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iNside mANUFActUriNG fcations by Ashland Performance Materials (Dublin, Ohio) and shipped direct to JRL. Afer the gel coat application, a single layer of 18-oz, 0.25-inch/6.35-mm thick woven glass roving was layed up, and the bag was positioned over the cavity and fange. A fberglass ring was clamped to the bag fange, and a vacuum of 23 to 28 psi (1.59 to 1.93 bar) was drawn. Te layup was infused with an ISO dicyclopentodiene (DCPD) resin with a blended catalyst supplied by No. Kansas City, Mo.-based CCP Composites. Te mold fll times varied by part size but generally fell in the range of 12 to 15 minutes. "Mold flling for a specifc part with CCBM is metered by pump strokes quite accurately," says Wilson, noting that some of the larg- er parts require up to 100 strokes to fll. Te largest part, a section of the bowl, was approximately 115 f2/10.7m2, and the smallest was about 24 f2/2.2m2. Cure, at 108°F/42°C, was complete in about one hour, compared to eight hours for a typical open-mold manufacturing method. Te parts, on average, were about 0.25-inch/6.4mm thick. "One of the benefts of CCBM compared to open molding is a lot less post-mold fnishing," Wilson says, reporting that the slide parts required minimal trimming in the fange areas and only touch-up sanding at the injection ports. Te fnal step in the process was hand spraying the B side with the gel coat used on the A side. SplashTacular was keen to tap the benefts of JRL's CCBM process but did not want to sacrifce surface quality on the fume's B side, which is visible to park visitors. (In the bowl, the A side is visible.) Ultimately, Wilson says, his team was pleased with the B side, reporting that the parts had "some typical orange peel" but no fber print through. Long says JRL conducted preproduction trial-anderror runs with diferent fabrics to obtain the smoothest possible B-side fnish in production. Multi-project capability In the world of composites, PeRFORMAnCe is POWeR 40 SuSTAinAbiliTy PiOneeR induSTRy exPeRienCe AOC leads the composites industry in research and technology. This ongoing commitment provides our customers with innovative and consistent products in addition to our unmatched service. compositesworld.com TeChnOlOgy leAdeR AOC frst developed sustainable resins in the 1970s and continues to show the same commitment today with ecoTek® green Technologies. These sustainable resins perform exactly the same as traditional resins while improving the environment. Trust your project to the experts in the industry. From development, to production and delivery, you can rely on the service and expertise of AOC. Te tooling was fnished in May 2011, and JRL molded the 134 parts for the slide over a four-week period. Te 360Rush was operational at Spring Valley Beach amusement park in Blountsville, Ala., in time for the July 4 weekend. Since then, SplashTacular has moved its manufacturing to a new site and molded two slides for Hawaiian Falls, Te Colony, near Dallas, Texas, with the same molds and bags used for the 360Rush. And JRL is seeking to solidify its market position by developing a closed-mold process that will provide a better B-side fnish. | CT | Contributing Writer Michael R. LeGault is a freelance writer located in Ann Arbor, Mich., and the former editor of Canadian Plastics magazine (Toronto, Ontario, Canada). mlegault@compositesworld.com Contact AOC today at 1-866-319-8827 or visit us at AOC-Resins.com today to learn more. compositesworld.com Read this article online | http://short.compositesworld.com/vqH7gkns.