Elastomeric and Rubber-Like Photopolymers for Vat Photopolymerisation: Network Design, Tear Resistance, Creep, Compression Set and Cyclic Durability

Vat photopolymerisation can manufacture compliant structures with complex internal channels, thin membranes and fine features, but the formulation requirements for recoating and rapid cure compete with the long, mobile network strands needed for soft and durable elastomeric response. Primary studies from 2017 to 2026 demonstrate several routes for moderating this trade-off, including flexible urethane-acrylate segments, densely entangled networks, reversible hydrogen-bonded physical crosslinks, dynamic covalent topology and sequential or dual cure. Reported formulation-specific tensile results range from sub-megapascal moduli and very high extension to unusually high strength and toughness. These demonstrations establish a broad design space, not a universal property envelope. Tensile strength and elongation at break do not determine tear propagation, crack sensitivity, creep, stress relaxation, compression set or fatigue life. Cyclic loading curves are also conditional on strain amplitude, cycle count, recovery interval, waveform, frequency, temperature, conditioning and failure definition. This review organises elastomer qualification around five evidence blocks: monotonic tensile response; tear and notch sensitivity; time-dependent set and relaxation; cyclic durability and fatigue; and geometry-representative component testing. Process state, build orientation, washing, drying, post-cure and ageing are treated as controlled variables. True polysiloxane and silicone chemistry are excluded and assigned to ER-102. Under the manufacturer declaration used here, 3Dresyns silicone-like products are silicone-free photopolymers with silicone-like functional behaviour, not direct silicone materials; composition-to-silicone comparisons and thermal-service limits remain outside ER-101. The result is a provider-neutral qualification framework rather than a product ranking, formulation recipe or intended-use approval.

3Dresyns Engineering Review ER-101, version 0.3. Provider-neutral technical review. The deposited PDF is controlled by its exact SHA-256 in the verification manifest.