ABS yellowing

[MartinSivertsen[501st]]

Hi, I had my armor on display for a short while, but leaving it exposed to the elements (sunlight through windows and lightbulbs) made me cautious about yellowing of the ABS.

 

I've read that armor yellows over time, and should be shielded from direct sunlight, but is that also true of ABS that sits under indoor lighting? If so, to what extent, and is that something we need to worry about?

 

And if I were to have my armor displayed on a mannequin, I suppose it would be best to have it somewhere in the house that doesn't have direct sunlight-exposure.

 

Any tips or tricks you other guys employ to avoid yellowing of your armor? Rubbing it in with something? (I distinctly remember Vern mentioning some kind of product)

 

What are your experiences with yellowing, and do you even care?

 

Come on, let's pool our resources together!

[TK bondservnt[501st]]

novus polish numbers 1-3

 

it's the main use for UN COATED abs.

 

for coated ABS you will most likely have to use what that manufacturer recommends.

[Locitus[Admin]]

I wouldn't use nouvus on a 2 mm TM. The polish could risk wrecking the acrylic capping.

 

In your case I would ask TM (or hope he sees this and replies). He should know if the plastic he uses has any UV protection on it, and how good it is. I think all modern plastics have some, but some might be better.

[MartinSivertsen[501st]]

I asked TM about it a few weeks back, and he didn't know either, he told me to ask around here what peoples experiences with it were, as he was interested to know himself.

 

I'm not to concerned about it myself, as it will never be sitting under direct sunlight for any extended period of time, but I thought it would be interesting to see if others who have had their suits for a while had any experience with yellowing, either as a result of sunlight exposure and/or indoor lights. And if so what suits they have and if they have taken any measures to avoid further yellowing.

 

A bit of yellowing is probably unavoidable, but in my eyes not a major problem, as the original suits are the same, and it counts towards natural weathering

[Locitus[Admin]]

Ah, alright!

 

Here's what my common sense tells me, but I have no proof of anything:

 

I would not think indoors lighting would be a big issue. Whatever UV protection the plastic has should handle indoors lighting. But I'd absolutely keep it out of direct sun light for any extended periods.

[TK bondservnt[501st]]

any capped ABS would not react to a polymer polish with rubbing compounds in them.

they are abrasives and remove small amounts of surface material.

 

you'd want simply an abs approved type for capped finishes.

[Locitus[Admin]]

I would just be worried they would rubb off the acrylic finish and make it duller than it was before.

[Baldenwonder]

I thought that acrylic had better properties than bare ABS to withstand any discolouration?

Has anyone had acrylic capped armour discolour?

[Locitus[Admin]]

Not that I've heard of.

[MartinSivertsen[501st]]

Me neither, but I'm curious to find out.

[TK-4510[TK]]

In my experience its not just light you have to worry about but heat as well. Recently I gave a helmet to a friends son for his birthday. He's a huge SW fan, so he put the helmet on a stand on his entertainment center about 6 inches away from his xbox-360. Within 2 months one side of the helmet was noticably yellowed. Apparently from the heat that the xbox was putting off. I also have seen this happen with armor where the hot air from central heating vents blows down onto the back of the armor while it was on display.

 

The only way I can think of to keep armor from yellowing is to keep it in a cool dry dark place. I think even flourecent (SP?) lighting would damage it....

Edited February 2, 2012 by TK-4510

[MartinSivertsen[501st]]

Interesting...

 

This is the kind of feedback I was waiting for.

Thanks Mike!

 

Edit: And this doesn't have anything to do with me wanting to make a lamp out of a helmet for the bar I work at

Edited February 2, 2012 by MartinSivertsen

[Locitus[Admin]]

Yeah, turns out that heat does affect the plastic.

 

I contacted Dr. Rudolph D. Deanin, founder of the graduate program in Plastics Engineering at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell and director of the program for over thirty years. I told him everything I know about plastic chassis discoloration in both the Super Nintendo and Macintosh computers and asked what he thought might be causing it.

