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.

A mixing section for an extrusion screw comprises a shaft having at least one set of spaced-apart cuspidate shaft teeth, with the shaft teeth extending radially outwardly from a root of the shaft. Each of the shaft teeth comprises a flank face and a rake face opposite the flank face, with the tooth transitioning between the flank face and the rake face at an outermost cusp. Some embodiments have one or more longitudinally extending, longitudinally spaced series of annular sets of circumferentially spaced shaft teeth. Some embodiments have one or more helically extending series of spaced-apart cuspidate shaft teeth. The mixing section may be received in a mixing section barrel to form a mixing portion of a screw extruder.

In an embodiment, the present invention provides a pin extruder, including a screw conveyor for conveying plastics, the screw conveyor having a plurality of pins each arranged in a respective pin row, the pin rows being arranged in a plurality of consecutive planes in a conveying direction of the screw conveyor. A distance between the planes of at least individual pin rows varies in the conveying direction.

A method and apparatus for a reciprocating kneader. A primary rotational gear is attached to a gear box primary shaft and rotates in concert therewith and engages a secondary rotational gear. The primary rotational gear drive provides a primary source of rotation for a kneading screw and for the secondary gear as a secondary source of rotation. An adjustable eccentric is coupled to the secondary oscillation gear and rotates in concert therewith for reciprocation motion.

A screw has a spiral blade for extruding and kneading a high-silica plastic elastomer containing not less than 100 phr of silica. The screw has a first section located on the most downstream side in the extrusion direction and provided with a barrier extending between the adjacent spiral blade threads, while inclining with respect to the screw axial direction. The length of the barrier is 1.5 to 3.0 times the lead length of the spiral blade in the first section. The height of the barrier is 2 to 10 mm lower than the height of the spiral blade. The barrier thickness is 0.9 to 3.0 times the height difference between the spiral blade and barrier.

The present invention generally relates to polymeric materials pulverization. More particularly, the present invention relates to an extrusion method and device for producing particulate deformed polymers having a more useful resultant devulcanized surface area for downstream industrial usage. Specifically, the present invention relates to a pulverization extrusion method and device that utilizes the herein described specific combination of variable feed screw torque and variable main screw speed together with coupled temperature control of the extruder barrel and extruder main screw.

A temperature probe, particularly for thermoplastic mix extrusion machines, which comprises at least one casing, which is adapted to be inserted in an extrusion cylinder substantially at right angles to the extrusion direction with one end thereof facing into the internal cavity of the extrusion cylinder so that it is in direct contact with the extrusion material contained in the internal cavity, and at least one thermocouple, which is accommodated in the casing and is adapted to detect the temperature of the extrusion material by thermal conduction through the casing, the temperature probe comprising thermally insulating elements which are interposed at least partially between the casing and the extrusion cylinder so as to reduce the thermal influence of the extrusion cylinder on the measurement made by the thermocouple.

An extruder is disclosed, and more particularly, to an integrated single screw extruder and a twin screw extruder for mixing, compounding, kneading and/or extruding of materials. The integrated extruder includes a first barrel assembly and a second barrel assembly. The integrated extruder further includes a first screw having a first threaded portion and a second threaded portion. The first threaded portion is housed within the first barrel assembly and is configured to provide upstream material processing. The second threaded portion is housed within the second barrel assembly and is configured to provide downstream material processing. The integrated extruder further includes a second screw having a non-threaded shaft portion and a threaded portion. The threaded portion of the second screw is housed within the second barrel assembly and is configured to provide the downstream material processing with the second threaded portion of the first screw.

Apparatus and methods for manufacturing compostable, biodegradable drink straws from polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) material are disclosed herein. Such apparatus may include a hopper that contains raw PHA material, an extruder that receives the raw PHA material from the hopper and produces extruded PHA material, one or more waters baths that cool the extruded PHA material, a puller that pulls a tubular stream of PHA material through the system, and a cutter that is configured to cut the stream of PHA material into finished straws. The finished straws may be soil- and marine-biodegradable, as well as home- and industrial-compostable.

An extrusion system, for example for extruding a food product, that includes: an extruder, which propels extrudate through an outlet of the extruder; and a valve. The valve includes: an inlet, which receives extrudate from the extruder outlet; a main conduit, which extends from the inlet to a main outlet; a dumping conduit, which extends from a junction with the main conduit to a dumping outlet; and a flow control member, which is operable to move between: a plurality of flow controlling positions, in which extrudate is directed to the main outlet, with the flow control member providing, for each flow controlling position, a respective amount of impedance to flow along the main conduit; and a flow diverting position, in which extrudate is directed along the dumping conduit to the dumping outlet.