Kevlar - Styrofoam material, where to get more

[[email protected]]

I apologize, this is unrelated to aviation, but it is a question about
a material some of you may be familiar with. I recently found this
material in my lab, and for the life of me, I can not find out where
it came from. It is perfect for a project I am currently working on,
and I would love to find where I can order more.

It basically looks like Styrofoam with a kevlar shell. I cut off a
sample and took some pictures:

http://losingallhope.com/temp/weirdmaterial1.jpg
http://losingallhope.com/temp/weirdmaterial2.jpg
http://losingallhope.com/temp/weirdmaterial3.jpg
http://losingallhope.com/temp/weirdmaterial4.jpg
http://losingallhope.com/temp/weirdmaterial5.jpg

One side is just the kevlar type material with the kevlar texture, the
other side is also kevlar, but painted black and smooth to the touch.
It is extremely lightweight and very strong. We have a piece that
looks like it was 4'x6' or so, and was used to hold solar cells.

If you know anything about what this material is and where I might be
able to get more, I would love you.

[[email protected]]

On Feb 17, 4:10 pm, "
> wrote:
> I apologize, this is unrelated to aviation, but it is a question about
> a material some of you may be familiar with. I recently found this
> material in my lab, and for the life of me, I can not find out where
> it came from. It is perfect for a project I am currently working on,
> and I would love to find where I can order more.
>
> It basically looks like Styrofoam with a kevlar shell. I cut off a
> sample and took some pictures:
>
> http://losingallhope.com/temp/weirdmaterial1.jpghttp://losingallhope.com/temp/weirdmaterial2.jpghttp://losingallhope.com/temp/weirdmaterial3.jpghttp://losingallhope.com/temp/weirdmaterial4.jpghttp://losingallhope.com/temp/weirdmaterial5.jpg
>
> One side is just the kevlar type material with the kevlar texture, the
> other side is also kevlar, but painted black and smooth to the touch.
> It is extremely lightweight and very strong. We have a piece that
> looks like it was 4'x6' or so, and was used to hold solar cells.
>
> If you know anything about what this material is and where I might be
> able to get more, I would love you.

The foam looks like about 3lb/foot divinycell, the laminate - maybe
kevlar, but it doesn't look like any kevlar I know of.

How many do you want, and what area are you in?

[[email protected]]

On Feb 18, 1:51 am, wrote:
> On Feb 17, 4:10 pm, "
>
>
>
> > wrote:
> > I apologize, this is unrelated to aviation, but it is a question about
> > a material some of you may be familiar with. I recently found this
> > material in my lab, and for the life of me, I can not find out where
> > it came from. It is perfect for a project I am currently working on,
> > and I would love to find where I can order more.
>
> > It basically looks like Styrofoam with a kevlar shell. I cut off a
> > sample and took some pictures:
>
> >http://losingallhope.com/temp/weirdmaterial1.jpghttp://losingallhope....
>
> > One side is just the kevlar type material with the kevlar texture, the
> > other side is also kevlar, but painted black and smooth to the touch.
> > It is extremely lightweight and very strong. We have a piece that
> > looks like it was 4'x6' or so, and was used to hold solar cells.
>
> > If you know anything about what this material is and where I might be
> > able to get more, I would love you.
>
> The foam looks like about 3lb/foot divinycell, the laminate - maybe
> kevlar, but it doesn't look like any kevlar I know of.
>
> How many do you want, and what area are you in?

I don't have the measurements on hand, but I need about 4, 8' x 3'
pieces, or enough to make that many pieces. I'm in the Austin, TX
area.

[[email protected]]

On Feb 18, 1:17 am, "
> wrote:
> On Feb 18, 1:51 am, wrote:
>
>
>
> > On Feb 17, 4:10 pm, "
>
> > > wrote:
> > > I apologize, this is unrelated to aviation, but it is a question about
> > > a material some of you may be familiar with. I recently found this
> > > material in my lab, and for the life of me, I can not find out where
> > > it came from. It is perfect for a project I am currently working on,
> > > and I would love to find where I can order more.
>
> > > It basically looks like Styrofoam with a kevlar shell. I cut off a
> > > sample and took some pictures:
>
> > >http://losingallhope.com/temp/weirdmaterial1.jpghttp://losingallhope....
>
> > > One side is just the kevlar type material with the kevlar texture, the
> > > other side is also kevlar, but painted black and smooth to the touch.
> > > It is extremely lightweight and very strong. We have a piece that
> > > looks like it was 4'x6' or so, and was used to hold solar cells.
>
> > > If you know anything about what this material is and where I might be
> > > able to get more, I would love you.
>
> > The foam looks like about 3lb/foot divinycell, the laminate - maybe
> > kevlar, but it doesn't look like any kevlar I know of.
>
> > How many do you want, and what area are you in?
>
> I don't have the measurements on hand, but I need about 4, 8' x 3'
> pieces, or enough to make that many pieces. I'm in the Austin, TX
> area.

