Hi All,
I put this in the primer category, as it seemed the most appropriate section for this post. If the moderators think otherwise, please feel free to relocate.
I live on an island in a corrosive environment and have primed my entire aeroplane with Ekopoxy. I'm at the point where I am joining things together and have had conflicting input regarding dissimilar metals. One local gentleman is telling me to use Duralac. He has built an RV-8, and has sailed the world and swears by it in corrosive environments. The other gentleman is Glastar builder and was a seaplane operator for many years, and won't touch Duralac because he says it hardens, cracks and allows moisture egress and subsequent corrosion. I failed to ask him what he is using as a substitute (if anything at all).
Doing some digging on the forum, I have found nothing definitive regarding the use of jointing compounds. A little more research on boating forums revealed a common dislike for Duralac due to the cracking. As a non hardening replacement if chromated paste is your thing, people seem to be using JC5A. If you're not a big fan of chromated anything, then people seem to be using a PTFE based compound called Tef-gel which essentially fills the voids and stops moisture egress. I find this one attractive, as I know I can source it locally.
Anyway, I was wondering what people are using for intermetallic corrosion prevention, and if anyone has any experience in aircraft use with Tef-gel?
Cheers,
Tom.
I put this in the primer category, as it seemed the most appropriate section for this post. If the moderators think otherwise, please feel free to relocate.
I live on an island in a corrosive environment and have primed my entire aeroplane with Ekopoxy. I'm at the point where I am joining things together and have had conflicting input regarding dissimilar metals. One local gentleman is telling me to use Duralac. He has built an RV-8, and has sailed the world and swears by it in corrosive environments. The other gentleman is Glastar builder and was a seaplane operator for many years, and won't touch Duralac because he says it hardens, cracks and allows moisture egress and subsequent corrosion. I failed to ask him what he is using as a substitute (if anything at all).
Doing some digging on the forum, I have found nothing definitive regarding the use of jointing compounds. A little more research on boating forums revealed a common dislike for Duralac due to the cracking. As a non hardening replacement if chromated paste is your thing, people seem to be using JC5A. If you're not a big fan of chromated anything, then people seem to be using a PTFE based compound called Tef-gel which essentially fills the voids and stops moisture egress. I find this one attractive, as I know I can source it locally.
Anyway, I was wondering what people are using for intermetallic corrosion prevention, and if anyone has any experience in aircraft use with Tef-gel?
Cheers,
Tom.