Lotte Chemical Starex ABS TE-1060 is an acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene extrusion grade intended for sheet and coextruded thermoforming stock. The product belongs to the ABS class defined by ISO 19062-1, with a two-phase morphology of dispersed butadiene rubber particles in a continuous styrene-acrylonitrile copolymer. Grade-specific datasheet values for TE-1060 should be obtained from Lotte Chemical; the processing boundaries and comparative ranges discussed below are consistent with industrial extrusion-grade ABS families and published processing guides, not a substitute for certified batch data.

What Limits the Drying and Extrusion Window for TE-1060 Sheet Stock?

Moisture uptake in ABS is relatively low, but extrusion grades are processed at lower melt temperatures than injection grades to preserve melt strength, which makes pre-drying more critical. A desiccant bed with a dew point below −40°C and a hopper temperature of 80–90°C for 2–4 h is specified when ambient relative humidity exceeds 60%. Residual moisture above 0.05 wt% causes surface splay, pinholes at die exit, and a measurable loss of melt fracture resistance. On a vented single-screw extruder with L/D 30:1 to 36:1 and compression ratio 2.5:1 to 3.0:1, barrel temperatures are staged from 170°C at the feed throat to 230°C at the metering section; measured melt temperature is held at 215–245°C. Exceeding 250°C initiates oxidation of the butadiene phase and shifts the sheet color coordinate, while operation below 205°C produces unplasticated polymer at the die lip, resulting in weld lines and gauge bands. A melt pump between screw and flat die reduces pressure pulsation; die pressure should remain stable within ±0.5 MPa. Three-roll stack temperatures of 80–100°C with a polished roll surface roughness below 0.5 µm Ra control sheet gloss, thickness uniformity, and internal stress.

The distinction between TE-1060-type extrusion grades and high-flow ABS used in thin-wall injection molding appears primarily in shear viscosity and molecular weight distribution. Capillary rheometry at 230°C shows representative extrusion ABS viscosity from 800 Pa·s to 1,400 Pa·s at 100 s⁻¹, dropping to 180–300 Pa·s at 1,000 s⁻¹. High-flow injection grades of the same class may fall below 120 Pa·s at 1,000 s⁻¹ and exhibit a narrower distribution, which reduces melt strength and increases tendency to sag in thermoforming ovens. TE-1060-type sheet can be processed at thicknesses up to 5–6 mm without excessive drawdown; the same melt-strength advantage becomes a flow limitation when filling ribs with a flow-length-to-wall-thickness ratio above 200:1 in injection tools. Therefore, material substitution between extrusion and high-flow injection grades is not acceptable without revalidation of tool gating, barrel temperature, and cushion settings.

Melt Strength Contrast With High-Flow Injection ABS

Table 1 presents representative industrial ranges; TE-1060 grade-specific values may lie outside any individual band but typically fall within the sheet-extrusion column.

The significant difference is not tensile yield but notched impact and melt stability. Extrusion ABS retains notched Charpy impact at 23°C in the 25–40 kJ/m² range and, depending on rubber particle size distribution, a retained fraction at −30°C of 60–80%. High-flow injection ABS with MVR above 30 cm³/10 min often loses 40–60% of notched impact because the continuous SAN molecular weight is reduced to improve flow, and the dispersed rubber particles are smaller and less capable of shear yielding under impact. Vicat temperatures remain broadly similar because heat resistance is governed by SAN composition, not by flow modification.

Thermoforming of TE-1060 sheet requires sheet surface temperatures of 135–165°C. Mold surface temperatures are maintained at 40–70°C for high-gloss applications and 20–35°C for grained textures to control mark-off. Infrared pyrometry is preferred because contact thermocouples under-report core temperature by 5–12°C during rapid quartz heating. Plug-assist speeds of 150–300 mm/s and forming pressures of 0.4–0.8 MPa are typical; plug speed above 300 mm/s creates side-wall thinning beyond 20% of the initial sheet gauge and frozen-in orientation that increases environmental stress crack sensitivity. Differential scanning calorimetry according to ISO 11357-2 at 10°C/min shows an ABS glass transition midpoint near 104–108°C; parts demolded above the glass transition retain excessive shrinkage after cooling, while demolding below about 80°C reduces cycle time but raises ejection stress whitening. For production-scale inline thermoforming, sheet temperature variation across the width should be held below ±3°C to limit part-to-part draw ratio variation.

