Thermoplastic purging compound cleans the plastics industry

Most people don’t know what thermoplastic purging compound even is, but they should thank the inventors of this compound. Without it, it’s likely that everyday plastic items would be much more expensive. 

Plastics manufacturers certainly appreciate thermoplastic purging compound. Their operations run faster with less down-time that would be taken up by a lot of costly cleaning, instead of profitable production. 

Why Extrude Plastics?

The extrusion process is one step the plastics industry uses to speed up and automate the manufacturing of plastics items and parts. Whether or not you know how it works, you’ve undoubtedly used products made by the process. Anyone who’s ever sipped from a plastic bottle has experienced a product of the extrusion process. 

But imagine paying a lot more for a bottle of water or a soft drink. One of the reasons why they’re so affordable is because the extrusion process is so efficient and fast. It lowers the manufacturing cost and creates plastic containers, parts, toys, and everything else made of plastic to a level that remains profitable for the manufacturer and affordable for the consumer.  

How Extrusion Works

The extrusion process begins with plastic material in the form of pellets being added to a large hopper over the extruder. The plastic material is then dropped into the extruder and heated to a think liquid consistency. The liquid is forced by a piston through the extruder and into a mold attached to the end of extruder. The length of the extruder makes the plastic molecules align with each other, providing strength to the plastic. 

The mold is then removed from the end of the extruder, a new mold takes its place, and the process is repeated. When the colors or materials of the plastics are changed, the thermodynamic purging compound is run through the machine to clean it.

If you’ve ever seen a sausage-maker plying their trade, the extrusion process works in much the same way. The meat is fed into a hopper and then forced through the grinder into sausage casings. If you want to start making pork sausages, and then change to beef sausages, you have to clean the grinder between the two meats to avoid mixing them. 

Efficient Extruder Cleaning

The reason why this thermodynamic purging compound is so valuable to the plastics industry is the need to keep the extruder heated up during the cleaning process to keep the plastic material in a liquid state. A compound that maintains its cleaning properties even under intense heat makes cleaning these machines easier, faster, and more thorough. 

Before thermodynamic purging compounds were created, the beginnings and endings of extrusion runs were often wasted. They contained a lot mixed materials that weren’t compatible, and a lot of mixed colors that weren’t usable as products.

Thermodynamic purging compounds cut waste, made extruder parts last longer, and sped up the process of extrusion. These compounds play a large role in the plastics industry and keep costs down for both manufacturers and consumers.