What is ABS?

ABS resin is one of the five major synthetic resins. It has excellent impact resistance, heat resistance, low temperature resistance, chemical resistance and electrical properties. It is also easy to process, the product size is stable, and the surface gloss is good. It is easy to paint and color. It can also be subjected to secondary processing such as surface metallization, electroplating, welding, hot pressing and bonding. It is widely used in industrial fields such as machinery, automobiles, electronic appliances, instruments and meters, textiles and construction. It is a thermoplastic engineering plastic with a wide range of uses. Acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymer is a terpolymer composed of acrylonitrile, butadiene and styrene. The English name is acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymer, referred to as ABS. ABS is usually a light yellow or milky white granular non-crystalline resin. ABS is one of the most widely used general plastics.

Plastic ABS resin is currently the polymer with the largest output and the most widespread application. It organically unifies the various properties of PB, PAN, and PS, and has excellent mechanical properties with a balanced toughness, hardness and rigidity. ABS is a terpolymer of acrylonitrile, butadiene and styrene, A represents acrylonitrile, B represents butadiene, and S represents styrene. After actual use, it was found that ABS plastic pipes are not resistant to sulfuric acid corrosion and will shatter when exposed to sulfuric acid. Due to the three components, it has excellent performance; acrylonitrile gives ABS resin chemical stability, oil resistance, certain rigidity and hardness; butadiene improves its toughness, impact and cold resistance; styrene gives it good dielectric properties and good processability. Most ABS is non-toxic, impermeable, but slightly permeable to water vapor, with low water absorption. The water absorption rate does not exceed 1% after being immersed in water at room temperature for one year, and the physical properties do not change. The surface of ABS resin products can be polished to obtain highly glossy products. ABS has excellent comprehensive physical and mechanical properties and excellent low-temperature impact resistance. Dimensional stability. Electrical properties, wear resistance, chemical resistance, dyeing, finished product processing and mechanical processing are good. ABS resin is resistant to water, inorganic salts, alkalis and acids, insoluble in most alcohols and hydrocarbon solvents, but easily soluble in aldehydes, ketones, esters and some chlorinated hydrocarbons. ABS resin has a low thermal deformation temperature and is flammable, but has poor weather resistance. The melting temperature is 217~237℃, and the thermal decomposition temperature is above 250℃. Many modified ABS materials on the market today are mixed with nozzle materials and recycled materials. This results in inconsistent and unstable performance of customer molded products.

Material properties:

1. Good overall performance, high impact strength, chemical stability, and good electrical properties;
2. Good welding properties with 372 organic glass, made into two-color plastic parts, and can be chrome-plated and painted on the surface;
3. There are high impact resistance, high heat resistance, flame retardant, reinforced, transparent and other grades;
4. The fluidity is slightly worse than HIPS, better than PMMA, PC, etc., and has good flexibility;
5. Suitable for making general mechanical parts, wear-reducing and wear-resistant parts, transmission parts and telecommunications parts.

Molding performance:

1. Amorphous materials have medium fluidity and high moisture absorption. They must be fully dried. Plastic parts that require gloss on the surface must be preheated and dried for a long time at 80-90 degrees, 3 hours;
2. High material temperature and high mold temperature are recommended, but too high material temperature will easily decompose (decomposition temperature is >270 degrees). For plastic parts with higher precision, the mold temperature should be 50-60 degrees, and for high gloss and heat-resistant plastic parts, the mold temperature should be 60-80 degrees;
3. If water marks need to be solved, it is necessary to improve the fluidity of the material, adopt high material temperature, high mold temperature, or change the water level;
4. If heat-resistant or flame-retardant materials are formed, plastic decomposition products will remain on the mold surface after 3-7 days of production, causing the mold surface to be shiny. The mold needs to be cleaned in time, and the exhaust position needs to be increased on the mold surface;
5. The cooling speed is fast, and the mold casting system should be based on the principle of thick and short. It is advisable to set a cold material hole and the gate should be Large, such as: direct gate, disc gate or fan gate, etc., but the internal stress should be prevented from increasing. If necessary, an adjustable gate can be used. The mold should be heated and wear-resistant steel should be used;
6. The material temperature has a great influence on the quality of plastic parts. Too low material temperature will cause material shortage, dull surface, and silver filament disorder. Too high material temperature is easy to overflow, silver filament dark strips will appear, and the plastic parts will change color and bubble;
7. The mold temperature has a great influence on the quality of plastic parts. When the mold temperature is low, the shrinkage rate, elongation rate, and impact strength are large, and the bending, compression, and tensile strength are low. When the mold temperature exceeds 120 degrees, the plastic parts cool slowly, are easy to deform and stick to the mold, are difficult to demold, and have a long molding cycle;
8. The molding shrinkage is small, and melting cracking is easy to occur, resulting in stress concentration. Therefore, the molding conditions should be strictly controlled during molding, and the plastic parts should be annealed after molding;
9. The melting temperature is high, the viscosity is high, and it is not sensitive to shearing. For plastic parts larger than 200 grams, a screw injection machine should be used, the nozzle should be heated, and an open extension nozzle should be used. The injection speed is medium and high.

General performance: ABS plastic is non-toxic and odorless, and its appearance is ivory translucent, or transparent granules or powder. The density is 1.05~1.18g/cm3, the shrinkage is 0.4%~0.9%, the elastic modulus is 2Gpa, the Poisson's ratio is 0.394, the hygroscopicity is <1%, the melting temperature is 217~237℃, and the thermal decomposition temperature is >250℃.

Mechanical properties: Plastic ABS has excellent mechanical properties and excellent impact strength. It can be used at extremely low temperatures. Plastic ABS has excellent wear resistance, good dimensional stability, and oil resistance. It can be used for bearings under medium loads and low speeds. ABS has greater creep resistance than PSF and PC, but less than PA and POM.

Thermal properties: The heat deformation temperature of plastic ABS is 93~118℃, and the product can be increased by about 10℃ after annealing. ABS can still show a certain toughness at -40℃ and can be used in a temperature range of -40~100℃.

Electrical properties Plastic ABS has good electrical insulation and is almost unaffected by temperature, humidity and frequency. It can be used in most environments.

Environmental properties Plastic ABS is not affected by water, inorganic salts, alkalis and various acids, but is soluble in ketones, aldehydes and chlorinated hydrocarbons. It will produce stress cracking when corroded by glacial acetic acid, vegetable oils, etc. ABS has poor weather resistance and is easily degraded under the action of ultraviolet light; after six months outdoors, the impact strength drops by half.

Characteristics of ABS:

1. Good comprehensive performance, high impact strength, chemical stability, and good electrical properties.
2. Good welding with 372 organic glass, made into two-color plastic parts, and can be chrome-plated and painted on the surface.
3. There are high impact resistance, high heat resistance, flame retardant, reinforced, transparent and other levels.
4. The fluidity is slightly worse than HIPS, better than PMMA, PC, etc., and has good flexibility.

The main application uses of ABS: suitable for making general mechanical parts, wear-resistant parts, transmission parts and telecommunications parts.