Originally Posted by
peteeng
Hi Dep - The epoxy spec sheet says not to cast this below 1cm thick. This is because this sort or resin has very low activity hardener to prevent runaway exotherm and will not generate enough heat to cure in "thin film". 10mm thick will be very soft and unsuitable for rail foundations. If you use aluminium or steel powder for the top these are machinable and stiff. I imagine you are using the Al2O3 for its stiffness? You can use steel grit or fibres and this is machinable and cheaper then alox. Peter
The dome dark castings are alox - alox is black in this case. The domed grey castings are aluminium powder and epoxy and the LHS machined part uses epoxy and steel grit, it machined well even did threads. The RHS block is more steel grit reinforced epoxy. Shot blasters have a range of grits, metal, ceramic, plastic. Cheaper then chemical grade suppliers....Peter
If you can have the surfaces machined this is the optimal way to do it. I think self levelling epoxy although done is not a good approach. Either cast in metal inserts, or cavities for inserts then epoxy inserts in or cast the job in steel grit/epoxy then have it machined or have the mould surfaces machined so the cast is accurate...
The bottom blocks are UHPC/alox cheaper then epoxy and same stiffness but not machinable...