A method of producing a bioplastic granulate on the basis of sunflower seed shells or sunflower seed hulls. In the method, ground sunflower seed shells/sunflower seed hull material is provided, wherein the particle size is in the region of 3 mm or less, preferably in the region of 0.01 to 1 mm, preferably in the region of 0.1 to 0.3 mm. A plastic material is provided, which is compounded with the sunflower seed shells/sunflower seed hull material, wherein the compounding operation is preferably effected in an extruder, preferably a double-screw extruder. The compounded material is chopped at the end of the extruder section with a tool with the addition of water, wherein the water is at a temperature of preferably more than 50 C., preferably about 80 to 90 C., to cool down the compound material. During the compounding operation, the compounding material is subjected to atmospheric degassing and/or vacuum degassing.

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) adding one or more color concentrates to the flakes; (E) passing the group of flakes through an extrusion system while maintaining the pressure within the extrusion system below about 25 millibars; (F) passing the resulting polymer melt through at least one filter having a micron rating of less than about 50 microns; and (G) 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) adding one or more color concentrates to the flakes; (E) passing the group of flakes through an MRS extruder while maintaining the pressure within the MRS portion of the MRS extruder below about 25 millibars; (F) passing the resulting polymer melt through at least one filter having a micron rating of less than about 50 microns; and (G) forming the recycled polymer into bulked continuous carpet filament that consists essentially of recycled PET.

The invention provides a biaxially oriented polyester film, which exhibits excellent transparency, is easily subjected to secondary processing, is an environmentally friendly polyester film, and has little variations in physical properties in the machine direction, and a production method therefor. The biaxially oriented polyester film is formed of a polyester resin composition containing particles and 50% by weight or more of a polyester resin composed of biomass-derived ethylene glycol and fossil fuel-derived dicarboxylic acid units, wherein at least one surface of the biaxially oriented polyester film meets requirements (1) to (3): (1) a number of fine protrusions each having a height of less than 3 nm per area of 4?10.sup.?12 m.sup.2 is 250-600; (2) a number of fine protrusions each having a height of 3 nm or more per area of 4?10.sup.12 m.sup.2 is 300-600; and (3) an arithmetic mean height Sa is 0.010-0.025 ?m.

The invention describes a feeding device for feeding fluff and granules into an extruder having a supplying apparatus with an outlet-side pipe piece for the granules, with which the granules can be fed while forming a granule column, wherein the pipe piece is connected to an inlet opening of the extruder, having a funnel with a funnel outlet for supplying fluff, wherein an auger is provided within the funnel for conveying fluff, which projects through the funnel outlet and into the pipe piece, wherein the fluff is conveyable within the granule column.

The auger is configured in order to also convey parts of the granules and/or to compact the fluff.

Novel extruded ceiling fan blades, compositions and methods of making the blades from plastic material such as polystyrene are disclosed. The blades can be formed from two extruders so that different colors and/or finishes, such as wood grain looks can be formed on the upper and lower surfaces of the blades.

In a method for reprocessing film waste material, the film waste material is comminuted into recycling material by means of a comminuting device. The recycling material is fed by means of a feeding device in a multi-shaft screw machine. In the multi-shaft screw machine, the recycling material is plasticized into a material melt and processed into raw material. The raw material may again be fed to a production installation for the production of films.

A method of forming a fiber-reinforced molding compound. The method includes establishing a melt stream of a source material including a first polymeric material having a first melt temperature in an extruder and dosing a composite material into the melt stream. The composite material includes pre-impregnated reinforcing fibers comprising reinforcing filaments and a second polymeric material having a second melt temperature greater than the first melt temperature. The composite material has at least 30% of the reinforcing filaments protected by the polymeric material such that the polymeric material surrounds each filament completely forming a barrier between it and an adjacent filament in the at least 30% of the filaments. The temperature of the melt stream at dosing is below the second melt temperature. The method includes forming a molding compound from the source and composite materials. The method includes dispensing the molding compound to produce a part.

A three-dimensional printing nozzle, a three-dimensional printing nozzle assembly, and a three-dimensional printing apparatus are provided. The three-dimensional printing nozzle includes a nozzle body having an inlet and an outlet, a driving unit disposed in the nozzle body, a first heating unit, and a first heat dissipation unit. A particle forming material is adapted to enter the nozzle body from the inlet. The driving unit is configured for pushing the particle forming material to move from the inlet to the outlet. The first heating unit is disposed in the nozzle body for heating and melting the particle forming material and extrudes a melted forming material out of the nozzle body from the outlet through the driving unit. The first heat dissipation unit is disposed in the nozzle body and located between the first heating unit and the inlet to reduce heat transmitted from the first heating unit to the inlet.

Method of making an extruded thin film comprising: melt filtering an amorphous thermoplastic composition comprising an amorphous thermoplastic polymer with a glass transition temperature Tg of 130 C. to 280 C. to form a melt filtered amorphous thermoplastic composition; extruding the melt filtered amorphous thermoplastic composition into strands at a temperature TE; cooling the strands to a temperature Tc to form cooled strands; cutting the cooled strands into pellets having a length of 2.0 to 6.0 millimeters; treating the pellets at a temperature Ts to remove particulates having at least one of length, width, and height of less than 0.5 millimeters to form treated pellets; melting the treated pellets in an extruder at a temperature Tp to form a molten composition; and extruding the molten composition through a flat die to form a film having an average thickness less than or equal to 50 micrometers.