Purpose & Overview
This seminar will provide attendees with a simplified and thorough treatment of the extrusion of engineering plastics and exotic polymers with major emphasis on how to select right grade of each material to extrude strip, tubing, profile, rod, and how to develop critical process parameters such as barrel temperature profile and screw design requirements for extruding exotic materials of the 90's and beyond. This program provides a workshop approach on how to correlate materials, process, and equipment parameters for extruding engineering plastics into various shapes. Don't miss this seminar to gain competence on how to improve extrusion of current and new engineering plastics, to reduce scrap and downtime, and to improve yield and output rates.

Who should attend?
This seminar is developed for plant managers, production and process engineers as well as extrusion supervisors and technicians.

About the Instructor: Pravin L. Shah
Pravin L. Shah is President of Rheo-Plast Associates Inc., a consulting firm based in Reading, PA. Rheo-plast provides technical expertise and consultation on polymer rheology and its applications in extrusion, injection molding, and compounding of new blends and alloys with complete laboratory facility for plastics testing and compounding. Pravin has done postgraduate research in rheology and polymer processing. Rheo-Plast provides hands-on consulting service for the extrusion of PVC, polyolefins, and engineering plastics in strip, tubing and profile extrusion. Rheo-Plast offers several training seminars on rheology and extrusion, which are also available on CD-ROM.

Pravin has over 25 years of industrial and consulting experience in polymer rheology, materials science, extrusion, molding screw and die design. He holds many patents to his credit covering a wide range of new composites from PVC to PEEK materials. Pravin has pioneered many new melt rheology concepts and has developed many proprietary PVC formulations for wire and cable, profile, and sheet applications. Further information can be found on his companies website: www.rheoplast.com

Pravin has published over 50 technical papers, and has authored two major chapters on rheology in a PVC encyclopedia (Edited by L. Nass, Marcel Decker, 1977) and a "Handbook of Engineering Plastics" (Edited by I. Rubin, John Wiley, 1990). He is currently writing a two volume series on "Guide to Resin Characterization for Processing" and "A Handbook of Practical Rheology." He is a senior member of SPE. Pravin has taught polymer rheology and advanced extrusion seminars at many industrial organizations and leading universities around the world. More than 5,000 students have graduated from his Practical Rheology seminar. In 1997 Pravin received the "International Who's Who of Entrepreneurs Award," followed by SPE's "Who's Who in Polymers and Plastics Award" in 2000. In 2001 Pravin received Cambridge, England's prestigious award "Who's Who in 21st Century" for his original and pioneering work in polymer rheology research. He has been a frequent speaker, moderator and seminar instructor at various SPE conferences for more than 20 years.

Seminar Content
Introduction to Extrusion of Engineering Plastics • What works for molding does not work for extrusion • Engineering plastics of the 90's and beyond
Basic Understanding of the Extrusion Process • Components of a extruder • Solids conveying, plasticating, melt conveying • Types of screw designs available • Calculating theoretical output rates • Calculating shear rates at various screw flights • Critical relation between melt temperature, melt viscosity and screw geometry • Measurement of melt temperature and control • Role of static mixers and screw melt mixers • Melt pumps and on-line rheometers
A Simple Guide to Selecting Critical Rheology Materials and Extrusion Parameters • R. V., melt index, and total rheology testing choices for materials selection • Analysis of rheological data to develop process parameters • Materials drying requirements • How to set up correct barrel temperatures • Stock temperature guidelines • Selecting right screw design
Guidelines for Selecting Extruder Size and Downstream Equipment for... • Film and strip extrusion • Tubing extrusion • Profile shapes extrusion • Monofilament and rod extrusion
A Processor's Guide to Extrusion of Engineering Plastics • Polyacetals - homopolymers, copolymers • Polyamides - Nylon 6, nylon 66, nylon 46, 11, and 12 • PET and PBT blends and alloys • Polycarbonate, PPC, other alloys • PEEK, Polysulfide, polyetherimide, polyethrer sulfone • PPS and sulfide blends and alloys • Liquid crystal polymers • Reinforced engineering materials • Other exotic high performance materials
A Workshop Session to Solve Extrusion Problems • How to reduce scrap rates and downtime • How to improve yield and output rates • How to reclaim scrap with no sacrifice in quality • Practical quality control for materials • Do's and don'ts for process control