Patent ID: 7897081

Claim:
A method for forming an extruded article comprising: (a) extruding an initial melt stream along a flowpath in a die or feedblock; (b) providing an insert having a front face and an opposing back face, an inlet opening in the front face, and an outlet opening in the opposing back face, the inlet opening being non-rectilinear and extending a distance between an inlet opening upper boundary to an inlet opening lower boundary, the inlet opening being surrounded by closed areas of the front face above the inlet opening upper boundary, below the inlet opening lower boundary, and in a region between the inlet opening upper boundary and the inlet opening lower boundary, and the outlet opening extending a distance between an outlet opening upper boundary to an outlet opening lower boundary; (c) extruding the initial melt stream into the insert inlet opening such that, along at least a portion of the flowpath at the insert front face, the closed areas in the region between the inlet opening upper boundary and the inlet opening lower boundary interrupt at least a portion of the initial melt stream causing a redistribution of at least a portion of the initial melt stream; and (d) converging the redistributed melt stream within flow channels extending from the inlet opening to the outlet opening of the insert, wherein the distance between the inlet opening upper boundary and inlet opening lower boundary is larger than the distance between the outlet opening upper boundary and the outlet opening lower boundary, wherein at the insert outlet opening, the redistributed and converged melt stream comprises side-by-side regions that differ in properties or material due to the redistribution of the initial melt stream at the insert front face.