Extrusion Know How
Understanding the Effect of Polymer Viscosity on Melt Temperature
Every processor should get hold of the viscosity curves for the polymers they use or contemplate using in their operations, and learn how to read them.
Read MoreExtrusion: Evaluating Screw Design for Multi-Material Recycling
Since many plastic products are made of a combination of materials with very different melting points, careful consideration must be given to designing screws when it comes time to recycle these products.
Read MoreExtrusion: 'Melt-Blown' Fiber: What You Need to Know to Enter the Face Mask Market
Coronavirus pandemic has made extrusion processors curious about entering the face-mask market. But melt-blown fiber is very different from most other extrusion processes and requires specialized equipment.
Read MoreExtrusion: The Importance of Zone 1 Barrel Temperature
Tweaking the temperature settings of the first barrel zones may not yield the desired result. In fact, they may yield the opposite. Here’s why.
Read MoreWhat You Should Know About Miniature Extrusion Screws
Very small screws have become more common with the growth of additive manufacturing. Designing such screws requires balancing their output requirements with their torque strength.
Read MoreExtrusion: Important Polymer Melting Equations for Extrusion Processors
The more you know about what happens in a screw, the more you’ll be able to work with your supplier to optimize design.
Read MoreTry This Lower-Cost Purging Method
You might be able to reduce purging times and save money by scheduling processing jobs in order of the increasing material viscosity. But to get started, you'll need shear rate/viscosity curves for your polymers.
Read MoreHow to Optimize Usage of Recycled Material
Processors need to “engineer” feeding properties similar to virgin pellets into their regrind to efficiently and economically utilize more of their scrap.
Read MoreWhat You Need to Know to Get into Coextrusion
Key considerations range from determining the right extruder sizes to tooling, matching material viscosities, and lots more. Take a look.
Read MoreTry This Approach to Clean Up Your Recycled Material
CO2 can be used as a totally “green” solvent to remove many kinds of contamination in recycled plastics without the need for toxic solvents.
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