The residence time and the kneading in melt extrusion of viscous fluids, Newtonian fluids and power-law model fluids were studied by numerical analysis. A single-screw extruder with constant screw pitch and depth was tested. Firstly, the velocity and the dissipation energy distributions were obtained from the numerical solution of the equation of motion by an electronic computer. Secondly, the residence time distributions was obtained based on a given velocity distribution. The kneading is discussed on the basis of input power to the fluid particles. © 1975, Society of Chemical Engineers, Japan. All rights reserved.