3DCORE PET 100 Infusion Foam

3D CORE® is a unique, high performance, conformable core material ideally suited to use as a core material in resin infused composite parts. 3D CORE's special honeycomb-like hexagon structure enables it to drape into curved moulds, allowing it to be used on more compound shaped parts where a conventional foam core would be difficult or impossible to use.

Another benefit of 3D CORE's honeycomb-like structure is that the gaps between the cells make perfect airflow and resin-flow channels meaning that 3D CORE can serve as an internal flow media for vacuum resin infused or RTM laminates.

3D CORE PET 100 is a 95kg/m³ density PET (polyethylene terephthalate) foam. It offers excellent mechanical performance and is one of the highest performing foam core materials on the market in terms of compressive and shear strength against weight/density so if you're looking for a very high performance core material for use making larger moulding such as vehicle panels or boat hulls then 3D CORE offers many advantages. At 95kg/m³ PET 100 is a higher density core than our Closed Cell PVC Foam for example, especially after some additional resin uptake into the gaps between the honeycomb cells but its compressive strength is also considerably higher.

Units of Sale & Thickness

3D CORE is sold by the sheet, the price shown is per sheet and volume discounts are available for multiple sheets.

3D CORE is available in 3mm, 5mm or 10mm thickness; please choose the thickness you require from the drop-down list at the top of the page.

How to Use 3D CORE®

3D CORE can be most effectively used as a core material for high strength, low weight, compound shaped mouldings made using the vacuum assisted resin infusion process. The infusion can be undertaken using epoxy, vinylester or polyester resins but to take advantage of the excellent mechanical properties of both 3D CORE and the resin infusion process we would suggest epoxy or vinylester resin.

A typical laminate would include reinforcement such as carbon fibre or glass fibre in woven or multiaxial form laid into the mould. Next 3D CORE is laid on top of the reinforcement and then further reinforcement laid on top of the core to complete the sandwich laminate.

On larger or more complex mouldings, reinforcement and the 3D CORE can be held in position using an infusion compatible spray adhesive.

Multiple sheets of 3D CORE can be aligned side-by-side to cover large mould areas. There is no performance disadvantage to positioning multiple sheets of 3D CORE side by side (rather than one large sheet) and in fact the smaller sheet sizes make the core easier to handle and position. When positioning adjoining sheets, interlock the honeycombs to result in a continuous honeycomb pattern.

With the layup completed the laminate is finished with a conventional resin infusion stack of peel-ply, infusion mesh, infusion spiral and connectors and then sealed with vacuum bagging tape and bagging film.

During the infusion, resin will flow through the infusion mesh, into the top reinforcement, down through the open structure of the 3D CORE and into the bottom layer of laminate. The resin that fills the channels around the 3D CORE's cells will cure and ultimately contribute to the compressive and overall strength of the cured laminate.

Compatibility

3D CORE is compatible with all common resin systems including epoxy, polyester, vinylester, polyurethane and phenolic resins. For best performance we suggest epoxy or vinylester.

Print Through

When the resin that fills the channels around the 3D CORE's cells cures it will inevitably produce a slight 'print through' effect on the laminate whereby a faint honeycomb pattern can be seen on the surface of the laminate. This effect will be less obvious when using low-shrink resin systems like epoxy and more obvious when using systems prone to more shrinkage such as vinylester and particularly polyester resin.

The effects of print-through will also be less obvious on laminates which use thicker reinforcement and thinner cores and more obvious with thinner reinforcement and a thicker core.

For critical cosmetic applications where print-through must be eliminated altogether, one option is to infuse and cure the visible surface layer first and then re-infuse the core and backing laminate in a 2-shot process. As stated, use of epoxy infusion resin will significantly reduce any print-through effect.

3D CORE is a trademark of ESC GmbH & Co. KG.