Patent ID: 7955540

Claim:
A method for extruding a thermoplastic vulcanizate, the method comprising: (a) providing a smooth barrel extruder having a die plate comprising a flow design having at least one flow branch having a taper angle and a flow reservoir at the end of each flow branch, where the die plate includes a back surface facing a melt blender and a front surface opposite thereto; and wherein the taper angle of the flow design ranges from 5 to 20 degrees, where the flow reservoir is the same size as the end of the flow branch at the front surface of the die and where the flow reservoir is larger in size than the end of the flow branch at the back surface of the die; (b) in the smooth barrel extruder, melt-blending a thermoplastic vulcanizate comprising: an elastomer and a thermoplastic with organic peroxide to form a thermoplastic vulcanizate; (c) passing the melt-blended thermoplastic vulcanizate through the flow design to form a shaped article, wherein no die lip build-up is observed at the face of the die.