Epoxy Casting Resin — Two-Component Casting & Coating System

Primary uses

• Thick-section casting
• Clear and encapsulation casting
• Low-shrinkage tooling casting

Applications

• Decorative and furniture castings including thick clear pours
• Encapsulation and potting
• Tooling blocks, fixtures and jigs
• Castings where dimensional stability matters more than cycle time

Advantages

• Handles thicker sections than urethane or polyester systems designed for thin castings
• Low shrinkage supports tooling blocks, fixtures and dimensionally critical castings
• Clear systems allow encapsulation and decorative work that other families cannot deliver

Limitations to consider

• Cure cycles are long, which limits throughput per mould compared with urethane
• Sensitisation risk with skin contact makes handling discipline and ventilation non-negotiable
• Deep-pour and clear systems have specific supplier-defined limits that must be read from their data sheet, not assumed
• Decorative and architectural work is judged by eye. Colour, gloss, texture and translucency shift with batch, substrate, dosage and finishing method, so approve a physical sample panel made by your own process before a production run and keep it as the reference for later deliveries.
• Mix ratio, pot life, working time, demould time, full-cure schedule, hardness, tear strength, elongation, shrinkage, viscosity and temperature resistance are properties of one specific supplier system. They are never quoted here from memory or by analogy with a similar product; they are read from the supplier data sheet for the exact material offered and confirmed at quotation.

How to choose the right grade

• Start from the part: section thickness, required appearance, and whether it is a prototype, a short production run or a structural element
• State the mould the material will be cast or laminated into, because mould material and resin chemistry have to be compatible
• Describe the shop — mixing method, ventilation, temperature and whether the process is poured, sprayed or laid up by hand
• State the maximum section thickness in one pour, because that is the first thing that narrows the product family
• Say whether optical clarity, UV behaviour or dimensional stability is the governing requirement
• Mould-making and casting behaviour depends on the pattern, the shop temperature and humidity, the mixing method and the operator. A production-representative trial on your own pattern and in your own shop conditions is the only honest way to qualify a material before a run is committed.
• Exact specification is confirmed against supplier documentation at quotation.

Typical grades

• Deep-pour products intended for thick sections
• Clear and colour-stable products for decorative and encapsulation work
• Tooling and fixture products the supplier designates for dimensional work
• Buyers search this category by grade name, and those names describe what the workshop needs rather than what is asserted here. Which grade a specific offer corresponds to, and what the supplier declares for it, is read from the technical documentation issued for the exact material quoted.
• Materials in this category interact: rubbers, releases, sealers, resins, pigments and fillers can inhibit cure, stain a surface or shorten mould life when they are combined outside the combinations the supplier has tested. State every material already in the process at enquiry so compatibility is checked against supplier documentation rather than discovered on the shop floor.
• Reactive materials age in the container, and moisture-sensitive systems age faster once opened. Order against real consumption rather than against a discount, and confirm the shelf life the supplier states for the exact product and pack.