Mastic adhesives present a number of challenges when being extruded, but none more critical to the bottom-line than the downtime production lines face when extruders need to be cleaned. Diamond America was recently presented with such a challenge by a customer in the aerospace adhesives industry.
Faced with handling a frozen adhesive that is extruded into a fluid material for forming, our customer was experiencing multiple and extensive work-stoppages while their current extruders were disassembled for cleaning. Diamond America designed an improved extrusion process that included our TF4300 twin feed extruder with its ‘quick clamp’ barrel system. The TF4300, available in 4″ or 3″, allows the entire barrel module to be removed as a unit and cleaned off-line while a clean barrel is put in its place. The result is less process downtime because production can continue as the barrels and screw can be cleaned off line and product changeover is much quicker.