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 plastic product manufacturing. 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.

Most plastic products produced through quality machines are often 100 percent American Made and Do not use any foreign or Chinese exported materials. Polymer extrusion has been used in the manufacturing of plastic piping, adhesive tape, and window frames. There's a wide variety of manufactured products which we all use daily!

When the plastic moves through the cavity it reaches a screw mechanism where the plastic is forced out. Inside of the cavity it is a high 400 degrees to keep the plastic at its current state. Overheating is a problem sometimes when extruding plastic so plastic companies have figured a way to defeat overheating.

Next as the plastic moves towards the opening in the extruder cavity it goes through a screw mechanism. The screw rotates the plastic and forces it through the cavity. Inside the cavity it's a toasty 400 degrees f.

It needs to stay at 400 degrees because that is the plastics melting point and must stay at this temperature and not go higher. Doing so will overheat and burn the plastic which is a big problem with plastic companies today. So plastic companies thought of a good idea for this issue.

Injection Molding is a process where overheating is abundant and must be avoided at all costs. The plastic companies invest in three heaters to allow the plastic to gradually reach its melting point so it will not burn. Sounds pretty genius to me and for plastic makers?

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.