A extrusion process and apparatus for the deposition of precise, usually small amounts of extrudate (4) for adhesion to a substrate (1) comprising an extruder (2) positioned close to the substrate (1) and a jet of hot gas (6) directed onto the extrudate (1) between the extruder (2) and the substrate (1) in order to retain the adhesive properties between the extrudate (4) and the substrate (1).

A method for reducing gel in a polymer kneaded compound flowing in a polymer flow duct includes flowing a polymer kneaded compound in a polymer flow duct to a gel reduction mechanism including a gel reduction member having one or more through holes defining a squeezing flow path having a flow path cross-sectional area smaller than the polymer flow duct. The squeeze ratio S1/S2 of the squeezing flow path is 25 to 177.8, where S1 is a flow path cross-sectional area of the polymer flow duct and S2 is a sum total of flow path cross-sectional area of the squeezing flow path, to generate an extensional flow in the kneaded compound.

Methods of manufacturing bulked continuous carpet filament which, in various embodiments, comprise: (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 (400) while maintaining the pressure within the MRS portion (420) of the MRS extruder (400) below about 25 millibars; (F) passing the resulting polymer melt through at least one filter (450) 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.

An improved control apparatus for producing plastic films and an associated improved method are distinguished, inter alia, by the following features: —the control apparatus has two stages or at least two stages, —the control apparatus comprises, for this purpose, a sensor module and/or a sensor model and a process module and/or a process model, —the machine-dependent sensor module and/or sensor model and the production-dependent process module and/or process model are linked or can be linked to one another via production variables, —adjustable machine variables are connected or linked to plant production variables via the sensor module and/or the sensor model.

A method for manufacturing pellets from polymer, comprising: (1) melting polymer flakes in a first section of a melt processing unit to create a first single stream of polymer melt; (2) separating the first single stream of polymer melt into multiple streams of polymer melt by means of a separation element; (3) passing the multiple streams through a multiple stream section of said melt processing unit and exposing the multiple streams to a pressure within the multiple stream section of the melt processing unit as the multiple streams pass through the multiple stream section; (4) recombining the multiple streams into at least one combined stream of polymer melt; and (5) cooling the polymer melt and forming said pellets from the at least one combined stream. The intrinsic viscosity of the at least one combined stream may be determined and, in response, the chamber pressure within the multiple stream section adjusted.

The invention relates to a process for the production of a composite material from textile waste and polyethylene film waste, characterized in that it comprises the following steps: a) comminuting the textile waste into the fraction up to 15 mm in size, b) comminuting the polyethylene film into the fraction up to 15 mm in size, c) separating metal parts from the comminuted textiles, d) separating metal parts and unwanted plastics from the comminuted film, e) further comminuting the textiles into the fraction up to 5 mm in size, f) mixing the comminuted textiles with the comminuted film, said textiles constituting 10-50% of the mixture, g) plasticizing, homogenizing and extruding the obtained mixture in an extruder at the temperature of 170-240° C. and under the pressure of 8-15 MPa.

A method enabling the selection, modification and/or creation of polymer materials which can provide improved response to the application of local shear and/or extensional deformation inside the polymer melt in manufacturing technologies including injection molding, injection stretch blow molding, direct injection, extrusion blow molding, sheet extrusion, thermoforming, etc., is provided. A method for manufacturing a polymer article includes injecting or extruding molten polypropylene, polyethylene or polyester based polymer for converting it into semi-final shape while applying shear and/or extensional deformation on the polymer melt. Applying shear and/or extensional deformation on the polymer melt includes selectively modifying the flow path of the molten semi-crystallizable polymer as a function of local pressure profile over at least part of the flow path. Local pressure profile is a function of optimized response of the polymer melt to the applied local shear and/or extensional deformation over at least the part of the flow path.

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 25 millibars or another predetermined pressure; (5) recombining the streams; and (6) using the resulting purified polymer to produce bulked continuous carpet filament.

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 method and a facility produce polylactide (PLA) by polymerization, in which a lactide mixture is mixed with at least one catalyst, is introduced into a modular planetary roller extruder and the finished PLA is then removed. The lactide mixture continuously passes through segments of the extruder. The course of the reaction is measured and controlled in the segments in a targeted manner such that the temperature can be set by heating and/or cooling. The pressure can be variably set depending on pressure values to be checked by a controllable gas extraction and/or a controllable extruder speed and/or static variability of the planetary rollers and/or a variable metering speed of the lactide mixture and/or a variable mixing ratio of the lactide mixture. Flammable gas is removed in an explosion-protected zone in a partial region of the extruder. Additives are introduced into the extruder during the rolling process.