SAN and ABS

SAN – Styrene-acrylonitrile co-polymer

• SAN is a transparent co-polymer with density 1.07g/cc, manufactured
by co-polymerizing Styrene with Acrylonitrile(ACN).
• Usually it has 20-30% acrylonitrile content.
• Polymer is amorphous in nature
• Acrylonitrile is polar in nature due to which the co-polymer shows
superior chemical resistance against oils, grease and hydrocarbons
than Polystyrene.
• Polarity also makes the polymer hygroscopic in nature – pre-drying
before processing is important.
Why & Where SAN?
• SAN has higher softening point
• Good resistance to stress cracking
• Higher impact strength with transparency that makes it compete with
PS
• As the ACN content in the co-polymer increases it leads to increase in
toughness, resistance to chemicals, but difficult to process due to
increased polarity.
• Rigidity + Transparency makes it a better material in front of PS and
PMMA where only transparency is served.
Applications of SAN
• Transparent dials
• Transparent knobs
• Transparent covers for domestic appliances like washing machine and
printers
• Picnic wares
ABS – Acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene co-
polymer
• ABS is a co-polymer of Acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene with density
1.04g/cc
• Acrylonitrile is polar in nature due to which the co-polymer shows
superior chemical resistance against oils, grease and hydrocarbons
• Polarity also makes the polymer hygroscopic in nature – pre-drying
before processing is important.
ABS - Properties
• Advantages • Disadvantages
• Higher impact strength • Lack of transparency
• Good stiffness • Poor weathering
• Excellent surface finish • Poor flame resistance
• Higher dimensional stability
• Good chemical resistance
• Good stress cracking resistance
ABS - Types
Type 1 ABS:
Manufactured by blending SAN
with nitrile rubber in two roll mill
or internal mixer
Nitrile rubber is butadiene + ACN
co-polymer
Typical composition is
70 Parts of SAN (70:30 – S:ACN)
40 Parts of Nitrile rubber (65:35 -
B:ACN)
Type 2 ABS: Commercially
available grade
Manufactured by polymerizing
styrene and ACN in polybutadiene
latex and heated at 50°C
(Emulsion Technique)
Water soluble initiator like
Potassium Per Sulphate is added
to polymerize styrene and ACN.
Resultant mixture has PB, PB-g-
ACN & S, SAN co-polymer
Performance ABS
Depending on the performance requirement in end product ABS can be
formulated
FR-ABS
• Using Br based fire retardants – commonly used - but as Br content
increases toughness of the material decreases
• Blending with PVC – Toughness retained but process stability
decreases
Transparent ABS
• Using a ter-polymer of MMA, styrene and ACN instead of SAN
Performance ABS
High HDT ABS
• Common approach is to replace Styrene partly by monomer whose
polymer Tg is higher than PS. Commonly used monomer is α-methyl
styrene in place of styrene. This increase the Tg to ~120⁰C.
• Blending with another polymer of higher Tg like PC. PC/ABS is a
commercially available blend of ABS whose HDT~130⁰C.
Processing – of ABS and SAN
• Polymers are more hygroscopic so pre-drying before processing is
very important
• Heat resistance of melt is not so good, chances of fumes at 250-260°C
is very high especially when high screw speeds and back pressure are
used.
• As the materials are amorphous they show lower thermal shrinkage
(0.044 to 0.008cm/cm)
• ABS provides the facility of electroplating – an important property of
ABS. They are treated with acid (etching), dissolves rubber particles
on the surface making place for metal to get deposited. After which
electro less metal deposition is done followed by electroplating.
Applications - ABS
• One of the major applications of ABS is housing for domestic
appliances like mixer, grinder due to its superior impact strength and
combined stiffness
• Door knobs, handles
• Radiator grills
• Seat belt fastening Assembly
• Interior trims
• Console panels
• Metalized name plates, reflectors (electroplated)
• Metalized door knobs, handles (electroplated)