Conical extruder Conex is a completely different extrusion equipment and process from all known single screw (SSE) and twin screw (TSE) -extruders. It provides numerous advantages and unique features in manufacturing cost effective but high performing products in many product applications.
In the compact geometry of the extruder Conex the material flow is divided into multiple spiral channels machined on deep conical stators - where in between the material is processed by a conical rotating rotor - resulting the residence time to become significantly reduced compared to conventional screw extruders. This is how the thermal degradation of polymers, rubber, composites and their additives is eliminated by accurate melt temperature control and high-level homogeneity with fully completed dispersion is achieved and thus extruded products gain their excellent properties.
Another major advantage is that the change of materials and products with
Conex extruder can be done in many cases
online without stopping the line. This means that down time and scrap
amounts are considerably reduced in producing different kind of products
or sizes and short production series can be run cost-effectively also
from more expensive materials. If opening of the extruder is however preferred
for cleaning, it is all done in less than ˝ hour without lifting operations
on a telescopic frame structure designed for Conex extruders.
The special geometry and design of Conex® enables it to produce optimally products with multilayer structures without any need for complex and expensive multilayer dies nor side extruders. The same
die without any changes is used for single- as well as for multilayer products. Various on-line processes like compounding, foaming, injecting liquids (also reactive), orientation of fibres and LCP etc. have been developed.
The latest outcome of applied Conex developments is a new generation technology for wet natural fibre composite materials; the Conex Wood Extruder.
