Select your resin by a key physical property such as Shore hardness

What is the Shore hardness of a material? how is it measured?

  • The Shore hardness is measured with a durometer, which is an affordable device for measuring the hardness of a material, typically of polymers, elastomers and rubber-like materials.
  • Higher numbers on the scale indicate a greater resistance to indentation and thus harder materials. Lower numbers indicate less resistance and softer materials

    There are several scales of durometer, used for measuring the hardness of materials. The most common are the type D, A and OO Shore hardness scales:

    • The Shore D hardness scale measures the hardness of hard rubbers, semi-hard and hard plastics: hard 3D resins
    • The Shore A hardness scale measures the hardness of flexible rubbers that range in hardness from very soft to soft to medium soft rubbers: soft 3D resins
    • The Shore O (and OO) hardness scale measures ultra soft rubbers and gels that are extremely soft: ultra soft resins
    • If you do not have a Shore durometer you can get one for 30 Euro in Amazon
    • Get a D, A or O scale durometer depending on the type of hardness materials you want to work with

        Identify the ideal Shore hardness of your specific application:

        • Search and find the right 3Dresyn among our thousands of 3D resins by simple key properties: 
        • Click on SEARCH and write the Shore hardness of your preliminar choice eg Shore hardness D80 or directly D80
        • All our 3Dresyns with their Shore values will appear in your search (letter D,A or O followed by 2 digits without any space e.g. D90) 
        • For each Shore hardness materials can be more or less rigid and have higher or lower overall mechanical strength

          Identify the ideal rigidity by Young´s modulus and Strength of your 3D resin

          • The flexibility and rigidity of a material can be identified by its Young´s or Elastic modulus: the higher its value the higher the rigidity.
          • For each rigidity or Young´s modulus value materials can have higher or lower overall mechanical strength
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          Basic information about Young´s modulus values:  "The higher the value, the higher the rigidity"

          • Ultra rigid 3D resins have Young´s modulus >3000 MPa
          • Rigid 3D resins have Young´s modulus >2000 MPa
          • Semirigid and semiflexible 3D resins have Young´s modulus 1000-2000 MPa, typically they are rigid at thickness >2-3 mm and semi flexible at thickness <2-3 mm
          • Flexible 3D resins have Young´s modulus <1000 MPa, typically they are rigid at thickness >3-4 mm and flexible at thickness <3-4 mm
          • Elastic 3D resins have Young´s modulus <1-10 MPa, typically they are flexible even at very high thickness

          Basic information about mechanical strength values:

          • Ultra rigid 3D resins break without significant deformation and tend to be fragile due to their excessive rigidity
          • Ultra tough and rigid 3D resins such as 3Dresyn PEEK-like can reach >100-130 MPa in flexural strength. They are very resistant, breaking with minor deformation
          • Tough and semi rigid 3D resins, such as 3Dresyn Nylon-like can reach incredible relative flexural strengths >40-80 MPa and can be bent upon relatively high pressure without breaking at less than 2 mm thickness
          • Semi-flexible 3D resins with flexural strengths<50 MPa are typically deformable, without breaking, upon pressure at less than 3 mm thickness
          • Flexible and elastic 3D resins naturally have low flexural strength <1-10 MPa and break relatively easily