If you are looking online, there is a lot of information available on resins and everybody has their own favorite 3D-printing material to use. But which is the best resin for 3D-printing? We probably don’t have to tell you, but before we try to answer this question it should be noted that you are on the Liqcreate website. And we are developers and manufacturers of 3D-printing resins!
Image by Liqcreate: Resin portfolio with currently 17 available materials and counting!
What’s the best resin for 3D printing?
The best resin is not the same for everyone. This is depending on your requirements and type of 3D-printer you are currently using. If there are no requirements at all, then you will likely end up with the most affordable resin compatible with your printer.
That brings us to the topic of printer compatibility. How to know if a resin is compatible on your 3D-printer? The easiest way is to either check out the manufacturers website or send them an e-mail. At Liqcreate we have listed over 50+ models of 3D-printers with settings for most of our Liqcreate 3D-printing resins. You can find the list of compatible printers here.
Standard low odor resin
When properties are not too important for your project, but you don’t want any bad or toxic odor in your office or house, it is probably wise to select an odourless or low odor resin. Most Liqcreate resins have a minimal amount of odor and are much easier to work with compared to other standard resins. Read more about it here.
Strong 3D-printing resins
Most standard 3D-printing resins are quite brittle and often not strong and stable enough to survive in real world applications. It can be worth checking out a selection of the strongest resins available in this article. Strong resins can typically handle a higher force before breaking. Often mixed-up with tough resins, this is a completely different category. Tough resins are often developed to have a higher impact strength, while strong resins are developed either for their tensile strength or flexural strength. The difference is that these are not developed for their high resistance against impact forces but for static load bearing applications. For instance Liqcreate Strong-X and Composite-X are a good example of strong 3D-printing resins.
Water washable 3D-printing resins
Another class of resins which can bring benefits to a lot of (home) users are the water washable resins. At Liqcreate we are not a big fan of this class of resins as it can have a big impact on the environment and also part quality after a few weeks, as you can read here. It is worth taking a look at our Resin Cleaning solution if you want to eliminate IPA or Ethanol from your workflow. This is an excellent, effective non-toxic post-print cleaning solution for 3D printing. It is a safe, highly effective cleans faster than other cleaner liquids based on IPA, bio-ethanol and other chemicals.
Tough 3D-printing resins
As the standard resins are often too brittle for most applications, a resin with increased impact strength or toughness is called a Tough resin. When searching through the internet, you can find a lot of resins called tough resin. In this article, you can read more about the different Tough resins available. All Tough materials have different characteristics, where one resin has a higher impact strength, another resin excels in the higher elongation and a third resin could have the most balanced properties. It is important to assess all properties before selecting a resin that fits your application best.
Flexible 3D-printing resins
Flexible and elastic 3D-printing resins open up a whole new field of applications and have a very positive effect on the growth of the photopolymer resin market. But how are these materials defined and how do they compare with competitor flexible and elastic resin? When looking for a resin for a specific application these are important questions to ask and therefore the main target for this article is to compare different flexible resins which are available in the market.
Dental 3D-printing resins
There are many options when selecting the best resin for dental 3D-printing. For dental model resins, it is best to choose a resin that is developed for this application. For precision models you would need a resin with very low shrinkage and high precision, something that lacks when using standard resins. Liqcreate embraces dental 3D printing with a smile. Liqcreate dental resins are perfect for manufacturing a wide range of models like orthodontic, aligner, C&B and implant models and dental casting parts using the direct investment casting method. Stay aligned, because more dental resins will follow soon.
Image by Liqcreate: Growing offering of dental 3D-printing resins!
Support
Do you need any help with 3D printing our SLA, DLP or LCD resins? We can help you! Just look for the question you have below. If you can’t find it, let us know by contacting us!
