The rigid PVC compounder faces many potential problems—some simple, some exceedingly complicated. A company’s suppliers can play a key role in investigating problems on the production line.

Sometimes critical information can be extracted from production records. Linking time, lot number, and QA data is a vital step in problem solving. For this reason, it is important to keep accurate records: When was raw material received? When did it go into use? Where was it used? And so forth.

It is also advisable to temporarily keep retains of each lot of raw material, especially the lot being used when the problem occurs. Needless to say, a supplier can only check the material if there is some left. The same is true of the finished product. An examination of the “bad” product may help pinpoint issues that lead to a “good” product.

This section of Specialty Minerals Inc.’s web site contains a number of pages that deal with the technology of preblending and melt compounding rigid PVC. Click on one of these topics to go to that page:

• Introduction to PVC Compounding
• How to Compound - discusses some of the basic aspects of melt compounding
• Moisture – deals with this problem in all parts of the compounding operation
• Flow and Handling – provides some information to help solve problems in this area
• Running a Trial – covers procedures that will make a trial more productive

Learn more:

• SMI minerals for plastics
• SMI minerals for rigid PVC
• SMI minerals for PVC window and door profiles
• SMI minerals for PVC fence and decking
• SMI minerals for PVC siding
• SMI minerals for calendared and thermoformed rigid PVC
• SMI minerals for injected-molded PVC
  
  
• SMI minerals in automotive products. See the parts of your car that are made with Specialty Minerals products.
• SMI minerals in housing. See the places Specialty Minerals products are used around your house.
  
  
• “Fillers in PVC – A Review of the Basics” - download brochure
• Download brochure on Specialty Minerals Plastics Applications Laboratory
  
  
• About Specialty Minerals Inc.
• Quality and ISO at Specialty Minerals