Plastics are essential in daily life but pose significant environmental risks due to slow degradation and pollution, especially in water bodies. Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS) used in products like automotive parts and electronics, is currently grouped with other plastics that lack dedicated recycling programs. However, upcoming regulatory changes in Europe aim to improve its recycling.

Nanoindentation is a standard technique usually devoted to characterize the mechanical properties of materials. However, the high and localized pressure applied by nanoindentation allows to reach critical condition for phase transition in many materials, thus obtaining metastable phases that often are maintained upon pressure release.