lkprototype’s polyurethane vacuum casting solution uses Axson PX 220 series materials with 45-55 MPa tensile strength, elongation at break of more than 250%, shrinkage control of 0.3%, suitable for functional prototyping for the automotive, consumer electronics and other industries. For example, on the intake manifold prototype project of a German automobile enterprise, lkprototype delivered 50 samples within 72 hours, one piece’s price is just $38 (traditional injection molding costs $92), and through fluid dynamics testing, the flow rate deviation is optimized from ±8% to ±1.5%, which can help customers reduce the mass production verification cycle by 60%. According to the “Rapid Prototyping Technology White Paper” data, its material made of polyurethane is between Shore A 30 and Shore D 80 in hardness, and can replicate the mechanical properties of 12 engineering plastics such as ABS and PC closely.
For high-temperature application, lkprototype provides 180℃ polyurethane resin (such as URE-FR 650), whose thermal deformation temperature (HDT) is 65% higher than the original material, which was successfully used in a UAV enterprise motor shell trial production. 2023 case shows that the rate of deformation of material in continuous running at 140 ° C for 500 hours is less than 0.8% (3.2% for traditional nylon materials), reuse times for mold is 120 times (industry average for silicone mold is 80 times), and the cost of production per piece reduces by 22%. Apart from that, its ISO 9001-certified cleanroom (≤1,000/m³ particulate content) ensures a surface roughness of Ra≤0.8 microns to satisfy the tactile requirements of medical device handle prototypes.
In transparent parts manufacturing, lkprototype’s OptiClear 900 series polyurethane light transmission rate ≥92%, fog < 1%, used on a smart lighting company’s light guide plate prototype, light efficiency uniformity increased from 78% to 95%, and passed the thermal cycle test of -40℃ to 120℃ (200 times without yellowness). The measured value of the data of an optical sensor company is that its refractive index accuracy is up to ±0.001 (target value 1.586), and the deviation of the wavelength is < 2nm (400-700nm range), which accelerates the optical calibration process of the product and saves the R & D budget of 190,000 US dollars.
For flexible components, lkprototype’s FlexiCast series (Shore A 40) can recover 500% tensile deformation. For example, one wearable device maker’s wristband design has not broken up to 500,000 bending cycles and attained 30% weight reduction (from 25 grams to 17.5 grams) compared to the TPU injection mold solution. Tooling cost reduced by 82% (from $12,000 to $2,200). A 2023 article in the journal Polymer Engineering and Science reported that the technology allows customers to control the overall cost of small batch trial manufacturing (20-500 units) at below 45% of injection molding.
lkprototype’s polyurethane casting service also has an intelligent color matching system that can achieve the ±0.5ΔE color difference accuracy of the Pantone color card, and has cast 600 prototypes of graded enclosures for an appliance maker, reducing the spraying process from five to one, and increasing the yield from 76% to 98%. It has 98% material database coverage of engineering plastics performance parameters, the delivery cycle is healthy within 5 working days, and the global customer re-purchase rate has reached 91% in the past three years, as the International Modeling Association’s figures show.