Mechanisms of Shark Skin Suppression by Novel Polymer Processing Aids

The extrusion rate of polyethylene (PE) with narrow molar weight distribution, as e. g. metallocen catalysed polyethylene (m-PE), is limited by melt fracture. The first level of fracture is a surface defect called sharkskin. Common polymer processing aids based on fluorinated polymers shift the onset of sharkskin to higher extrusion rates by creating a "low energy surface" at the die wall and promoting wall slip. Alternatively, Kulikov et al. [1, 2] suggested thermoplastic elastomers (TPE) for sharkskin suppression, and Muller [3] showed the suitability of some TPEs as polymer processing aids. We investigated the slip velocity of several TPEs against steel, and the slip velocity in a polymeric interface between polyethylene (PE) and TPE by rotational plate-plate rheometry in the Newtonian flow regime. TPEs with lower viscosities showed higher slip velocities against steel. However, the interfacial slip velocities between PE and TPE were found to be viscosity independent. In both cases, the slip velocity was found to be proportional to the applied shear stress.