Urethane Casting

Discover Cost-Effective Small Batch Prototyping solutions

Urethane casting bridges the gap between 3D printing and injection molding — flexible, durable, and ideal for design validation.

Cast urethane parts are ideal when color, surface quality, and toughness are required for quantities from one to one hundred. Urethane molding is a perfect alternative for insert molding or over molding in low volumes with diverse material choices. Polyurethane or silicone casting can bridge production between a 3D printed rapid prototype and an injection molding with a balance of quality, cost, and time. Urethane cast parts can be clear, color-matched, painted (including EMI shielding), installed with inserts, and custom finished.

Urethane Casting

Whether you work in the aerospace, automotive, healthcare or electronics industries, at Golden we develop solutions that are customised to your specific requirements. Urethane casting provides end-use, rigid plastic, rubber, and silicone parts with production-level quality. As a leader in urethane casting services, with domestic (China-based) and international economy options to fit your timeline and budget; pricing includes tariffs for prototypes. Urethane gives professional results for low-volume production using a soft-tooling approach, utilizing 3D-printed master patterns and RTV silicone molds.

Urethane Casting Materials

Polyurethane is a widely used thermoset material grouping known for its strength, durability, abrasion resistance, and versatility. Different urethanes can mimic the properties of many common thermoplastics. For example, a stiff urethane cast part is “polycarbonate-like,” and a more flexible plastic may be “polypropylene-like.” We group our urethane materials into general categories to help you make quicker decisions and get the best performance on your project. The list below describes the categories of materials and technical examples when selecting polyurethanes.

Cast Urethane Materials

Material Name	Shore Hardness	Description	Technical Information	Data Sheets
General Purpose	Shore D 76-80	An impact-resistant Shore 78D material used for a variety of purposes, from enclosure housings to concept models. This material exhibits ABS-like properties.	TC-878, TC-852, or equivalent	General Purpose Data Sheet
Rigid Clear	Shore D 80	A versatile, Shore D 80, clear polyurethane. A matte finish will give a frosted appearance and a higher gloss will increase its transparency.	Poly-Optic 1410 or equivalent	Rigid Clear Data Sheet
ABS-Like, FR	Shore D 78-82	A tough Shore 80D flame retardant material that is UL Listed with a flammability rating at 1/16″ (1.6 mm).	TC-891-FR or equivalent	ABS-Like, FR Data Sheet
Polypropylene-Like	Shore D 65-75	A tough and abrasion-resistant flexible urethane with polypropylene-like ductility.	TC-872, HP-2270D, or equivalent	Polypropylene-Like Data Sheet
Polycarbonate-Like	Shore D 82-86	A stiff, high impact, high HDT, material with a wide variety of uses. Simulates polycarbonate (non-clear), Shore 84D.	TC-854 or equivalent	Polycarbonate-Like Data Sheet
Glass-Filled Nylon-Like	Shore D 85	A stiff, USP Class VI, high-performance urethane with high impact strength and a HDT of 190°F (88°C).	PT8902 or PT8952 (FR)	Glass-Filled Nylon-Like Data Sheet
Rubber-Like Polyurethane	Shore A 25-95	A Shore A elastomer with a high elongation to break.	F-130 to F-190 or equivalent	Rubber-Like Polyurethane Data Sheet
Clear Rubber-Like Polyurethane	Shore A 40-95	A colorless Shore A elastomer with a high elongation to break. Matte finish will give a frosted appearance, and higher gloss will increase its transparency.	WC-540 to WC-595 or equivalent	Clear Rubber-Like Polyurethane Data Sheet

Note: Equivalent materials may be used based on availability.

Applications of Urethane Casting

Low-Volume Production

Urethane cast parts are perfect for low-quantity production—when volumes do not justify investment in injection mold tooling—as well as for first run production parts, which can be completed weeks before production tooling is ready.

Advanced Prototyping

The urethane casting process and relatively inexpensive tooling involved makes it easy and economical to make any necessary design changes. Additionally, different materials can be used with the same mold, making it possible to test designs with a variety of materials

Market Testing

End-user functionality and a high-quality finish makes urethane cast parts ideal for consumer testing, user evaluation and concept models. Using the cast urethane process means that changes can be incorporated quickly for either further testing or market launch.

Tolerances Vacuum casting of polyurethane parts is primarily dependent upon the tolerance of the master model (see SLS tolerances), then a tolerance of +/- 0.15% is applied as a general rule. This varies depending upon weak geometry. To ensure the accuracy of Golden Prototype’s polyurethane parts, we usually machine a fixture for post-heat-treatment. This ensures that the part does not shrink upon heat treatment.

Discover new possibilities

You can directly send the following data formats: Catia, NX, STEP, IGES, PRT, SLDPRT, DXF, and DWG.

We can convert CAD data formats so they are usable for production. Email:sales@golden-prototype.com