Commodity Thermoplastics
Commodity thermoplastics are the high-volume polymers — polyethylene, polypropylene, PVC, ABS, polystyrene and PLA — that make up most of the plastic produced in the world. They are inexpensive, easy to mold, extrude and thermoform, and adequate for service up to about 60–90 °C; yield strengths run from about 10 MPa for LDPE to 40–45 MPa for ABS and rigid PVC. Housings, tanks, piping, packaging and printed prototypes are where they live.
Popular commodity thermoplastic grades
Compare in the explorer| Grade | Yield, MPa | Tensile, MPa | Density, g/cm³ | Machinability | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABS | 42 | 43 | 1.04 | Very good | The default housing plastic; paints and glues well |
| HDPE | 26 | 28 | 0.96 | Very good | Chemical tanks, cutting boards, machined wear parts |
| PP | 33 | 35 | 0.91 | Good | Living hinges, lab ware, hot-water fittings |
| PVC | 50 | 52 | 1.42 | Excellent | Pipe, valve bodies, machined chemical manifolds |
| LDPE | 10 | 11 | 0.92 | Fair | Flexible liners, squeeze bottles, film |
| PLA | 48 | 50 | 1.24 | Good | FDM form-check prints; not for service |
| PLA-CF | 55 | 52 | 1.28 | Good | Stiff carbon-filled PLA |
All 66 commodity thermoplastic grades
- ABS
- AES
- CA
- CAB
- CAP
- CN
- CPE
- CPVC 4120
- CTA
- EAA
- EBA
- EC
- EEA
- EMA
- EMAA
- EVA
- EVOH
- GPPS
- HDPE
- HIPS
- Ionomer
- LDPE
- LLDPE
- MABS
- MDPE
- mLLDPE
- mPP
- PBAT
- PBS
- PBSA
- PCL
- PDLA
- PDLLA
- PE-RT
- PE80
- PE100
- PEX
- PGA
- PHB
- PHBH
- PHBV
- PLA
- PLA-CF
- PLLA
- PP
- PP-B
- PP-C
- PP-GF30
- PP-H
- PP-R
- PP-T20
- PS
- PVC
- PVC 1120
- PVC-M
- PVC-O
- PVC-P
- PVC-U
- SMA
- SPF
- Stratasys ABS-CF10
- Stratasys ABS-ESD7
- Stratasys ABS-M30
- Stratasys ABS-M30i
- TPS
- VLDPE
Choose commodity thermoplastics for
Enclosures, covers and bezels in ABS; chemical tanks, cutting boards, tote liners and wear strips in HDPE; hinged boxes, lab ware and hot-water fittings in PP; pipe, valve bodies and machined chemical manifolds in PVC and CPVC 4120; and any prototype or low-volume part where the lowest material cost and easy processing matter more than stiffness or heat.
Look elsewhere when
Service temperature exceeds about 80–90 °C (POM, PA66 or PC in the engineering tier), the part is a gear, bushing or precision fit (POM-C holds size and machines cleanly where PE and PP smear), impact resistance must be certain in the cold or the part is clear (PC), UV exposure is constant (ASA is the weatherable ABS), or stiffness and creep resistance govern — none of this tier stays flat under sustained load.
Loading the library…
Commodity thermoplastic by application
- Housings and enclosures
- ABS for anything painted, glued or printed by FDM; HIPS when the part is thermoformed and cost rules; ABS-ESD for trays and fixtures around unprotected electronics.
- Chemical tanks and fittings
- HDPE for tanks, liners and machined blocks in acids, bases and alcohols; PP-H for hot water and autoclavable lab ware; PVC-U and CPVC 4120 for piping and manifolds in chlorine and most acids (not solvents).
- Hinged and flexible parts
- PP for living hinges and snap lids that flex thousands of times; LDPE and LLDPE where the part itself must be soft and squeezable; EVA for a foamed or rubbery touch.
- Fast prototypes
- PLA and PLA-CF for dimensional form checks on FDM; ABS or PETG once the prototype will be handled, heated or left in a car.
Working with commodity thermoplastic
- Machining
- ABS and rigid PVC machine cleanly to ±0.1 mm with sharp tools; HDPE and PP are soft and gummy — high feed, sharp positive-rake tools and light finishing passes keep them from smearing. PE and PP expand about 150–200 µm per metre per °C, so measure at room temperature after the part has rested.
- Molding, extrusion and printing
- All of this tier injection molds and thermoforms; PE, PP and PVC also extrude into pipe, sheet and profile. Shrinkage is 1.5–2.5 % for PE and PP and about 0.5 % for ABS. On FDM printers ABS wants an enclosed heated chamber to avoid warping; PLA prints easily but softens near 55 °C.
- Bonding and welding
- ABS and PVC solvent-bond (acetone, MEK, PVC cement) and take cyanoacrylate and epoxy. PE and PP bond to almost nothing without flame or plasma treatment — join them by hot-gas, extrusion or hot-plate welding, or with mechanical fasteners.
- Finishing
- ABS paints, pad-prints and vapour-smooths well and is the one plastic here that can be electroplated after etching; PVC and PP accept paint only after primer or surface treatment. HDPE and PP are best left as molded with colour in the resin.
Other polymer series
Commodity Thermoplastics — frequently asked
What is commodity thermoplastic?
Commodity thermoplastics are the high-volume polymers — polyethylene, polypropylene, PVC, ABS, polystyrene and PLA — that make up most of the plastic produced in the world. They are inexpensive, easy to mold, extrude and thermoform, and adequate for service up to about 60–90 °C; yield strengths run from about 10 MPa for LDPE to 40–45 MPa for ABS and rigid PVC. Housings, tanks, piping, packaging and printed prototypes are where they live.
Which grade of commodity thermoplastic should I use?
ABS is the default housing and enclosure plastic: tough, paintable, easy to machine and mold, and the cosmetic reference for FDM printing. HDPE and PP are the chemical-resistant pair — HDPE for tanks, cutting boards and machined parts that must not absorb anything, PP when the part needs a living hinge or hot-water service (PP-H homopolymer for stiffness, PP-C copolymer for cold impact). PVC (rigid PVC-U) is the piping and machined-manifold grade, CPVC 4120 the same chemistry to about 90 °C. LDPE is for squeeze bottles, flexible liners and film; PLA is a printing filament for form checks, not a service material. ABS-ESD when the part handles unprotected electronics.
Which grade of commodity thermoplastic is the strongest?
PGA has the highest yield strength in the series at 95 MPa; PP-GF30 follows at 85 MPa. Values are for each grade's default condition.
Which grade of commodity thermoplastic is easiest to machine?
Stratasys ABS-CF10 (machinability excellent, 90/100), then Stratasys ABS-M30 (90/100).
HDPE or PP for a chemical tank?
Both resist most acids, bases and alcohols. HDPE is tougher in the cold, cheaper and easier to weld; PP is stiffer and takes about 20 °C more heat (continuous ~100 °C versus ~80 °C for HDPE), so it is the choice for hot-water and autoclave duty. Neither survives strong oxidizers or aromatic solvents at temperature — move to PVDF or PTFE for those.
Is PLA a real engineering plastic?
No. It prints easily and is stiff at room temperature (about 60 MPa tensile), but its glass transition is near 55–60 °C, so a part left in a car or near a motor deforms, and it creeps and embrittles over months. Use PLA for form and fit checks, then move to ABS, PETG or nylon for anything that will see heat or load.