What is ABS plastic?
Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS) is a versatile, high-impact thermoplastic. It is a strong and opaque polymer. It has a moderate melting point (220°C). It consists of acrylonitrile, butadiene, and styrene units.
ABS offers an excellent balance of properties like:
- Outstanding impact resistance
- Dimensional stability
- Electrical insulation properties
- Resistance to chemicals and low temperatures
It can be easily processed as its toughness and durability are retained over a wide temperature range. These attributes make it a preferred alternative to other plastics & thermosets. Suitable for automotive parts, appliances, electronics, and various other applications.
What are the properties of ABS?
ABS resins demonstrate well-balanced properties ranging from impact resistance to thermal stability and chemical resistance. The key benefits of ABS resins include:
- Outstanding impact resistance and toughness over a temperature range up to 80°C, down to -20°C
- High tensile strength and rigidity (short-term)
- Good dimensional stability with minimal tendency to warp or deform. Not susceptible to stress cracking
- Excellent surface quality with a high gloss finish
- Good wear resistance and low abrasion
- Good resistance to various chemicals, including acids and alkalis, at room temperature
- Low smoke emission
- Low moisture absorption
- Good electrical insulating properties
What are the limitations of ABS?
- Properties can change with time, due to exposure to UV radiation and environmental conditions.
- Attacked by strong acids; some grades are sensitive to acetone and other organic solvents, resulting in stress cracking or other forms of degradation.
- Limited impact resistance at low temperatures, becoming brittle below -20°C.
- Low continuous service temperature of 80°C, reducing its suitability for high-temperature applications.
What are common uses for ABS plastic?
Automotive
To meet the current trends in automotive outer casings for sleek, durable finishes, ABS material offers a molded-in high-gloss effect for automotive exterior parts. Additionally, it provides a system cost benefit when compared to painted components, such as painted metal. Other benefits include:
Durable high-gloss surface
Resistant to weather conditions
Excellent impact resistance
Provides design flexibility
Electrical and Electronics Sectors
ABS plastics have good electrical insulating properties, high impact resistance, and toughness. These advantages make it suitable for use in the electrical and electronics industry. It is an effective polymer to replace traditional materials in applications like:
- electrical housings,
- connector casings,
- circuit board enclosures,
- keyboard keys,
- protective headgear, etc.
Industrial Uses
Pumping, conveying and controlling liquids are important factors in the irrigation, plumbing and process industries. For various applications, ABS (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene) has an extensive history in parts such as fittings, pipes, and manifolds, and connectors.
These parts are found in many fluid handling applications including plumbing, irrigation, HVAC systems, beverage dispensers, water filters, shower heads, sprinklers, water meters, and pumps.
The ABS materials offer good impact resistance and toughness, and their excellent chemical resistance permits durability in contact with various substances.
Consumer Goods
Durability and aesthetic appeal are essential for furniture components, kitchen utensils, and home decor items like storage boxes, cabinet handles, and tableware. High-impact polystyrene (HIPS) and other types of robust polymers have recently gained attention in these applications for their combination of strength, flexibility, and ease of manufacturing, which is crucial for producing long-lasting and attractive consumer products.
Due to its excellent impact resistance and ease of processing, along with outstanding aesthetic qualities and versatility, ABS has been evaluated for use in furniture components, kitchen utensils, and home decor items, including storage boxes, cabinet handles, and tableware, to meet the demands of modern consumer goods.
Is ABS recyclable?
Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene is recyclable.
It offers significant advantages (strength, toughness, rigidity) compared to alternative materials. This makes it a widely used polymer in the automotive and electronics sectors. This class of plastics has a relatively short lifespan. Hence, almost all products marketed are transformed into waste. This makes it a priority target for recycling. A low diffusion coefficient makes it more suitable as a recovered, recycled material.
Post-consumer ABS products are collected and processed:
- through a series of special washing processes or
- by chemical treatment
This breaks down ABS into its raw materials or intermediates. They are further used to produce recycled ABS (rABS) pellets. The growth of ABS recycling facilitates the development of processing technologies. This increases product purity and reduces operational costs.
Is ABS toxic?
Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene is a widely used thermoplastic polymer with numerous applications. The processing of recycled ABS materials includes rigorous heat treatment to remove volatiles, ensuring they are safe for use in various applications.
According to the ILIS study:
- ABS itself is biologically inert if ingested.
- It is dermally safe during handling.
- It is not a hazard if inhaled.
- No evidence of toxicity has been detected in feeding studies using animals.
Negative results from Ames tests and studies into unscheduled DNA synthesis indicate that ABS is not genotoxic. Similar studies conducted with monomers and typical ABS intermediates also indicate that these materials are non-toxic. They pose no threats to human health.
Additionally, ABS products that find their way to the landfill pose no risk of harm or leaching. Since the polymer is inert, it is resistant to microbial attack and won’t biologically degrade. ABS products can also easily be crushed flat and hence, take up relatively little landfill space.