Effects of UV on epoxy composite laminates

[USACompositeGuy]

I would like to know if anyone has any recommended literature for the short term effects of UV exposure on a carbon/epoxy laminate. By short term I mean a few days and exposure would be to the sun on an unpainted laminate.

 

[wes616]

Most of the literature is directed at long term exposure of laminate to environmental conditions.

The UV affect on your laminate should be negligible for a few days of exposure; however, the secondary surface heating affect could cause problems. There are several curves you can find online, but the surface temp of a black carbon laminate in the sun, even on a nice spring day, can easily exceed 200d F. This would obviously have a worse affect on your laminate if you are using an LTM type material.




Wes C.
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[Compositepro]

you might see some yellowing of the surface resin but little else. Epoxy will degrade slowly from U.V. but carbon fiber does not and it blocks U.V. very effectively. Wit enough time surface resin will flake-off and expose the fiber and the surface will become fuzzy. But U.V. will not penetrate to any depth.