Rubber Extruders
Rubber extruders are process machinery that cold or hot form rubber materials into many different semi-finished shapes. They serve the aerospace, mining, automotive, lighting, appliance, electronics, medical and construction industries and produce rubber parts that are flexible, conductive, insulated, long-lasting, inexpensive and resistant to many chemicals and temperatures. They are composed of an outer body housing, decelerator, variable frequency motor, head, screw and brush. These parts are made out of steel with high abrasion resistance. Products such as bumpers, gaskets, rods, sheets, channels and pipe connectors are used as parts of many different operating systems, machinery and consumer products. Hollow pipe and tube rubber shapes are also popular extruded rubber products often used in electrical applications.
The rubber extrusion process starts with 2 different methods-cold feed extrusion, in which the rubber material is not pre heated, and hot feed extrusion, where the rubber does undergo pre heating. Additives like silicone, acrylic, polyethylene, polypropylene and vinyl are mixed in with natural rubber and heated on a shearing screw conveyer and then pressurized through the screw's rotation. The rubber is pushed through a die at high pressure at the end of the extruder, and then exits the other end. It takes the shape of the die, and after it has cooled, post-processing treatments like trimming, curing and vulcanizing are done. The resulting rubber product may be solid, spongy, co-extruded, flocked or contain metal or fabric inserts for added strength.