Tough enclosures from ABS

ABS plastic is an easily machined, low cost rigid thermoplastic plastic with high impact strength, ideal for turning, drilling, milling, sawing, die-cutting, shearing. ABS plastics are composed of acrylonitrile, butadiene, and styrene in varying proportions and combined through various methods, including graft copolymerisation and physical blending.

The combination of several materials has rendered ABS plastics with such properties as mechanical toughness, good dimensional stability, chemical resistance, electrical insulating and ease of fabrication. Available today are ABS plastics in a wide range of grades including medium and high-impact, heat-resistant, plateable fire-retardant, and both low and high gloss varieties. ABS plastics are available as compounds for injection moulding, blow moulding, extrusion, and calendaring, as sheet for thermoforming or cold forming, and in expandable grades for foam moulding.

ABS standard grades are developed according to requirements of customers. Aside from combining the three monomers - acrylonitrile, butadiene and styrene – the material is modified by additives that grades are customised into a wide range such as those that are high and medium impact, high heat resistant, and electroplatable. Fibre reinforcement can be incorporated to increase stiffness and dimensional stability. ABS is readily blended or alloyed with other polymers further raising the range of properties available. Fire retardancy may be achieved by infusing fire retardant additives or by blending with PVC. The natural material is an opaque ivory colour and is readily coloured with pigments or dyes. Transparent grades are also available.

Demanding industrial environments

An example of how ABS’ special properties have been maximise is the IN-BOX, the toughest ever range of industrial-strength plastic enclosures launched by OKW Enclosures, Inc. IN-BOX has all the design features and attention to detail, and built to cope with extremely demanding industrial environments.

These robust IP66, IP67 and NEMA 4X electronics enclosures are manufactured from ABS (UL 94 HB). They are also available in Polycarbonate (UL 94 V-2). The ABS version of IN-BOX is impact-rated to IK07 (2 joules), while the stronger Polycarbonate version is rated to IK08 (5 joules).

Applications for IN-BOX wall mounted housings will include industrial electronics, such as digital and analog instrumentation, sensors, interfaces and security systems. This highly versatile range of enclosures is also ideal for electrical applications such as heating, climate and ventilation systems, machine controllers and construction equipment.

IN-BOX is a smart and modern design with a concealed mounting or exterior brackets. All the lids (including a transparent Polycarbonate UL 94 HB option) feature a recess for mounting a large membrane keypad or product label. There are internal screw pillars for PCBs, mounting plates or for enclosing DIN rails. There is also a quick action stainless steel locking screw. Options include concealed internal hinges and a security kit.

 IN-BOX plastic electronics housings are available in 16 sizes ranging from 3.30” x 3.22” x 2.16” to 11.89” x 9.13” x 4.33”. Standard colour is light grey (RAL 7035) but a huge range of custom colours is also available.

Customising options for IN-BOX enclosures also include CNC milling and drilling, silk-screen and tampo printing of legends and logos, RFI shielding and assembly of components.
DSM, the inventor of the Diablo technology, has launched Stanyl? Diablo OCD 2305 BM, a special heat stabilised blow moulding grade of Stanyl polyamide 4.6, developed specifically for hot charge air ducts. It is the first high temperature polyamide suitable for processing by extrusion-blow molding and with a significant cost benefit compared to PPS, thanks to its lower weight and scrap rate.

Stanyl Diablo OCDAlle Artikel