XCR Epoxy Coating Resin

Even in this project, which went very well, there can still be some micro pinholes in a couple of areas (which is normal, even on the best made parts). A skim over with a clear resin such as XCR is a good fix, or a clear coat (as used in this video) should also overcome them. 

No, we wouldn’t suggest Epoxy Resins for lining a fuel tank. In general, epoxies have good resistance to petrol and many of the chemicals and additives found within pump fuel however the ethanol in fuel is known to cause problems over time and so specialist tank lining resins (often novalac vinylester based) should be used instead. One such product is GTS 1750 which is sold by Caswell Europe.

No, this epoxy in common with other epoxies does not attack expanded polystyrene

We have not specifically saught FDA (or similar) approval for this resin system so if you were to make these plates commercially then you would either need to make a plate using this resin system and then have it tested and approved safe for food use or use a different resin system that has specifically been approved for food use. Mixed and cured fully and properly the resulting plastic should be stable and non-toxic but testing would be required to prove this. Regarding being dishwasher safe; a dishwasher is a very harsh environment (abrasive, high temperatures, caustic) and so I think it would be quite hard on any resin system. By all means conduct your own tests but I would strongly recommend that a carbon fibre plate was not marketed as 'dishwasher safe'.

Although generally cured epoxies are non-hazardous, none of the products we have are certified food safe and thus we cannot recommend their use with food products.

We recommend Acetone. The brushes must be cleaned before the resin has cured. If you can’t get hold of acetone it’s also possible to use methylated spirits or neat alcohol.

In really simple terms you can think of 1kg of the Epoxy Resin as being 1L. If you want to be really exact (for example if you want to mix the resin and the hardener by volume and not by weight (which we don't recommend because it's unnecessarily complicated) then the relative density of the resin and the hardener, and the mixed product, can be found on the technical datasheet.

We can send any quantity of resin to Portugal. We would use a TNT Road service. To find the shipping cost for any item, simply add it to your basket and then click the 'Estimate Shipping' button on the basket page. The price will then be shown once you chose your shipping country (Portugal).

Unlike other resin systems such as polyester or vinylester, it's very important to get the mix ratios accurate with epoxies. If you get the mix ratio wrong by a small amount (let's say a couple of grams on a small mix) then the resin will still cure but the mechanical properties won't be quite as good as they would have been if the mix ratio had been exactly right. However, if you were to be out by anything more than a few grams then you might find that the resin would not be properly hard when cured and/or may have a tackiness to the finish. This would result in a much weaker repair and needs to be avoided by careful measurements.

Above the HDT of a resin system it will soften slightly and its mechanical properties will start to fall away however a thermosetting plastic (like epoxy) is NOT a thermoformable plastic so it will not start to flow again such that you could melt it out of your part. It's more likely to become slightly soft and then possible more brittle again before eventually starting to burn if you too the temperature high enough. It sounds to me like you need a thermoformable plastic (aka a thermoplastic) with a relatively low melting point. I'd suggest something like PCL.

An elevated temperature post-cure is not required for parts made with epoxy resin however, post curing parts will improve the mechanical properties of the resin (and therefore the part) and so if you have the means to do it then it's certainly recommended. One major advantage to post-curing epoxy is that you will raise the HDT (heat distortion temperature) of the part meaning that it's less likely to soften or distort in higher temperatures. This can be particularly important for parts like a vehicle panel (i.e. hood/bonnet) which could get very hot in the sun. Without a post-cure there is a good chance that the part would effectively post-cure itself 'in situe' when it's in direct sunlight which can cause the resin to soften, sink and then re-harden. When this happens to a fitted part it's likely to distort the surface finish. A part that had been post-cured prior to installation would not have this problem.

Epoxy resins have very little odour and so it's quite viable to use them indoors (i.e. in your house) without upsetting anyone. The resin is almost completely odourless and the hardener has an amonia smell which doesn't really carry or linger.

In this respect epoxies are very different to polyester and vinylester resin which has a very strong smell and cannot realistically be used indoors. As always, you should still follow safety precautions and ensure adequate ventilation of your work area.

Uncured resins are classed as dangerous goods and would need to be disposed of correctly. For domestic users, usually your local council recycling centre will have a disposal service for such chemicals or containers.

