{"id":4175,"date":"2020-01-07T16:15:11","date_gmt":"2020-01-07T16:15:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lbifiberglass.com\/dev\/?p=4175"},"modified":"2025-05-15T16:13:40","modified_gmt":"2025-05-15T20:13:40","slug":"resin-comparison-a-more-in-depth-look-at-resin-differences","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbifiberglass.com\/dev\/resin-comparison-a-more-in-depth-look-at-resin-differences\/","title":{"rendered":"Resin Comparison:  A More In Depth Look at Resin Differences."},"content":{"rendered":"<h3>ORTHOTHALIC POLYESTER RESIN:\u00a0 LBI-301<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>A majority of fiberglass parts are constructed of polyester resin.<\/li>\n<li>Good general purpose resin.<\/li>\n<li>Excellent for most repairs.<\/li>\n<li>Provides a repair that has similar strength &amp; flexural characteristics to the original part.<\/li>\n<li>Tolerant of temperature and catalyst variations during lay-up.<\/li>\n<li>Wets out fabrics quickly and easily.<\/li>\n<li>Isothalic polyester resin is more water &amp; heat resistant than orthothalic polyester resin.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>ISOTHALIC POLYESTER RESIN:\u00a0 LBI-302<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Exhibits higher strength characteristics than orthothalic resin.<\/li>\n<li>About 90% repairs on a fiberglass boat can be made with this resin.<\/li>\n<li>May be used for molds because of its better abrasion resistance and heat tolerance.<\/li>\n<li>Has better UV and water resistance.<\/li>\n<li>More corrosion resistant than orthothalic polyester resins.<\/li>\n<li>Has greater impact resistance due to its increased strength and flexibility.<\/li>\n<li>May be used for underwater repairs.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>VINYLESTER RESIN:\u00a0 LBI-901 &amp; LBI-902<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Stronger and more durable than polyester resin.<\/li>\n<li>Most professional repairs are done in vinylester.<\/li>\n<li>Makes strong stiff laminates.<\/li>\n<li>Excellent bond strength to sanded laminate and core materials.<\/li>\n<li>Will bond to epoxy resin.<\/li>\n<li>Higher resistance to chemical, water and UV than polyester resin.<\/li>\n<li>Higher resistance to vibration and shock loads.<\/li>\n<li>Due to its higher strengths it has better tensile and flexural characteristics<\/li>\n<li>Highly resistant to water absorption that causes osmotic blistering that can occur with polyester resins.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>EPOXY RESIN:\u00a0 LBI-1101<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Has higher ultimate strength than polyester or vinylester resins.<\/li>\n<li>Adheres well to wood, aluminum &amp; steel.Excellent for covering wood with fiberglass.<\/li>\n<li>Can be thickened with additives to make a wood glue or a structural putty to replace rotted wood.<\/li>\n<li>Has electrical insulation properties.<\/li>\n<li>Has the strongest bond with carbon and kevlar reinforcements.<\/li>\n<li>Has better flexibility than polyester or vinylester.<\/li>\n<li>Can withstand substantial impact without cracking.<\/li>\n<li>Higher resistance to to environmental and thermal degradation than polyester.<\/li>\n<li>Has lower shrinkage than polyester or vinylester resins.<\/li>\n<li>Epoxy laminate generally requires much less labor to fair.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>All three resins have their own unique roles to play in fabrication and repairs.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How do they compare in cost?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Epoxy is the most expensive, Polyester is least expensive &amp; Vinylester is in the middle of the two.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What materials work with these resins?<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Epoxy adheres to carbon fiber and kevlar better than vinylester or polyester.<\/li>\n<li>Epoxy is also the best choice for laminating over wood.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Over 95% of all boats, truck &amp; car bodies are made of E-Glass(orthothalic polyester resin and isothalic gelcoat)<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Polyester or vinylester are much better to use than epoxy for polyester fiberglass repairs.<\/li>\n<li>Generally on the scale of strength, water resistance and bond strength, Epoxy and Vinylester are the best, Isothalic Polyester is in the middle and Orthothalic Polyester is the weakest.<\/li>\n<li>Vinylester may also be used over polyester resin to help prevent osmotic blistering.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ORTHOTHALIC POLYESTER RESIN:\u00a0 LBI-301 A majority of fiberglass parts are constructed of polyester resin. Good general purpose resin. Excellent for most repairs. Provides a repair that has similar strength &amp; flexural characteristics to the original part. Tolerant of temperature and catalyst variations during lay-up. Wets out fabrics quickly and easily. Isothalic polyester resin is more&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4274,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[],"post_series":[],"class_list":["post-4175","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-resins","entry","has-media"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/lbifiberglass.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/302-iso-polyester-resin.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbifiberglass.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4175","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbifiberglass.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbifiberglass.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbifiberglass.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbifiberglass.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4175"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/lbifiberglass.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4175\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10228,"href":"https:\/\/lbifiberglass.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4175\/revisions\/10228"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbifiberglass.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbifiberglass.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbifiberglass.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbifiberglass.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4175"},{"taxonomy":"post_series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbifiberglass.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_series?post=4175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}