Sectors, plastics industry compounding

Closely intermeshing co-rotating twin screw extruders occupy a dominant position among extruders and are used in a wide variety of applications. They are not only used extensively in the production, compounding, and processing of plastics, but also employed in large numbers in other branches of industry, e.g., the rubber and food processing sectors. 

Originally (inheriting the practice from the rubber industry a century ago), the plastics processing sector has purchased resins and additives separately and mixed its own compounds. However, the growing sophistication of compoimds (especially reinforced materials), together with the need for special investment in separate handling of additives and market demand for reproducible performance, have created a specialist industry sector that is devoted to the production of compounds. This has occurred mainly in TPs but the use of ready-made compounds is growing rapidly in TSs. 

Even market leaders such as Clariant, Ciba Specialty Chemicals and Akzo Nobel have felt the need to cut costs, and in some cases jobs, in the early years of the present decade. A few companies have retreated from chemistry or plastics related markets altogether and tnmed to the life science and health sectors. Polymer suppliers have reduced the number of polymer grades they offer. The compounding industry too has been forced to rationalise, with several plant closures. 

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