Formlabs has today announced three new high-performance resins for engineering applications: High Temp, Durable, and Tough. Formlabs’ 3D printers are widely used by engineers to create super-tough and super-durable prototypes and end-use parts, and the launch of these three new resins further cements them as engineering favourites.
All three of these new resins are compatible with the Form 2 3D printer, with High-Temp also compatible with the Form 1+.
Here’s what you need to know about them:
High-Temp Resin
Formlabs’ High-Temp Resin has the highest heat deflection temperature of any standard 3D printing material. With a HDT of 0.45MPa at 289 °C, High-Temp Resin is an outstanding engineering material suitable for prototyping, casting and thermoforming. Potential applications include manufacturing injection moulding tools and testing hot air and fluid flows. This resin is also exceptionally easy to work with, and can capture excellent detail.
Here’s a picture of this resin in action (on the end of this blow-torch):
And here’s a picture of it being used for injection moulding:
Durable Resin
Formlabs’ Durable Resin is a wear-resistant and ductile 3D printing material with good strength and durability. It offers excellent shock absorption combined with outstanding strength, with levels of stiffness and durability comparable to polypropylene (PP) plastic. It prints extremely smooth with a brilliant finish, making it suitable for prototyping consumer products, small series production and for manufacturing consumer-facing assemblies.
Here’s a picture of a spray bottle printed with Durable:
Tough Resin
Formlabs’ Tough Resin is a reformulated version of the existing Tough Resin made by Formlabs. The reformulated version is tougher than before, with better mechanical strength. It has been designed to withstand extreme stress and strain, making it ideally suited to 3D printing parts for mechanical assemblies. Its overall properties are comparable in strength to injection-moulded ABS, so this material can replace many injection-moulded parts.
Here’s a picture of a quadcopter 3D printed with Tough:
These three materials can also be combined to create products which utilise all of their best characteristics – as illustrated by this multi-material razor, whose parts were 3D printed by the Formlabs Form 2:
These new resins are supplied as a cartridge for Form 2 users, and in a bottle for Form 1+ users (however Durable resin will not be available for the Form 1+). They join Standard, Flexible, Castable and Dental SG in the range, to make seven materials altogether. To find out more about any of these materials, head over to the Formlabs materials page, or discover them at our Formlabs supplies page.
