SLA and MSLA photopolymer resins produce the highest surface quality of any 3D printing process — fine detail, smooth surfaces, and near-injection-molded finish quality. From standard display resins to tough engineering grades, dental resins, and castable jeweler's wax.
Get a Resin Quote All Materials| Resin Type | Tensile Strength | Surface Quality | Key Properties | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard Resin | 40–55 MPa | Outstanding | Rigid, brittle, easy to sand/paint | Display models, prototypes, miniatures |
| Tough / ABS-Like Resin | 50–65 MPa | Excellent | Impact resistant, lower brittleness | Functional prototypes, snap-fits, enclosures |
| Flexible / Elastic Resin | 2–8 MPa | Very Good | Shore A 40–70, elastomeric | Gaskets, grips, flexible joints, wearables |
| Castable Resin (Wax-fill) | Low (burn-out intended) | Outstanding | Clean burnout, near-zero ash | Lost-wax casting masters (jewelry, metal) |
| Clear / Transparent Resin | 45–60 MPa | Outstanding | Near-optical clarity after polishing | Lenses, fluid flow visualization, display covers |
| Dental / Medical Grade | 50–70 MPa | Outstanding | Biocompatible (ISO 10993 compliant) | Dental models, surgical guides, medical device prototypes |
| High-Temp Resin | 55–70 MPa | Excellent | HDT 200°C+ | Under-hood prototypes, mold inserts, jigs |
The default choice for display models, architectural details, product presentation prototypes, miniatures, and art pieces. Captures fine details impossible in FDM. Brittle — not for functional parts that take impact. Sands beautifully from 220 grit up to 2000 grit for mirror-smooth surfaces.
Formulated to behave like ABS or polypropylene — higher impact resistance and lower brittleness than standard resin while maintaining excellent surface quality. Suitable for snap-fit features, thin-wall enclosures, and functional prototypes that will be handled repeatedly.
Elastomeric photopolymer with Shore A hardness between 40 and 70 depending on formulation. Used for wearable elements, flexible joints, gaskets, and grips. Can be combined with rigid resin in some printers for multi-material flexible/rigid prints.
Contains wax-like compounds that burn out cleanly in jewelry and investment casting processes. Produces detailed masters for lost-wax casting of gold, silver, brass, and other metals. Near-zero ash residue ensures clean castings without porosity.
Prints in a water-clear or slightly amber transparent state. After wet sanding to 2000 grit and polishing with plastic polish, achieves near-optical clarity. Used for lenses, protective covers, fluid flow visualization models, and decorative transparent elements.
Specialized resin with heat deflection temperature above 200°C — significantly higher than standard resin. Used for mold inserts, jigs near heat sources, under-hood automotive prototypes, and applications where standard resin would warp or deform.
Unlike FDM, SLA resin prints require a post-curing step to achieve full mechanical properties and food/skin safety. Here's how it works at Export Commodity:
The SLA printer exposes liquid photopolymer resin to a UV laser (SLA) or UV LCD screen (MSLA) layer by layer, building up the part from the bottom of the build vat. Layer thicknesses range from 25 to 100 microns depending on the resolution required.
Immediately after printing, the part is washed in isopropyl alcohol (IPA) or a proprietary cleaning solution to remove uncured liquid resin from the surface. Thorough washing prevents tacky surfaces and ensures clean post-cure bonding.
The washed part is placed in a UV curing station that exposes it to intense UV light (typically 405nm) for a specified time at a controlled temperature. This completes the polymerization reaction, maximizing mechanical properties and eliminating residual monomer that would cause skin irritation or tackiness.
Support structures (required by most SLA prints) are removed manually with flush cutters and sanding sticks. Support marks are sanded smooth. Further finishing — sanding, priming, painting — proceeds as with FDM parts, typically achieving even better results due to the superior base surface quality.
Yes — and this is one of the most powerful workflows in our portfolio. Standard and tough resins work as casting masters for urethane and platinum silicone molds. The process: print in SLA resin, finish to your required smoothness level, apply mold release, pour the silicone mold around it, then cast production quantities in urethane, epoxy, or other casting resins. For lost-wax metal casting (jewelry, small metal components), castable wax resin is used as the master and burned out directly in the investment casting process — no silicone mold step required. We can discuss which casting approach fits your production goals when you quote.
Standard resin is more brittle than most FDM materials — it can crack or shatter under impact in ways that ABS or nylon would not. Thin features (walls under 1mm, fine spikes, sharp points) are particularly vulnerable. For applications where parts will be handled roughly or subjected to impact, we recommend tough or ABS-like resin, which is formulated to reduce brittleness significantly. If you need extreme detail but also some toughness, talk to us about hybrid approaches — printing thin, detail-critical areas in standard resin and structural elements in a tougher material or FDM process.
Yes — most standard and clear resins will yellow gradually with prolonged UV exposure (sunlight and UV-emitting light sources). This is a photopolymer chemistry characteristic, not a print quality issue. For applications where long-term color stability matters — gallery art, permanent display pieces, or outdoor applications — we recommend applying a UV-protective clear coat after printing, which significantly slows the yellowing process. ABS-like resins with UV stabilizers yellow more slowly. For clear optical applications where yellowing is unacceptable, we recommend using clear resin and applying UV-protective optical coating. Indoor display pieces with normal lighting see minimal yellowing over typical display lifecycles.
SLA resin surface quality is dramatically better than standard FDM in its raw state. FDM produces visible layer lines at 0.1–0.3mm layer heights. SLA prints at 25–100 micron layers with a smooth surface between layers due to the photopolymer curing process — the result looks and feels almost like injection-molded plastic right off the printer. Fine details like text, filigree, facial features, and mechanical fine detail that are blurry or impossible in FDM come out crisp in SLA. The tradeoff is size (SLA build volumes are typically smaller than FDM) and cost (resin is more expensive per unit volume than FDM filament).
Liquid resin is an irritant and requires careful handling with gloves and eye protection — that's our team's concern, not yours. After printing and proper UV post-curing, resin parts are fully polymerized, chemically inert, and safe for normal handling without gloves. Fully cured standard resin is not considered hazardous. However, improperly cured resin (tacky surfaces indicate incomplete curing) should not be handled without gloves, as residual monomer is a skin sensitizer. All parts we deliver are fully washed and properly UV post-cured — if you receive a part with a tacky surface, contact us immediately. We also keep MSDS sheets for all resins we stock, available on request.