Because cured resins are inert and safe for disposal it's often easiest to mix un-needed or out-of-date resin and hardener together to cure them. Once cured they can be disposed of with general waste.

Epoxy is sensitive to low temperatures so we would not attempt to try and cure the resin at very low temperatures such as below 15 °:C. At those temperatures, the cure time will be lengthened considerably.

One of the most significant problems caused by low temperatures (much below 20°C) is that the resin will be considerably thicker which affects its ability to self-degas after pouring.

Also, curing epoxies are hydroscopic so the low temperature environment may well leave the resin vulnerable to absorbing moisture, especially if the environment is relatively damp or high in humidity as can be found in some outdoor workshops or home garages.

As a result, for best results we always recommend working in an environment that is 20°C or above.

The B stage of the cure is when the resin has cured enough to be firm but still tacky. When touching with a gloved finger, the resin should feel tacky but not leave any residue on the glove.

This rather depends on the environment the sculpture would be in because you will need to consider the UV stability of the resin you use. Also, it's not clear from your question whether you need the resin to be thick (like a filler) so that it can fill gaps or whether a normal liquid viscosity would be OK.

I'll assume that this is either an indoor or a semi-shaded environment (not permanent direct sunlight) in which case our XCR Coating Resin is a clear epoxy resin that would be liquid in its normal state, allowing you to direct it into cracks or gaps in the piece. It also has excellent UV stability (for an epoxy resin) so providing you're not looking at permanent direct sunlight then it should be fine.

If you need a thicker consistency then you'll find that anything you add to make the resin thicker will affect its clarity (making it milky) which may or may not be a problem. If you do want to make the resin thick (like a filler) then you could add Fumed Silica which is a white powder that can be added to resins to make them thick and self supporting.

This really depends on how thick you want to coating to be. Like any liquid, the XCR resin will use up 1 litre per square metre, per millimetre of thickness so if you want a 1mm coating then you would need 1 litre per square metre; for a 0.5mm coating you would need 0.5 litres (500ml). Converting litres to kilograms of the product is basically just 1:1 so 1 litre is 1 kilogram.

A thickness for a coating of XCR onto a wooden top would be around 0.5mm to 1mm, then flatted and polished for a mirror flat surface.

If you're looking for a thicker, self-levelling resin coating for a table then our GlassCast 3 Epoxy Coating Resin product would be recommended.

The XCR coating resin is a room temperature curing resin.  So you would want to do the initial cure at 20C then follow the post cure on the TDS which is 6 hours at 70C. 

Entirely depends on the environment and its use, eg an occasional use watercraft, permanent part on a car etc.  Certainly it will eventually begin to yellow, so a UV stable lacquer can be a good protective measure to improve lifespan.  The resin can be sanded back and recoated if needed to restore a good finish. 

XCR is primary a surface coating resin. However it is common practice in wet lay up processes to brush a layer of resin onto the mould surface before applying the fibre in that way. There is no reason why you could not do that with the XCR if you specifically wanted its properties over the EL2 you are using for the rest of it.

The Manufacturer states up to 40% bio derived content is used to make the epoxy. 

Yes the XCR can be painted once cured. The surface will need to be sanded to the paint manufacturers recommended level, then thoroughly cleaned and degreased prior to painting. Most modern spray paints will go straight on with no primer.

Yes, you could use XCR in this way. A more typical approach would probably be to sand the hull down and then spray it using a 2-pack polyurethane clear coat. The advantage to a paint system is the speed of application (because you're spraying it) and the smoother finish it will leave. Disadvantages are the requirement for spray equipment (compressor, gun, extraction/ventilation) and the fact that a paint finish won't be as tough as epoxy.

As an alternative to 2-pack paint, XCR would allow you to restore a tough, clear, glossy coating on the boat, and without the need for spraying. However, due to the fact that you'll be brush-applying the resin, if you want to finish it to a high standard (smooth and flat) you'll need to do some flatting and polishing. On a smooth shape like a kayak hull, if you have a dual-action sander and some abrasive discs (and ideally a foam interface pad to make following the contours easier) then this wouldn't be too much of a task.

Although there is some leeway on the ambient temperature when working with resins and generally higher temperatures can be acceptable at the expense of working time (higher temperature = less pot life and faster cure time) the skinning process with the XCR resin would be one example where it's probably going to be simply impossible.

