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3M™ Fortified Tooling Prepreg: Increasing fracture resistance and hardness while lowering CTE and exotherm

Rewriting the rules for prepreg composites

3M™ Fortified Tooling Prepreg features an epoxy tooling resin that contains more than 40% by weight silica nanoparticles infused and distributed throughout the matrix. It's designed to be prepregged onto glass or carbon fiber reinforcements. The exceptionally high loading of nanosilica enabled by 3M technology delivers features unobtainable from other systems-including an uncompromising balance of light weight strength, and toughness-further expanding the boundaries of composite tooling technology.

You can significantly improve at least four critical areas of prepreg tooling performance with 3M™ Fortified Tooling Prepreg:

1. INCREASED FRACTURE TOUGHNESS

Continuous cycles of extreme temperature variation in composite part manufacture can often result in microcracking of the composite tooling materials and eventually lead to vacuum loss in the tool. As shown in this micrograph, uniformly dispersed nanoparticles created with 3M™ Fortified Tooling Prepreg trigger energy dissipation in the polymer, which is exhibited by yielding and viscous deformation of the epoxy tooling matrix. The result: greater fracture resistance in your composite tool.

increased fracture toughness photo

SEM showing uniformly dispersed nanoparticles in a 3M™ Matrix Resin.

increased fracture toughness graph

3M™ Fortified Tooling Prepreg increases fracture toughness of tooling prepreg composites, improving resistance to microcracking and increasing tool durability.

2. INCREASED RESIN HARDNESS

3M™ Fortified Tooling Prepreg increases composite hardness by an incredible 86% over standard epoxy tooling. Harder and more durable composite tools are more resistant to scratches, scuffs and other damage, resulting in higher quality aesthetics in your finished composite materials and longer lasting composite tools.

greater hardness graph

86% harder composites means your finished composite tools are more resistant to scratches, scuffs and other damage.

3. LOWER COEFFICIENT OF THERMAL EXPANSION (CTE)

High thermal expansion of tooling materials can add stress and reduce dimensional stability of composite parts during cure as the tool expands and contracts. 3M™ Fortified Tooling Prepreg reduces the CTE by up to 25%, allowing substantially better performance in heat cycling and helping improve accuracy during composite part manufacture.

decreased coefficient of thermal expansion (cte) graph

Up to 25% lower CTE means better heat cycling performance and greater accuracy during composite manufacturing.

4. VASTLY LOWER CURE EXOTHERM.

3M™ Fortified Tooling Prepreg exotherms 61% less than standard epoxy prepregs. This vastly decreased exothermic potential allows you to cure thicker composite tools with greater cure cycle efficiency-reducing oven or autoclave time-and further expanding the boundaries of what's possible with composite technology.

reduced exotherm graph

61% lower exotherm means you can cure substantially thicker composite tools, while reducing oven or autoclave time.

Stronger, lighter, tougher composite tooling

• 3M™ Fortified Tooling Prepreg-140 can be cured under vacuum or autoclave pressure at 140°F and post cured at 420°F to attain a final Tg of 430°F. Prepreg is available with T700 (12k) 2x2 twill fabric and T300 (3k) 2x2 twill fabric.