Xencast P6 Toughened Polyurethane Resin

Glass Bubbles can be added to most resins to reduce the density of the cured material. However, bear in mind that they will reduce the clarity of the GlassCast resin, making it more of a translucent 'milky' appearance rather than transparent.

We would recommend using Acetone to clean up before the resin has cured. Once cured, the Fast Cast is a rigid plastic and nothing will really remove it other than mechanical means (scraping/chipping it off).

You may need to cast in sections or use a slower curing resin.  The practical difficulties is getting the resin to flow into the cavity and displacing air as it does so.  A carefully designed mould with vent holes and several pour holes may allow it to flow in within the specified time.  If you still struggle, you may be better looking for a slower PU casting resin (which we do not stock) to give you time to load the mould. 

Hi Christos, it will vary slightly depending on what you're trying to achieve and what level of 'flow' you still need to maintain with the casting resin. Typically, adding around 10% (by weight) of milled carbon fibre to thermoset resin systems seems to yield the best balance of improved tensile properties whilst still maintaining a good level of usability of the casting resin.

Unfortunately once the P6 Polyurethane resin has fully cured, there are no easily available solvents or chemicals that can dissolve or break down the resin. It would need to be broken down by mechanical means such as abrasion or cutting with tools.

...I want to cast some small switches (in P6) which need a hexagonal blind hole for the control arm. Is it ok to support the silicone mould upright in its cast box and suspend an Allen Key into the casting mix immediately the mould is full? Will the metal Allen key unstick from the cured mould?

You might find this can be done but there would be a couple of important things to be aware of. Firstly, you'll certainly need a release agent on the allen key. Something like mould release wax or a chemical release agent (like our Easy Lease) to prevent the PU resin from sticking to the metal allen key. However, even with a release agent on the allen key you might still find that because the sides of the allen key are parallel (i.e. there is no taper) then you still might not be able to release it because it could become mechanically locked in. For this reason, it might be better to use a 'thicker' release agent, like petroleum jelly (Vaseline) to make the extraction easier.

This is usually caused by minor mixing or measuring error, the excess component unused in the cure process leeches out slightly on the surface. Despite thorough shaking of the bottle, and accurate measurement, this can still happen as P6 tends to need a very thorough and aggressive mixing to ensure it is fully mixed to ensure this does not happen.

If you have a part doing this, then you can usually eliminate it by post-curing the part at an elevated temperature. Post curing in this way is also a good way to achieve maximum mechanical properties from the resin which sounds like it would be helpful in your application.

Providing it's measured and mixed properly, Xencast P6 will cure to a fully hard, tack free finish.

Xencast P6 Parts A and B should be stored in original, unopened containers between 20 and 25°C. Xencast P6 Part B may crystallise partially or completely if not stored at above 20°C.

Yes, once cured, Xencast P6 is fully water resistant.

We see no reason why it would not work for rotation and slush casting. The exact results would depend on the specific process you are following and ideally best results would be had with a bit of experimentation.

We would not recommend adding pure alcohol or any other solvent to the P6 Fast Cast as it would likely negatively effect both the cure of the resin and the resultant mechanical properties of the final product.

Although Milled Carbon Fibre can be added to Xencast P6 no problem (for improved mechanical properties), in terms of electrical conductivity you may struggle to get the performance you want.

Polyurethane casting resins are themselves non-conductive whereas carbon fibre is a high resistance electrical conductor. When mixed together, even with high proportions of carbon fibre, the non-conductive nature of the resin matrix and the random fibre orientation means that the conductivity conductivity of the combined material is not significantly higher. You may need to conduct some experiments to see if you get results that are usable for your specific purposes (for example, milled carbon fibre is added to polyurethane paints for electrostatic discharge purposes).

Yes, you can turn the fully cured Xencast P6 FastCast to shape it as you see fit. Feedback we've had from customers is that the cured resin turns (machines) very well.

Yes you can use metal powders in the resin. Depending on the proportion used, you can achieve a finish that can appear metallic once the surface resin has been sanded off. The finished part can be left like this or polished to a high gloss finish.

