: looking for complete, concise overview
I'm ot particularly noted for giving "concise" answers, but I can refer you to another source for some information. You are asking about a wide range of topics, so you'll probably spend some time with your reading.

Look at the website www.fibreglast.com ( that strange spelling is correct.) They sell materials such as you mention, in small quantities for home builders and experienters. You can find better prices for the quantities used inn building a canoe or kayak from other sources, but these people have a lot of good info available.

: on materials and processes: graphite:
: what is it?, a powder?, a liquid? a composite? a polymer? , how is it
: processed and shaped? mix up and cure?, is heat
: involved?,vacuform?,blowmold?,injectmold?,pourmold?

Graphite is a mineral which is practically pure carbon. Think of it as ground up coal and you won't be far off. it can come in chunks of various sizes, but you mowst commonly use it when it is ground into a very fine powder, mixed with clay, and baked into rods. These are then bound in wood and sold as pencils. In building use the material can be added to a liquid plastic to affect the properties of the combination. The mixture would be considered a composite.

If the plastic you use needs to be heated to make it a liquid, then you heat it. If the plastic is created by the polymerization of somethng that is a liquid at room temperature, then you catalyze the liquid resin to start the polymerization process.

Depending on the materials you use and the temperatures involved, and the viscosity of the materials, your manufacturing pocess could be any of the methods you mention -- and more! In building small boats we frequently apply an epoxy resin in thin coats, like paint.

With Graphite powder added, the final product looks like a dark gray paint, and it has some additional resistance to getting dented (dings) form small impacts. The data on whether this also "lubricates" the hull and makes it slip through the water more easily, giving easier paddling, or greater speed, is still debatable.

: Same for polyethylene, royalex, kevlar, etc.

It would take a good sized magazine article to cover all these bases in detail, ut: Polyethylene is a waxy plastic which is worked into a mold, or extruded, under high pressure while it is melted. It can also be heatformed by vacuum, sucking a sheet of such material around a mold, or it can be blowformed.

Royalex is a sheet material that consists of several layers of plastics with different properties. There are a few boat builders who use this, and form it by vacuum or hot stamping. Home builders don't use the stuff as the machinery necessary to fabricate things with it is far too expensive.

Kevlar is a synthetic (not from an animal) plastic which is produced as a fine fiber, which is woven into a cloth. The fibers are very strong and have a high reistance to puncture and tearing. Some varieties of it can be used as a fiber fir flexible body armor (bulletproof vests) Other varieties are used as a reinforcement for plastic resins.

: Also, what are costs and suppliers for raw materials?

Check the list of manufacturers and suppliers that is found elsewher on this board. ( See kayak directory). Not all are there, but many that home builders regularly use can be found in the listings. Prices vary by supplier as wll as by quantity, type of material, etc. and prices can change.

If you are considering building a boat, give us the general ideas of what modely uo want ot build, or at least the size boat you want, and we can probably give you a pretty good estimate on materials costs.

: Also, what are some basic ways for making molds, and associated costs?

Fibreglast has some info on this. Otherwise you should check a library for books on fiberglass manufacturing techniques.

A major form of construction for
most people who visit this board is to construct a skeleton from wood parts that have been cut to the necessary shape, and build on this. With woodstrip construction techniques a layer of wood strips is applied over the frame, and sanded into a smooth shape before being covered with one or more layers of fiberglass cloth, which is bonded to the wood with an epoxy or polyester resin, that is applied in thin coats. A mold can be made is a similar fashion from wood which is treated with waxes, release agents or lubricants so that the resins do not penetrate the wood. Then the fiberglass assembly can be removed from the mold.

all the rest is practice and details.

and there are MANY details!

happy reading

PGJ