Bill, Although things may be different in the States I seem to recall that interior trim parts used in the UK/Europe were not ABS. Volkswagen use Noryl in some cars I seem to remember polycarbonate was another favourite. The fracture toughness of ABS is not tremendously high although there are large variations between grades. I vaguely recall that modifiers are used to further improve toughness in many grades. ABS is generally selected where good surface finish, mouldability and low cost are needed. Weatherability is also a important consideration. Many domestics goods such as vacuum cleaners have casings made of ABS because of the excellent surface finish and low cost. Again with temperature I suspect that you will find a very large variation in Tg if you look through the GE Plastics catalogue (especially as ABS is a blend of three polymers). It's quite possible that if ABS were selected for a car it may be a grade with a much higher Tg than the grade that the melted box was made from. Anyway enough pontificating best get back to reality.. Eric Christison Msc Mechanical Engineer Consumer & Micro Group - Imaging Division STMicroelectronics 33 Pinkhill Edinburgh EH12 7BF UK Tel: +44 (0) 131 336 6165 Fax: +44 (0) 131 336 6001 -----Original Message----- From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of [log in to unmask] Sent: Monday, April 26, 2004 5:23 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: [TN] ABS Plastic Melting Temperature FYI- Note that ABS is often used in cars- e.g. the dashboard. ABS is Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene. Acrylonitrile is the main ingredient in Orlon fiber, Butadiene is component of synthetic rubber, Syrene is a plastic, somewhat brittle in nature. The idea for using that material is that any cracks that start just propagate until they hit a butadiene segment in the polymer chain, then the butadiene acts like a shock absorber to stop the crack propagation. So, if it is OK in dashboards, it should be OK in trunks (or boots.....) Bill Kenyon Global Centre Consulting 3336 Birmingham Drive Fort Collins, CO 80526 Tel: 970.207.9586 Cell: 302.377.4272 --------------------------------------------------- Technet Mail List provided as a service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8e To unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the BODY (NOT the subject field): SIGNOFF Technet To temporarily halt or (re-start) delivery of Technet send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet NOMAIL or (MAIL) To receive ONE mailing per day of all the posts: send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet Digest Search the archives of previous posts at: http://listserv.ipc.org/archives Please visit IPC web site http://www.ipc.org/contentpage.asp?Pageid=4.3.16 for additional information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or 847-509-9700 ext.5315 ----------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------- Technet Mail List provided as a service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8e To unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the BODY (NOT the subject field): SIGNOFF Technet To temporarily halt or (re-start) delivery of Technet send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet NOMAIL or (MAIL) To receive ONE mailing per day of all the posts: send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet Digest Search the archives of previous posts at: http://listserv.ipc.org/archives Please visit IPC web site http://www.ipc.org/contentpage.asp?Pageid=4.3.16 for additional information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or 847-509-9700 ext.5315 -----------------------------------------------------