The resilience, strength, and compliance of elastomers make them highly functional materials enabling parts for applications including tooling, enclosures, and seals. However, 3D printing elastomers presents a hard choice: two-part systems that are difficult to use, or one-part materials that are weak and tacky. Or you can print a mold and cast a urethane or silicone, a time-intensive process with limited design freedom. There’s no quick and easy way to manufacture an elastomeric part that rivals the look, feel, and function of cast urethanes, TPUs, and hard rubbers — until now.
The new Flexible 80A Resin is a resilient, single-part elastomeric material that leverages the technology of Form 4 Series stereolithography (SLA) 3D printers to deliver 4x higher rebound, 2x higher tear strength, 2x higher elongation at break, and improved aesthetics and aging compared to the previous version.
"We are incredibly impressed with the strength and fatigue resistance of the new Flexible 80A Resin. In our application, parts manufactured in the new Flexible 80A Resin last 10 times longer than the previous generation. It's a dramatic improvement."
Jonathon Campion, President, Modern Body Engineering
With Flexible 80A Resin, print parts that snap back into place and withstand repeated bending, tension, and compression. Create tear-resistant functional prototypes and end-use parts, protect sensitive components with soft inserts and fixtures, or design refined padding and grips with tack-free surfaces and a matte, black finish.
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Resilient, Tear-Resistant Parts With Long-Term Performance
The new formulation of Flexible 80A Resin offers improved material properties compared to Flexible 80A Resin V1.1, bringing part performance closer in line with off-the-shelf and industrial 80A urethanes.
Parts printed with Flexible 80A Resin are resilient, snapping back into shape with a 56% pendulum rebound. Durable, stretchable parts resist failure with a tear strength of 28 kN/m and an elongation at break of 230%, 2x higher than the previous generation. Connectors, fixtures, and covers printed with the new formulation have better Ross Flex fatigue, surviving 5x more cycles compared to the previous generation.
| Flexible 80A Resin V2 | Flexible 80A Resin V1.1 | Cast Urethane (Smooth-on Task™ 16) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hardness (Shore A) | 83A | 79A | 80A* |
| Tear Strength | 28 kN/m (160 pli) | 13 kN/m (74 pli) | 34.5 kN/m (197 pli)* |
| Elongation at Break | 230% | 131% | 233%* |
| Pendulum Rebound (Schob Type) | 56% | 13% | 54% |
| Ross Flex Fatigue | 12,800 cycles** | - | 38,600 cycles** |
*Value reported by manufacturer and not tested directly by Formlabs
**Internally tested with no environmental control
Accelerated indoor aging testing was performed on parts printed with the new Flexible 80A Resin in accordance with ASTM D4459. The new Flexible 80A Resin maintained 87% of elongation at break after 1,000 hours.
View the technical data sheet for Flexible 80A Resin for more information.
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Improved Aesthetics
The new material formulation is tack-free with a matte black appearance. Parts printed with the new Flexible 80A Resin look and feel like a cast urethane.
Directly print flexible parts with fine details and surface textures.
New Flexible 80A Resin (at left), the old formulation (middle) and the same part printed in TPU filament on an FDM printer (right).
Workflow
Flexible 80A Resin can be printed with Form 4 Series 3D printers, including Form 4 and Form 4L, with easier, more streamlined workflows than two-part resin systems or casting.
| Flexible 80A Resin V2 | Two-part SLA resin systems like Rebound Resin and Carbon EPU 40 | Casting RTV Silicones and Cast PUs with a 3D printed Mold | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Workflow and speed | Easy | Hard (limited pot life, multi-day secondary cure) | Hard (requires designing and manufacturing a mold, and casting and curing urethane) |
| Safety | Medium | Poor (resins are more hazardous, requiring stricter PPE and safety controls) | Poor-medium |
| Geometric freedom | Excellent | Excellent | Poor |
| Properties | Good | Excellent | Excellent |
| Excellent | Excellent | Excellent |
Parts printed in Flexible 80A Resin should be washed and dried, followed by post-curing. It is recommended that parts printed in this material be cured twice, the first time submerged in water in a UV-transparent container. View the full workflow in the TDS.
Iterating Elastomeric Parts at Speed at FYi Design Dept.
Located in Squamish, British Columbia, FYi Design Dept. specializes in R&D at the intersection between technology, soft goods, and hard goods. In the past, FYi printed flexible materials on Carbon 3D printers to make elastomeric parts. While Disanjh liked the material, the workflow was difficult and only one member of the team had the expertise to print, disrupting timelines. This led Disanjh to investigate alternative elastomeric materials for 3D printing.
“Hands down, the Formlabs is the better solution for elastomeric parts, and that's because of how it plugs into our R&D process.”
Derek Disanjh, R&D Mechanical Engineer, FYi Design Dept.
Disanjh and his colleagues were already printing with Form 4 Generation 3D printers, including the Tough Resins Family. They appreciated the easy workflows empowering anyone on the team to print, and the reliability and speed of printing and post-processing, for meeting deadlines.
Parts printed with the new Flexible 80A Resin have higher rebound, tear strength, and elongation at break plus improved aesthetics. (Photo: FYi Design Dept.)
Disanjh says, “The surface finish of the part is very important to us. The team has similarly been impressed with the rebound of the material. Other 3D printed elastomers feel dead.” (Photo: FYi Design Dept.)
“The speed of the Form Cure V2 has really enabled the team to lean into the Form Ecosystem a lot more,” says Disanjh. Though Flexible 80A Resin requires two post-cure steps, including one with parts submerged in water, Disanjh says, “The result we’re getting is worth that step,” especially as total cure time is only 10 minutes in Form Cure V2.
“Flexible 80A Resin has been a gamechanger in enabling us to iterate and design faster. The team has been impressed with the rebound, elongation, and tear strength.”
Derek Disanjh, R&D Mechanical Engineer, FYi Design Dept.
Start Printing Flexible Parts
The updated Flexible 80A Resin makes it easier than ever to manufacture resilient, elastomeric parts that perform cycle after cycle and achieve the look, feel, and function of Shore 80A cast urethanes with 3D printing.
Request a free sample part to evaluate Flexible 80A Resin for yourself or buy the material to start printing flexible parts on Form 4 Series 3D printers.