It is provided an extruder for a system for the additive manufacture of freely formable metal parts with or without a supporting structure by means of an extrusion method from a composite material, which is arranged on a three-dimensionally movable kinematic mechanism, with a building platform. The extruder consists of a housing and a screw arranged in the housing. The extruder is provided with a mechanical drive for the composite material to be extruded, with an exchangeable nozzle, arranged on the housing, and the housing is connected to the mechanical drive by way of suitable means for transporting the composite material.

A three-dimensional drawing device can include a housing configured for to be held in user's hand, shaped to allow manipulation of the housing like a pen, and configured to accept a strand of thermoplastic material. The drawing device has a nozzle assembly with an exit nozzle and a motor connected to a gear train that engages the strand such that rotation of the motor causes the feed stock to be extruded out of the exit nozzle to form a three-dimensional object. The motor can be controlled using a variable speed control mechanism or first and second actuators, thereby controlling movement of the strand, for example, to advance or retract the strand relative to the nozzle assembly.

Apparatus and methods for extruding plastic materials are disclosed. An exemplary apparatus comprises: a feeding portion; a melting portion in communication with the feeding portion and configured to transmit heat into material received from the feeding portion; and an output die in communication with the melting portion to permit extrusion of the material. The melting portion comprises: a melting barrel having an inner surface defining a melting chamber in communication with the feeding portion; and a melting insert inside the melting chamber. The melting insert comprises an outer surface in contact with the inner surface of the melting barrel where the outer surface comprises one or more open-ended channels formed therein. In some embodiments, the feeding portion and the melting portion may be thermally insulated from each other and a propeller of the feeding portion may be disposed entirely outside of the melting portion.

A method of operating an additive manufacturing system feeds solid extrusion material into a heater using a slip clutch coupled to an actuator of a mechanical driver to supply thermoplastic material into a manifold in an extruder head. The method sets a speed of the actuator so the actuator operates at a rotational speed that is slightly greater than the rotational speed of the mechanical mover. This method helps maintain the pressure of the thermoplastic material in the manifold of the extruder head in a predetermined range no matter how many nozzles are opened in the extruder head.

A screw-driven extrusion system includes a novel screw-drive extruder. The extruder includes a motor-driven screw. The screw moves solid pellets from a feed hopper into a section that is actively heated. The solid pellets fully liquefy as they pass through the heated section. A control system controls screw, heating, and optionally cooling, operations to selectively control flow of liquefied material from the extruder's tip. The dynamically-controlled can continuously adjust its feed speed and temperature to keep up with continuously changing demands of a larger control system involved in monitoring and running a corresponding 3-D printer in an additive manufacturing process. In contrast to wirefeed extrusion systems that rely on the rigidity of the material in wire-formed feedstock, this screw-driven extrusion system is well-suited to use of less-rigid thermoplastic elastomers for the manufacture of objects for use in soft robotics, medical and mold-making applications.

An additive manufacturing system includes a slip clutch coupled to an actuator of a mechanical driver that feeds solid extrusion material into a heater for supplying thermoplastic material to a manifold in an extruder head. A speed of the actuator can be set to enable the actuator to operate at a rotational speed that is slightly greater than the rotational speed of the mechanical mover. This configuration enables the pressure of the thermoplastic material in the manifold of the extruder head to be in a predetermined range no matter how many nozzles are opened in the extruder head.

The invention relates to a method of manufacturing a separating membrane in gel form, for an alkali metal ion battery, the method consisting of extruding a mix comprising: an alkali metal salt, a dinitrile compound with formula NCRCN, in which R is a hydrocarbon group C.sub.nH.sub.2n, and n is equal to 1 or 2 and preferably equal to 2, a hot melt support polymer, soluble in the dinitrile compound.

A device according to various embodiments for preparing wet grain can include at least a first screw configured to receive wet grain. A second screw receives the wet grain from the first screw. At least one of a compressing element and a dehydrating element is included with at least one of the first screw and the second screw to cause a physical property change to the wet grain.

A novel process is disclosed for extruding an absorbable glycolide/lactide block copolymer into multifilament suture fibers. The block copolymer preferably consists of about 50/50 mole % of Glycolide/Lactide in the center segment and the overall composition of the copolymer is about 90/10 mole % Glycolide/Lactide. The novel extrusion process comprises the steps of maintaining the temperatures of at least two, preferably three or more, of the extrusion zones in the range of about 5-50 C. below the polymer melting point. The multifilament suture made with the invention process from the segmented, glycolide-rich, poly(glycolide-co-lactide) copolymers of A-B-A type, where the B-segment is an amorphous prepolymer of glycolide and lactide in the molar ratio of about 50/50 glycolide/lactide, exhibit exceptionally high breaking strength retention (BSR) at 42 days post-implantation.

The Induction Heated Extrusion Melter is an invention for melting plastic and metal in an extrusion process. It is a component and is to be integrated into an apparatus. The operating temperature of the Induction Heated Extrusion Melter is in excess of two thousand degrees Fahrenheit. Therefore, it can melt many types thermoplastics and metals. The Induction Heated Extrusion Melter could melt metals such as, but not limited to, aluminum, brass or lead and plastics of various shapes and sizes. It could be used in additive manufacturing machines, where shapes are made by adding layers of molten material. It could also be used as part of an extrusion apparatus that extrude long continuous shapes.