Drinking straw is widely used in our daily life, there are many types like paper straw, plastic straw, PLA straw,
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While most people don’t know how these straws are made,in this article, we are going to explain how these plastic /PLA drinking straws are made.
The manufacture of straws involves several steps. First, the plastic resin is mixed with the other ingredients; then the mixture is extruded into a tube shape; the straws may undergo subsequent specialized operations, and finally, the straws are packaged for transport.
1. Plastic compounding(Material)
straw-making factories can get plastic/PLA resin from material suppliers. mostly use PP/PLA granules for the straw extrusion
The PP/PLA pellets are dumped into a hopper at one end of the machine and are forced through a long channel by a screw mechanism. The screw rotates inside the barrel and is powered by an electric motor running through a gear reducer. As the screw rotates, it moves the resin along the barrel. As the resin moves along the heated channel, it melts and becomes easier to flow. To ensure good movement and heat transfer, the screw has only a few thousand inches of clearance inside the barrel. It is machined from strong steel rods and almost all surfaces in contact with the barrel are hardened to prevent wear. By the time the resin reaches the end of the barrel, it is completely melted and can be easily extruded through the opening in the die.
The resin exits the die in a long string in the shape of a straw, the diameter of the straw can be adjusted by the mold & airflow, the straw will go through the cooling water tank, then will be pulled by the hauling & cutting machine, Ultimately, the long tubes are cut to the proper length by the cutting machine
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| Extrusion machine | Hauling & cutting machine |
3. Packaging
The proper length straw will be transferred to the straw packing machine, the machine can pack the straw individually with BOPP film or Paper, the packed individual straw will be automatically packed in a bag in a set quantity by multiple straw packing machine.
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We provide one stop solutions for the straw making, should you have any interest,please feel free to contact us.