A screw extruder for processing melts of synthetic plastic materials or synthetic plastic material in powder or granulated form to effect mixing, kneading and homogenizing of the material and causing chemical reactions thereof comprises a long main conveyor screw and a short auxiliary screw parallel thereto and disposed in the feed zone of the casing of the extruder. The screws are unidirectionally rotated in tight engagement with each other. Single screw extruders if suitably dimensioned are generally quite satisfactory for carrying out the hereinbefore referred to procedural steps. In fact, the kneading action of twin screw extruder in many instances is superior to that of twin screw extruders the screw elements of which mesh though not with a tight profile. However, single- screw screw extruders have inherently certain disadvantages. The dwell time of the material within the extruder cannot be kept constant within a narrow range and such constancy of the dwell time is very important for most of the processing operations which are to be carried out in the extruders. Moreover, a positive and uniform flow of the material to be processed through treatment zones of the extruder cannot be reliably obtained with single- screw screw extruders, especially if quantity processing is to be carried out.
Twin- screw extruders, the screws of which are in tight engagement and which are unidirectionally rotated produce high quality dispersion and satisfy to a high degree the other aforelisted condition.