Hi Guys.

Having a lot of sparetime while in Japan so I've done some reading up on bodywork etc.

What is "vinylester"?, apparently TVR Sagaris was supposed to have the body/panels in this material, saving 50Kg to regular GRP. It turned out that they didn't go for it after all due to quality problems/finsh.

Apparently "Lotus sport 300 Esprit" used this as well.

So what is "vinylester" ?

It is a different type of resin used in the manufacture of the composite.

"Normal" GRP uses polyester based resin, and glass fibre reinforcement. however, you can also use different resins, such as epoxy based or Vinylester based.

I beleive the Vinylester is a lot more resilient to chemical attack, and is slightly more flexible than polyester and epoxy. however, because it isn't used as much, the price is significantly more than polyester based resins.

hope that helps a bit!
Andy

Vinylester as a resin is in between polyester and epoxy.Same way laminate made of vinylester will be stronger than polyestr but epoxy is stronger than bouth.
And yes generally epoxy and vinylester are more resistant to open flame, acid, and mechanical impact.If we are talking about cheap watherproof polyester (as you know there are hunderds of difrent types of polyetsr resin for special use)

Vinylester resins were formulated for use in boatbuilding circles, mainly in the USA to reduce the likelyhood of Osmosis forming in the outer skin of GRP hulls. To save on cost a lot of boatbuilders lay up the first few layers of the composite in vin after the gelcoat, adding to the buildup using cheap poly to back it up. Dont get me started on chem resin its gawd awful stuff to laminate with, but especially good for jobbie tanks and sewage works
Shug.

[Edited on 27/8/05 by Hugh Paterson]

"jobbie tanks"

ROTFLMHO!!!!

Shug, fancy doing the bodywork for a Porsche 907?

How urgent still drowning in work! and got more pending
Shug.

You've certainly been keeping a low profile lately Shugster