Hi all,

I figured some of the composite DLG makers on here plus the composite materials suppliers would be interested in this..I think also the balsa DLG side could benefit...

I found out about this via the tech section in the NZ Herald newspaper last week....its a local Nz company who have figured out how to make nano fibres using a variation on a spinning tech dating back to the early 1900's...you will need to have a look at their web site plus a customer of theirs (Kilwell Fibre Tube) who is now using the fabric in making carbon fibre fishing rods and blanks etc...

I have bought 6m of it to try it out on some of the DLG plans I have...eg the Manta and Mimi...RCM Bug etc....its is used to add strength to the glue in the joints of a composite....and is incredibly light weight....apparently they have been able to get a 20% increase in flexural strength and impact resistance ("impact energy de-localisation..shock absorber")..in carbon fibre composites....hence I believe it may be useful in the DLG made from this process and vacum bagged etc....

The company is called Revolution Fibres and the fabric is called Xantu.Layer..(AP and Gold) .their web site is ( they are happy to export this over seas...contact them direct)

http://www.revolutionfibres.com/

They have info and a brochure that is downloadable from their web site...

The fishing rod tube manufacturer is also based in NZ in Rotorua and is

http://www.kilwellfibretube.co.nz/

Testing pdf info..

http://www.kilwell.co.nz/Images/Prod...Technology.pdf

It has a waxed paper backing sheet as it is hard to handle once free of that...it seem to waft around easily being so light....

I think it will work also in reinforcing the glue joint in balsa laminates...eg tails on DLG's etc...thats what I plan to try it on...

Anyway I wanted to let you guys know as it appears to be a possible improvement to the composite structures being used in DLG's and also possibly in balsa built up ones etc....in that it strengthens the adhesive/glue joint itself...kind of a composite within a composite..they have a composites bloke in the company and from what I have seen online the Kilwell people seem to have access to the tech side as well as a lot of commercial experience in fishing rods etc...

Regards

Laurie

(FYI I am not a part of the companies above, nor employed nor associated to them...just an avid DLG fan)

Interesting, but in our application this would need to replace layers of existing fabric (fiberglass) to keep weight low. Do you have a cloth weight? Price per yard or meter?

Not sure I understand completely. It's a non-woven mat of a fiber that isn't glass, carbon or kevlar? What material is it?

Originally Posted by bwill6

Not sure I understand completely. It's a non-woven mat of a fiber that isn't glass, carbon or kevlar? What material is it?

Brandon, just order up a sample pack for only $450 and then tell us what they send you.


Ron R.

Yeah, I'll stop by the bank today and pull everything from my college student checking account. Oh, wait! I have a credit card! I don't even need REAL money to buy it! Hang on while I order some

Am I the only one that did a whole pile of reading and came away with very little knowledge of what is being done and to what kind of material?

Is it a new form of veil on some type of backing to manage carbon fiber or is it something new all together?

Originally Posted by DLGjunkyard

Am I the only one that did a whole pile of reading and came away with very little knowledge of what is being done and to what kind of material?

Is it a new form of veil on some type of backing to manage carbon fiber or is it something new all together?

Nope. You aren't the only one. I'm quite curious about this stuff, but they really don't seem to say much about what it is. I kinda got the impression that it was a kind of veil meant to be used with carbon to improve its toughness and impact strength, but it never explicitly says that.

Hi all,
Thanks for the discussions above. I'll try and answer the questions as best I can.

Xantulayr has been specifically designed for carbon fibre composite reinforcement. It is a veil, at about 1.5gsm (can vary depending on the product you choose), and is designed to tougthen resins and other supporting adhesives to protect from delamination and impact resistance. Nanofibre sheets are increasingly being used in areas where weight and size prevents the use of more supporting fibre like carbon or kevlar.

Most of our testing has been on thick laminates (16 ply and above) yet we have seen the best results in thin-ply structures where weight and size is an issue. RC Gliders (and the like) are a good fit as Xantulayr offers reinforcement with virtually no weight increase. We have seen applicable results in impact resistance and flexural strength (ideal for wings we believe), as well as toughening resins and adhesives against micro-cracks from repeated impact.

You can find information on our testing with fishing rods (an example of use in thin-ply composites like RC sports equipment) here: http://revolutionfibres.com/wordpress/?p=778. To the right of the screen you’ll see the Xantulayr product brochure for download.

Based on the results we’ve seen, the best material in your sector would be AP1500which retails at NZ $26m² (NZ dollar = 0.817 US dollars). We sell the material in 100m² rolls.

Cheers,
Iain

Originally Posted by Revolution Fibre

Hi all,
Thanks for the discussions above. I'll try and answer the questions as best I can.

Xantulayr has been specifically designed for carbon fibre composite reinforcement. It is a veil, at about 1.5gsm (can vary depending on the product you choose), and is designed to tougthen resins and other supporting adhesives to protect from delamination and impact resistance. Nanofibre sheets are increasingly being used in areas where weight and size prevents the use of more supporting fibre like carbon or kevlar.

Most of our testing has been on thick laminates (16 ply and above) yet we have seen the best results in thin-ply structures where weight and size is an issue. RC Gliders (and the like) are a good fit as Xantulayr offers reinforcement with virtually no weight increase. We have seen applicable results in impact resistance and flexural strength (ideal for wings we believe), as well as toughening resins and adhesives against micro-cracks from repeated impact.

You can find information on our testing with fishing rods (an example of use in thin-ply composites like RC sports equipment) here: http://revolutionfibres.com/wordpress/?p=778. To the right of the screen you’ll see the Xantulayr product brochure for download.

Based on the results we’ve seen, the best material in your sector would be AP1500which retails at NZ $26m² (NZ dollar = 0.817 US dollars). We sell the material in 100m² rolls.

Cheers,
Iain

Iain. 100m2 rolls? thats pretty serious size wise? I'm in Hamilton and would like to try some of this stuff - but 2m2 would build me a complete model. are you able to send varying sizes/cut rolls etc?
Thansk
Wynn 07 850 8182

Laurence Caroll, sounds like a Nigerian name to me ?

Interesting, 100 m^2 is a lot of cloth though for testing. Not price wise but keeping that much fabric on hand is hard to justify. I could see the use as a backing in a d-box for improved fracture resistance. Still I'm not convinced enough testing has been done to show it offers a benefit. Hard to convince me that a none-woven, veil type fabric can add much in the way of strength to a layup.

Sam,

All its doing is spreading the load across a larger area for impact resistance. It is not a primary structural fabric. For this propose, you shouldnt need directional fabric as you are not trying to protect against a principle strain but simply transfer load across the primary fibers. This fabric is basically acting like a filler to help increase the ability of the matrix material to spread load to the different fibers.

Its pretty neat actually and sounds like a great thing to add to booms and LEs!

James

If we can first order a 20m roll to try it'd be great. Having to go to 100m without trying it first is a little hard.

Very few materials are available in less than 100m rolls from the manufacturer. As soon as it's deemed useful for our purposes, a distributor will bite on the 100m roll and then quadruple the price per meter to piece it out retail.

Looks interesting though.

For production work 100m is no problem, especially since 100m is ~2150USD. But we don't know how well it works in our applications yet.
I'm for sure interested in buying some to try on our structures.

Have some coming to try, I'm actually really interested in how well it'll work with light fiberglass structures like some of our tails.
I'll keep everyone updated when we get some time to try it out.