Plastic Extrusion Lab
Ethan Keyser
ME 350X History of Technology
23 September, 2014
Extruding plastic is a very common manufacturing technique that is used in a variety of industries. The lab activity today was to practice extruding plastics on a small scale. The method used to extrude plastics in an industrial setting is slightly different then the one demonstrated in the lab. In a large manufacturing plant the plastic would be heated up in a large hopper and then fed through a large screw into the mold. In the lab the molten plastic was extruded by using a hand crank. Because a person as opposed to a computer controlled the process of extrusion in the lab, it was not as precise.
The extruder in the lab was used to manufacture screwdriver handles. The operator of the press had to be careful when filling the mold—if the mold was filled too slowly air pockets would form in the mold, and if the operator went to fast, the mold could overfill and make a mess. However, cast that was faulty could be melted down and used again. Overall, the lab helped demonstrate plastic extrusion on a small scale.