Material Notes:
Powder, shutdown purge for twin screw PVC extruders.APPLICATIONS: The GEON® E0916 shutdown purge has the best metal release and the highest thermal stability of all the GEON purge compounds. It is especially formulated for customers who wish to avoid dismantling their die at the end of a production run. In addition, if they decide to dismantle the die, customers find that the E0916 die plug is very crumbly /un-fused and easier to break off at room temperature than most other cleaning purge compounds. The E0916 has superior metal release characteristics and very high thermal stability. E0916 purge resists sticking to the tooling. It can withstand comparatively long exposures to high temperatures without thermal degradation when the extruder is re-started after a prolonged shutdown.The tradeoff is that the E0916 shutdown purge has a comparatively 'soft melt' and tends to centerflow. This means that E0916 can take some time to reach and clean the edges of a wide die.In contrast, the GEON E0100 cleaning purge has a stiffer melt. E0100 will easily and effectively push out conventional extrusion compounds from most dies quicker than E0916. Our recommended, non-compromising approach is to first purge-out the regular extrusion compound and clean the die with the stiffer GEON E0100 cleaning purge compound. And, once this is done, switch to the softer E0916 shutdown purge compound to get the best of both worlds. Avoid cross-contaminationCare must be taken to insure that purge compound scrap is not mixed with regular profile regrind. Adding purge to regrind would cause the resulting profiles to be un-fused and brittle. Other GEON Purge Compounds Single Screw Extruders Due to their high lubricity and superior metal release characteristics, the GEON E0100 and E0916 powder purge compounds may not convey and process well on single screw extruders. GEON LP300 pellet purge is especially formulated to purge single screw extruders and dies. PROCESSING METHOD: Shut downStop feeding the regular profile compound to extruder. If necessary, remove the regular compound from the extruder hopper and pour E0916 purge compound (or preferably E0100, see above discussion) down the throat of the extruder. Do not change the extrusion conditions and keep the die on the extruder.Continue to feed purge compound and to run the extruder main screws until the purge has completely displaced the regular compound from the extruder and the die.The scrubbing action of the purge compound can be increase by progressively lowering the barrel and screw oil settings. Make sure that the motor current and the backpressure do not become excessive. The physical appearance of the purge compound as it exits the die (color difference and/or crumbly texture) will indicate that the purge cycle is complete. At this time, stop feeding the purge dry blend to the throat of the extruder.If you are using the E0100/E0916 twin-purge combo approach, at this time switch to the E0916 shutdown purge and fill the die with it. Remove the die. Run the main screws until they are empty. You can store the die with the purge compound in it. If you are not planning to take the die apart and clean it before the next run, it is very important that all the regular vinyl compound be displaced from the die before shutting down. Any regular compound left in the die would likely degrade and potentially cause corrosion damage to the die during restarting. Re-StartWhen starting up with a die full of purge, heat the barrel, the screws and the die to the normal extrusion temperature. When the set points have been reached, feed normal extrusion compound and operate the main screws at low RPM until the regular compound has pushed out the purge compound.Resume regular extrusion.Information provided by PolyOne