HIPS Experience? Need temps and times.

Hello. We have a large quantity of clean HIPS from discarded printers. The Physical Properties table on PP doesn’t show a Tm or melting temp for PS. Has anyone worked HIPS and if so what was your experience with temperature and time? Specifically time to melt? Thank you!

there really hasn't been a lot of effort put into anything with styrene, I don't think many workspaces are equipped to handle the fumes generated (same with PVC, ABS, acrylic, etc)

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InspiredMechanic

Hello. We have a large quantity of clean HIPS from discarded printers. The Physical Properties table on PP doesn’t show a Tm or melting temp for PS. Has anyone worked HIPS and if so what was your experience with temperature and time? Specifically time to melt? Thank you!

Worked with PS/ABS a few times already. Generally not to bad, as mentioned already you need either masks to filter VOCs or better air extraction from the machine/ surrounding to the inside/outside and an active carbon filter. PS can burn a lot faster than PP/HDPE if heated over a longer period (not as bad as PET). So melt it and then process it. It happens easier that nozzles clog if you don't take care about that. PS is 200-260° processing temp. Have to add that PS looks really good on some parts, due to its shiny appearance and glass-like haptic/weigth/sound. + you can easily polish it

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I melted about 100g of HIPS on my sheet press years ago. It melted quite nicely but it did start to bubble a little bit.

10:27 AM

There's a small sample of the material in my hand that does not have bubbles, that is the material I used. I can't recall the settings I used, but likely I started at 180c and worked my way up if it wasn't melting.

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10:28 AM

The lines you see in the photo are just from how the material melted, I did not break it down into tiny pieces but instead almost like strips. Original material was more of a tube shape.

Fritz @easymoulds

Worked with PS/ABS a few times already. Generally not to bad, as mentioned already you need either masks to filter VOCs or better air extraction from the machine/ surrounding to the inside/outside and an active carbon filter. PS can burn a lot faster than PP/HDPE if heated over a longer period (not as bad as PET). So melt it and then process it. It happens easier that nozzles clog if you don't take care about that. PS is 200-260° processing temp. Have to add that PS looks really good on some parts, due to its shiny appearance and glass-like haptic/weigth/sound. + you can easily polish it

We are very fortunate to have an industrial fume extractor (Kemper) in addition to PPE. I'll have to check on the carbon filter for the extractor but we do have carbon for the masks.