An extruder is a production machine that is used to process plastics. Extruders are mainly used to produce continuous profiles as input for further processing steps.
These include tubes, rods and complex-shaped products. Plastic granulate is used as the raw material in the extruder. This is melted by heat and friction in a cylinder to form a molding compound.
The extruder exerts pressure on the compound to force it through a die at the end of the cylinder. This die is the shaping tool. After leaving the extruder, the material usually cools in a water bath, whereby it retains its shape.
Extruders theoretically produce endless products and thus differ from cyclical injection molding.