Wednesday, January 5, 2022

The High-Volume Plastic Extrusion

Based in Neenah, Timothy Hoger offers client-specific machining and fabricating solutions as head of Wisconsin Plastics Supply. Timothy Hoger has extensive experience in and knowledge about the plastics industry.

One manufacturing process that delivers high-volume production is plastic extrusion. Within a continuous system, an enriched polymer material is melted and formed to the desired specification. This type of system begins with polymer granulates being gravity fed into a hopper. Dropping onto a rotating screw, the granulates are forced through a heated barrel. The thread, or channel, of the screw becomes narrower as the plastic is pushed through the barrel, which compresses it.

The plastic melts by the end of its journey through the barrel and is finally pushed through a screen pack. The screen serves to filter out contaminates and eliminate the plastic melt’s rotational memory.

This filtered melt can now be pushed through a die that provides its dimension and size. The plastic extrudate leaves the extruder and is pulled and cooled, with the specifics of this latter stage depending on the final shape and profile of the desired plastic product.

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