Design Considerations for Plastic Extrusion Profiles

Designing a plastic profile to fulfill the needs of your industry includes choosing characteristics and techniques. Clark Rubber and Plastic offers plastic extrusion services to create your profile. Here are several design choices for extrusion profiles:

Plastic Materials

Deciding what type of materials to utilize for the profile allows you to select the necessary attributes for your application. Multiple types of plastics can be extruded. This includes: 

• High Impact Polystyrene: This is a thermoplastic styrene material. It is rigid and has high-impact attributes. High Impact Polystyrene is appropriate for creating parts for electronics, appliances, and the automotive fields.
• Polycarbonate: Polycarbonate is a strong polymer that has high transparency, temperature resistance, and gloss appearance. It is heat-resistant and moldable, and it can be used in profile forms. Extruded polycarbonate is utilized for protecting walls, refrigerators, and cabinets.
• Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene: ABS is an opaque plastic material used for indoor applications. It is moisture-resistant, lightweight, and resistant to corrosive chemicals. It is used for indoor applications in the construction, appliance, and furniture industries. 

Material properties impact the performance of the part. UV stability, flame-retardant properties, and food-grade materials may be required depending on the industry. Clark Rubber and Plastic offers certified, high-quality components for plastic extrusion and makes recommendations for appropriate materials that fit your requirements.

Profile Shaping

Choosing the shape for your plastic profile impacts the extrusion process. During the extrusion process, plastic pellets are melted in a chamber and moved through a filter to remove impurities. When leaving the barrel chamber, a hydraulic press pushes the melted plastic through a die to shape it. The die contains blades that cut the material into the product shape, and the shaping process via the die creates cross-sectional profiles. Clark Rubber and Plastic offers precision die-cutting services to create customized dies.  

Extrusion is used to create customized profile features such as channels and edges. More complex profiles can result in shrinkage. To prevent this, designers are able to add more space to the die to accommodate the risk of shrinking.

Co-Extrusion and Tri-Extrusion Techniques

Co- and tri-extrusion technology is available to form complex plastic profiles. This process refers to extruding two or three polymers through a die to form a single cross-section. Co- and tri-extrusion combine materials with differing properties of density, thickness, and colors, enhancing the strength of the profile and fulfilling design requirements. This can help create a product that requires multiple characteristics, such as a rigid base and flexible edge. The machinery we utilize allows us to extrude the materials at different speeds, changing the thickness of the layers.

Learn More About Plastic Extrusion

Other design choices include color and finishes for your profiles. Colorants are added to the plastic mixture, and we offer a clear finish and crosshead extrusion coating to make the material stronger. Shearing on the production line creates uniform sizing for products. Clark Rubber and Plastic also creates extruded products for the military and defense, consumer, and solar industries. To learn more about plastic extrusion, we invite you to request a quote today.