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What do you call the thing that squirts out juice, chocolate in a food plant? What do you call the end of the machine that squirts out the food ingredients, and what do you call the entire thing? I am pretty sure there's a word for one of them at least.

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    Is nozzle what you're looking for? Jul 14, 2019 at 1:11
  • Maybe, is there a more specific term?
    – Sayaman
    Jul 14, 2019 at 1:22

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The machine that forces a plastic substance through a die is an "extruder," "extruder machine," or "extrusion machine." In some cases, it is also called a "press." The final piece of such a machine may be a die or a nozzle. A die imparts a specific cross-section whereas a nozzle merely limits the cross-section. (The term "plastic" here merely means "physically compressible." In a wire mill, the metal being forced through the die is not what would commonly be called "plastic," but it is soft enough to be pressed through the die while hard enough to retain the shape imparted by the die.)

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  • In this context, "plastic" means "can have its shape permanently modified by a temporary force", not "physically compressible".
    – Jasper
    Jul 14, 2019 at 4:37
  • Thanks jasper. Obviously, plastic in this context includes the meaning "physically compressible," but that is way too broad a definition.Gaseous oxygen is physically compressible, but not plastic. I think my example of a wire mill does capture the idea despite my inadequate definition. Jul 14, 2019 at 4:47
  • Plastic deformation and compressibility are separate concepts; "plastic" does not include the meaning "physically compressible". It is possible for a material to be both plastically deformable and practically incompressible. According to "Engineer's Edge.com", some saturated clays have a Poisson's ratio of 0.49. Furthermore, plastic yield of metals "occurs largely at constant volume".
    – Jasper
    Jul 14, 2019 at 5:30

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