What ABS would be if it could survive sun exposure. ASA is structurally similar to ABS — same acrylonitrile and styrene comonomers, but the third monomer is acrylate ester (a UV-stable rubber phase) instead of butadiene (which oxidizes under UV and chalky-fades within months). The result is a plastic with ABS-like mechanical properties (toughness, machinability, paint adhesion) and UV stability that ABS simply doesn't have — ASA exterior parts hold their color and surface character for 10+ years of direct sun exposure. The application canon: automotive exterior trim, RV exterior panels, outdoor signage, satellite-dish housings, garden-equipment chassis, mailbox bodies, SLA / FDM 3D-printed parts intended for outdoor use (Stratasys and Polymaker both sell ASA filament specifically as the outdoor-printable alternative to ABS). Buy from McMaster (sheet stock — small quantities), Polymaker / Push Plastic / MatterHackers (FDM filament), SABIC / Ineos directly for injection-grade pellets.
Thermoplastic amorphous terpolymer, monomers: acrylonitrile + styrene + acrylate ester (typically butyl acrylate, replacing the butadiene of ABS). Density 1070 kg/m³. Tensile strength 35-50 MPa. Tensile modulus 2.0-2.5 GPa. Elongation at break 25-50 percent. Heat-deflection temperature 90-100 °C at 0.45 MPa. Glass transition Tg 105 °C. Charpy notched impact 8-25 kJ/m² (toughness comparable to or exceeding standard ABS). The acrylate rubber phase is the engineered weatherability property — saturated acrylate does not have the carbon-carbon double bonds that UV / ozone attack on butadiene; ASA parts retain mechanical and color properties after years of weathering where ABS would have crazed and chalked. Service life outdoors > 10 years for properly stabilized grades. Processes essentially identically to ABS — same injection-molding parameters, same FDM print parameters (220-260 °C nozzle, heated bed required). Bonds with ABS solvent cement, paints with ABS-compatible primers, machines with standard cutting tools. Resin identification code 7 (other) since it doesn't fit the standard 1-6 set; recycling stream typically the same as ABS where collected.
Principled BSDF defaults derived from the sphere matte finish. Reasonable seed for Blender, Substance, Keyshot, Rhino — tune per material. Or grab the whole library at once: ForMaterials library →
# finish: matte albedo #3a3a3d metallic 0.00 roughness 0.75 ior 1.45 transmission 0.00 clearcoat 0.00 sheen 0.00 anisotropic 0.00
{
"albedo": "#3a3a3d",
"metallic": 0.0,
"roughness": 0.75,
"ior": 1.45,
"transmission": 0.0,
"clearcoat": 0.0,
"sheen": 0.0,
"anisotropic": 0.0
}
# Blender 4.x — Principled BSDF
# ASA (Acrylonitrile Styrene Acrylate) · finish: matte
import bpy
mat = bpy.data.materials.new(name="mat_asa")
mat.use_nodes = True
bsdf = mat.node_tree.nodes["Principled BSDF"]
bsdf.inputs["Base Color"].default_value = (0.0423, 0.0423, 0.0467, 1.0)
bsdf.inputs["Metallic"].default_value = 0.000
bsdf.inputs["Roughness"].default_value = 0.750
bsdf.inputs["IOR"].default_value = 1.450
bsdf.inputs["Transmission Weight"].default_value = 0.000
bsdf.inputs["Coat Weight"].default_value = 0.000
bsdf.inputs["Sheen Weight"].default_value = 0.000
bsdf.inputs["Anisotropic"].default_value = 0.000
# KeyShot 11+ — lux Python API, Generic material
# ASA (Acrylonitrile Styrene Acrylate) · finish: matte
# Run from Window → Scripting Console
import lux
mat = lux.createMaterial(name="mat_asa", materialType="Generic")
mat.setProperty("diffuse", (58, 58, 61)) # 8-bit sRGB
mat.setProperty("metallic", 0.000)
mat.setProperty("roughness", 0.750)
mat.setProperty("indexOfRefraction", 1.450)
mat.setProperty("transparency", 0.000)
mat.setProperty("coatingWeight", 0.000)
{
"_format": "Substance Designer / Painter \u2014 pbrMetalRough constants",
"_about": "ASA (Acrylonitrile Styrene Acrylate) \u00b7 finish: matte",
"baseColor": {
"r": 0.0423,
"g": 0.0423,
"b": 0.0467
},
"metallic": 0.0,
"roughness": 0.75,
"ior": 1.45,
"opacity": 1.0,
"anisotropyLevel": 0.0,
"_notes": "Channels listed are the standard Substance pbrMetalRough output. Drop into a Uniform Color node per channel, or as the constant input on a layered stack."
