Reactive extrusion

The result is a tailor-made material suitable for further processing in a range of transformation processes, such as plastic injection moulding and extrusion.

One of the advantages of reactive extrusion is that reactions are performed without solvents or with a minimal amount compared to traditional batch polymerization processes. The result is a considerable reduction in costs and emissions, thus making the process more sustainable.

REX applications in the plastics industry

REX is used in the plastics industry in a number of different applications:

• Synthesis of biopolyesters, e.g. polylactic acid (PLA), polycaprolactone (PCL), polyglycolide (PGA) and their copolymers.
• Synthesis of thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) and polyamide 6 (PA 6).
• Grafting and functionalization reactions, e.g. functionalization of polyolefins with maleic anhydride and acrylic monomers (PE-g-MAH, PP-g-MAH, PE-g-AA, PE-g-GMA).
• Reactive compatibilization of polymer blends and compounds to obtain materials with improved properties.
• Cross-linking reactions, formulation of thermoplastic vulcanizates (TPV).
• Controlled degradation of polymers; polypropylene, polyamides and polyesters.
• Chemical recycling of polyamides, polyesters and polyurethanes.
• Esterification and saponification reactions.

Reactive extrusion solutions

AIMPLAS offers the following reactive extrusion solutions:

• Laboratory scale technical feasibility study of batch processes using a micro-extruder (5-10 g/batch) and torque rheometer (30-300 g/batch).
• Tailor-made design and scale-up of continuous reactive extrusion processes using a co-rotating twin-screw extruder (output: 3-10 kg/h).
• Complete characterization of materials obtained at our facilities.
• Direct on-site assistance at the company’s facilities during work in progress.
• Technology transfer service and support for industrial scale-up.