings in this newsgroup around 1994,
which discussed the importance of some strength properties of different
formulations, but I don't have any idea how that applies to what's on
the market today.

To make matters worse, I've started looking at premade panels. FR4 and
G-10. One of the other builders just gave me a lead. IL/Norplex
manufactures a variety of premade panels, and publishes data sheets on
the web. Now there is a load of confusion.

I guess the point of this post is the hope that someone out there who
has some real information on the different properties and how that
interrelate will help both of us.

Ernest, I'm not sure I understand the problem. Most kits that require
fiberglass supply the recommended type of resin. If you are doing
something other than buiding a kit, you could just look at what the
kits supply and use that, couldn't you?

Why is this so difficult? Are you designing your own airplane?

Thanks, Corky Scott