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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 PVC pipe 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.

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 window panels and ready for packaging.

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.

Three heaters at 400 degrees f are put in place and the plastic is gradually introduced to the heat eliminating the fear of overheating and burning. That was the most interesting part of the search for information, at least to me!

Inside the Extruder cavity it is a whopping 400 degrees and needs to be kept at this temperature to keep the plastic in its liquid state. This is something interesting; while overheating is somewhat of a problem in the extrusion business they found a way to burn proof their plastic.

Next I understood that a die is added to the plastic to give it its full profile. Plastic Molding Companies use different dies for different products. After the die it's time for a water sealed bath. Cooling rollers are put in place of the baths for more delicate polymer products.

I viewed an information video on youtube.com and the man designing the plastic explained the amount of friction and pressure can build up so abundantly that the heaters are shut off. This is due to the friction and pressure keeping the extruder at that temperature of the plastic melting point