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Castable
From Plastics to Wax: Premium Castable Resins
EnvisionTEC has more than 15 years of experience developing materials to 3D print patterns for direct investment casting or lost-wax casting. Importantly, our knowledge about how to include more desirable wax content in these materials, and maintain 3D printing quality, has deepened ― leading to one of the most sophisticated portfolios of castable materials in 3D printing.
While much of our castable material knowledge originated in the jewelry sector, where EnvisionTEC got its start, our castable materials are regularly used in other industries. Take the dental segment, where our Press-E-Cast crowns and partial frameworks have been printed for more than a decade. Automotive manufacturers are also 3D printing large castable pieces such as engine mount blocks. In fact, it’s quite economical to produce a low volume of large metal parts in this fashion, instead of machining, which can be time consuming and expensive.
Material Evolution
EnvisionTEC began its foray into castable materials with no-wax plastic formulations. Of those, PIC100 Series has remained a key player, popular for its stiff, crisp details for delicate pieces up to 5 grams finish weight. WIC100, which includes 20% nano-powder wax, followed and remains in production today.
Still, our team has strived for formulations with ever higher wax content, to deliver patterns that cast as easily as wax patterns. Our quest for better materials has also caused our chemistry team to ask the question: Technically speaking, what exactly makes a wax a wax?
EC3000 has a 55% blend of wax, in powder and liquid form, delivering the highest wax content material that can be printed on a standard DLP printer outside of our continuous cDLM line of printers. Other materials in our Easy Cast or “EC” line of materials, such as EC500 and EC3000, deliver wax-plastic patterns with low thermal expansion for foolproof casting. Launched in 2017, EnvisionTEC’s Easy Cast 2.0 C is a breakthrough material, delivering the quality of our PIC100 in the highest wax (90%) material available in 3D printing today.
Materials
This advanced, engineering-grade material delivers large castable patterns and functional prototypes with best-in-class accuracy and surface finish. FormCast is formulated for use on EnvisionTEC's 3SP family of printers.
A breakthrough material for the high-speed printing of a castable photopolymer with the highest wax content available in 3D printing.
A high wax content material that delivers crisp details and a smooth surface finish, along with the clean burnout that delivers foolproof casting with standard investments.
A popular production casting material, PIC 100 is ideal for printing jewelry, dental and other parts requiring exceptional detail and surface finish. In jewelry, PIC is recommended for pieces up to 5 grams finish weight, such as bridal jewelry.
A low-wax 3D printing material, EPIC delivers results similar to EnvisionTEC’s wax-free PIC material, but with 8% liquid wax for lower thermal expansion during burnout. Ideal for customers who require flexibility between large and small pieces and have expert-level quality control in casting.
A castable material with moderate levels of wax for 3D printing heavier jewelry pieces up to 20 grams finish weight.
A wax-filled photopolymer material for the production of full anatomical crowns and bridges with extreme dimensional accuracy in X, Y and Z, as well as exceptional surface finish.
A castable material developed for a specific need in the dental industry: delivering delicate partial frameworks with thin features and some flexibility.
With 20% powder wax content, WIC100 Series remains a popular value material in EnvisionTEC’s portfolio of castable materials. Delivers quality detail and printing speeds, along with a standard wax burnout cycle with regular gypsum investment.