The biggest problem when skinning with XCR at higher temperatures is the viscosity of the resin. XCR would become so thin at 30°C and higher that it will tend to 'split' and not create a continuous layer over the part. Furthermore, XCR is such a fast curing resin already, at 20°C that at 30°C or more it will be almost unusably fast, giving you only a few mins pot-life before it cures in the pot.

So, unfortunately, the answer is no to anything higher than 30°C for XCR I'm afraid. Sorry.

Yes, XCR would be a good choice for this, especially if you're looking for something that you can brush apply, rather than spray.

To get a professional finish you would need to key the forks first using abrasive paper, then apply the XCR - probably a couple of coats to build up a decent protective thickness, and then flat and polish it to get a really smooth, flat, glossy finish. The reason being that onto carbon never go down perfectly smooth and so to get a really professional finish you'll need to flat with wet and dry and then polish using a polishing compound, such as NW1.

XCR is not suitable for resin infusion as its viscosity is too high. For resin infusion, we would recommend our IN2 Epoxy Infusion Resin.

Although epoxies (including the XCR), in general have a good chemical resistance to fuels, the ethanol content in modern petrol does cause a problem. Epoxy is not highly resistant to ethanol within the fuel, so although small spillages, for example around a fuel filler or the outside of a motorbike tank are unlikely to cause issues, permanent and prolonged exposure to fuels is likely to be a problem.

In situations where the exposure to fuel (and its ethanol content) is permanent (such as a fuel tank) then specialist tank lining resins/coatings can be used. These are often novalac vinylester based. One such product is GTS 1750 which is sold by Caswell Europe.

...I would like to know if it is possible to pour a 2-3mm deep coat of epoxy / metal powder mix (various metal colours) onto a guitar body, to then be polished up to a shine? If not, which epoxy would you recommend for this type of application?

For coating objects around the 2-3mm, a better resin choice would be our GlassCast 3 Clear Epoxy Coating Resin for its clarity and finish. It can be easily sanded smooth and polished to an even higher gloss if needs be. At 3mm, you will either need to shutter the edges or build up in layers to prevent the resin flowing over the edge of the board.

Alternatively, you could create a convincing, polish-able metal coating using as little as 0.5mm of resin and metal powder, in which case this XCR coating resin would be suitable.

Yes our EL2 epoxy can be coated with XCR Epoxy. We would recommend a thorough key of the surface with sandpaper then a good clean and degrease before applying the layer of XCR Epoxy Coating Resin.

Yes you can, however due to the vertical nature, if you want to achieve a totally flat, glossy surface (rather than a penny-textured glossy coating) you would need to build up the resin in several layers to prevent excessive run off and then flat and polish it to a flat gloss but this would be quite a bit of work, especially on a vertical surface.

Yes you can add fumed silica to our XCR Epoxy Coating resin to thicken it to a point when it will brush in a thicker fashion on vertical surfaces however you should keep in mind, especially if you intend the XCR to be a clear coating, that addition of fillers like fumed silica will affect the clarity of the resin.

Once the resin has been allowed to fully cure, XCR Coating resin will form a hard, durable waterproof layer over the substrate. Along with its high levels of UV stabilisers, this is one of the properties that has made it popular for use on outdoor equipment such as surfboards and boat decking.

We would not recommend thinning down our XCR Epoxy Coating Resin as thinning agents/solvents would damage the resin itself and would be likely to affect the important properties of the XCR resin, such as the smooth glossy finish. This does mean that XCR would not be suitable for spraying.

Some 3D printed materials, especially PLA, can be very hard to bond to, so we would not recommend applying XCR without first treating the surface. Cyanoacrylate can be used on PLA to seal and smooth the surface either as a primer for other coatings, such as our XCR, or as a coating in its own right.

For most applications a Composites Laminating Brush is good enough to get an even thin coat over a surface.

For very large and/or flat surfaces a Resin/Gelcoat Application Roller with Frame can be more suitable.

In either event, XCR is not designed as a self-levelling or self-finishing resin. It is designed to be flatted and polished once cured and so it is not necessary (or possible) to achieve a perfect finish straight from the brush (or roller).

The slight purple tint comes from the UV stabalisers it does lesson considerably once mixed, it is not usually noticable when applied over a fabric, however, in common with all resin systems it will slightly darken the colour of the hybrid fabrics due to the way the light is refracted through the resin.