The other day I ran across a familiar word as I was browsing through the never ending abyss that is Google. The word plastic extrusion caught my eye and I was tired of not knowing what this meant so I decided that day was the day my vocabulary will get a tiny bit larger. I asked around at my job if anyone knew what this meant and I got mixed results. Almost everyone said no and when someone did recognize the word they told me the wrong definition or didn’t really understand what it meant. So my goal; clear up the clouded minds on the ins and outs of polymer extrusion. But goals such as these aren’t achieved overnight; therefore I dedicated 5 days researching and cramming a lot of knowledge of this process into my head. Fascinated with the results, I read this and the next investment coming out of my pocket was towards plastic extrusion.
Plastic Profile extrusion is simply the manufacturing of plastic, which is melted down and shaped into a continuous profile. It’s used in the manufacturing of Adhesive tape, hurricane shutters, and window frames.
As the plastic is reaching its melting point in the extruder cavity it is mixed with colorants and I some cased UV inhibitors. The plastic are in small pellets before being melted usually smaller then a golf ball. Soon they’ll be molded into plastic products and ready for packaging.
As the process begins the raw plastic is fed into a heated extruder cavity. The plastic is in the shape of small pellets usually the smaller then a nickel. Reading further into my study I found out that additives are mixed with the plastic.
The additives are actually ultraviolet inhibitors, and the processes next step is to move towards an opening in the extruder cavity. It resembles a screw mechanism, as the screw rotates it forces the plastic material through the cavity. Exciting as it is there’s more to this beneficial process!
Sometimes the pressure and friction are so great as well that the heaters are shut off and the temperature is kept the same within the cavity. Cooling fans are put in place to keep it at the desire temperature as well. A filter is then added to remove and remaining contaminants.
They allow three burners to come in contact with the plastic so overtime the plastic will gradually melt instead of burning. It’s a pretty good idea and has become accident proof! The die in the process is added which gives the plastic its profile.
Next in the process comes the exciting cooling process. Cooling fans and sealed water baths are most common forms of cooling. But some Plastic products are too delicate for those forms of cooling so especially designed cooling rolls are put in place.
After the polymer extrusion companies heating process comes time for the die to be added to the plastic. The die assesed in the polymer extrusion process is responsible for the products beautiful color and distinct profile. We should all be thankful for the benefits that come from plastic profile extrusion. Finally the plastic products are cooled, cut, and then spoiled or coiled to size. These products often end up becoming things like hurricane shutters. Use this knowledge wisely! You now know a process of manufacturing, enjoy!
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