SL 5410: High Humidity, Water, and Heat Resistant Resin for Stereolithography

A new Stereolithography (SL) resin, CibaTool® SL 5410, which imparts good humidity and heat resistance, was released in July, 1997. This epoxy based resin for SLA-500 was developed mainly to eliminate the relatively weak resistance to high humidity and high heat that the first generation ofresins suffered from. Namely, with this new resin, strength ofQuickCast part and solid parts can now be maintained under high relative humidity. Even when immersed into water, part strength of SL 5410 is essentially preserved. Thermomechanical properties have also improved significantly relative to those of SL 5180. Heat deflection temperature and Tg values increased by +15°C to +40°C, to as high as 88°C and 105°C, respectively, for SL 5410, when parts were additionally thermally postcured. Improvements in mechanical properties are also included in this paper. These property enhancements were achieved while further improving part accuracy, vertical surface finish, and productivity. Productivity may increase by as much as 2.5-fold over SL 5180. Also, SL 5410 requires no predip delay, hence cutting the overhead time. These newly achieved resin characteristics for SL 5410 are expected to improve the ease-of-use in today's applications, and open new fields of applications in the near future.