FLOW OF THERMOPLASTICS IN AN ANNULAR DIE UNDER PARALLEL OSCILLATIONS

A sound wave extrusion system has been developed. This system includes a single screw extruder and an annular die having an internal surface oscillating in the sound frequency range. Oscillating shear flow has been imposed in the direction parallel to the main pressure flow. The die characteristics and average melt temperature at the exit from the die for several thermoplastics have been measured with and without imposition of oscillations. Modeling of parallel super-position of sound oscillations upon pressure flow has been performed using the Leonov viscoelastic constitutive equation. Three cases are considered: (i) the process is isothermal and the change in die pressure is only due to a nonlinear interaction of oscillatory and pressure flow: (ii) the process is nonisothermal and adiabatic, and pressure reduction is due to the nonlinear interaction and the dissipation of oscillatory energy leading to the temperature rise in polymer melts; (iii) the process is nonisothermal with heat transfer due to transient heat conduction and the dissipation of oscillatory energy. Pressure reduction occurs due to both nonlinear interaction and temperature rise. It is found that case (i) cannot explain the observed die pressure reduction, while case (ii) describes those data only at high flow rates. The theoretical results from case (iii) are found to be in qualitative agreement with experimental observations. Generally, the theoretical results of case (iii) are better than those of cases (i) and (ii).