Apparatus and method for degassing a plasticized material

An apparatus for degassing a plasticizable material, comprising:

• at least one essentially vertical passage having a first inlet opening for a feed of the material in a plasticized state;
• a plurality of substantially parallelly arranged vertical partial passages downstream of the at least one essentially vertical passage in a flow direction of the plasticized material so that a material flow flowing through the at least one essentially vertical passage is split up into partial flows by the vertical partial passages,
• wherein the vertical partial passages open directly into a free space such that the plasticized material of the partial flows free-falls vertically from the partial passages into the free space, the free space having a vertical dimension which allows strands of the plasticized material to enlarge during free-fall such that gas dissolved in the plasticized material is released in the free space;
• and
• a feed device having a second inlet opening, wherein the second inlet opening is provided in a region of the free space, and the feed device is configured to feed at least one additive or a further plasticizable material to the plasticized material via the second inlet opening,
• wherein at least one of the partial passages has a taper.