{"id":11655,"date":"2021-04-16T06:05:02","date_gmt":"2021-04-16T12:05:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ulprospector.com\/knowledge\/?p=11655"},"modified":"2022-08-17T08:49:07","modified_gmt":"2022-08-17T14:49:07","slug":"pe-the-basics-of-acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene-abs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/11655\/pe-the-basics-of-acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene-abs\/","title":{"rendered":"The basics of Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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ABS plastic filament for 3D printer (Photo 109817358 \u00a9 Ludmila Novikova | Dreamstime.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene<\/a> (ABS) is a common, opaque engineering thermoplastic. It is a terpolymer made by polymerizing styrene and acrylonitrile in the presence of polybutadiene rubber. The proportions can vary from 15% to 35% acrylonitrile, 5% to 30% butadiene and 40% to 60% styrene, giving a wide range of grades.<\/p>\n

SAN copolymers<\/a> have been available since the 1940s and while their increased toughness over styrene made them suitable for many applications, their limitations led to the introduction of the rubber butadiene as a third monomer producing the range of materials popularly referred to as ABS plastics. These became available in the 1950s and the availability of these plastics and ease of processing led ABS to become one of the most popular of the engineering polymers.<\/p>\n

The nitrile groups make ABS stronger than pure polystyrene<\/a> and also contribute chemical resistance, fatigue resistance, hardness, and rigidity, while increasing the heat deflection temperature. The styrene gives the plastic a shiny, impervious surface, as well as hardness, rigidity, and improved processing ease.<\/p>\n

The characteristic properties of ABS are created by fine particles of polybutadiene elastomer distributed throughout the rigid matrix, providing toughness and ductility at low temperatures.<\/p>\n

ABS falls between standard resins (PVC<\/a>, polyethylene<\/a>, polystyrene<\/a>, and so on) and engineering resins (acrylic<\/a>, nylon<\/a>, acetal<\/a>) and often meets satisfactory engineering properties at a reasonable cost. It offers greater impact properties and slightly higher heat distortion temperature than High Impact Polystyrene (HIPS).<\/p>\n

Increasing the proportions of polybutadiene in relation to styrene and acrylonitrile increases impact resistance but at the expense of heat resistance and rigidity. Ageing is also influenced by the polybutadiene content.<\/p>\n

ABS is amorphous and therefore has no true melting point. Its glass transition temperature is approximately 105\u00b0C. In general, ABS can be used between \u221220 and 80\u00b0C.<\/p>\n

Advantages<\/h3>\n