What is plastic extrusion

With the term plastic extrusion, we refer to a process used to create many different plastic products such as pipes, sheets, and gaskets. There are several types of plastic that can be used in this process and the most used ones are PVC, ABS, polyethylene, and polyurethanes.

Plasticol is a company founded in 1959 and it is located in Samarate, near Varese. The factory is specialized in the plastic extrusion process and has 12 different extrusion lines, each one destined for a specific material or type of production.

Our products can be used in several industrial fields; among those sectors, there are the automotive one, the footwear one, and the electronic goods one. The clients appreciate our work especially for the great customization we provide and the amazing quality of our finished products.

We also provide assistance to make sure our clients can get what they really were looking for, and some other additional services like picking the colour of the plastic and the digital printing on the final products, for example.

How does the plastic extrusion process work?

To the people who don’t work in this field the plastic extrusion process might seem like an extremely complicated one but in reality, it is really simple. Let’s see how the finished products come to life in the Plasticol factory.

The procedure starts with choosing the material which always is in the form of granulate or flakes. At the beginning, these little pieces of plastic are placed in a hopper and they are gradually maneuvered to the barrel of the extruder. Here a rotating screw pushes the material on the sides of the barrel, and the heat produced by the friction between the beads of plastic and the walls of the heated cylinder melts the grains in a pliable consistency.

The screw keeps pushing the melted material until it arrives at the breaker plate, a piece of metal necessary both to clean molten plastic from any contaminant and to act as a support in the final part of the plastic extrusion process. In fact, the plastic is now ready to go in the die, the element that gives the material its final shape: since the dimension of the die is usually smaller than the one of the barrel, the extruder needs something to create back pressure and push the plastic into the die and the breaker plate is the perfect option for this job.

Based on the shape of the die Plasticol can create different products: if it is flat we get a sheet, if it is rounded a cylinder, and if it is hollow a pipe-shaped object. Moreover, the extrusion process can combine different material so to obtain a product that has two separate layers, this is called co-extrusion.

For any business inquiries or an estimate contact Plasticol, please.

Location:
Via San Carlo 35
21017- Samarate (VA)
Phone: (+39) 0331 234 212
Fax: (+39) 0331 235 108
Email: info@plasticol.it