 

"The plastics most commonly used to make the structural cases for electronic equipment are polypropylene, impact styrene, and ABS," replied Deanin. "These all tend to discolor and embrittle gradually when exposed to UV and/or heat. They become oxidized and develop conjugated unsaturation, which produces color. They crosslink or degrade, which causes brittleness."

From looking at a stamp on the Super Nintendo's plastic case, I learned that the case is composed of ABS, which is a rugged, durable plastic that is sadly more susceptible to discoloration and degradation from both UV and heat than the alternatives.

 

"There are other plastics which would be more stable," Deanin continued, "but manufacturers avoid them because they are more expensive and/or more difficult to process."

Instead of using more expensive plastics, manufactures put additives known as stabilizers, absorbers, or blockers into the plastic mixture to reduce the effects of degradation. They also get creative with their use of pigmentation.

 

"Since most discoloration is toward yellowing, some manufacturers add a little blue to neutralize the yellow," Deanin said. "This gives a temporary reprieve, but eventually the yellow keeps growing and overpowers it anyway."

 

Source:

http://www.vintageco...hp/archives/189

Edited February 2, 2012 by Locitus

[MartinSivertsen[501st]]

Nice, I like the info.

This would be good to know for people wanting to display their armor, and might want to make the neccessary steps to keep it from degrading while on display.

 

Now I'd like to hear from people who have their armor on display and might have had for a while.

And what about the PVC that some of the new RS-suits are made of, I have a hunch that they are more durable and less prone to yellowing.

Will be interesting to find out.

[Coastrooper]

I have AM armour and it is noticeably yellow compared to my local armour maker. Is there anyway to deyellow armour so to speak?

 

Sorry for the hijack to.

[WhiteNight[TK]]

I have AM armour and it is noticeably yellow compared to my local armour maker. Is there anyway to deyellow armour so to speak?

 

Sorry for the hijack to.

 

Paint it with a shiny white gloss, all of the parts.

[pandatrooper[TK]]

Also don't let it contact any vinyl materials. Vinyl can still leach off chemicals and cause reactions to plastic. I left some armor in a vinyl hocky bag and the corners of the armor that contacted the vinyl would turn yellow after only a week or two in storage.

[Coastrooper]

Would I need to sand it down first?

[WhiteNight[TK]]

Would I need to sand it down first?

 

Since the yellowing is a chemical reaction in the top layers of the base material, I do not think you will need to sand it down, but it depends on the material used. AM is ABS iirc, so you should be fine with painting it straight over. Since I haven't that much experience with ABS/plastics, has anybody done this before?

[john danter]

Google Nintendo ABS yellowing.

 

I saw a video on youtube about a chap who used ammonia to unyellow his gameboy.

Also ABS and worked a treat

 

Brave man to try that on a TK though but it should work. It's just the acrylic cap that'll be the problem,

the yellowness in underneath that

[john danter]

missed the link

http://www.howtocleanstuff.net/how-to-whiten-yellowed-plastic/

[Coastrooper]

hmm it does seem like a big thing to do. >.> its just a shame that AM is this off white color

[Laspector[TK]]

Hhhhm I assume that doing any of those processes on that link, you are going to lose your gloss.

 

I have one of the MRC helmets and I am noticing that ONLY the back plate of the helmet is starting to yellow. It IS on a stand but it is not near a window or heating or cooling vent. I can't imagine why only the back piece is yellowing.

[TK-4510[TK]]

Maybe being near the wall has some effect on the plastic? Or could be because the cap n back is thinner plastic (once formed) than the face plate? Maybe its effected easier due to its thickness too?

[DAZZ]

Ok, try this one on:

 

I painted my ABS FX armor white (Fusion Plastic - it matched really well to the original ABS), and then had a clear coat sprayed over it, obviously for the shine factor.

So, here it is 2, maybe 3 years later & the entire suit & helmet are discolered to a dingy yellowish kinda color.

 

Anything I can do with it to get the yellow out, or am I stuck with having to repaint it. I don't want to spend the money on repainting, as I am currently working towards my ESB ATA build.

 

I figure that I can do a TD with some mods, and a new helmet, but the color will still remain unless I sand parts of it down to the original white ABS.

 

 

Any & all suggestions are appreciated!

 

Darren