My dad was a plastics engineer for 30+ years. One of the best tips he has given me thus far is to rejuvenate and limber up old and new thermoplastic polymers by soaking them for a minute or so in boiling water. The results with nylon can be especially dramatic. Yellowish nylon goes into the water brittle and comes out supple and milky white. New composite thermostat housings, foosball table handles, and other plastic pieces that must be mounted to metal become slightly more flexible and are an easier and better fit.
The boiling water does not melt the plastic. Soaking nylon in room temperature water for a long time has the same impact as a short bath in boiling water. The chemistry is too complex for just the son of a plastics engineer to explain. Basically the moisture releases tension between polymer molecules that was created when the plastic was first made (molded, extruded, etc.) or that built up over time as the plastic was exposed to sunlight, heat, chemicals or otherwise aged.
I did. I think I had a thread on it here or posted in a thread, but that was a couple years ago when I first joined the forum.So, has anyone ever tried to make brittle plastic less brittle?
What are you trying to do warp the hell out of the plastic?I've read that the plasticisers leach out as well, causing brittleness, everything-you-need-to-know-about-abs-plastic has some interesting info, especially the glass transition/melting point of ABS. Adding-salt-increases-water-boiling-point so adding a lot of it might work better by reaching a bit closer to the melting point ABS. Using a boiler to raise the temperature of superheated steam for the task might work a lot better, that or putting the plastics inside the boiler? Dunno, but if it works, jury rigging a redneck boiler contraption to do the deed would make one hella YouBoobTube video. :lol: