What Materials are Used for Prototyping (and Why)?

Picking the right material is a major step in the prototyping process. Hundreds of different types of materials are used for prototyping, but only one of them will truly be the best choice for your product.

At Pacific Research Laboratories, we make this decision easy. We offer an extensive list of advanced prototyping materials that bring your prototypes to life. Our team of experienced engineers has a deep understanding of prototyping materials and will offer you valuable advice based on your unique product design—and yours alone. You won’t get better advice anywhere else.

The Materials We Use for Prototyping

As an industry leader, we’ve worked with many different materials used for prototyping over the decades. Through this experience, we’ve discovered 10 types of materials that offer our clients the greatest flexibility and value for the cost:

Urethane Resins

A thermosetting polymer that is typically poured into a mold to make prototypes.

Silicones

A silica and oxygen compound that comes in many forms, including resins and solid or liquid rubbers.

Glass Fiber

Very fine fibers of glass that can be adhered to a model or other materials to provide insulation or reinforcement.

Carbon Fiber

Very fine fibers of carbon that can be woven together into a fabric or added to other materials to provide reinforcement.

Thermoplastics

A type of plastic that can be melted down and molded or 3D printed into certain shapes.

Metals

Aluminum and steel are common prototyping options.

Wood

Plywood is one of the few wood based materials that we use for prototyping.

Mass Cast Epoxy

A thermosetting polymer that is poured into a cast and left to harden.

Rigid Urethane Foam

We can make prototypes by casting liquid foam into a mold or by CNC machining blocks of solid foam.

The Pros and Cons of Each Material

We’ll help you decide exactly which materials to use for prototyping, but if you’d like to see what your options are, we’ve created a basic list of pros and cons for each of them:

Material	Pros	Cons
Urethane Resins	Versatile (can be elastic or very stiff and hard) Very durable for abrasion and flexibility	Impressionable, so may leave a rough finish
Silicones	Range from very soft and flexible to stiff and hard Temperature-resistant Waterproof Easily decorated/colored Virtually no creep No shrinkage during molding	Very soft (<5A) elastomers tend to be tacky Has high CLTE
Composite structures	Non-metallic Good dimensional stability Can be glass or carbon-reinforced – with carbon structure can be as strong as steel Tooling costs can be low	Carbon fiber is more expensive than glass Failure can be catastrophic Typical parts only have one good surface except with more expensive tooling
Thermoplastics	Can be remolded multiple times Recyclable Durable Wide variety of properties Fast molding times for low cost Automated processes well established	Melts under high heat High tooling costs
Metals	Well-finished Strong Precise	Can be labor-intensive Typically done in subtractive manufacturing processes which can be high in waste
Wood	Cost-effective Flexible (can use softwoods or hardwoods) Easy to refine	Can be labor-intensive Not as dimensionally stable as other materials
Mass Cast Epoxy	Very hard and durable Water-resistant Can be molded into nearly any shape	Can shrink during curing Difficult to make changes Limited by thickness constraints

We’ll Find the Perfect Material for Your Project

As an employee-owned company with experienced engineers, Pacific Research Laboratories has full control over the prototyping process. We hand-select only the highest-quality materials based on our years of experience building prototypes for the world’s most demanding industries. With this experience under our belts, we know which materials perform well under pressure and which just fall flat.

Let us guide you through this process. We’ll work closely with you to understand what you hope to achieve with your prototypes. Even if you have no experience building prototypes, molds, or models, we’ll consider every minute detail and deliver the results you want. We don’t settle for prototypes that are just “good enough.” We craft top-notch working models that lead to high quality, marketable products.

Ready to Build Your Prototype? Get in Touch

Our team of engineers is here to answer any questions you have about materials used for prototyping. Get in touch with us on our website or call us directly at (206) 408-7603.

Engineering Department | Pacific Research Labs

info@pacific-research.com

PRL’s engineers have dozens of manufacturing options available to help you solve any challenge facing your product: CNC machining, custom tooling, 3D printing, thermoplastic molding, reverse engineering, and more. No matter what stage your product is currently at, we can create it and optimize it for manufacturing.