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Jim Carriere wrote:
Ted wrote:

I have a question some of you Epoxy builders might know. Is Cotton
Flox okay to use as a structural filler in vinyl ester resin?. And if
so, why is it not called for to be used in it? Mostly, micro balloons,
cabosil, and milled fibers are used in vinyl ester, but in epoxy they
use cotton flox. I can think of a few uses where cotton flox would be
nice to use. I'm just can't find any info say whether or not it's
compatiable with vinyl ester resin.


In epoxy adhesive, cotton flox is used to thicken the uncured adhesive
(to keep it from running). Microballoons are used to maintain some
separation between the mating surfaces (mostly so the adhesive isn't
completely squeezed out but sometimes to prevent contact between
dissimilar metals). I suppose either is useful for thinning the
adhesive if bond strength isn't critical.

I realize this doesn't address your question about vinyl ester, just
some of the reasoning behind epoxy. Hope that helps a little...
Eeek! Ok, the deal is cotton flox is used not to thicken (the epoxy will
still run), but to make a moldable structural construct. The micro can
be used for non-structural thickening & the cabosil is used primarily
for thickening. The effects on the resin are as follows:
Cabosil and flox make for heavier structures, flox is typically used for
structural applications (those cute pens you can buy that look like
polished turtle shell are made from it), and micro will make a friable
structure with little or no strength, but light as a feather. It is true
that micro is used to ensure that while bonding two structures some
resin is left between the two parts.


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