Patent ID: 7244060

Claim:
A kneading apparatus for kneading by fluidizing a material to be kneaded under a shearing force to obtain a kneaded product in a desired kneaded state comprising a kneading extruder, said kneading extruder comprising: a barrel having a chamber, said chamber being a tubular hollow; a biaxial screw set, said biaxial screw rotating for extruding the material to be kneaded downstream inside said chamber; and a kneading blade section mounted in said screw set for kneading the material to be kneaded by shearing the material in tip clearances and a wedge-shaped space between an inside wall of said chamber and said kneading blade section, wherein the tip clearances become progressively narrower from the upstream side to the downstream side in the direction of extrusion of the material, wherein said kneading blade section comprises a helical blade having a partly cut away top portion and a length in the axial direction which is equal to or greater than the outside diameter of said screw set, and said kneading blade section is, at the downstream side, adjacent to another segment member having a portion whose axial cross sectional form changes discontinuously, and wherein said kneading blade section has a screw lead having a length which is equal to or greater than five times the outside diameter of said screw set.