Standard resin is brilliant for detail but can be brittle. When a part needs to take knocks or bend without breaking, tough and flexible resins step in, trading a little fine detail for real-world resilience.
Tough versus flexible
Tough and durable resins resist impact and behave more like engineering plastics, which suits functional prototypes and parts that get handled. Flexible resins bend and rebound, which suits grips, seals, wearables and parts that need some give.
Each comes with trade-offs in detail and finish, so the choice depends on what the part has to survive.
Picking the right one
Tell us how your SLA part will be used, especially the loads and movement it will see, and we will recommend a resin that holds up.