I'm thinking it's acid based to chemically etch the material and also a film so
the aluminum will not oxidize immediately when exposed again to the air. Some
people use wet sanding of the aluminum to prevent the oxidation layer that
prevents good bonding. For this technique, slow cure epoxy (30 minute) is used
and the aluminum surface is wet sanded with the epoxy. I know, it sounds like
a big mess, but it works! For my application, I'm looking to bond 1/8" thick
aluminum between sheets of 1/32" thick G-10 Garolite for fins. The attached
photo shows the aluminum test peice. Anyway, I'm probably going to try the
West Systems Aluminum Etch on some test pieces and see if I can pull the layers
apart. Richard DierkingSubject: [tccrockets] Re: Bonding Aluminum to Fiberglass
From: bandman444@xxxxxxxxx
Date: Thu, 29 Nov 2012 17:31:47 -0800
To: tccrockets@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
I don't, when we bonded the aluminum fins to our N5800 rocket we used LOCtite
Hysol 9430 and used a sanding while epoxy on approach. It held to Mach 3 so I
guess it was ok.
The West Systems kit looks interesting.
Bryce Chanes
Sent from my iPhone
On Nov 29, 2012, at 4:51 PM, R Dierking <applerocketry@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Does anyone have experience using the West Systems 860-8 aluminum etch kit for
bonding aluminum to fiberglass?
Richard Dierking
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