Plastic extrusion by plastic extruder refers to the process that thermosetting plastics and thermoplastics go through in order to become products that consumers shop for every day. These plastics are melted, shaped, and molded into one continuous profile. These are cut into desired lengths, depending on the length specified by one of the engineers in charge of working the machine. This is how literally thousands of products are made every day, even something as essential to some places as hurricane shutters!

The first thing a plastic machinery company has to do is to buy a large amount of raw plastic. This plastic most typically comes in the shape of small beads, and it is referred to by those in the industry as resin. Before feeding the resin into the plastic extrusion machine, plastic companies mix different colorants in, in order to make the final product more attractive to customers. Sometimes UV ray blocking material is added in order to provide the right effect.

After additives have been mixed in with the resin, it is fed into the plastic extruder barrel, which marks the first job of the machine. The material falls through an opening at the bottom of the barrel, where it is met with an industrial sized screw. The first plastic extrusion machine to employ the use of screw revolutionized the process for all future participants. The screw twists and turns, forcing the material through the extruder cavity.

The cavity begins to heat up gradually, to the desired heat marked by a specialist before the process begins. Depending on the size of the machine, up to three heaters are sometimes used to gain the ultimate result. This makes it much less likely for the material to overheat, which can be a problem for manufacturers. If the material does overheat past the set temperature, cooling fans are automatically turned on and the heaters turned off to bring it back down to the desired temperature.