The process of crafting custom plastic parts is usually done through extrusion. Extrusion uses melted materials, in this case, plastic polymers, and pushes them through a die, or cross-section, to get a desired material. These custom extrusions result in carefully crafted plastic materials that are useful in manufacturing and many other industries.
There are actually several types of plastic extrusion, so here is a quick guide to the different ones.
Dual Durometer
A dual durometer is another type of custom plastic extrusion that blends different types of plastics together. Here, the main challenge the extrusion overcomes is differing levels of hardness. Other types of plastic extrusion can’t combine rigid and flexible plastics in the same product, but dual durometer extrusion lines can. This is useful for objects that are a bit more complex and have several interior components.
Co-Extrusion
Co-extrusion is one of several types of custom extrusions. This process uses several different types of polymers. The polymers are melted separately and then extruded onto the same die in layers. This method is the best for merging different types of plastic polymers or even plastics of different colors.
Tri-Extrusion
Tri-extrusion is a step above co-extrusion. As you may be able to guess from the name, tri-extrusion is able to extract three different types of plastic at once. Most complex extrusion lines are still limited to only two types of plastic, so this is a much-needed innovation. It also allows the addition of plastics with specific properties, such as UV resistance.
