Metal Textiles copper gauze is a proven, economical way to clean plastic extrusion equipment and molds—in a fraction of the time required by household cleaning products—while the machinery is still hot. Metal Textiles copper gauze helps dramatically reduce downtime—with as much as 120 hours of additional machine output achieved with a typical low-compression, single-screw, 2 1/2″ extruder.

This versatile cleaning material has been used by many leading plastic converters to clean extruders, dies, screws, and similar machinery. It is especially economical where product purity requires frequent maintenance—for example, when molding material or color must be changed often, or thin films coated.

Among the many proven applications for Metal Textiles copper gauze are removal of “drool” on sheeting extruders or tubing dies, cleaning vent holes in dies and injection molds as well as extrusion screws and barrels. Copper gauze is:

• Safe – Soft copper will never scratch or damage costly machine parts. No metal splinters make it safe for workers, too
• Rust-Free – Pure, solid copper will not rust or contaminate end product.
• Tough – Interlocked loops of heavy gauge copper wire make it impervious to disintegration.
• Effective – Knitted structure keeps flat wire on edge for excellent scraping action without scratching.
• Non-Flammable – Because Metal Textiles knitted copper gauze is 100% metal, it can’t burn or even smoke when used directly on hot equipment.
• Low Cost – Costs less than currently used household-type metallic cleaners.
• Efficient – Compared to other methods (charring, wire brushes, metal sponges), Metal Textiles knitted copper gauze cleans in less time—often less than one hour to clean a machine.
• Two Grades in One – Contains two grades of cleaning power in one grade of Metal Textiles knitted copper gauze. Use as supplied for normal cleaning, or turn inside out for heavy cleaning

Cleans Without Scratching or Damaging Critical Working Surfaces-While Costing Less than Other Cleaning Products

Metal Textiles copper gauze is knitted from flattened copper wire into a seamless, continuous, flat stocking-giving it excellent scraping properties-while its softness eliminates the danger of scratching or galling hard-metal surfaces. (Small amounts of industrial-grade silicone grease as a release aid will enhance its cleaning properties.) Metal Textiles copper gauze is also economical. In fact, when purchased in 400-foot rolls, Metal Textiles copper gauze may actually cost less than common conventional cleaning materials. Most important are the savings in eliminating equipment downtime. In fact, simply feeding a length of copper gauze through the hopper and into the barrel of a single-stage extruder is often all that is required to adequately clean this equipment without cool-down. Metal Textiles knitted copper gauze is not only efficient and economical in cleaning screws and barrels on plastic extruders, but extrusion dies as well as injection molding machines.