Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS)

Adjusting the ratio of the three components of Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene will change its performance. So it can meet the requirements of various applications, such as high-resistance ABS resin, heat-resistant ABS resin, high-gloss ABS resin, etc.

It can be divided into graft copolymers with elastomer as the main chain, graft copolymers with hard ABS polymer as the main chain, or mixtures of rubber elastomer and hard ABS polymer resin.

Due to their different structures, ABS plastic materials will show different properties. Among them, the elastomer shows the toughness of rubber, and the hard resin shows rigidity. Several varieties such as high impact type, medium impact type, general impact type and special impact type can be obtained.

As the content of rubber component B (generally 5%~30%) increases, the elasticity and impact resistance of the resin will increase. However, the tensile strength, fluidity, weather resistance will decrease.

As the content of resin component A & S (generally 70%~95%) increases, the surface gloss, mechanical strength, weather resistance, heat resistance, corrosion resistance, electrical properties, processing properties can be improved. However, the impact strength will decrease.

ABS polymer material is odorless, and its appearance is ivory translucent, or transparent particles or powder. ABS resin is resistant to water, inorganic salts, alkalis and acids, insoluble in most alcohols and hydrocarbon solvents, and easily soluble in aldehydes, ketones, esters and some chlorinated hydrocarbons. It has excellent comprehensive physical and mechanical properties, and has excellent mechanical properties with a balance of toughness, hardness and rigidity. ABS plastic material has good low-temperature impact resistance, dimensional stability, wear resistance, chemical resistance, dyeability, and good mechanical processing performance.

Mechanical Properties

ABS plastic resin has excellent mechanical properties, good impact strength, and can be used at extremely low temperatures. Even if ABS products are damaged, they can only be tensile damage and not impact damage. ABS granule has excellent wear resistance, good dimensional stability, and oil resistance. It can be used for bearings under medium loads and speeds. The creep of ABS plastic is greater than that of PSF and PC, but smaller than that of PA and POM. The bending strength and compression strength of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene plastic are relatively poor among plastics. The mechanical properties of ABS materials are greatly affected by temperature.

Thermal properties

Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) is an amorphous polymer with no obvious melting point, high melt viscosity, poor fluidity, poor weather resistance, and ultraviolet light can cause discoloration. It is sensitive to temperature and shear rate. ABS plastic can still show a certain toughness at -40°C and can be used in the temperature range of -40~100°C.

Electrical properties

Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) has good electrical insulation and is almost unaffected by temperature, humidity and frequency, and can be used in most environments.

Molding process

ABS plastic polymer can also be said a modification of polystyrene. It has higher impact strength and better mechanical strength than HIPS and has good processing performance. Plastic molding equipment such as injection molding machines and extruders can be used for injection molding, extrusion, blow molding, calendering, lamination, foaming, and thermoforming. It can also be welded, coated, electroplated, and machined. ABS has a relatively high water absorption and needs to be dried before processing. The drying temperature is 70~85℃ and the drying time is 2~6h.

Extrusion process

Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene resin can be used to produce pipes, plates, sheets, and profiles. Pipes can be used for various water pipes, air pipes, lubricating oil and fuel oil delivery pipes. Plates and sheets can be used for floors, furniture, tanks, filters, wall partitions, and thermoforming or vacuum forming. The extruder’s screw aspect ratio is usually relatively high, with L/D between 18-22 and a compression ratio of (2.5-3.0). The blow molding temperature can be controlled between 140-180℃.

Injection molding process

ABS resin is a terpolymer developed on the basis of polystyrene resin modification. A represents acrylonitrile, B represents butadiene, and S represents styrene. A can improve oil resistance and chemical corrosion resistance, thus having a certain surface hardness. B makes ABS present rubber-like toughness and improves impact toughness. S makes ABS plastic present good fluidity, giving it good performance in thermoplastic molding. Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene ABS polymer is mainly used to manufacture the shells of instruments, household appliances, telephones, televisions, etc.