Extruders for rubber production

Thanks to the use of co-rotating twin-screw extruders, rubber extrusion has achieved new goals, granting constant quality and significant energy savings through the adoption of continuous systems in the compounding production process.

Compared to the traditional discontinuous process, this alternative offers multiple advantages: simplicity, complete automation, reproducibility and energy saving.

Rubber extrusion plants

The continuous system stands out for the constant feeding of the recipe components into the extruder, thanks to the use of gravimetric feeders and for the reproducibility of the product quality.

The continuous process requires the main ingredient, rubber, to be made free-flowing through grinding in a mill, obtaining a sizing suitable to be fed into the extruder.

Thanks to the constant feeding, the extruder grants process stability and it is possible to modify the process parameters in real time (thermal profile, screws rpm, extrusion flow rate) so as to produce an extruded product with the desired qualities.

Another important aspect is linked to energy consumption, which can vary according to the type of compound treated, by recording a reduction of 50% to 70% compared to batch systems.

Continuous production processes for rubber compounding

We offer two types of continuous processes for rubber extrusion:

  • The two-stage process, by using two extruders, allows a greater production flexibility. With the first extruder, a masterbatch of rubber, fillers and plasticizers is produced, which is granulated and fed together with the vulcanization agents into the second extruder.
  • The one-step process shows economic advantages in terms of initial investment, space, energy consumption (with savings of up to 70% compared to traditional systems), as well as greater process simplicity.

The continuous systems we offer are a valid solution to the issues arising from the batch system.

Our corporate know-how has allowed us to:

  • broaden the spectrum of processable materials;
  • optimize the feeding technologies of all the compound components and their introduction sequence;
  • obtain very high dispersion levels thanks to the optimization of the screw profile and process parameters;
  • define the process layout based on the different products to be obtained, thanks to the modularity and flexibility of the extruders.

Through the internal development of an advanced recycling process through devulcanization, it is possible to reuse the vulcanized rubber compounds to obtain a secondary raw material suitable for the production of new products.