Extrusion Excellence: This Year's Top Stories
Revisit the year’s most popular articles on extrusion technology and processes, showcasing innovations, best practices, and the trends that captured the plastics processing community’s attention.
We covered a lot this year for extrusion processors, did you manage to keep track? Here’s a breakdown of the top extrusion articles from 2024. From cutting-edge technologies to practical tips, the most-viewed articles of the year had the plastics community talking. Whether you’re looking to revisit a favorite or uncover what you missed, this roundup is packed with inspiration to fuel your success in the year ahead.
1. Understanding the Incumbent Resin Effect
Maddock mixer with flutes that are too deep cause resin degradation at the pushing and trailing sides of the flutes. Source: M. Spalding
When you are looking to replace an existing resin with a new one, in trials sometimes the “incumbent” resin will cause gels and other defects. Here’s what to look for.
2. The Role Barrel Temperatures Play in Melting
You need to understand the basics of how plastic melts in an extruder to properly set your process and troubleshoot any issues. Hint: it’s not about the barrel temperature settings.
3. Troubleshooting Flow Surging in Single-Screw Extruders
Surging can cause lower production rates, higher scrap rates, material degradation and higher labor costs. Here is a guide to troubleshooting this problem.
Schematic of a gear pump. Source: M. Spalding
4. Is a Gear Pump Right for Your Single-Screw Operation
As with everything else, there are pros and cons, but more of the former. They provide processors higher rates while decreasing the temperature of the extrudate while enabling downgauging.
5. Maximize the Cooling Capacity of Your Extrusion Line
Maximizing output in extrusion requires a thorough understanding of not only the cooling requirements of the extruder but of the extrudate as well.
6. Choosing the Right Gearbox and Motor for Your Single-Screw Extruder
Extruder OEMs are typically very good at sizing motors and gear boxes for extrusion applications. But you have the final decision on the acceptance of the design. Here’s what you should consider.
Adding a configuration to the mixer that “turns the melt over” will greatly improve uniformity.
Source: J. Frankland
7. A Guide to Single-Screw Mixers
To design the best mixers for single screws, you must completely understand how polymer moves through a mixer channel or groove.
8. In Single Screw Extruders, Mixing Starts in the Melting Process
While the melting process does not provide perfect mixing, this study shows that mixing is indeed initiated during melting.
9. What You Need to Know About the Design and Operation of Maddock Mixers
Designed properly, all entering solid polymer fragments and certain types of PE gels entering the Maddock mixer can be trapped and dispersed into the matrix resin. But many are not properly designed. Here’s what to look out for.
10. New Screw Boosts Mixing, Enhances Polymer Properties
Device mixes at the ‘molecular level,’ inventor says, to boost mechanicals and in some cases make pre-drying redundant.
Randcastle’s Molecular Homegnizer is a 36:1 L/D screw with seven mixing sections. According to the inventor, it has been shown to enhance mixing and also improve material properties in some cases. Inset shows single mixing element. Source: Randcastle Extrusion
Honorable Mentions:
Most viewed news: NASA Uses Polyimide to Study Insulation of Electric Engines in Aerospace
Most viewed product: Broad Line of Chemical Foaming Agents for Range of Applications
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