ORLANDO, FLA (May 17, 1:30 p.m. ET) — Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. was showcasing its tiniest extruder for laboratory use during the NPE.
The Process 11 parallel co-rotating twin screw extruder was being presented at a show for the first time. It has an 11 mm screws and is designed for polymer and food industry research.
“Say, you want to test 50 grams of material. How can you process this? If you go to an extruder, usually you need kilograms,” said Tom Geilen, a product manager for material characterization process instruments at Thermo Fisher Scientific.
He said that it solves two dilemmas testers may face: cost or availability. It costs less to process smaller amounts of material and if the material is very expensive or in short supply, the available amount may be limited.
Geilen said that the machine is built in such a way that it allows direct scalability, meaning that the same principles will be evident in the small machine as in a larger machine.
The extruder is a benchtop model and comes with a touchscreen and an integrated feeder control.
The company also showed FTIR spectrometers, web gauging and material characterization equipment.