A process and associated system for creating color effects in extrudable material, such as plastic and metal for example, are presented. Flows of first and second viscous materials of respective colors are provided and then combined in a predetermined pattern to form a stream of combined viscous material. In a first aspect, the flow rate of the first viscous material is caused to vary over time in order to vary an amount of the first viscous material in the stream. In a second aspect, which may be used alone or in combination with the first aspect, the first and second viscous materials have distinct viscosities to reduce an amount of color blending between the first color and the second color in the stream of combined viscous material. A static mixer may then be used to apply a predetermined dividing, overturning and combining motion to the stream of combined viscous material to partially mix the first viscous material and the second viscous material, such that upon exiting the static mixer, the first material of the first color and the second material of the second color form a color pattern in the stream of combined viscous material. Sheets of extrudable material may be created using such process and used in the manufacturing of many different products including for example kayaks and stand-up paddle boards.

The invention relates to a method of preparing reclaimed rubber, especially using multi-stage screw extruders, which belongs to the field of recycling and reusing of waste rubber. The rubber powder and softener which were preliminarily mixed are compacted and added into first counter rotating twin screw extruder through thermal insulation and metering apparatus, the softener permeates the waste rubber powder uniformly under the action of temperature in the extruder to finish primary desulfurization of rubber waste powder; add preliminary devulcanized material continuously into second multi screw extruder after cooling by transformation device, rapid desulfurization and regeneration can be achieved by means of activator and shear action; The desulfurized rubber powder is cooled and transported into the third multi-screw extruder in series, the performance of deprocessing can be improved by shear action under low temperature; After extrusion, the recycled rubber is obtained by molding device and cooling device. The whole process is completed under closed oxygen isolation condition, realizing safe, simple and continuous desulfurization regeneration. It is energy saving and environmental protection with excellent properties.

A method of manufacturing bulked continuous carpet filament that includes providing a polymer melt and separating the polymer melt from the extruder into at least eight streams. The multiple streams are exposed to a chamber pressure within a chamber that is below approximately 25 millibars, or another predetermined pressure. The streams are recombined into a single polymer stream. Polymer from the polymer stream is then formed into bulked continuous carpet filament.

A method of manufacturing bulked continuous carpet filament which, in various embodiments, comprises: (A) grinding recycled PET bottles into a group of flakes; (B) washing the flakes; (C) identifying and removing impurities, including impure flakes, from the group of flakes; (D) passing the group of flakes through an MRS extruder while maintaining the pressure within the MRS portion of the MRS extruder below about 1.5 millibars; (E) passing the resulting polymer melt through at least one filter having a micron rating of less than about 50 microns; and (F) forming the recycled polymer into bulked continuous carpet filament that consists essentially of recycled PET.

A method of manufacturing bulked continuous carpet filament which, in various embodiments, comprises: (A) grinding recycled PET bottles into a group of flakes; (B) washing the flakes; (C) identifying and removing impurities, including impure flakes, from the group of flakes; (D) passing the group of flakes through an MRS extruder while maintaining the pressure within the MRS portion of the MRS extruder below about 1.5 millibars; (E) passing the resulting polymer melt through at least one filter having a micron rating of less than about 50 microns; and (F) forming the recycled polymer into bulked continuous carpet filament that consists essentially of recycled PET.

A device (4) for the manufacture of an annular extrudate comprises a jacket (2), a crosshead (1) arranged inside of the jacket. The jacket contains a melt passage, whereby the crosshead is arranged in the melt passage, such that the melt passage extends et least at the outlet of the device as an annular melt passage around the crosshead (1). An annular passage (5) is formed between the crosshead and the jacket. The annular passage contains a static mixer (3), whereby the crosshead is at least partially supported by the static mixer in the jacket. The static mixer comprises a plurality of inserts, whereby at least a portion of the inserts is connected to the crosshead and/or the jacket.

The facility for manufacturing a profile strip made from several elastomer mixtures with different compositions by coextrusion includes at least two extruders which feed elastomer mixtures to an extrusion head. The extruders discharge directly into the extrusion head, which is interchangeable and groups together all of the dimensional tooling.

Use of twin screw extrusion to further enhance the uniformity of crosslinked rubber dispersion in thermoplastic vulcanizates (TPVs) to improve elastic properties of TPVs is disclosed. Most specifically, this invention employs intermeshing twin screw extruders to further homogenize dynamically vulcanized rubber dispersions in TPVs so that their particle size dispersion index (PSDI), or the ratio of weight average equivalent dispersion particle diameter to number average equivalent dispersion particle diameter, can be lowered to less than 1.6 or 1.57 with corresponding elastic property improvements by having lower hysteresis, higher elongation to break, and higher retractive force. TPV products having lower PSDI and improved elastic properties, and apparatus for conducting the disclosed method, are also provided.

A mixer (2) includes: a pair of rotors (44) arranged to have a gap (SP2) therebetween; a casing (45) in which a chamber (C2) in which the pair of rotors (44) is disposed, an introduction port (51) for introducing a material to be mixed (W) into the chamber (C2), and a discharge port (52) for discharging the material to be mixed (W) from the chamber (C2) are formed; a sensor (80) which is disposed above the pair of rotors (44) and detects variation in position or pressure of the material to be mixed (W); and a control unit (82) which controls rotation of the pair of rotors (44), based on a detection result of the sensor (80).

A method for manufacturing bulked continuous carpet filament, the method comprising: (1) reducing a chamber pressure within a chamber to below about 5 millibars; (2) after reducing the chamber pressure to below about 5 millibars, providing a polymer melt to the chamber; (3) separating the polymer melt into at least eight streams; (4) while the at least eight streams of the polymer melt are within the chamber, exposing the at least eight streams of the polymer melt to the chamber pressure of below about 5 millibars; (5) after exposing the at least eight streams of the polymer melt to the chamber pressure of below about 5 millibars, recombining the at least eight streams into a single polymer stream; and (6) forming polymer from the single polymer stream into bulked continuous carpet filament.