Our fantastic range of Metal Powders can be used to get some good metal like finishes when combined with this resin as you can see from the sample casting pictures.

There resin doesn't particularly expand during curing (although there could be a negligible expansion owing to the increase in temperature), in fact, you're more likely to be able to detect a minor amount of shrinkage in the cured part, compared to the original liquid volume.

For the vast majority of castings with our Xencast P6 Fast Cast, there is no need to degas as the low viscosity nature of the resin means very little air is entrapped. In fact, Fast Cast is intended to be used without degassing which is important because its fast cure time would make degassing a challenge.

Yes, absolutely. Latex moulds are perfectly fine. The cast part will release well.

Yes, our Xencast P6 Fast Cast is pigmentable. The type of pigment that you should use would be a Polyurethane Pigment Paste. We have a Black Polyurethane Pigment as well as a wide range of other colours.

No, Xencast P6 Fast Cast is not a clear resin system. When mixed and cured Fast Cast is a creamy-beige colour. It is light enough in colour to be successfully pigmented using Polyurethane Colour Pigments. For a properly clear casting resin you would want our Waterclear Polyurethane Casting Resin.

The resin itself is unlikely to have a bad reaction with any conventional plastic (i.e. soften or melt it etc.) but you will need to give consideration to whether the resin would stick to the plastic you use for the mould. In most cases, particularly for the types of plastic that you can 3D print with, you will find that the Fast-Cast would stick to them. The conventional way to overcome this is the have a positive (male) shape 3D printed and then use an RTV silicone (like our CS2 Condensation Cure Silicone) to make a female mould into which you can cast the Fast-Cast. If you really do want to release direct from a 3D printed plastic mould then you will need to experiment with various release agents (like our Easy-Lease for example) to see if the Fast-Cast will release off the plastic mould.

The 'Glass Transition' temperature or Tg of the P6 Fast-Cast resin is 71-76°C which means that above this temperature the resin would start to soften or distort, therefore it's unlikely that it would be suitable for making your component that would be subjected to temperatures of up to 120°C.

Instead, you might need to be looking at something like our Very High Temperature Epoxy. It might be overkill slightly because it can take up to 180°C but at least you could be confident that it would not distort or weaken at 120°C.

Xencast P6 Fast Cast is very low odour; you would hardly detect it in a normal home and certainly not in a workshop. Once cast, the cured casting would be odourless. It's a great resin for model making, figure casting and that sort of thing. You can pigment the resin to give you your base-colour and then just paint on detail or you can just cast it in the natural colour and then paint the whole thing. Wash the piece thoroughly in soapy water and/or give it a gentle rub with a scotch-pad to ensure the paint sticks well.

If casting into silicone moulds, then no release agent is necessary. Otherwise, if you’re casting into a rigid mould (such as an epoxy, polyester, or even metal mould) then you will need a release agent and we would recommend our Easy-Lease Chemical Release Agent.

Our Xencast P6 Fast Cast is UV stable and can therefore be can be used in outdoor applications, however if you use filler powders or pigments then you would need to ensure that these are as UV stable as possible too, in order to avoid discolouration.

No, definitely not. Varying the mixing ratio will not change the hardness of our Xencast P6 Fast-Cast other than causing curing problems potentially leading to an unusable part or a part with degraded performance characteristics.

We would never advise against the use of a respirator wherever fumes or vapours are present however the hazard risk of vapours from a Fast Cast polyurethane are very small. Most people would consider working in a reasonably well ventilated (or unconfined) area sufficient to be perfectly safe.

There's no reason, in fact they work brilliantly. The only type of polyurethane that you can't use with condensation cure silicone rubber is our Water Clear Polyurethane which, owing to its particular sensitivity to moisture, will become sticky and airated if you cast it into a condensation cure silicone mould.

It's non-toxic and safe to handle when mixed properly and cured correctly. It's not non-toxic in its uncured (liquid) state so the mixing and casting is not suitable for children but the cured products would be.

Yes you can mix a pigment into part A for later use. However, remember to thoroughly shake and mix the container again before use as some of the solids content may settle into the bottom of the container.