Polycarbonate is the tougher, more heat-resistant and naturally clear resin; ABS is cheaper and easier to mold, and it is the standard resin for electroplating. On producer datasheets, PC’s impact lead shrinks in the cold, and the two overlap in stiffness and mold shrinkage.
What Is Polycarbonate
Polycarbonate (PC) is an amorphous thermoplastic whose repeat units are joined by carbonate groups, esters of carbonic acid.
Producers make PC either by reacting bisphenol A (BPA) with phosgene or by melt transesterification of BPA with diphenyl carbonate.
Polycarbonate resin is sold by viscosity class, read from its melt volume rate at 300 °C under 1.2 kg, with additive packages such as mold release or UV stabilization. Beyond general-purpose and food-contact grades, producers offer impact-modified, flame-retardant and glass-fiber-reinforced families.
What Is ABS
ABS is a two-phase terpolymer: polybutadiene rubber particles dispersed in a rigid styrene–acrylonitrile matrix. The rubber gives ABS its impact strength, and the acrylonitrile its heat and chemical resistance.
It is made by grafting styrene and acrylonitrile onto polybutadiene, either in aqueous emulsion or by mass polymerization.
Most ABS is sold as natural or pre-colored standard grades, separated by melt volume rate at 220 °C under 10 kg, with impact and heat figures alongside. Specialty families cover high heat, electroplating, flame retardance and transparency.
The Difference Between Polycarbonate and ABS
PC is tougher, more heat-resistant and can be clear, while ABS dries and molds at lower temperatures and is the standard resin for electroplating. The figures below are producer datasheet values for one general-purpose grade of each, Covestro’s Makrolon 2405 PC and INEOS Styrolution’s Terluran GP-22 ABS, unless another grade is named. They describe those grades, so check any switch against the datasheets of the grades you actually buy.
Impact Strength
PC is far tougher at room temperature: on notched Charpy (ISO 179/1eA) at 23 °C, Makrolon 2405 PC absorbs about three times the energy of Terluran GP-22 ABS.
PC’s lead narrows in the cold. At −30 °C, Makrolon 2405 PC still beats Terluran GP-22 ABS on notched Charpy, but by less than a factor of two.
Heat Resistance
PC holds its shape at higher temperatures: under the 1.80 MPa load of ISO 75, Makrolon 2405 PC deflects 30 °C above Terluran GP-22 ABS, and the gap is wider at 0.45 MPa and on Vicat B50.
The Terluran GP-22 ABS bars were annealed for 4 hours at 80 °C before the HDT test. An older sheet for the same ABS grade, annealing not stated, printed 80 °C at 1.80 MPa, so an unannealed ABS molding can deflect well below the annealed figure.
Glass transition sets the ceiling for both: 144 °C for Makrolon 2405 PC (ISO 11357, 10 °C/min), against about 105 °C measured by DSC on one ABS.
Clarity
PC can be clear and standard ABS cannot. Clear Makrolon 2405 PC transmits 89 % of light at 2 mm thickness (ISO 13468-2), with haze below 0.8 % at 3 mm, while producers class standard ABS as non-transparent.
For a clear part in the ABS family, MABS resins add methyl methacrylate; one MABS grade, Terlux 2802, lists 89 % light transmission at 2 mm on ASTM D1003, a different method from the PC figure.
Surface Finishing
Both resins take paint, and ABS is the standard resin for electroplating. On scratch resistance, we have found no head-to-head test that settles which is better. Test candidate grades on the scratch method your customer specifies.
Electroplating grades are sold in ABS and in PC/ABS blends.
Chemical Resistance
PC resists dilute acids, ethanol and isopropanol, aliphatic hydrocarbons and most oils, but fails in alkalis, ammonia, amines, methanol and fuels. Both PC and ABS are attacked by ketones such as acetone and by esters such as ethyl acetate.
The PC ratings come from a producer test on Makrolon 2800 in which strips bent to outer-fiber strains up to 2 % sit in the agent for 6 days at 23 °C.
