A method of manufacturing bulked continuous carpet filament, in various embodiments, comprises: (A) providing an expanded surface area extruder; (B) providing a spinning machine having an inlet that is operatively coupled to an expanded surface area extruder outlet; (C) using a pressure regulation system to reduce the pressure within the expanded surface area extruder; (D) passing a plurality of flakes comprising recycled PET through the expanded surface area extruder to at least partially melt the plurality of flakes to form a polymer melt; and (E) substantially immediately after passing the plurality of flakes through the expanded surface area extruder, using the spinning machine to form the polymer melt into bulked continuous carpet filament. In some embodiments, the method may include passing the plurality of flakes comprising recycled PET through a PET crystallizer prior to extrusion.

A method of manufacturing bulked continuous carpet filament which, in various embodiments, comprises: (A) washing a plurality of flakes of recycled PET; (B) providing a PET crystallizer; (C) after the step of washing the plurality of flakes, passing the plurality of flakes of recycled PET through the PET crystallizer; (D) at least partially melting the plurality of flakes into a polymer melt; (E) providing a multi-rotating screw (MRS) extruder having an MRS section; and a vacuum pump in communication with the MRS section; (F) using the vacuum pump to reduce a pressure within the MRS Section; (G) after the step of passing the plurality of flakes through the PET crystallizer, passing the polymer melt through the MRS Section; and (H) after the step of passing the polymer melt through the MRS extruder, forming the polymer melt into bulked continuous carpet filament.

A method of manufacturing bulked continuous carpet filament from recycled polymer. In various embodiments, the method includes: (1) reducing recycled polymer material into polymer flakes; (2) cleansing the polymer flakes; (3) melting the flakes into a polymer melt; (4) removing water and contaminants from the polymer melt by dividing the polymer melt into a plurality of polymer streams and exposing those streams to pressures below 5 millibars; (5) recombining the streams; and (6) using the resulting purified polymer to produce bulked continuous carpet filament.

A method is disclosed for die coating a moving substrate with a high viscosity material such as a polymer. The method includes heating and mixing ingredients to form a homogenous mixture, pumping the mixture around a circulation loop with a first pump, maintaining a predetermined pressure of the mixture within the circulation loop, drawing mixture from the circulation loop with a second pump, delivering the mixture using the second pump to an extrusion die adjacent the moving substrate to coat the substrate, and controlling the second pump as a function of at least the speed of the moving substrate to maintain predetermined characteristics of the coating mixture applied to the moving substrate. An apparatus for carrying out the method also is disclosed.

In the manufacture of double-walled corrugated extruded pipe it is desirable to form an integral connecting cuff that is of a single wall thickness and typically of a large diameter. The mold blocks and process parameters for forming of the cuff as part of an otherwise double-walled pipe requires a transition as the cuff moves past the die outlets. The present invention allows for accurate sensing and control of air pressure and temperature as the cuff moves past the die outlets. Improvements in both the die tooling and the method of manufacture are disclosed.

The present invention relates to an external cooling system for a molten film tube produced by a blown film tubular extrusion process, comprised of one or more enclosures with one or more respective cavities that directly receive a portion of cooling gas emanating from one or more associated cooling elements. Each enclosure includes a port containing a variable exhaust device and optional flow buffer, acting to maintain a pressure differential between the cavity and an adjacent inside volume of the molten film tube, adjustable to optimize molten film tube stability cooling element efficiency and spaced apart dimension between cooling elements. Significant increases in production speeds are achieved with improved film quality over an increased range of tubular film sizes, down to a minimum size which occurs when operating at zero internal to molten film tube pressure.

A kneading apparatus for a thermoplastic resin, includes: a plasticizing cylinder which has a high pressure kneading zone and a pressure reduction zone; a screw in the plasticizing cylinder; a downstream side seal mechanism which shuts off communication between the high pressure kneading zone and the pressure reduction zone; and a pressure reduction zone pressure adjusting mechanism which is connected to the pressure reduction zone and which controls a pressure of the pressure reduction zone so that the pressure is not less than an atmospheric pressure and the pressure is not more than a maximum pressure of the high pressure kneading zone that is achieved when kneading a molten resin with a pressurized fluid, when the downstream side seal mechanism shuts off the communication between the high pressure kneading zone and the pressure reduction zone.

Polyvinyl acetal films with less blocking tendency and which allow for escape of gas during laminating to form laminated composities are prepared by a process for embossing a film comprising plasticized polyvinyl acetal with a roughness Rz on at least one surfaces of 20 to 100 μm by the steps of a. extruding of plasticised polyvinyl acetal to a film with a stochastic roughness of the surfaces of Rz=1 to 70 μm, b. embossing at least one surface of the film obtained in step a) with channels having a depth of 5-50 μm, a width of 10-200 μm and a pitch of 50-2500 μm, wherein c. the surface roughness of the elevations between the channels is at most 20% lower as obtained in step a).

An acrylic rubber sheet excellent in storage stability and processability, a method for producing the same, an acrylic rubber bale obtained by laminating the sheets, a mixture obtained by mixing the acrylic rubber sheet and the acrylic rubber bale, a method for producing the mixture and a rubber cross-linking product obtained by cross-linking the mixture. The acrylic rubber sheet comprises, an acrylic rubber mainly composed of a (meth) acrylic acid ester and having a weight average molecular weight (Mw) of 100,000 to 5,000,000 and a ratio (Mz/Mw) of a Z-average molecular weight (Mz) and a weight average molecular weight (Mw) is 1.3 or more, and the acrylic rubber sheet contains a phenolic anti-aging agent, and a gel amount is 50 wt % or less. The acrylic rubber sheet is extremely excellent in storage stability and processability and the sheet can be easily produced by the claimed method.

Various implementations include a coextrusion device including a first shim plate and a second shim plate coupled to the first shim plate. The first and second shim plates each have a first side, a second side opposite and spaced apart from the first side, a first end, and a second end opposite and spaced apart from the first end. The second end defines one or more outlet openings. A flow channel extends from each of the one or more outlet openings and extends along a centralized axis from the second end toward the first end. A central plane extends perpendicular to the first side and along each of the centralized axes of each shim plate. The central planes of the first and second shim plates intersect an axis perpendicular to the central planes and are spaced apart from each other.