Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene or ABS (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene) is a highly impact resistant plastic widely used in automotive and other industrial and domestic applications. It is an amorphous thermoplastic.
It is called engineering plastic or high engineering plastic because it is a plastic whose elaboration and processing is more complex than common plastics, such as polyolefins (polyethylene, polypropylene).
The most important feature of ABS is its high toughness, even at low temperatures (it is still tough at -40 °C). It is also hard and rigid, has acceptable chemical resistance, low water absorption, and therefore good dimensional stability, high abrasion resistance, and can be easily coated with a metallic layer.
ABS can, in one of its variants, be chromium-plated by electrolysis by giving it various metal baths to which it is receptive.