Abstract

Invented more than a century ago, hot-melt extrusion is one of the most widely applied processing techniques in the plastics industry. Although it was first developed to manufacture lead pipes, hot-melt extrusion did not become a significant plastics processing technique until the middle of the 19^th century when it was used to insulate wire with a polymer coating. Since then, the application of hot-melt extrusion as a manufacturing process has expanded beyond the production of polymeric articles and includes large-scale commercial applications in polymer production and compounding. It is estimated that the majority of all plastic products are manufactured using a hot-melt extrusion process (1).