Hi, I know I have seen some talk about different epoxies in the past, but I'm wondering if anyone has done similar builds with different epoxies and has seen a real difference. I can imagine that a stiff epoxy when laid up as part of a thin skin might seem to be really stiff and dent resistant over a soft foam compared to another epoxy. BUT, when we make a mast/strut, and try to bend that, we have a lot of fibers in tension on one side and in compression on the other side on a relatively wide object. It would seem to me that particularly on the tension side that if the carbon fibers are pulling straight in tension the resin itself would not make much difference to flex. On the compression side I'm not sure if very small order buckling and compression would be possible, or whether this would just lead to full failure if there was any actual movement of fibers.
The more simple question is this: I used Resin Research epoxy for my first build. The strut has adequate stiffness, but I know some are stiffer. I think that my foam core and in retrospect no very well executed internal carbon stringer would matter more than some kind of different epoxy. Or, if I am wrong about this, is there a different epoxy that I should be using? Please don't reply and say "I used brand xxx and mine worked well". I would say that about what I am using too. I am looking for direct apples-to-apples comparisons, building the exact same thing with the same fibers but different epoxies. Has anyone done that?.
Thanks,
Peter