Is it possible to change the default shaded view of the mesh to make it translucent in abaqus?

Yes its possible to make the shaded view translucent. Click on the Common Plot option icon (the first one first row and the one on the left to the left of the viewport).



In the dialog box which opens choose the Other tab. Choose the tab Translucency. Click on the box marked Apply translucency and the slider bar appears in the box below. The slider controls the amount of translucency. Completely to the Right makes it Opaque. The model becomes translucent as the slider is moved to the left. Click on the Apply button after the slider has been moved to effect the change.
The extreme left position makes it into a wireframe (This means the model is transparent). Click on OK and this should change the appearance.