Engineering Quality Resins for SLA / LCD 3D Printing
Resin 3D printers have a much higher resolution than most other 3D printing technologies, especially the desktop FDM printers. The downside is that most of the standard resins are brittle. There are several companies developing much stronger "open" (can be used with most printers) resins that rival the strength of FDM printable materials.
Siraya Blu
This material is very strong, but fractures under bending loads rather than deforming, especially in my application which was for long resin mold inserts
3D Printing with “TOUGH” Resin - Pt 1 - Siraya Blu testing on Anycubic Photon for knife making parts
3D Printing with “TOUGH” Resin - Pt 2 - Siraya Blu testing on Anycubic Photon for knife making parts
Post Processing of the first prints with the Siraya Blu resin which is supposed to be a much tougher and dimensionally accurate resin. I need something that is tough and can take the stress this part will experience in use. It’s going to be used as a mold insert for polyurethane resin molding. Check out Part 3 to see how they performed. (Conclusion, the resin is tough, much more so than standard resin, but it is still very brittle and will break when elongated or bent past its ultimate tensile strength, and therefore unsuitable for the purpose of these parts. It doesn't stretch or yield, it just shatters, often into multiple pieces. This resin will work well for other parts as long as you take it's mechanical properties into consideration.)
The Anycubic Photon is an amazing resin printer. It was my first entry into the resin printing world, and I highly recommend it. I have had no issues with the Z-axis wobble that some have complained about. As long as the build plate is level, the FEP film is clean, and there is enough resin, it will print! The only modification I did was to sand the build plate for better adhesion.
I love this non-FEP film made for the Epax X1. https://amzn.to/2CVRa3R It can also be used on the Photon. It has lower adhesion to the print.
Siraya Tenacious
A flexible resin that can be used on its own, or mixed with other resins to adjust the desired effects.
Recommended to mix 75% Blu and 25% Tenacious to create a resin that is tough but has enough flexibility for snaps and not brittle.
Liqcreate Strong X
Haven't tested this yet. Has the highest tensile strength I've seen, but at only 8% elongation, it will fracture violently when it does reach yield.
eSUN Hard and Tough
Haven't tested this one yet.
Viscosity 200-300 Mpa
Density 1.10-1.15 g/cm3
Tensile Strength 55-60 MPa
Elogation at Break 30-50%
Flexural Strength 70-80 MPa
Flexural Modulus 1300-1400 MPa
Hardness >81D
IZOD Impact Strengh 67-100 J/m
Printing parameter is the same as other eSUN resins:
Layer height 0.05mm, bottom layers 4, bottom exposure time 40 seconds, normal exposure time 7 seconds.
Liqcreate Clear Impact
I use this to make light pipes. This is an optically clear resin that also has good physical properties, like impact strength.
Siraya Sculpt
Siraya Sculpt is not a tough resin, but it is a high temp resistant resin.
Mixed 50/50 with Siraya Tenacious creates a high res, tough resin, but probably loses some of its heat resistance. Example
