Rapid Product Development Group Offers WaterClear Resin

By DE Editors

Rapid Product Development Group,  Inc. (RPDG; San Diego, CA)  announced a new stereolithography (SLA) resin from DSM Somos called WaterClear Ultra. WaterClear Ultra is an optically clear,  fast, low viscosity, general-purpose SLA resin for producing fluid flow analysis models, packaging prototypes, automotive lenses, housings, bottles, and light pipes as well as concept, functional models, and master patterns.

WaterClear Ultra combines high clarity with low color and high-dimensional accuracy and produces colorless,  functional, accurate, and highly water resistant parts that simulate acrylic in appearance. Using a colorimeter, an instrument used to measure the amount of color and light able to pass through plastic, percent light transmission values were compared between WaterClear Ultra and various plastic samples, including a polycarbonate-like SL resin acrylic and two clear engineering plastics:  polycarbonate and acrylic. Transmission data showed WaterClear Ultra closely mirrored the behavior of high clarity acrylic and demonstrated higher clarity than the commercial grade polycarbonate sheet.

Beta test feedback on WaterClear Ultra indicates that the resin’s clarity resembles that of milled acrylic in both thin and thick sections.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.