Extrusion makes it possible to mass-produce a multitude of everyday objects with very specific technical characteristics:
Extrusion: how does it work?
The basic equipment of this process is the extruder which transforms the material in order to then shape it the production follows several stages:
The plastic material, in the form of granules or powder, is placed in a hopper. It descends by gravity into a sheath.
The material is plasticized by the simultaneous action of the rotation of an endless screw and a system of heating collars. This means that the plastic material is heated and kneaded until a homogeneous and moldable texture is obtained.
The rotation of the auger pushes the material through the machine’s extrusion head. Then comes the specific extrusion tooling that will give the material its final shape.
Extrusion, a technique for transforming plastics
Extrusion, a multiple process
Depending on the tools chosen, the type of product manufactured can vary greatly. We will thus speak of profile extrusion, extrusion-blow molding, extrusion-inflation, extrusion-calendaring and each of these techniques has its specificities. Here are the main ones:
“Profile extrusion” makes it possible to manufacture all kinds of profiles of different shapes or tubes. The material coming out of the extrusion head is cooled in a shaper to conform to its shape. It then passes through a cooling tank, then a pull bench. Finally the product will be cut to the desired length or rolled up,
Blow extrusion makes it possible to manufacture hollow bodies of variable capacity. After being pushed by the endless screw, the material is transformed into a tube called a “parison”. The parison is placed in a blow mold and air is used to press the material against the mold cavity. Once cooled, the object is frozen in its final shape, and the mold opens to eject the part,
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