big beam
hi I'm Chris from Fibre Glast
today we're going to talk about the casting urethanes that we carry on
Fibre Glast dot com
casting urethanes are designed to be poured into open or closed molds without
reinforcement
to create short-run parts prototypes molds and tools
there are a wide variety of urethanes available in the marketplace
each with a unique hardness color and surface finish
Fibre Glast offers urethanes ranging from flexible to rigid
and clear to opaque casting urethanes are used by a wide variety of industries
including
the automotive aerospace and marine industries
they're used to create prototypes tooling and for general part
fabrication
a key benefit to casting urethanes is that they cure quickly
all of Fibre Glast's urethanes feature a room temperature cure
and they can be pigmented using our urethane pigments when working with
urethanes
you must avoid moisture including in your mixing containers and stir sticks
urethanes are extremely vulnerable to moisture and they can remain tacky if
they experience too much moisture or humidity
we recommend using only plastic mixing cups and plastic mixing sticks to
measure and stir your urethanes
porous surfaces such as wood should be sealed before creating a casting or
coating a tabletop
you should also select a mold release that is not water-based
such as our number 4120 easy clean mold release
or number 4121 non silicone high temp paste wax
PVA release film is not appropriate for use with urethanes
finally when storing your open urethane products
we recommend spraying our number 2332 Poly Purge Dry Gas Blanket into the open
container
to displace humid air before closing casting urethanes can seem expensive
at first glance however
for many applications they end up paying for themselves due to the time and effort
saved when compared to the alternatives
Fibre Glast offers six different casting urethane options
each with their own specific uses and properties casting urethanes are usually
classified by their shore value
hardness of cured polymers is measured on the shore durometer scale
with numbers and letters indicating how hard or soft a substance is
for more information about casting urethanes and the shore scale
check out our Learning Center article titled Introduction to Urethane Casting
Resins
our numbers 3340 and 3360
are shore A urethanes they're both amber in color
number 3340 is 40 shore A urethane
which is soft and pliable our number 3360
is a 60 shore A and roughly as hard as a car tire
both these resins are used to create flexible parts and tooling
our number 3460 is a 60 shore D urethane
it is amber in color and cures roughly as hard as a solid rubber tire
3460 is typically used to make extremely tough parts
patterns and tools our number 3475
is a 75 shore D urethane it is opaque and white in color
and cures roughly as hard as a hardhat 3475 is typically used to create highly
detailed and strong parts or tools
with superior cosmetics our number 3500
is a clear casting resin it is optically water clear
and won't yell over time it has an 80 shore D hardness
3500 is typically used to make lenses
embedments clear parts or as a clear tabletop resin
our number 4113 is a fast set tooling prototype urethane
it is 80 shore D urethane meaning it's extremely hard and durable
it is gray in color and cures quickly 4113 is typically used to make tooling
patterns and molds it is also used to create prototypes
and short-run parts thanks for watching Fibre Glast on YouTube
to learn more about each of our casting urethanes be sure to check out their
individual product pages on Fibre Glast dot com
and don't forget to subscribe to our channel and like this video