John, The skirts above and below the (temporary) fiberglass-wound tank on your vehicle appear to be carbon fiber, generally much stiffer than fiberglass. When you proof-test the tank, watch out for damage to the glue bond between them. This was a problem with the Roton ATV 'glass tanks where bonded to carbon. The 'glass tank will swell a not-insignificant amount under pressure, and the carbon won't want to stretch accordingly. The adhesive between them will be under a great deal of shear stress. You might even split a skirt end.
It looks like it's too late now, but creating multiple isolated "fingers" by cutting several length-wise slots into the skirts is one solution. An adhesive with some flexibility would also help. Ken Doyle ----- Original Message ----- From: "John Carmack" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, March 10, 2003 5:58 PM Subject: Re: [ERPS] Armadillo March 8 > At 07:38 PM 3/10/2003 -0500, you wrote: > >Consider the possibility that the epoxy may crack under multiple > >pressure cycles. The aluminum parts may have more yield than > >the epoxy/fiber parts. Clean and treat the metal parts carefully > >where the epoxy/fiber bonds to it. I'd take one unit to multiple > >cycles and see where failure occurs (if it happens). Consider this > >a 'fatigue life' on the second unit. Why glass filled? You trying to > >save mass? ;-> Wouldn't the unfilled stuff be stronger? > > > >Dan > > If you are ever bridging much of a gap or making a filet, you need to add > some kind of fibers to epoxy. We use cotton flox for most things, as it is > nice and easy to work with, but chopped glass fiber is stronger. Chopped > carbon fibers are even stronger, but you shouldn't use carbon fibers in > contact with aluminum, because you get galvanic corrosion. > > John Carmack > > _______________________________________________ > ERPS-list mailing list > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://lists.erps.org/mailman/listinfo/erps-list _______________________________________________ ERPS-list mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.erps.org/mailman/listinfo/erps-list