When Chemical Exposure and Environmental Stress Cracking Govern Material Substitution

ABS TE-1060 is used only where chemical exposure is known and limited. Contact with ketones, esters, aromatic hydrocarbons, and concentrated organic acids causes softening and stress cracking; this is evaluated by ISO 22088-2 bent-strip testing in a selected environment. Dilute alkalis, aliphatic hydrocarbons, and detergent solutions are tolerated at ambient temperature, but resistance drops when constant strain exceeds 0.3% and part temperature exceeds 40°C. It is not suitable for continuous contact with brake fluid, chlorinated solvents, or fuel blends above 15 vol% aromatics. Food-contact use requires confirmation against EU Regulation (EU) No 10/2011 or FDA 21 CFR 177.1020 for the specific grade and migration test conditions; a general-purpose ABS declaration does not automatically extend to TE-1060. Compliance with RoHS Directive 2011/65/EU and REACH candidate-list obligations should be verified through the supplier’s regulatory declaration, not inferred from product class.

Published independent toughness data for TE-1060 under all application-specific conditions is limited; the following mechanistic description applies to ABS extrusion grades with similar butadiene levels. The rubber phase content in such grades generally ranges from 10 wt% to 20 wt%, with a bimodal particle size distribution that balances stiffness and impact. Large particles above 1 µm initiate crazing and shear yielding, while smaller particles below 0.3 µm enhance energy absorption without excessive gloss loss. Gel content of the butadiene phase above 70% provides the crosslinked structure needed for stable dispersed morphology under repeated extrusion; lower gel content leads to rubber coalescence and sheet surface pitting. The notched impact transition from ductile to brittle behavior shifts from about −40°C toward −10°C as the rubber particle size distribution narrows or as regrind content increases. This is evaluated by ISO 179-1/1eA at multiple temperatures rather than a single ambient value.

The thermal stabilizer package in an extrusion-grade ABS is formulated for longer cumulative residence time in sheet lines; a sheet extruder with gear pump and static mixer may retain polymer at melt temperature for up to 15–20 min, whereas injection molding residence times are typically under 5 min. Repeated heating of TE-1060 sheet trim through the extrusion process therefore requires oxidation resistance beyond that of general-purpose injection ABS. Yellowness index measured after three extrusion cycles according to ASTM E313 can increase by 2–4 points if the regrind fraction is not controlled; stabilizer depletion is inferred from the change in melt volume-flow rate, which may increase by 10–20% after three heat histories due to chain scission. Published data for this specific configuration is limited, so inline sampling of MVR and color coordinates is required during production.

Sheet dies for TE-1060 are usually coat-hanger or fishtail designs with internal deckles and restrictor bars. Melt enters the die at 220–240°C; die-temperature uniformity across a 1.2–1.5 m width should remain within ±2°C to avoid transverse thickness variation. Restrictor-bar adjustments are set to maintain die-lip pressure uniformity of ±0.1 MPa. The die gap is typically established at 0.5–1.0 mm above the target sheet gauge to account for draw-down and die swell. Edge bead removal immediately after the roll stack and closed-loop scanning gauge with beta or x-ray measurement maintain sheet thickness at ±0.05 mm. This process differs from profile extrusion ABS in that a higher melt viscosity is maintained at the die lip to prevent edge neck-in beyond 5% of the trimmed width.

In coextruded refrigerator liner and interior panel applications, TE-1060 is typically combined with a high-gloss cap layer of 20–80 µm and a recycled ABS core. Melt stability of the extrusion grade permits the cap-to-core viscosity mismatch to be held below 1.5:1 at 230°C; larger mismatches produce encapsulation wave defects or cap-layer breakup. Edge trim and off-spec sheet can be incorporated at 15–25 wt% regrind without catastrophic loss of notched impact if the regrind is dried, granulated below 6 mm, and metered by a gravimetric blender. However, regrind above 30 wt% elevates black speck formation from repeated thermal history and lowers sheet gloss because of accumulated oxidized butadiene residues. Line operators monitor melt pressure before the screen pack; excursions above 0.8 MPa over baseline indicate screen blockage or degraded gel accumulation and require screen replacement to prevent die lines.