In plastics processing, compounding technology is the central process that specifically modifies the properties of base materials/polymers in order to meet specific application requirements. It is the harmonious, precisely coordinated interplay of chemistry and physics that plays a key role in this process. By combining chemical reactions with physical principles, innovative materials with tailor-made properties are created. This blog post is about what is important in this process and why everything ultimately revolves around the extruder and its screws.

The role that the material developer plays (or ideally should play) quickly becomes clear if you take a closer look at the entire chain - from product development to application development to the tooling/processing process - in plastics production or plastics compounding. Then you quickly come to the conclusion that the material developer plays a very decisive, major role. The earlier he is involved in the material selection process, the more efficiently the selection of the potentially suitable material can be narrowed down. His range of applications extends from the selection of the potentially suitable polymer base and the appropriate additives to the right tool and process design. This means that a good material developer actually plays several roles at once.