Infusion: Hardwire is the ultimate for any infusion process. It works wonderfully in all patented processes (be sure to have your license), or better yet, it works great all by itself (the material and its process are patented, but we don’t require a license). Hardwire is extremely permeable, so resins flow aggressively through the material in all planes. Hardwire can be used as stay in place distribution media, where the media actually adds to the laminate strength and stiffness, it can be used as a permeable caul plate to eliminate ply wrinkling in “lesser fibers”, or it can be used alone where it is the reinforcement and the process all in one. When molding with Hardwire, we do recommend surface plies of glass to help protect and entomb the wire in the resin and glass matrix to ensure long term performance. Hardwire makes infusion much simpler and eliminates all of the waste associated with older processes. Hardwire’s extreme permeability also make possible the infusion of resins or filled systems that were simply too thick to be molded before. Here at Hardwire we have infused resins up to 1200 cps in just the Hardwire material itself with good results. We have also shot systems as low as 75 cps with amazing results. Infusions that used to take hours now take minutes. You will find the flow restrictions imposed by the inlet tubing the primary restriction to flow, so get a bigger pipe…. Hardwire is here. The result of faster infusion is also faster gel times, faster peak exotherm, faster cool down and faster de-mold times. Through out the molding cycle Hardwire is at work, spreading the resin, absorbing and evenly spreading the heat of exotherm, adding in cool down through superior thermal conductivity and speeding the de-mold time by increasing buckling strength in green resin and unmatched green resin stiffness. Hardwire is built by a molder for molders and it shows from the start of the cycle to the very end.

Wet Lay Up: Instant wet through doesn’t even come close to describing a wet lay up process with Hardwire. Hardwire is so permeable that many times the entire laminate can be placed in the mold dry (like infusion) and the wet resin can be sprayed, poured, rolled or brushed through the entire thickness. Using Hardwire in a wet process is more like casting than lay up. Hardwire also lends itself to highly filled (lower cost, lower shrink and fire proof) resin systems. Here at Hardwire we have tested systems that were very thick, yet still rollable and got great results. Even with all of our infusion experience this type of system is many times faster and easier….even for us!. We have also tested true putty systems, materials that need to be troweled, and achieved the same great results. Taken to the extreme, Hardwire can even be used in thin set mortars and cements…..opening up all new cementious resin systems to wet putty like processes.

Prepreg: Hardwire will run on all commercially available prepreg systems.

Pultrusion: Hardwire pultrudes very well. Contact the Hardwire team for details on guides, tapes and know how for process specifics.

Thermoplastics: This area is where Hardwire is totally unique. It’s the permeability!!! Hardwire’s open structure allows thick thermoplastics to flow through and around the steel filaments to create thermoplastic composites that were never before possible. Here at Hardwire we have run trials on PET, Nylon, BLOX, PVC, PE, PP and produced great laminates from all of them. With Hardwire many processes work great on basic principles….get to the melt temperature, allow enough time to get the thermoplastic into the laminate, and then cool. Processes ranging from film stacking (press), film lamination (calendaring), and cross head impregnation (extrusion) all will yield excellent results and complete impregnation.

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