Drawing No. EH–MT–001 // Engineering Materials
ABS Properties
Reviewed August 2026
A representative engineering ABS grade is used to illustrate the polymer family. ABS is tough and easily processed, but its properties are temperature-, rate- and grade-sensitive.
Representative properties
Switch units without changing the underlying material reference.
What changes these properties?
Engineering variability
- Grade, butadiene content and additives affect impact strength and stiffness. The selected Ensinger TECARAN grade does not publish Poisson ratio, thermal conductivity or specific heat on the referenced page, so those cells are intentionally not populated.
- Amorphous ABS does not have a sharp crystalline melting point; glass-transition and Vicat softening temperatures are more meaningful.
- Mechanical properties decline rapidly as temperature approaches the glass-transition region.
- UV exposure and long-term thermal aging can change performance.
Selection note
Common for housings, fixtures, prototypes and impact-resistant molded parts. It is not normally selected for high-temperature or highly loaded long-term structural duty.
Do not combine strength from one grade/condition with modulus, thermal data or temperature limits from another without checking compatibility. Where the overview shows a range, it is intended to expose variability—not establish allowable bounds.
Property interpretation
Stiffness vs strength
Young’s modulus controls elastic deformation. Yield or fracture strength controls how far the material can be stressed. These are separate material characteristics.
Thermal response
Thermal conductivity controls temperature gradients, specific heat contributes to thermal inertia, and expansion controls thermally induced strain when movement is restrained.
Temperature transition
The final property card is deliberately labeled “melting / transition.” Metals often have a solidus–liquidus range; amorphous polymers and glass use softening or glass-transition concepts; concrete and wood decompose instead of exhibiting one clean melt point.
Technical sources
Source hierarchy favors manufacturers, industry associations, standards bodies and government engineering references. Strength data must still be reconciled with the exact procurement specification.