Extrusion is a melt processing technique, which allows for continuous processing of polymer granulate into:
• Fibers (thickness 50 μm – 2 mm)
• Tubes (outer diameter 3 mm, inner diameter 1.2-2.2 mm)
The processing can be performed at a temperature up to 350 °C. Precise fiber parameters and required properties as well as application-oriented processing can be individually designed.
Extrusion is also used for mixing of two or more polymers with each other, as well as with fillers or additives:
• Blending
• Compounding
The resulting blends or composites can be palletized into granulate or directly processed into fibers.

The minimum material required fiber/tube extrusion is 100 grams. Materials (e.g., polymers, additives) can either be provided by the customer or can be purchased by SciMatter on behalf of a customer on agreed upon conditions. The materials must be packed in a dry and tightly closed container. Please inform us, if the sample is sensitive to light, moisture or anything else and pack it accordingly. If you don’t know this about your sample, ask us !

The manufactured pellets, fibers, or tubes are packed as the materials require and delivered to the customer.

Extrusion device can exert high shear stresses during the melting and mixing process in order to enable homogeneous mixing of polymers with each other or with fillers and additives. Polymer pallets are fed to the extrusion hopper, which are then transported into the hot barrel with the help of rotating screws. Different heating zones allow melting of the polymer, while rotating screws mix the molten polymer and additives (if any) and push the final material at the end of barrel from a die. Depending on the configuration of the die different end forms (fiber, tube, sheet) can be obtained from resulting polymer, compound or blend. Typically, for compounding, the material comes out as a thick filament which can be directed to the palletizer directly for cutting/pelleting or can be collected on the spool in the form of a continuous filament which can be later palletized.