How to clean carbon fiber cut parts 2

[drodrig]

Hi,

We are going to cut with a circular saw some carbon fiber reinforced epoxy parts.

There is little dust after the cut.

How can we clean them?

Just water? Some additional product?

thanks
regards,

 

[berkshire]

A little acetone on a rag ,or air blow off. You do not want the parts to get wet If you are going to process them further.
B.E.

You are judged not by what you know, but by what you can do.

 

[Compositepro]

The only type of circular saw blade that should be used to cut a carbon fiber composite is a diamond, or other abrasive type, blade. This should be water cooled during cutting to keep down dust and to avoid degrading the epoxy with too much heat.

Further clean-up can be done with soap and water. Dry as needed, above 100C (typically 120C). This removes water that may have penetrated into the part.

 

[ctopher]

Compositepro is correct. This is how we did it where I previously worked.

ctopher, CSWP
SolidWorks '17
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[drodrig]

Hi,

Yes, we have a diamond cutter with water cooling.

The parts will be glued afterwards.

So we will use soap (dish soap, maybe good against fat?). No accetone

And use the oven

thanks
regards,

 

[drodrig]

Hi,

One additional question:

What do you do with the dirty water used to clean the dust?

It has very small carbon chips.

The prepreg manufacturer told me to just pour it away into the drainpipe but I don't have a good feeling about it

cheers,

 

[ctopher]

I have seen it poured out. But, you can add a filter if you need to. I also don't like it going down the pipes, there are resin particles.

ctopher, CSWP
SolidWorks '17
ctophers home
SolidWorks Legion

 

[Compositepro]

Let it settle out in a tank and discard it as solid waste after a while.

 

[WKTaylor]

CPro, All...

No one here has mentioned waterjet cutting... why? Also, after cutting drilling I always specify a brush-coat of laminating (low viscosity) epoxy resin to seal the laminate edges.

FYI... there is a relatively new SAE AIR or ARP for machining and drilling/reaming composites. On Monday I'll provide that document number/title.

Regards, Wil Taylor
o Trust - But Verify!
o We believe to be true what we prefer to be true. [Unknown]
o For those who believe, no proof is required; for those who cannot believe, no proof is possible. [variation,Stuart Chase]
o Unfortunately, in science what You 'believe' is irrelevant. ["Orion", Homebuiltairplanes.com forum]

 

[3DDave]

WK - I wish one supplier of carbon-fiber would have done that. We had an item made that the users were constantly bumping it into things causing minor delamination. Which was followed by people trying to pick the loose edge and then peeling across the precision front face. Sigh. I tried to get management to allow a change to put a woven fiberglass overwrap on the edge (needed to be transparent to allow microwaves reaching the precision surface) but, oh, no, can't to anything to avoid endless inevitable repairs.

 

[WKTaylor]

Some relevant documents... aircraft composites related... for what they are worth.

SAE...
AIR4844 Composites and Metal Bonding Glossary
AIR4938 Composite and Bonded Structure Technician/Specialist Training Document
AIR5719 Teaching Points for a Class on “Critical Issues in Composite Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul”
AIR5367 Machining of Composite Materials, Components and Structures
ARP5089 COMPOSITE REPAIR NDT/NDI HANDBOOK
PT-200 Damage and Repair of Aerospace Composite Materials

USAF T.O. 1-1-690 GENERAL ADVANCED COMPOSITE REPAIR PROCESSES MANUAL [not readily available]

AGARD-CP-530 Debonding/Delamination of Composites

Regards, Wil Taylor
o Trust - But Verify!
o We believe to be true what we prefer to be true. [Unknown]
o For those who believe, no proof is required; for those who cannot believe, no proof is possible. [variation,Stuart Chase]
o Unfortunately, in science what You 'believe' is irrelevant. ["Orion", Homebuiltairplanes.com forum]