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Originally Posted by freebeard
...but I never saw any result of the testing we talked about there.
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You might consider sponsoring the materials and labor for a Hydromat panel test
(see "The Importance of Testing" in this article) using comparable weights/thicknesses/layups of E-Glass, S-Glass and Basalt. Gougeon Bros./WEST System is very helpful with this sort of thing, and they love to see folks creating interesting things with their epoxies.
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The linked discussion was interesting, positioning it relative to E-glass, S-glass and carbon fiber. Sizing vs sizing, etc. I was thinking more along the lines of a fishing-pole-sized frame with a flexible skin in tension.
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I'd strongly suggest staying away from glass/basalt/carbon for this sort of application, and going in one of two directions -
PVC or
urethane coated polyester fabric, or
polyester aircraft covering fabric (cheap, easy to fabricate) or
Gore Tenara cloth (expensive, difficult to obtain, challenging to work with). Both are used in tension structures. The problem with using the stiffer (glass/basalt/carbon) fibers in inherently flexible skins is that the individual fibers tend to break at the flexure lines, causing eventual linear "zipper" type failures.