Liqcreate's New Dental Resin Eliminates Separating Agents in Acrylic Workflows

Technicians fabricating acrylic-based appliances, from retainers and night guards to clasps and partial denture extensions, have long relied on separating agents as an intermediate step between the 3D-printed model and the acrylic overlay. Netherlands-based Liqcreate is now arguing that step belongs in the chemistry, not on the benchtop.

Liqcreate has announced the commercial availability of Liqcreate Separation Model, a specialized dental photopolymer engineered to deliver built-in non-adhesion performance toward acrylic-based dental and orthodontic materials, with no additional surface treatment or separating agents required. Developed in close collaboration with established dental and orthodontic laboratory partners, the resin represents a departure from conventional model-making workflows, where standard practice requires technicians to apply a separating medium before polymerizing acrylic on the model; Separation Model makes that step entirely unnecessary by incorporating the separation agent into the resin formulation itself.

The problem the resin targets is well understood in dental labs. Most dental model resins are built on acrylate and methacrylate backbones. Because these materials share a similar chemical backbone with orthodontic acrylics such as PMMA, they tend to bond during fabrication. In orthodontic laboratories producing retainers, bite plates, and other cold-cure appliances, managing this adhesion has remained a persistent operational constraint. The additional separating step introduces both time overhead and variability; incomplete coverage can result in localised bonding, while removal of a fused appliance risks damaging either the model or the prosthetic, often requiring the process to be restarted.

Liqcreate's Separation Model is designed to address this constraint at the material level, and by incorporating non-adhesive properties into the formulation, the resin enables direct application of cold-cure or self-cure acrylics onto the printed surface without a separate isolating step. In practice, the workflow is reduced to standard printing and post-curing, followed by direct acrylic application using conventional techniques such as the salt-and-pepper method, and after polymerisation the appliance can be removed without the mechanical resistance typically associated with PMMA bonding. While other products claiming comparable separation behavior are already on the market, Liqcreate's dental collaborators found existing options fell short of practical laboratory demands, and that feedback informed the decision to develop an entirely new formulation from scratch.

On the mechanical side, the resin's polymer properties, measured after 30 minutes of high-power LED curing at 60°C, include a flexural strength of 36 MPa (ASTM D790M), a flexural modulus of 1.8 GPa, and a Shore D hardness of 74 (ASTM D2240). Water sorption comes in at 0.56% per ASTM D570-98. Liqcreate's internal testing records a pass result for separation to ortho acrylic. Internal testing also confirmed that printed parts exhibit a matte surface finish and high dimensional accuracy, both essential for fit and aesthetics in finished appliances.

Separation Model is compatible with open-material DLP, MSLA, and laser-based systems operating at 385 to 405 nm, delivering good accuracy, matte surface finish, and predictable separation characteristics. The supported printer range spans entry-level machines including Anycubic, Elegoo, and Phrozen through to professional systems such as Asiga and Raise3D. For laboratories operating at scale, the removal of the manual separating stage has direct implications for throughput, repeatability, and material waste, particularly in high-volume retainer manufacturing.

Print profiles for validated printers are available directly on Liqcreate's website, and the company continues to qualify additional platforms. Labs whose printer is not yet listed can contact Liqcreate at info@liqcreate.com to request validation. Separation Model is currently available in a 1 kg bottle through US distributor 3D Printing USA.