Does epoxy have a shelf life?

Occasionally found that resin hardens or more corrcetly stiffens and appears to have "gone off" in the container after a long storage time and a, but warming up and stirring solves these problems to make it usable, at least for non- critical applications, although it does appear to be just as strong as "in date " quantities.

John Lilley
 
Yes, the date should be on the container. However along with others I have used up to two years later. Difficult to tell any difference as for most jobs epoxy is way overstrong. Would not sheathe a hull though with less than current stuff.
 
Some brands seem to last longer than others, depending on what they have added, there are not many producers of epoxy resin, but dozens of brands, all add their little drop of this and that and resell it at a pretty good profit.

So it would seem the additives is what determines the life if unused. warming will work but I would only use it to preserve timber after mixing in some Metho to thin it.

Never use out of date resins on anything structural, it's just not worth the risk.

Avagoodweekend......
 
kept in decent conditions, the resin itself seems to last for years. the hardener starts to stink of ammonia but I've still used it apparently successfully after 2 years or more. think I might be inclined to buy new though if I were doing something structurally important.
 
I've used SP resin a fair bit now and that has a "use-by" date on it 2 years from manufacture. Stored in good conditions (especially not too cold) it seems fine after that. The hardener only has a 12 month date on it and, as has been said, beyond that turns blood red and stinks of ammonia when opened. I have tried mixing a batch with the out-of-date hardener and although it goes dry to the touch, it doesn't set anything like as hard as with the fresh stuff. Even after a week or so I can still mark it with a fingernail.
 
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