An extruder capable of obtaining a treatment volume equal to that of the
conventional art without enlarging a screw diameter is provided. The
extruder includes screw shafts, a drive unit, and a barrel, in which
three or more screw shafts having the same diameter and the same root
diameter in a waveform shape are engaged with each other and arranged in
parallel to each other horizontally or nearly horizontally, while a
distance between axial centers is made equal. According to the above
configuration, the same treatment volume as that of a conventional
extruder can be handled by screw shafts of smaller diameter as compared
with that of the conventional art. By using the screw shafts of the
smaller diameter as compared with the conventional art, temperature
irregularities of an extrusion material in screw grooves, leakage of the
extrusion material from the screw shafts, an installation area of the
extruder, and the like conventional trouble of various kinds can be
eliminated.