Page 127 - Engineering Plastics Handbook

Chapter
6

Acrylonitrile-Butadiene-Styrene

(ABS) Resin

Dr. Jaehyug Cha and co-authors
LG Chem/Research Park
Daejon, Korea (Rep.)

Introduction
ABS resins are thermoplastic resins composed of three kinds of
monomers—acrylonitrile, butadiene, and styrene. They were created as
resins with the harmony of hardness and softness by improving the brit-
tleness, which is the disadvantage of polystyrenes, through addition of a
rubber component while maintaining hardness and fluidity, which are
the advantages of polystyrenes. See Fig. 6.1.
ABS resins were developed in the form of graft-type ABS by several
manufacturing companies, including Borg-Warner (presently, General
Electric), Monsanto, and JSR, and introduction of blend-type ABS resins
by the U.S. Rubber Industry of America in 1948. The preparation of ABS
by graft polymerization was repeatedly developed after its introduction in
1956, and now it is used as one of the major methods for preparing rubber-
toughened thermoplastic resins.
As is well known, ABS resins are one type of excellent resin having all
the desirable properties, including impact resistance, processability, gloss
property, good mechanical properties, and high heat distortion tempera-
ture. Therefore, ABS resins have been used in very broad fields of appli-
cation and particularly in many aspects of daily life. At present, the amount
used has gradually increased.

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