Black ABS Haircell Sheets

ABS Haircell Sheet is a strong choice where you need a tough, lightweight and easy-to-fabricate plastic sheet.

It is particularly useful for indoor covers, guards, housings, equipment panels, automotive trim, displays, prototypes and other fabricated parts where impact resistance and ease of forming are important.

If your application requires long-term outdoor UV exposure, transparency or particularly high chemical resistance, another plastic may be more suitable.

• Good impact resistance — useful for covers, guards, enclosures and fabricated panels.
• Easy to machine — suitable for cutting, drilling and CNC routing using appropriate tooling.
• Thermoformable — ABS can be heated and formed into curved or three-dimensional components.
• Lightweight — practical where a rigid panel is required without excessive weight.
• Haircell surface — provides a textured, low-gloss appearance on one side.
• Smooth reverse surface — useful where a different finish is required on the back of the component.

Haircell describes the fine textured finish on one surface of the ABS sheet.

This Black ABS sheet has a textured haircell surface on one side and a smooth surface on the other.

The textured face gives fabricated parts a clean, professional low-gloss appearance and can make minor handling marks less noticeable than on a highly polished surface.

When planning a fabricated or formed component, decide which surface should remain visible before cutting or forming the sheet.

ABS Haircell Sheet is commonly used for:

• Machine and equipment covers
• Protective guards
• Electrical and equipment enclosures
• Automotive interior trim
• Control and equipment panels
• Point-of-sale displays
• Signage components
• Housings and covers
• Prototypes
• DIY fabricated components
• Thermoformed panels and shells

ABS is well suited to thermoforming, heat bending and vacuum forming, making it useful for shaped covers, housings, trays, guards and other formed components.

The sheet is heated until it becomes sufficiently flexible to form, then held in the required shape while it cools.

For best results, heat should be applied evenly and the forming process controlled carefully. Appropriate forming conditions vary with sheet thickness, tooling, heating method and the required shape.

Where finished dimensions, surface appearance or repeatability are important, test the forming process before producing the final component.

Haircell orientation matters: the sheet has a textured surface on one side and a smooth surface on the other. Plan which face should become the visible surface before heating and forming.

ABS is generally straightforward to machine and fabricate using suitable plastic-working tools and techniques.

Common operations include:

• Panel-saw cutting
• CNC routing
• Drilling
• Trimming
• Heat bending
• Thermoforming and vacuum forming

Warlond Plastics can provide panel-saw cutting and CNC routing for suitable ABS sheet projects.

The best sheet depends on what the finished component needs to do.

This ABS Haircell Sheet does not contain a UV stabilising additive and is primarily recommended for indoor applications.

Limited outdoor exposure may be acceptable for some projects, but prolonged sunlight and weather exposure can lead to fading, surface deterioration and reduced material performance over time.

For long-term outdoor applications, consider a material designed for UV exposure.

Black ABS Haircell Sheet is stocked in:

• 297 × 210 mm — A4 size
• 600 × 600 mm
• 1000 × 600 mm

Available thicknesses:

• 3 mm
• 4.5 mm

Select the required size and thickness using the product options above to view current pricing and availability.

ABS is a versatile material, but another sheet may be more appropriate if your project has different priorities.

Need more help choosing or working with plastic sheet? Explore our material guides and comparisons.