PC-ABSCOM™ B200
Polycarbonate + Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene
“A robust and well-proven workhorse PC/ABS alloy.”
Article Contents
Background
The team at Polymer Compounders Limited developed PC-ABSCOM™ B200 in 2003, marking one of the company’s first polymer blends. This foundational product was crucial in our understanding of creating high-performance PC/ABS blends. Following this, we expanded the heat and ductility property profile with two more grades, PC-ABSCOM™ B100 and PC-ABSCOM™ B300.
PC-ABSCOM™ B200 remains one of PCL’s flagship products. Its exceptional strength, durability and heat distortion properties have made it the material of choice for many well-known, prestigious brands. It has proudly been supplied week in, week out for over a decade to Japanese automotive manufacturers and European gardening robotics brands alike.
PCL developed PC-ABSCOM™ B200 with desirable features, making it ideal for various applications, ranging from inner housings for a specialist tap manufacturer to more safety-critical applications like medical device housings. Consequently, these performance attributes have enabled the grade to achieve Nissan Engineering Standard (NES) approval.
How were these objectives achieved, and what are the key innovations?
At the time of the development, the ultimate objective was to create a technically robust grade that was easy to process but with superior impact properties to the other products available in the market. Cross-functional teams were used to incorporate all our collective knowledge. Six Sigma tools such as Design of Experiments were used to establish the optimum formulation to precisely hit the target.
PC-ABSCOM™ B200 Technical Data:
– Density: 1150 Kg/m3 ISO 1183
– Water absorption (23*C, sat) 0.7 % ISO 62
– Moisture absorption (23*C, 50% RH) 0.22 % ISO 62
– Mould shrinkage 0.4-0.7 % ISO 294
– Melt Flow (260C / 5kg) 15 g/10 min ISO 1133
– Izod notched impact RT 45 kjm2 ISO 180/1A
– Flammability (1.5mm) HB UL94
– Flammability (0.8mm) HB UL94
Other characteristics: FDA approved (base resin), NES approved
Product Evolution – PC-ABSCOM™ B200C: one of the lightest, strongest PC-ABS grades on the market!
“PC-ABSCOM™ B200C is becoming the material of choice for instrument panels in Europe with one of the world’s leading vehicle manufacturers.”
– Stephen Blair – Polymer Compounders Limited Technical Manager, 2022
PC-ABSCOM™ B200 quickly evolved into a modified version, PC-ABSCOM™ B200C, due to significant interest from several Tier-1 manufacturers within the automotive industry.
Additionally, PC-ABSCOM™ B200C includes extra rubber content, which enables excellent paint adhesion. Furthermore, it features a much lower density (specifically in colours Black 9105 and Black 9000), meaning less material is used to create the same number of injection moulded parts.
As a result, PC-ABSCOM™ B200C has a competitive advantage over its predecessor and other generic PC/ABS blends. Notably, the grade exhibits exceptional ductility and impact performance for critical safety, especially at low temperatures. Consequently, PC-ABSCOM™ B200C has met the head impact crash test for automotive instrument panel applications.
“PC-ABSCOM™ B200C from Polymer Compounders Limited is one of the lightest and strongest, crash-test approved, paintable PC-ABS materials on the market. In addition to low density (specifically in black colour), it exhibits exceptional ductility and impact resistance, especially at low temperatures. Developed internally at PCL for the OEM, in partnership with their Tier-1 and an external laboratory, B200C has now been approved for producing the instrument panels on two of their leading models. Its use is also now being translated to other vehicles.”
– Sophie Casanave – Polymer Compounders Limited Development Manager 2016
PC-ABSCOM™ B200C Technical Data:
– Density 1100 Kg/m3 ISO 1183
– Water absorption (23C, sat) 0.60 % ISO 62
– Moisture absorption
– (23*C, 50% RH)
– 0.20 % ISO 62
– Mould shrinkage 0.4-0.7 % ISO 294
– Melt Flow (260C / 5 kg) 12 g/10 min ISO 1133
– Izod notched impact RT 48 kjm2 ISO 180/1A
– Flammability (1.5mm) HB UL94
– Flammability (2.0 mm) HB UL94
“Not only the resin as such is lighter than most commercial alternatives; its outstanding mechanical properties allow for a design which can again save weight. That’s a massive advantage, and not just in the automotive industry”, said Stephen Blair, Technical & QA Manager at PCL, who oversaw the development of B200C over several months.
– Stephen Blair – Polymer Compounders Limited Technical Manager, 2022
Future Developments
The knowledge and experience gained from this development have been carried forward to help evolve PCL’s product portfolio with other exciting products such as weatherable, high gloss ASA based grades such as PC-ASACOM™ S9470.
