Definition of ReactiŠe Extrusion

                                                                          In a broad sense, reactive extrusion (REX) refers to the use of screw extruders as chemical 

reactors to deliberately perform chemical reactions of polymers or polymerizable monomers 

(Brown and Orlando 1988, Xanthos 1992, Lambla 1993, Hu and Lambla 1997). It is a complex 

polymer reaction engineering process that combines both the traditionally separated polymer

chemistry (polymerization and chemical modification) and extrusion (blending, compounding, 

structuring, devolatilization, and eventually shaping) into a single process carried out in a screw 

extruder. Being the most important type of polymer processing equipment, screw extruders 

                                                                         have become chemical reactors