Investigation of melting phenomena in modular co-rotating twin screw extrusion

An experimental investigation of the mechanisms of melting of polyolefins in a modular co-rotating twin screw extruder was carried out as a function of (i) barrel temperature including below the melting temperature (ii) screw speed and (iii) feed rate. The modular screws were removed from a twin screw extruder following experiments where pellets of linear low density polyethylene or isotactic polypropylene had been fed and processed under steady state conditions. The modular screws contained thermoplastic carcasses. These were sectioned and removed as well as inspected. Three melting initiation regimes were identified. These were (i) melting initiated from barrel, (ii) melting initiated from screw, and (iii) melting initiated in the bulk. At high barrel temperatures mechanism (i) is observed, at lower barrel temperatures and slower screw speeds mechanism (ii) is found, and at lower barrel temperatures and higher screw speeds mechanism (iii) is observed. The propagation of the melting process was also investigated. Pellet bed instabilities are usually involved at higher screw speeds. We discuss modeling of these mechanisms.