What does ABS material mean?
The question "what is ABS?" will be answered by most people. It is the anti-lock braking system of a vehicle. That is correct, but apart from that ABS is also a material that can be used in LED lights. ABS also stands for acrylonitrile butadiene styrene. Half of the material consists of styrene. 5 to 30% is butadiene. The rest is acrylonitrile. The advantage of ABS is that it is easy to injection mould. This results in a smooth and solid plastic. ABS is also used in the production of LEGO blocks.
How strong is ABS material?
ABS is a relatively light material. Nevertheless, it is very strong and solid. An advantage of ABS is that it has no tendency to creep, the deformation of a material after long-term loading. ABS is a thermoplastic. The consequence of this is that the material is not entirely resistant to very high temperatures. How high the temperature can be depends on the modification of the material. This varies approximately between 85 and 100 degrees Celsius.
Is it harmful?
Plastic is sometimes seen as harmful. The raw material styrene, which is found in ABS, is harmful in itself. But the end product is not. ABS falls under the safe types of plastic. What is important to keep in mind is that the material cannot be combined with any other material. Then it could happen that it can be seen as harmful.
The benefits
Of course, each material has its own advantages. So does ABS. The different advantages at a glance:
- High resistance to chemicals
- Electrically isolating
- Long lifespan
- easy injection moulding
- Paintable and metallizable
- High melting temperature
- Strong
- Robust
ABS material at TRALERT®
It is also possible to find ABS material in TRALERT® lighting. The material is then used in the housing of the lights. This is the case with various lights. An example is the 355ARWML LED neon rear light including reflector. The housing of the light is made of ABS material.
