REFLECTOR: Wing Delamination question

[Richard Riley]

At 11:56 AM 3/5/2006, you wrote:
>If I remember correctly... drill a couple of 1/8th inch holes in the 
>bubble and inject epoxy, add weight and allow to cure. Am I 
>forgetting or missing anything? Should there be any micro mixed in 
>the epoxy or should it be clear?
>
>I think it best to inject a microslurry.  It will inhibit the 
>'soaking' into the foam.

Blue foam is closed cell - all the foams we use are.  The pure epoxy 
will only fill the top layer of cells that are half open.

A micro slurry is used on blue foam so 1) it will stay on the foam, 
and not drip off and 2) as it fills that top layer of open cells, 
it's lighter in weight than pure epoxy.

In this case, there' not enough to worry about the weight, and we're 
putting it into a cavity so we don't have to worry about it dripping 
away.  The thing we DO want to worry about is getting it down the 
entire fractured surface.  Think about a broken piece of china that's 
been fitted back together almost perfectly.  That's what it's like 
under the blister.  You want the thinnest liquid you can get, so it 
will ooze down the fracture as far as we can get.  We don't have 
capillary action working for us, liquid epoxy doesn't have much 
surface tension.