Toy building brick

ABS forms a rigid, detailed brick that can connect with other pieces.

Toy building brick, illustrative image

Material

Moulded brick body: ABS

Material selection rationale

Rigid fit
Studs and sockets hold their moulded geometry.
Impact toughness
The rubber-containing material tolerates knocks during use.
Fit from fine tolerances
Studs and internal features must match repeatedly. Rubber toughening helps durability, but mould dimensions and cooling determine fit.

How it becomes a product

  1. Prepare the grade: The selected ABS grade is dried and coloured as required.
  2. Injection-mould and cool: A precision mould forms the studs and underside; controlled cooling helps the pieces fit consistently. The resin fills the tool, cools and contracts; consistent processing preserves the intended mating geometry.

Preparation routes

Three-monomer route

Multistage addition and graft polymerisation. A representative emulsion route first makes butadiene-derived rubber particles, then polymerises styrene and acrylonitrile with grafting onto the rubber. A styrene–acrylonitrile matrix surrounds the rubber phase. The staged route produces a multiphase material rather than a regularly alternating A–B–C chain. The rubber phase and matrix explain the combination of toughness and rigidity.

Initiators, emulsifiers and process control support the stages. The three monomers are all part of the material's origins, not interchangeable options or a claim that they are charged at once. A different ratio or particle structure produces a different grade even when all three monomer names stay the same.

  1. ABS: monomers and manufacturing routesINEOS
  2. Reference document on best available techniques in the production of polymersEuropean Commission, Joint Research Centre · 2007

From benzene and ethene to styrene

  1. Benzene + Ethene → Ethylbenzene

    Alkylation joins an ethyl group to the benzene ring. Both feedstocks belong to this step.

  2. Ethylbenzene → Styrene

    Dehydrogenation removes hydrogen and creates the vinyl double bond used in the next polymerisation step.

  1. Polystyrene: from benzene and ethene to solid and expanded productsChemical Industry Education Centre, University of York

From propene to acrylonitrile

  1. Propene + Ammonia + Oxygen from air → Acrylonitrile

    Propene reacts with ammonia and oxygen over a catalyst to produce acrylonitrile. The three-carbon feedstock becomes a molecule containing both C=C and C≡N groups. Nitrogen is supplied by ammonia; this industrial conversion is different from extending a halogenoalkane chain with cyanide ions. Product separation removes co-products including acetonitrile and hydrogen cyanide.

  1. Lima: acrylonitrile manufacture from propene, ammonia and airINEOS Nitriles
  2. The Sohio acrylonitrile processAmerican Chemical Society

Sources

  1. Materials used in building elementsLEGO Group
  2. ABS: monomers and manufacturing routesINEOS
  3. Reference document on best available techniques in the production of polymersEuropean Commission, Joint Research Centre · 2007