Hi All Foamlings/Foamanistas,
I came across this somehow and it has an interesting approach in trying
- and it appears, succeeding - to keep the foam and fabric and coatings
from delaminating. It is being done on/with surfboards
Their patented approach/process embeds fiberglass fibers into the foam
surface so they act like tree roots and then they epoxy and fiberglass cloth
[I'm assuming] those into the final surface. It supposedly gives it flexibility
and strength. The company's product is their process, and they then
apply it to various surfboard blanks that have been carved by others.
They can also adjust flexibility of the skin and the whole surfboard by way
of an air valve that lets them add and subtract air from within the
surfboard foam core!
The web site:
http://www.hydroflex-surfboards.com/hyd ... /index.php
A video from the site:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpCwDqzE ... r_embedded
So this all means we need to think of a way to accomplish this same
"tree Root effect" as we unit foam and glue and fabric. I know there was
some discussion of using some kind of perforating tool - aka mini spikes
on a roller - earlier on. wonder if there is a way to use that over the
first layer and thus it could punch some of the fabric threads into the foam
as well as the glue that is saturating it and then smoothing that again
with more glue once the perforating roller has done its work. Then that
would be followed by a second non-perforated fabric and glue layer.
[You could also try chopped fiberglass/epoxy perforated into the foam
then followed by a fiberglass cloth and epoxy layer later.]
Maybe one of those who are doing tests of various fabrics/glues etc.
could do a little experimenting with such and report back. [Unfortunately
I'm not in the position to do so myself at the moment.]
Cheers,
Norm/mezmo