High Impact Polystyrene and Properties
High impact polystyrene (HIPS) , also known as antishock, is one of the polymer types produced by the styrene polymerization process. High impact polystyrene with a rigid character can easily be colored because it provides the transparency of the glass.
High-impact polystyrene is an odorless and bright thermoplastic and has a high resistance to alcohol, salt solution, bases, and acids. The high-impact polystyrene that ignites easily, and releases lots of black smoke upon burning. It has an original odor and its resistance to impact is very high. The main reason for this is that it possesses the rubber that modifies the impact.
The high-impact polystyrene, which provides robustness, hardness, and easy-to-use characteristics and provides many advantages, can also be used as opaque. The tensile strength of the high impact polystyrene between 40 and 50 MPa while its specific weight is about 1.04. The ratio of impact resistance is 20 – 24 kJ/m2 and the deformation temperature is 85 °C.
Advantages of High Impact Polystyrene
The high impact polystyrene offers a variety of colors and products. Its mechanical and thermal properties range is quite wide. It provides an advantage to retard the flames and it is also important that this material is easy to handle. High impact polystyrene, which offers high temperature, high impact, and high flow properties, is natural and has different color ranges. We can list some of the application areas among many applications:
- Automotive internal parts
- Bodies of white appliances
- Door fittings of the refrigerator
- Office and heavy equipment
- Cloth hangers
- Toy