- Resistant: 10 % acetic, hydrochloric, sulfuric and nitric acid; ethanol and isopropanol; hexane, aromatic-free benzine, paraffin oil and silicone oil; most industrial oils, greases and waxes.
- Not resistant: 1 % sodium and potassium hydroxide, 0.1 % ammonia, low-molecular amines, methanol, butyl acetate, phthalate plasticizers, styrene, and petrol and diesel fuel.
- Swollen or dissolved: acetone, methyl ethyl ketone, ethyl acetate, benzene, xylene and trichloroethylene swell PC; methylene chloride and chloroform dissolve it.
We have not seen an ABS producer publish an agent-by-agent table like this one. For acids, alkalis and oils on ABS, ask for data on the specific grade or test it.
Injection Molding
PC needs harder drying and higher melt and mold temperatures; mold shrinkage is about the same.
| Producer processing data | Makrolon 2405 PC | Terluran GP-22 ABS |
|---|---|---|
| Drying | 120 °C, 2–3 h | 80 °C, 2–4 h |
| Maximum residual moisture | ≤ 0.02 % | < 0.1 % |
| Melt temperature | 280–320 °C | 220–260 °C |
| Mold temperature | 80–120 °C | 30–80 °C |
| Molding shrinkage (ISO 294-4) | 0.65 % parallel, 0.7 % normal to flow | 0.4–0.7 % |
With a vented screw, ABS’s producer says predrying can be skipped unless the pellets got wet in storage.
Do not compare the two grades’ flow figures. Both sheets print a melt volume rate of 19 cm³/10 min, but PC’s is measured at 300 °C under 1.2 kg and ABS’s at 220 °C under 10 kg, so the matching numbers say nothing about which resin fills a thin wall better.
How To Choose The Right One
Choose PC when the part must take impact, carry load at temperatures ABS cannot, or be transparent; choose ABS when cost, easy molding, plating or a painted finish matter more and the part stays cool.
The two are about equally stiff, with tensile moduli on ISO 527 of 2,350 to 2,400 MPa for two PC grades and 2,180 to 2,500 MPa for three ABS grades. PC is stronger in tension: two PC grades yield at 61 to 65 MPa on ISO 527, while ABS’s tensile yield strength is 43 to 47 MPa for two grades on the same test.
Neither holds up outdoors unstabilized, so outdoor parts need UV-stabilized grades, paint or a coating.
General-purpose PC grades rate UL 94 HB or V-2 depending on grade and thickness, and general-purpose ABS rates HB, so a V-0 part needs a flame-retardant grade of either, rated at your wall thickness.
In hot water and steam, PC’s carbonate links hydrolyze at high temperature, faster in alkaline water, and repeated steam sterilization embrittles it.
PC is made from BPA, which EU Regulation 2024/3190 bans from food contact materials; the transition for most articles ended on 20 July 2026, and the US still allows PC food contact except in baby bottles and sippy cups. ABS contains no BPA, though in the US its general food-contact route limits rigid ABS to food piping and repeated-use articles.
When ABS falls short on heat or cold impact but PC’s price and processing are more than the part needs, a PC/ABS blend sits between them.
PC goes into glazing, lenses, light covers, safety equipment and electrical parts that must take impact or heat; ABS goes into appliance and electronics housings, automotive interior parts, toys and plated trim.
Which Is Cheaper
ABS is cheaper. On 15 October 2026, China’s domestic benchmark price for PC was 15,066.67 RMB per tonne against 12,066.67 RMB per tonne for ABS, a PC premium of about 25 % by weight.
Per part the premium is larger, because PC is denser. With Chi Mei’s general-purpose PC-110 at 1.20 g/cm³ and PA-757 ABS at 1.05 g/cm³ (ISO 1183), the 15 October 2026 China benchmarks make a cubic meter of PC about 43 % more expensive than a cubic meter of ABS.