Another way of avoiding melt fracture is to increase the die gap.

These polymers can operate at twice the pressure and four times the speed without melt fracture."

Due to the geometry of the dies used, relatively high extrusion rates are possible while still avoiding melt fracture.

For instance, the technique can discriminate between laminar flow, sharkskin, surging and melt fracture.

Melt Fractures in Jackson Crater, Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC)

The results are two new categories of hardy polyethylene plastics that can withstand high-speed and high-pressure manufacturing processes without succumbing to "melt fracture," a kind of distortion that creates flaws in plastic products.