What are the Benefits of a Purging Compound?
A purging compound is a particular type of product formulated for cleaning extruders and thermoplastic molding machines. Base resin and several more additives are added in this formulation to clean dies, barrels, and screws. The product is also used for removing color and carbon deposits. Additionally, it is also used for hot runner mold cleaning.
- Quick changeovers in colors and material
- Fewer instances of rejection
- Lesser downtime
- Cuts down material wastage
Regrind and virgin do not have enough cleaning power or detergency to clean the extruders or a thermoplastic molding machine. But, purging compounds for extruders are specially formulated for this purpose.
Therefore, it’s worth noting that a recycled resin or virgin is not the same as a purging compound.
- The resin is not capable enough to thoroughly remove carbon/color deposits from the last run.
- What’s worse, the recycled resin could actually make contaminants enter the machine (color/carbon contaminants)
- Resin layers, over some time, can cause carbon contamination inside the barrels.
- Once contamination has started, it becomes all the more challenging to clean it
- Another benefit of using the purging compounds for cleaning machines is that it avoids unnecessary overhauling of machines. Manually cleaning a machine and overhauling it can take hours and sometimes even an entire day (in the case of larger machines). Besides, using abrasive tools such as metal brushes and similar other cleaning tools can cause the screw to wear quickly.
Uses of purging compounds
The benefit of using purging compounds for extruders and for cleaning machines is that it works faster and offers better results than any other method. It works more efficiently if you compare it with traditional methods. This is specially formulated for cleaning purposes only. That’s why it has superior detergency power, which regrind or resins can never offer.
Using this product has become crucial to thermoplastic processes. Those in plastic processing are always looking for ways to reduce costs and quicken production. And purging compounds help in that. As a matter of fact, many makers of machinery even advise their customers to use purging compounds for injection molding machines as well as extruders to keep them in good condition for as long as possible.
Take a look at some benefits of using purging compounds:
- Barrel and screw cleaning – Offers incredibly efficient and thorough results.
- Removal of color and carbon deposits – Purging compounds are capable of effectively cleaning/removing stubborn deposits that regular resin is simply incapable of.
- Quick color and material changeover – Helps facilitate quicker changeover than any other traditional methods, typically involving large quantities of regrind and resin.
- Prevents the need of screw-pulls – There is no need to manually overhaul the machine, which is both time-consuming and tiresome.
One can find multiple brands selling purging compounds. One such brand is SLIDE.
Try before you buy
If you are wondering if this product will work on your process, you can request a free sample kit by filling out your information in the online quoting form and selecting “mold spray sample”.
