HAND LAY UP PROCESS

Professor Ir Dr Mohd Sapuan Salit

Professor of Composite Materials
Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering
Universiti Putra Malaysia
43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor
sapuan@eng.upm.edu.my
tel: 03-89466318

There are two general divisions of composites manufacturing processes: open

molding and closed molding.
With open molding, the gel coat and laminate are exposed to the atmosphere during
the fabrication process.
In closed molding, the composite is processed in a two-sided mold set, or within a
vacuum bag.
There are a variety of processing methods within the open and closed molding
categories:
Open Molding
Hand Lay-Up
Spray-up
Filament Winding

Closed Molding
Compression molding
Pultrusion
Reinforced Reaction Injection Molding (RRIM)
Resin Transfer Molding (RTM)
Vacuum Bag Molding
Vacuum Infusion Processing
Centrifugal Casting
Continuous Lamination
Selecting which manufacturing process to select depends on a number of factors
including cost, materials, size, and most important volume.

Below is what processes would be used depending on production amounts:

Low Volume Production
Hand Lay-up
Vacuum Bag Molding
Vacuum Infusion Processing
Medium Volume Production
Filament Winding
Wet Lay-Up Compression Molding
Resin Transfer Molding
Centrifugal Casting
High Volume Production
Compression Molding
Pultrusion
Reinforced Reaction Injection Molding
Continuous Lamination

Hand lay-up is an open contact moulding in one-sided

moulds are the lowest-cost and most common processes
for making fiber composite products and is the most
common method of producing composites parts in the
aircraft industry.
In a typical open mould application, the mould is first
waxed and sprayed with gel coat. It then may be cured in
a heated oven at about 120 F.

Hand lay-up is an open molding method suitable for making a wide variety of
composites products including:
boats, tanks, bathware, housings, RV/truck/auto components, architectural
products, and many other products ranging from very small to very large.
Production volume per mold is low; however, it is feasible to produce substantial
production quantities using multiple molds.

Process Description - Gel coat is first applied to the mold using a spray gun for a highquality surface. When the gel coat has cured sufficiently, roll stock fiberglass
reinforcement is manually placed on the mold.
The laminating resin is applied by pouring, brushing, spraying, or using a paint roller.
FRP rollers, paint rollers, or squeegees are used to consolidate the laminate, thoroughly
wetting the reinforcement, and removing entrapped air.
Subsequent layers of fiberglass reinforcement are added to build laminate thickness.
Low density core materials, such as end-grain balsa, foam, and honeycomb, are
commonly used to stiffen the laminate to produce sandwich construction.

In hand lay-up processing, fiber (typically Eglass) continuous strand mat and/or other
fabrics such as woven roving are manually
placed in the mould.
Each ply is sprayed with Catalyzed resin (1000
to 1500 cps) and the resin is worked into the
fiber with brushes and rollers to wet-out and
compact the laminate.

Materials Options:
Resins: Any, e.g. epoxy, polyester, vinylester, phenolic.
Fibers: Any. woven or stitched into a fabric form.
Cores: Any
Typical Applications:
most of aircraft composite parts, boat hulls and decks,
RV components, truck cabs and fenders, wind-turbine
blades etc.

Hand Lay-up is the most traditional FRP manufacturing method.

Fibre and resin matrix are moulded using contact pressure.

This method is highly influenced by the operator's skill.
This method is typically used for larger products in small-lot
production.
Panels up to 4m x 5m can be produced using Hand Lay-up.

Process

This manufacturing method offers low-cost tooling, simple processing, and a

wide range of part size potential. Parts have one finished surface and require
trimming.
Open moulding is labour intensive and not particularly suited for producing
large quantities of parts unless market circumstances such as short product
life cycles are a factor.
Hand lay up or spray up is sometimes used as a preliminary step to full
production or for fabricating prototypes. The lead-time for tooling of open
moulded parts is shorter than that of a closed mould or matched die program.

Following application of the liquid release agent (PVA, liquid wax or

PTFE/silicone spray), a gel coat is applied.
This high-resin coat usually contains pigments and fillers; it will form the
decorative exterior surface of the finished part.
The gel coat is followed by a layer of resin and then of reinforcing agent.
Resin is forced through the reinforcing material by rolling, thus removing air and
completely impregnating the reinforcement.

The deck and hull of this personal watercraft are molded via the
hand lay up open mold process.

The color is also molded in, eliminating the need for painting. Open
molding is an ideal process for manufacturing personal watercraft
bodies.

The process allows the manufacturer to customize the glass loading

to add strength to the laminate where it is needed.

The relatively low capital cost and short lead time to tool up in this
process versus other processes such as compression molded SMC,
also matches well with the rapid product development requirements
and short product life cycles characterized by this industry.

Composite Furniture by
hand lay up process

Process Description

Process Description

Process Description
Hand lay-up process was conducted to produce the
phone table parts with detail process as follows:
1. Epoxy and hardener was prepared with the ratio of 4:1.
2. The release agent laid on the mould after the mould
was cleaned.

Mould

Process Description
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

First layer epoxy was laid up uniformly for on to

the mould.
The woven fibres was then added in to the
mould.
The process no. 3 and 4 are repeated until 4
layers of epoxy and fibres were obtained.
The composite was left for 24 hour for curing.
The composite was separated from the mould.

Process Description

Process Description

Mechanical
fastening was
used for joining
process.

Process Description
The slotted
countersunk screw
with inch
dimension was
used with L PVC
bracket to join the
top plate and the
middle plate of the
telephone stand.

Molds - Simple, single-cavity molds of fiberglass

composites construction are generally used. Molds can
range from very small to very large and are low cost in the
spectrum of composites molds.
Major Advantages - Simplest method offering low-cost
tooling, simple processing, and a wide range of part sizes.
Design changes are readily made. There is a minimum
investment in equipment. With skilled operators, good
production rates and consistent quality are obtainable.