Are you sure you want Kevlar? It's very hard to work with (in
laminated form, frays wherever you cut or drill it). If it's to hold
solar cells I'd use fiberglass - almost as light, WAY cheaper and
easier to work with.

Both the Kevlar and foam are available from Aircraft Spruce. If you
want prelaminated panels, they're also available, I can look for
names.

[Steve S.]

I second the idea that unless you specifically need Kevlar face
sheets, it is overkill and a totally needless expense. It is
relatively easy to make your own but if you want commercially
available stuff the two largest commercial suppliers are:

http://www.bellcomb.com/
and . . .
http://www.panelteccorp.com/

Note that if you mention that you got their contact information from
an aviation-related source they will hang up on you immediately. If
you are doing anything OTHER than aviation they will talk to you just
fine.

Both companies can probably ID the product from the photos you have,
but again--unless you have a specific spec for Kevlar, fiberglass is
much cheaper and infinitely easier to work with. The core choice is
driven by what the panel will be exposed to in terms of temp,
chemicals, and the required thickness. There are a few major families
of foam, each with good but differing properties. There is also
honeycomb of various types, which are suited to particular situations
but require a little extra work and ideally should have glue sheet
between the face sheets and the core. Take-home message--stick with
foam if you can. In our own project we recently switched away from
honeycomb cores and went back to Divinycell. Counter-intuitively,
this saved both money and weight.

[Maxwell]

"Steve S." > wrote in message
...
>I second the idea that unless you specifically need Kevlar face
> sheets, it is overkill and a totally needless expense. It is
> relatively easy to make your own but if you want commercially
> available stuff the two largest commercial suppliers are:
>
> http://www.bellcomb.com/
> and . . .
> http://www.panelteccorp.com/
>
> Note that if you mention that you got their contact information from
> an aviation-related source they will hang up on you immediately. If
> you are doing anything OTHER than aviation they will talk to you just
> fine.
>
> Both companies can probably ID the product from the photos you have,
> but again--unless you have a specific spec for Kevlar, fiberglass is
> much cheaper and infinitely easier to work with. The core choice is
> driven by what the panel will be exposed to in terms of temp,
> chemicals, and the required thickness. There are a few major families
> of foam, each with good but differing properties. There is also
> honeycomb of various types, which are suited to particular situations
> but require a little extra work and ideally should have glue sheet
> between the face sheets and the core. Take-home message--stick with
> foam if you can. In our own project we recently switched away from
> honeycomb cores and went back to Divinycell. Counter-intuitively,
> this saved both money and weight.

Given the same core thickness and cloth weave, won't he gain a little
stiffness on a panel this thin with fiberglass as well?

[Steve S.]

On Feb 18, 1:33 pm, "Maxwell" > wrote:

> Given the same core thickness and cloth weave, won't he gain a little
> stiffness on a panel this thin with fiberglass as well?

On paper, yes. Kevlar (aramid) is not a particularly stiff fiber. In
the lineup between glass, carbon & Kevlar, the Kevlar comes in last in
terms of stiffness. Actually it comes in last for just about
everything except impact tolerance/cut resistance/abrasion resistance--
at which it is superb and of course is mostly what it is used for.

In use in a panel you would have to get out the good tools to measure
the difference in deflection between any of them. As long as the face
sheets are bonded nicely and you've got a decent core material, almost
any laminate panel is honkin' stiff.

[Bob Kuykendall]

The core foam is Divinycell, at a guess I'd say H60. And I'd say
you're right about the face sheets, that's almost certainly some sort
of aramid like Kevlar (tm).

Premanufactured sheets of this stuff can be had, but it's generally an
aerospace or military item and priced accordingly in the hundreds of
dollars per pound.

Fortunately, its easy enough to make with garden-variety materials and
techniques. As others note, plain old fiberglass will yield greater
stiffness than the Aramid, and for the most part stiffness is what you
sense the most directly, not strength.

Thanks, Bob K.
http://www.hpaircraft.com

[cavalamb himself[_2_]]

Bob Kuykendall wrote:

> The core foam is Divinycell, at a guess I'd say H60. And I'd say
> you're right about the face sheets, that's almost certainly some sort
> of aramid like Kevlar (tm).
>
> Premanufactured sheets of this stuff can be had, but it's generally an
> aerospace or military item and priced accordingly in the hundreds of
> dollars per pound.
>
> Fortunately, its easy enough to make with garden-variety materials and
> techniques. As others note, plain old fiberglass will yield greater
> stiffness than the Aramid, and for the most part stiffness is what you
> sense the most directly, not strength.
>
> Thanks, Bob K.
> http://www.hpaircraft.com



Sheets -- with pricing...

http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/cmpages/divinycellfoam.php