}{
"asset": {
"version": "2.0",
"generator": "ForMatter"
},
"materials": [
{
"name": "mat_asa",
"pbrMetallicRoughness": {
"baseColorFactor": [
0.0423,
0.0423,
0.0467,
1.0
],
"metallicFactor": 0.0,
"roughnessFactor": 0.75
},
"extensions": {
"KHR_materials_ior": {
"ior": 1.45
}
}
}
]
}# USD Preview Surface — UsdShade.MaterialLook prim attributes
# ASA (Acrylonitrile Styrene Acrylate) · finish: matte
def Material "mat_asa" {
token outputs:surface.connect = </mat_asa/PreviewSurface.outputs:surface>
def Shader "PreviewSurface" {
uniform token info:id = "UsdPreviewSurface"
color3f inputs:diffuseColor = (0.0423, 0.0423, 0.0467)
float inputs:metallic = 0.000
float inputs:roughness = 0.750
float inputs:ior = 1.450
float inputs:opacity = 1.000
float inputs:clearcoat = 0.000
token outputs:surface
}
}
SABIC Geloy ASA technical literature; INEOS Styrolution ASA datasheets.
House vocabulary — terms ForMatter uses with intent.
Materials and processes for people who design and make things.
A local-first library of materials, processes, applications, and finishes — equal weight, citable everywhere, with cost-over-volume curves, trade-off profiles, equipment-tier filters, and second-life paths layered onto the data so a student can move from "what is this" toward "what's actually buildable here, now, by me." Part of the renato.design ecosystem — sibling of Plenum, Specimen, Ingenue, gesture, graf, and the Renato Rhino plug-ins. Form and matter, inseparable.
Half of teaching materials is teaching how the material is made into the thing. The standard subscription library was always light on that half. The wedge here isn't better samples or a prettier interface — it's treating Process as a peer entity, not a footnote.
Conway's Material World on raw materials, Lefteri's Making It on processes, Forty's Concrete and Culture, Sparke's Design in Context, Bürdek's Design: History, Theory and Practice of Product Design, Schröpfer's Material Design on materials in architecture, Winchester's The Perfectionists on tolerance, Minshall's Your Life Is Manufactured on the global supply chain, von Busch's Making Trouble on material activism, Were's How Materials Matter, Hegger / Drexler / Zeumer's Basics Materials, Untracht and McCreight on metalsmithing, USDA Forest Products Lab on woods, GIA on gemstones, Schott / CoorsTek / Toray / Owens Corning datasheets, MakeItFrom for verifiable property numbers, ASM Handbook, ISO standards. Museum holdings draw from the Met, MAD, V&A, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Newark Museum of Art, British Museum, Heard Museum, Smithsonian NMAI, Eiteljorg Museum, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Cranbrook Art Museum, and Grand Rapids Art Museum — collection-record permalinks only, designer overview pages and exhibition listings excluded. Voice blocks now ride on every entry kind — material, process, application, and finish — and include Ruskin on iron, Anni Albers on twining, Greg Lynn on the shred-and-teeth NURBS lineage, Pugin on the metal that won't be hammered, Barthes / Yanagi / Benjamin channeled within their philosophy; Sparke, Bürdek, Forty, Conway, Schröpfer, Minshall, von Busch, Lefteri, Pat Pruitt, Mary Lee Hu, Tom Joyce, Albert Paley, and the rest of the contemporary makers quoted verbatim with citation. All cited.
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