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Screening tool for formulation development via compounding in polymer materials, hot melt extrusion, pharmaceutical, biomedical and nutritional applications

Micro-processing of R&D test samples: more flexibility, smaller batch size, better processing control, faster formulation development, thus lower R&D costs


Micro-compounding refers to the mixing of polymer formulations in the melt on a very small scale, typically several ml. The advantage of the use of a micro-compounder for R&D are significant: it gives faster, more and yet reliable results with much smaller samples and at much less investment costs.  Micro-compounders are thus primarily a very effective and reliable screening tool for speeding up the innovation process in R&D of polymer materials, pharmaceutical, biomedical and nutritional applications.
Micro-compounding is typically performed with a  table top, twin screw micro-compounder or -extruder with a working volume of 5 or 15 ml. With such small volumes it is almost impossible to have sufficient mixing in a continuous extruder. Therefore, state of the art micro-compounders have a batch mode (recirculation) and a conical shape.

The L/D of a continuous twin screw extruder is mimicked in such a batch micro-compounder by the recirculation mixing time, which is controlled by a manual valve. With this valve the recirculation can be interrupted to unload the formulation in either a strand, or an injection moulder, a film device or a fiber line.
The pioneer in such micro-compounding and -shaping equipment is DSM Xplore that developed such laboratory micro processing equipment based on the original ideas of prof. dr. ir. H.E.H. Meijer, a world famous expert in extrusion processes, now at the Technical University of Eindhoven (Netherlands). Later, other equipment suppliers embraced this innovative idea and came with their own micro-compounders. Yet, the DSM Xplore equipment excels in ease of operation, quality, reliability and durability. Despite distinct differences in shape and operation compared with a continuous twin screw extruder, scaling up of tests in a micro-compounder is possible to larger machines.
With the DSM Xplore table top laboratory equipment it is now also possible to produce films, fibers and test samples (rods, rings, tablets) from mixtures as small as 5 ml in less than 10 min.

In pharmaceutical and biomedical R&D, where sample costs are a key issue, an easy to clean, 2 to 5 ml GMP compliant pharma micro-extruder was recently developed. This equipment is used for testing the improvement of bioavailability of poorly soluble drugs or realizing sustained release of dispersed or dissolved APIs. As pharmaceutical formulations are usually difficult to feed because of fluffy, static powders, this pharma micro-extruder has special options to easily fill and easily clean, which further speeds up the R&D process.

DSM Xplore has been at the forefront of innovation in our industry from the early development of our efficient micro-compounding and -processing platform for material development to the smallest micro extruder in the world, to lower your costs and save your time. Today, leading R&D facilities in polymer research and drug development worldwide use our high precision instruments to shorten their development times, lower their costs and explore more new breakthroughs in materials, hot melt extrusion and shaping technologies.

Produce the same data 10 times faster, more than 10 times more cost-effectively

Our specialized and unique instruments include tabletop twin-screw micro-compounders, injection molders, cast film lines, fiber spinning and conditioning lines, dedicated for producing relevant and reliable test samples with these small volumes. They save you much time and money in your R&D developments.
Our micro-compounders allow small batches between 2 ml and 15 ml of material and produce a well mixed sample within 4 minutes. Hence you generate the same data up to 10 times faster and more than 10 times more cost-effectively than with a conventional extruder.

Get fast, flexible, cost-effective and reliable test results with our instruments

Based on our long experience in materials science, health and nutrition and in instrument design, we provide unique and practical solutions to meet your laboratory R&D challenges. They help you quickly produce samples with less sample material, while giving you more flexibility to carry out diverse tests. Users in R&D screening environments can easily and quickly produce high quality samples on them with only very small sample volumes.

Streamline your R&D testing

Because every R&D situation is unique, we provide additional options to customize your instrumentation to your specific needs. Our application support helps you further streamline your R&D testing. Advanced control and acquisition software generates reproducible samples and data that are representative for your industrial scale processes. You can generate virtually unlimited variations of sample compositions to get optimum results. Our instruments can offer you very small volumes (down to 2 ml), very high torque, very easy to clean, fast switching between experiments, no cross contamination, 3 temperature zones, in situ measurement and control of temperature and of the melt rheological data, also in continuous mode and a maximum operating temperature of 420°C.

*) Proprietary DSM technology, IP protected