5 Reasons Why Liqcreate's Elastomer-X Resin Is Unique

Liqcreate designed this new material to be one of the softest and most elastic 3D-printing resins currently available on the market. In this guest article, Liqcreate engineers discuss 5 reasons to use the new Elastomer-X resin.

1. Elastomer-X is an ultra-soft material that mimics TPU and silicone

The new Ultra-soft & elastic Elastomer-X resin mimics soft TPU and silicone hardness. This is one of the softest materials available in the resin 3D-printing market and opens the gate way for creating general elastic industrial parts that require softness and elasticity such as grommets, bellows, and toothed belts.

2. Elastomer-X has high tear strength & great durability

Often seen when making resins softer, is that the other properties also deteriorate. Softer materials tend to be less tough and exhibit lower tear strength and durability. During the development of Elastomer-X, Liqcreate engineers kept this in mind and did not only focus on creating the softest material in the market, but also with a good tear strength. This combination is unique since softness and strength are the opposites of each other. Due to this excellent tear strength, it allows users to create parts that can withstand forces without breaking easily. The table below displays the properties of Elastomer-X.

3. Elastomer-X works on open DLP, MSLA and SLA printers in the 385-420nm wavelength

New unique materials often require specific hardware to be processed on. Liqcreate’s mindset is to have all materials available on a wide range of printers, ranging from entry-level printers to professional and industrial grade 3D-printers. Elastomer-X is no different from this idea and is designed with compatibility in mind. This material is compatible with open SLA, DLP, and MSLA systems in the 385-420 nm range. Pre-settings with popular 3D-printers printers for Elastomer-X and all other Liqcreate resins are available on the Liqcreate website. Whilst Elastomer-X is suitable for all type of printers, some basic guidelines should be followed to get the best results. First is printing the object on heavy supports and increasing the support tips. Second, washing in a two-step bath preferably an ultra-sonic bath and post-cure the parts for a few minutes in a transparent jar of water. Detailed information for best practices when working with Elastomer-X can be found on the support articles of the Liqcreate website.

4. You have infinite color options with Elastomer-X!

Most Liqcreate resins are already colored, and from time to time customers are asking Liqcreate if a particular resin is available in a different color which matches their application. For large quantities Liqcreate can customise a resin in the desired color. However, the new Elastomer-X resin can be dyed by the user itself or used as received. Printing without colorant yields a semi-transparent part as can be seen on the pictures and videos. With the addition of commercial available resin 3D-printing colorants, the parts can be colored in nearly any color, matching the exact needs for the intended project and without purchasing large quantities! When experimenting with colors, it is advised to not exceed half of the maximum loading according to the colorant suppliers. Adding too much colorant can slow printing further and errors might occur. Use the following link for more detailed information on dying Elastomer-X.

5. Elastomer-X produces real rubber properties in 3D!

The first development of rubbers back in the 1800s was mostly in 2D in the form of sheet materials that are stamped into a 2D form like a sealant or gasket. That is why it is quite difficult to think about the endless possibilities when having the option to free-form a part with 3D printing.

Now with new developments in flexible and elastomer resins, almost any shape can be created! There are plenty of applications that would benefit from an extremely soft resin with good tear strength. Think about soft lattice structures that can mimic foams! Next to foams, there is the robotics industry where they can benefit from soft silicone-like materials to mimic skin, or make soft robot grippers and fingers. From the industrial perspective, the soft end of arm tooling (EOAT) industry can now produce their rubber or elastomer parts in-house. Furthermore, applications like grommets, bellows, and general elastic industrial parts can be manufactured with the support of Liqcreate Elastomer-X resin.

Three different flexible/elastic photopolymers from Liqcreate are available - why?

With the addition of Elastomer-X, Liqcreate offers three commercial flexible/elastic resins under its own brand. All three resins cover a different application area.

Premium Flex is the most rigid of the three materials. With a Shore A 65 it is still flexible and soft and is ideal for prototyping purposes and yields faster printing speeds compared to the other resins.

Flexible-X is a slightly softer resin (Shore A 55), and it offers a better degree of softness with a good tear strength to cover more engineering-type applications.

Elastomer-X is the softest material in this range with its Shore A of 43. It has a good tear strength, aiming for even softer applications where normally a soft TPU or silicone is used. The table below provides an overview of the different properties from these three materials.

Explore Liqcreate's entire line of 3D printing resins here.