Quantitative evaluation of extrudate swell from viscoelastic properties of polystyrene

A theory of extrudate swell for short, intermediate or long dies is presented. In our experiment, we consider that the swelling phenomenon is mainly due to the recoverable elongational strain induced by the converging flow at the die entrance, as well as by recoverable shear strain originating within the die. From these concepts, an equation has been derived for the quantitative prediction of extrudate swell from the elastic material properties such as the entrance pressure drop, the relaxation modulus and the recoverable shear strain. Excellent agreement is found between predicted and measured values of extrudate swell obtained on commercial polystyrene melt, using capillaries of length-to-diameter ratios ranging from 1 to 20 and in a wide range of shear rates.     

Numerical simulation of delayed die swell

In a recent paper, Joseph et al. showed that, for a number of viscoelastic fluids, one can observe the phenomenon of delayed die swell beyond a critical extrusion velocity, or beyond a critical value of the viscoelastic Mach number. Giesekus had also observed that delayed die swell is a critical phenomenon.In the present paper, we find a set of material and flow parameters under which it is possible to simulate delayed die swell. For the viscoelastic flow calculation, we use the finite element algorithm with sub-elements for the stresses and streamline upwinding in the discretized constitutive equations. For the free surface, we use an implicit technique which allows us to implement Newton's method for solving the non-linear system of equations. The fluid is Oldroyd-B which, in the present problem, is a singular perturbation of the Maxwell fluid. The results show very little sensitivity to the size of the retardation time. We also show delayed die swell for a Giesekus fluid.This paper is dedicated to Professor Hanswalter Giesekus on the occasion of his retirement as Editor of Rheologica Acta.     

An experimental study of exit pressures for polymer melts

A slit die apparatus is used to measure exit pressures for five different polymer melts. Viscosity data obtained from the same apparatus agree well with values obtained from a cone-and-plate rheometer or a capillary rheometer. Except for a PVC sample where thermal degradation was found to occur, the exit pressures obtained by linear extrapolation of the measured pressure profiles are all positive, and increase with increasing shear stress. The values of the first normal stress difference calculated according to the exit pressure theory are of the right order of magnitude and in some cases correlate satisfactorily with values measured in a cone-and-plate rheometer. However, the high sensitivity of the exit pressure values to the method of extrapolation and the wild scatter of exit pressure data for some materials make it difficult to use the exit pressure method as a routine procedure for accurate determination of the first normal stress difference.     

Prediction of extrudate swell in polymer melt extrusion using an Arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian (ALE) based finite element method

Accurate prediction of extrudate (die) swell in polymer melt extrusion is important as this helps in appropriate die design for profile extrusion applications. Extrudate swell prediction has shown significant difficulties due to two key reasons. The first is the appropriate representation of the constitutive behavior of the polymer melt. The second is regarding the simulation of the free surface, which requires special techniques in the traditionally used Eulerian framework. In this paper we propose a method for simulation of extrudate swell using an Arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian (ALE) technique based finite element formulation. The ALE technique provides advantages of both Lagrangian and Eulerian frameworks by allowing the computational mesh to move in an arbitrary manner, independent of the material motion. In the present method, a fractional-step ALE technique is employed in which the Lagrangian phase of material motion and convection arising out of mesh motion are decoupled. In the first step, the relevant flow and constitutive equations are solved in Lagrangian framework. The simpler representation of polymer constitutive equations in a Lagrangian framework avoids the difficulties associated with convective terms thereby resulting in a robust numerical formulation besides allowing for natural evolution of the free surface with the flow. In the second step, mesh is moved in ALE mode and the associated convection of the variables due to relative motion of the mesh is performed using a Godunov type scheme. While the mesh is fixed in space in the die region, the nodal points of the mesh on the extrudate free surface are allowed to move normal to flow direction with special rules to facilitate the simulation of swell. A differential exponential Phan Thien Tanner (PTT) model is used to represent the constitutive behavior of the melt. Using this method we simulate extrudate swell in planar and axisymmetric extrusion with abrupt contraction ahead of the die exit. This geometry allows the extrudate to have significant memory for shorter die lengths and acts as a good test for swell predictions. We demonstrate that our predictions of extrudate swell match well with reported experimental and numerical simulations.     

牛顿流体挤出胀大模拟的网格依赖性

应用有限元法模拟了牛顿流体的挤出胀大，通过方差分析得到胀大结果具有网格依赖性．基于四边形等参单元，得到出口后首排单元沿轴向的长度和近壁处首行单元沿径向的高度显著影响牛顿流体的挤出胀大．     

Extrudate swell of Newtonian fluids from converging and diverging annular dies

Finite element results are presented for the extrudate swell of Newtonian fluids from converging and diverging annular dies. Numerical calculations for a variety of diameter ratios and taper angles show the dependance of diameter and thickness swell on the angle. For diverging dies a thickness contraction occurs for angles greater than 30 degrees, while the diameter swell increases rapidly. For converging dies the design is limited to angles that do not allow contact of the inner free surfaces. The present results show that the diameter swell is highest for the diverging, followed by the straight and then the converging dies.     

积分型Maxwell流体挤出胀大的数值模拟

应用Luo提出的基于常规有限单元的应力计算方法和范毓润回避奇点的方法,模拟了积分型Maxwell黏弹流体的挤出胀大流动,计算得到了Weissenberg数达1．0下的合理结果。     

Measurement of rheological and ultrasonic properties of food and synthetic polymer melts

A slit die viscometer has been used in conjunction with a co-rotating twin screw extruder to study the rheological behaviour of maize grits, potato powder and low density polyethylene, as a function of feed rate, screw speed and temperature. The shear viscosity of both maize and potato decreased with increasing feed rate. Increasing the temperature or screw speed at any given feed rate also reduced the viscosity. The ultrasonic velocity through the material has also been shown to be sensitive to the extruder operating conditions. Overall, the ultrasonic velocity decreased as screw speed and temperature increased and feed rate decreased.     

Non-isothermal two-phase flow with a diffuse-interface model

In this paper a previously developed diffuse-interface method for numerical simulation of isothermal two-phase flow of a single component is extended to non-isothermal situations. Since no artificial spreading of the interface is applied and no local grid refinement is used, the fluid should be close to its critical point to have an interfacial thickness not too small compared to the size of the computational domain. The use of a non-monotonic Van der Waals equation of state in the vicinity of the critical point causes elliptical behavior of the system of governing equations in part of the phase diagram. A linear stability analysis shows that the rate at which small perturbations grow is reduced with respect to the isothermal case. By adopting a Total Variation Diminishing time-integration scheme, a stable solution method is obtained. One- and two-dimensional simulations are performed to test the applicability and accuracy of the method. The dynamics of the head-on collision of two drops is studied for various combinations of Weber and Prandtl numbers, with particular attention to the effect of the temperature distribution.