Top Five Synthetic Resins for Molding

Synthetic resin is a kind of synthetic high molecular weight polymer, which combines or exceeds the inherent properties of natural resins. Now it is the most important manufacturing material in world, which can be applied for injection molding mold parts, plastic extrusion, blowing, foaming, etc.

PE, PVC, PP, PS and ABS are the top 5 Popular Molding Resin

As the top five of the synthetic resin, PE, PVC, PP, PS and ABS are used very popular in molding industries. At TEAM Rapid, we use these 5 materials commonly in our injection molding process by rapid tooling technology. Here we will share some comparisons of the performance and application among these molding materials.

1. PVC(Polyvinyl chloride)

It’s a general synthetic resin material, which has good performance at flame retardancy, chemical resistance, electrical insulation, etc., but the thermal stability and light resistance is not good. PVC is mainly used for the profile parts, pipe fittings, sheets, cable sheaths, hard or soft tubes, films and so on.

2. PP(Polypropylene)

PP is a light density material with good toughness and good chemical resistance. But there are still some defects, such as low dimensional accuracy, lack of rigidity and poor weather resistance. It may be easy to shrinkage after. It’s often used in household appliances, plastic pipes, transparent parts, etc. 

3. PE(Polyethylene)

PE has good electrical properties and high frequency insulation, which is not affected by the humidity, but it’s easy to be brittle at low temperature, as well as the wear and ageing resisting is not good. Films are the main processing products, followed by sheets, coating, bottles, cans, barrels and other hollow containers, also for some various injection and blow molding products, pipes & wires, cable insulation and sheath, etc.

4. PS (polystyrene)

Because of its good light transmission, PS is widely used in the optical industry for producing the optical glasses and instruments, also for transparent or bright color parts, such as shade, lighting and so on. When adding a small amount of other substances such as butadiene in PS, it can significantly reduce the brittleness and improve the impact toughness. We call it shock-resistance PS, which the mechanical properties can be greatly improved. This can be used to produce many excellent mechanical parts and components.

5. ABS(Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene)

ABS is a material with many good performances, not only including impact resistance, heat resistance, low temperature resistance, chemical resistance and electrical property, but also for easy processing, size stability, good surface gloss characteristics, as well as easy painting, coloring, also can be surface sputtering metal, electroplating, welding, hot pressing & bonding and other secondary processing. Because of its excellent combination property, ABS injection molding is used commonly in almost every industry. Customers and engineers like it because of its excellent production performance and low price; the injection mold tooling factories like it because of its good processing performance and size stability. For example, more than half of Rapid Injection Molding products in our rapid tooling factory are used in ABS. It can be stronger or with other better performances as well by adding some other substance. We will talk more about this in-depth later in next topic.

Full Comparison of These 5 Materials

Category	Property	PE (Polyethylene)	PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride)	PP (Polypropylene)	PS (Polystyrene)	ABS (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene)
Basic	Material Type	Commodity	Commodity	Commodity	Commodity	Engineering
	Density (g/cm?)	0.91–0.96	1.30–1.45	0.90–0.91	1.04–1.06	1.04–1.07
Mechanical	Strength	Low–Moderate	Moderate	Moderate	Low	High
	Impact Resistance	Good	Moderate	Good	Poor	Excellent
Thermal	Heat Resistance (°C)	80–100	60–80	100–120	70–90	90–110
Chemical	Chemical Resistance	Excellent	Excellent	Excellent	Moderate	Moderate
Molding	Shrinkage (%)	1.5–3.0	0.2–0.6	1.0–2.5	0.3–0.6	0.4–0.7
	Flowability	Excellent	Moderate	Excellent	Excellent	Good
	Processing Difficulty	Easy	Sensitive	Easy	Easy	Moderate
Processing Parameters	Melt Temperature (°C)	160–230	160–200	180–250	180–240	200–260
	Mold Temperature (°C)	20–60	20–50	20–80	30–60	40–80
	Injection Pressure (MPa)	50–100	80–150	50–100	60–120	70–140
	Injection Speed	Medium–High	Low–Medium	Medium–High	High	Medium
	Cooling Time	Medium	Medium	Medium	Short	Medium
	Drying Required	No	No	No	No	Yes (80–90°C, 2–4 hrs)
Cost	Cost Level	Low	Low	Low	Very Low	Medium
Applications	Typical Uses	Bottles, containers, pipes	Pipes, fittings, cables	Packaging, automotive parts	Disposable items, packaging	Housings, electronics, automotive
Selection Guide	Best For	Chemical resistance, flexibility	Construction, durability	Living hinges, lightweight parts	Low-cost disposable parts	Strength & appearance
Key Advantages		Low cost, chemical resistant	Durable, versatile	Fatigue resistant	Very economical	Strong, high-quality finish
Key Limitations		Low stiffness, heat sensitive	Processing sensitivity	High shrinkage	Brittle	Higher cost

Quick Selection Guide

• Choose PE→ for chemical resistance & flexibility
• Choose PVC→ for pipes, construction, and durability
• Choose PP→ for lightweight, fatigue-resistant parts
• Choose PS→ for low-cost disposable products
• Choose ABS→ for strong, high-quality appearance parts

Contact Us – Injection Molding Material Suggestions

Choosing the right material is critical for injection molded parts. TEAM RAPID work extensively with many kind of molding materials, whether you are developing a new product or optimizing an existing design, our engineering team can suggest you to select the most suitable material based on your performance requirements, budget, and production volume.

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