Extrusion

Plastic extrusion is a high volume manufacturing process in which raw plastic is melted and formed into a continuous profile.

Extrusion produces items such as plastic films or sheets, pipe or tube, wire insulation, plastic frames, etc. Plastic extruders are also extensively used to reprocess recycled plastic waste or other raw materials after cleaning, sorting and/or blending. This material is commonly extruded into filaments suitable for chopping into the bead or pellet stock to use as a precursor for further processing.

This process starts by feeding plastic material (pellets, granules, flakes or powders) from a hopper into the barrel of the extruder. The material is gradually melted by the mechanical energy generated by turning screws and by heaters arranged along the barrel. The molten polymer is then forced into a die, which shapes the polymer into a pipe that hardens during cooling.

Capabilities

Technique

The whole line was brought from Singapore to Vietnam with full support from Singaporean engineers within a very short time.

Advantages

A great advantage of extrusion is that products can be made to any length. Due to its flexibility, products can be made at long lengths even coiling on a reel. Another advantage is the extrusion of pipes with integrated coupler including rubber seal.


Material

Typical plastic materials that are used in extrusion include but are not limited to: PE (HDPE), PP, ABS, PA, acrylic, PS, PVC...

Die type

There are a variety of dies used in plastics extrusion. While there can be significant differences between die types and complexity, all dies allow for the continuous extrusion of polymer melt.