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 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 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.

A procedure for the devulcanization of scrap rubber and/or elastomers and apparatus therefor. The abstract of the disclosure is submitted herewith as required by 37 C.F.R. 1.72(b). As stated in 37 C.F.R. 1.72(b): A brief abstract of the technical disclosure in the specification must commence on a separate sheet, preferably following the claims, under the heading Abstract of the Disclosure. The purpose of the abstract is to enable the Patent and Trademark Office and the public generally to determine quickly from a cursory inspection the nature and gist of the technical disclosure. The abstract shall not be used for interpreting the scope of the claims. Therefore, any statements made relating to the abstract are not intended to limit the claims in any manner and should not be interpreted as limiting the claims in any manner.

An extruder has a barrel extending from a feed inlet end to an extruder outlet end. The barrel has an inner surface, an outer surface, and a wall thickness between the inner and outer surfaces. The extruder also has at least one heating member positioned provided on the barrel; a screw drive motor drivingly connected to a rotatably mounted screw positioned within the barrel, whereby the screw is rotatable at various revolutions per minute (RPM); and a controller is operably connected to the screw drive motor to adjust the RPM of the screw based upon a temperature of material passing through and/or being extruded from the barrel. Methods for operating an extruder filling a mold are also provided.

Techniques are provided for polymer extrusion. A polyolefin extrusion system may include an extrusion gear pump configured to receive a narrow molecular weight distribution polyolefin from a polyolefin manufacturing system. The polyolefin extrusion system may also include a motor of the extrusion gear pump configured to drive the extrusion gear pump, a pressure sensor configured to generate a pressure signal indicative of a suction pressure into the extrusion gear pump, an automation controller configured to generate an output signal based on the pressure signal, and a variable speed drive configured to control operation of the motor.

An apparatus (1) for optical inspection of a mass of polymeric material (2) passing through an extruder (3) having a hollow extrusion cylinder (4) extending elongately in a longitudinal direction comprises an optical sensor (8) which can be operatively coupled to the extrusion cylinder (4) and having an infrared light emitter (8a) and a receiver (8b) configured to measure a measurement parameter representing an optical property of the polymeric material (2) inside the extrusion cylinder (4) and is characterized in that it comprises a plurality of the optical sensors (8) which can be operatively coupled to the extrusion cylinder (4) in a plurality of measurement sites located in succession and spaced from each other along the longitudinal direction and a processor (9) programmed to acquire a plurality of measurement signals containing the measurement parameters measured by the corresponding optical sensors (8) and programmed to process the plurality of measurement signals in order to calculate a corresponding plurality of values of a control parameter indicating a physical state of the polymeric material (2) as a function of a longitudinal position.

A device for making foam pipes and a method for making the foam pipes includes the use of critical micro foaming injection molding. The foaming agent and the foaming material are mixed and controlled under specific temperature to obtain micro bubbles in the wall of the foam pipes which need less material when compared with PVC pipes of same specification such that manufacturing cost is reduced.

A method and a filtration system filter liquids and/or melts. The filtration system includes a housing with a supply channel, a discharge channel and a first and second filter device. Each of the filter devices has a filter element passed through a filter chamber, which is held clamped by clamping devices. Each of the clamping devices includes interacting clamping elements and actuating elements, wherein the clamping elements are guided in a normal direction onto a flat side of the respective filter element in an adjustable manner relative to the housing. Clamping element contact surfaces and actuating element contact surfaces are respectively aligned opposite to one another and have an oblique longitudinal alignment with respect to the flat side of the respective filter element.

Method of devulcanizing rubber and/or elastomers without the need for a chemical agent, in which method the vulcanized rubber and/or elastomers are fed into a planetary roller extruder, which planetary roller extruder has a housing, a central spindle, and at least one group of planetary spindles. Mechanical and thermal stress is generated on the vulcanized rubber and/or elastomers by kneading and/or crushing the vulcanized rubber and/or elastomers using the central spindle and the planetary spindles. The mechanical and thermal stress alone is sufficient to break or destroy the molecular chains or bonds of the vulcanized rubber and/or elastomers.

A gear pump extruding machine for extruding a rubber material includes a screw feeder, a gear pump provided on an outlet side of the screw feeder, and a die disposed on an outlet side of the gear pump. The gear pump extruding machine further includes protrusive members that are movable forward and rearward to protrude into a fluid communication channel that keeps the screw feeder and the gear pump in fluid communication with each other, to thereby change the volume of the fluid communication channel. An actuator is provided for moving the protrusive members to protrude into the fluid communication channel, and is controlled by a controller. When the volume of the fluid communication channel is changed, the rate at which the rubber material is extruded is adjusted to prevent the rubber material from being warmed excessively at all times.