Plastic Extrusions

The Plastic Extrusion Process

Britech Industries uses the highest quality nurdles, beads of resin available to ensure that our extruded parts are produced to fit our standards for quality and durability. Plastic extruded parts are very sturdy, capable of withstanding variations in temperature and able to endure high-pressure conditions. The extruding process requires very little finishing of the completed parts, which further lowers the cost of production.

The nurdles are fed into a hopper that is mounted on the barrel of the extruder. They are slowly fed into the barrel where they are heated and moved along to the die, which is engineered with the shape of the part. Dies are made from high quality steel that can handle the pressure of the plastic that is being forced through it. Extruding is a continuous process where plastic beads are fed from the hopper and finished parts come out from the die.

The barrel of the extruder is heated to melt the beads as they move toward the die, which is similar to the process used for injection molding of plastic. Inside the extruder barrel is a screw that turns at about 120 rpm. As the beads move along the barrel, the temperature gradually rises allowing the beads to slowly melt to avoid overheating, which could cause a degradation of the polymer.

As the heat in the barrel rises, so does the pressure and friction. In some cases, the pressure and friction are sufficient to keep the polymer melted without the addition of heat. Cooling fans or cooling jackets are available to maintain the temperature. When the molten plastic leaves the extruder barrel, it is forced through the die that gives it the shape and design of the finished part.

Once the part leaves the die, a cooling process is employed. This is a critical part of the process since plastic is a thermal insulator and difficult to cool. The method used to cool the extruded plastic is designed to keep it from collapsing or losing its shape. The type of cooling process is very dependent on the type of part being processed, which can vary from thin sheets to tubes.

Benefits of Britech Plastic Extrusions

The plastic extrusion process used by Britech Industries is designed to produce quality parts at a reasonable cost. Extrusion is a highly reliable process that manufactures parts with high resistance as well as precision engineered shapes and forms that exactly match customer requirements. Customers and producers have relied on the process for many years and have found it to be the best possible way to ensure the production of excellent parts. There are several reasons that the plastic extrusion process is so popular.

Plastic Extrusion Dies

Britech Industries maintains a wide variety of dies for any project that can easily be installed in an extruder for production. The dies are made from high quality steel blanks that are fitted with the design of the final product. Our team of specialists have used the most sophisticated CAD software to create the dies to ensure that the final part meets the demand specifications of our customers.

Our experience in the plastic extruding industry has taught us that every customer has a unique project that is outside the parameters of our available dies. Britech Industries’ team of engineers have spent years designing out stock of dies and are ready to take on new projects to design a die that perfectly meets your requirements.

After the die is engineered on a computer, it is sent to our shop to produce a prototype, which is used to create an initial part for customer inspection. At this point, the die can be adjusted to better fit specific requirements or specifications. The dialogue between our customers and Britech Industries’ specialists is critical for customer satisfaction and is one of the aspects of our business model that we are most proud of. We want to be sure that every customer is pleased with the parts we produce and is completely satisfied.