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Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to improve the mechanical and thermal properties of photosensitive resin for rapid prototyping (RP) by modifying with nano-TiO2. Design/methodology/approach - The silane coupling agent was selected to treat the surface of anatase nano-TiO2 particles. The IR spectrum showed that the hydroxyl (-OH) group on the surface of nano-TiO2 reacted with the coupling agent effectively. The effects of TiO2 content on the curing depth and viscosity of the photosensitive resin were studied by experiments. The mechanical properties including tensile strength, tensile modulus, flexural strength and hardness were tested according to ASTM standards. The thermal stability of modified photosensitive resin was tested by differential scanning calorimetry. Findings - The comprehensive performance of the modified photosensitive resin was good when TiO2 content was at 0.25 per cent, the tensile strength was increased by 89 per cent from 25.26? to 47.82?MPa, the tensile modulus increased by 18 per cent from 2,001? to 2,362?MPa, the flexural strength and the hardness increased by 6 and 5 per cent, respectively. In addition, the plasticity and heat stability of modified photosensitive resin were also improved obviously. Originality/value - The paper provides a low-cost method to greatly improve the performance of photosensitive resin for RP. The modified photosensitive resin prepared according to the formulas in this paper has been successfully employed in RP equipment of Xi'an Jiaotong University, China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]