ABSTRACT
This chapter examines several of the key polymer processing technologies and products. These include: continuous extrusion processing operations and batch or cyclic molding processes. Polymeric materials possess extremely useful properties which make them ideal candidates for a broad range of engineering applications. Polymers can be subdivided into two main classes of materials including thermoplastics and thermosets. Nearly 60% of the world’s manufacture of plastics is processed using extrusion technologies which are used to produce polymeric fibers, films, tubing, piping, insulated wire and a wide variety of profile extruded shapes. In melt spinning, a polymer melt is extruded through a spinneret and then cooled through its glass transition or melting temperature to form a fiber. Melt spinning is the most economical spinning process, but can only be used when the polymer is stable at temperatures above its melting point. The conventional injection molding process involves the injection of a hot molten polymer under high pressure into a cooled mold.
