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INTRODUCTION
1748
channel. Griffith (161, Zamoditis et al (17). and Fenner (18) obtained numerical solutions for the 2D,
fully developed, nonisothermal, and nowNewtonian
flow of melt in an infinitely wide rectangular screw
channel. When the thermal convection effects become significant during the extrusion process, the
thermally fully developed flow will not be achieved
even at the exit of the metering section (5).Generally,
the governing equations of the thermally developing
flow could not analytically be solved. Yate (19) applied
a perturbation expansion in the Brinkman number of
the thermally developing model: however, the resulting Brinkman number was within the range of 0 to
1.5 (21). Fenner (20) made detailed comparisons of
the thermally fully developed flow and the thermally
developing flow. The polymer melt may possibly possess a pressure backflow,when the extrusion operates at either a high die head pressure or low
throughput. Elbirli and Lindt (21) got the stable solution under an appreciable pressure backflow by a p
plying the coordinate transformation from a n Eulerian frame toward a Lagrangian frame. Bruker et al
(1)
(2)
(3)
BC1
z=O
U=U,
U=U,
T=T,
(5)
BC2
Z = f f
u=ub
U=Ub
T=T,
(6)
BC3
inlet
p=po
T=To
(7)
BC4
outlet
p=p,
(8)
(9)
In addition, p is the density: C, is the specific heat: k
is the thermal conductivity: H is the thickness;
(T,, Tb,
T o ) are the screw, barrel and inlet temperature: ( p o ,p,) are the inlet and outlet pressure: and
( u s ,us) and (u,, u,) are the screw and barrel velocity
components in ( x, y). respectively. The shear viscosity is represented in this work by the power-law model
(5).
r]=
THEORETLCAL ANALYSIS
du
-d+x - =doy
'exp[-b(T-TreJ)l
(10)
where mo is the power-law constant: n is the powerlaw index: b is the temperature sensitivity: and Trcr
1749
/QNz.cjddl = 0
u=u,+-
ub-u,
SO
z l
-&+-
L 4
s,
/
-&--/
[ z 7z
dx
ub-u,
SO 0
s,
-&+-
SO L n
where Ni is the shape function of the linear triangular element and dl denotes the area of the domain of
interest.
1
I-&--/
1
0
1
-&
(11)
u=u,+-
(21)
J yp [ oz n
d
z
SO 0
1
-&
4
(12)
where
so=/H -1 &
0 4
where D/Dt denotes the material derivative. The finite difference discretization of the energy equation at
the centroid of a triangle element is given as
where
where
denotes the temperature of layer j at the
centroid of element: TJ denotes the upstream temperature of TJ; k,+ ,,2 = k((q+,
+ T,)/2): and A l denotes
the length of each triangle element. Figure 1 is a
schematic representation of the upstream temperature in each local element. The physical meaning of
the Lagrangian expression could be referred to the
monotone streamline upwind (MSU) approximation
(52). The MSU approximation yields little physical
spatial oscillations and possess little numerically false
diffusion (52). So far, the governing equations have
been derived for a two-dimensional geometry. The
system equation for each element defined in the
three-dimensional coordinate is derived on the local
coordinate. Therefore, additional coordinate transfor-
TJ
I -
AI
-4
mations are required to transform the nodal coordinates of a n element from a global system to a local
system (48). More details can be found from Refs. 48
and 53. The complex screw surface could be modeled
by the finite element mesh without using the unwound screw approximation.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
x(cm)
2. Computational domain for the unwound screw channel used via the 20 FDM.
Q.
1751
(b)
Fig. 5. (d Finite element mesh MESHl for the 30 screw
channels and theflight lands. (b)MESHZ.
-1
'
0
and MESH2 (Fig. 5b) contain 1748 and 3836 elements, respectively. The thickness of the flight lands
is assumed here to be 0.1 mm. The hybrid FEM/ FDM
results are demonstrated by mapping the numerical
results from the 3D shell screw surface into the 2D
unwound screw surface, a s shown in Figs. 6a and
6b. The computational domain of the hybrid
FEM/FDM has some discrepancies with that of the
2 D FDM; in addition, the mesh used in Figs. 5a and
5b has a resemblance to the screw surface in the real
extrusion process. The inlet and outlet pressure
boundary conditions for the hybrid FEM/FDM are
assumed to be 0 and 5.0 MPa from the 2 D FDM
results. It is easy to find that the solutions of the
pressure fields are almost mesh independent from
FYg. 7.The discrepancy between the melt temperatures provided by the hybrid FEM/FDM from MESH 1
and MESH2 is within 1C. as shown in Fig. 8. In
addition, the discrepancy between the melt temperatures provided by the hybrid FEM/FDM from MESH2
and the 2 D FDM is within 4C. Therefore, the results
from the MESH1 and MESH2 seem to be acceptable.
More precisely, the MESH2 is therefore chosen instead of MESH 1 in the following calculation from the
numerical point of view.
I
2
to
X/D
Fig. 7. The pressure proJles along the screw axis predicted
by the hybrid FEM/ FDM from MESHl and MESHZ.
The pressure distribution in the whole domain predicted by the hybrid FEM/FDM from MESH2 is provided in Fig. 9; it is noted that the pressure in the
pushing flight is higher than that in the trailing
flight. This phenomenon suggests that (a) the melt
flows, from the pushing flight toward the trailing
flight in the screw channel and (b) the melt leaks
from the pushing flight backward the trailing flight in
the flight lands. It is discovered that the larger shear
rate appears in the thinner element from Fig. 10.
There is not much variation in the screw cross-channel direction for the shear rate, as indicated from the
comparison with a high shear rate in the flight lands.
The averaged shear rate can be approximated by the
shear rate caused via the pure drag flow (i.e.,
Nn-D,/H, where N is the screw rotation speed; and
D , is the barrel diameter). The value of the shear rate
caused via the pure drag flow is of the order of 105
sec-' in the screw channel, while it reaches a peak of
the order of 6283 sec-' in the flight land. Figure 11
"
-L
220.0
230.0
MESH2
240.0
250.0
T e m p e r a t u r e ("C)
(b)
Fig. 6. (d Finite element mesh MESHl for the unwound
screw surface mapped.frorn Fig. 5a. fb) MESHZ.
1752
t-
-1
Fig. 9. The pressure proj?les predicted b y the hybrid F E M / F D M under a cool screw.
Fig. 10. The aueiraged shear rate predicted b y the hybrid F E M / F D M under a cool screw.
1753
.
.
1
.
.
.
.
F g . 1 I . T h e averaged melt temperature predicted b y the hybrid FEM/ FDM under a cool screw.
FDM
d=0.6
mm
d=0.3
mm
FEM
d=0.15
mm
143.0
116.4
135.5
142.0
d=0.1
mm
d=O.O6
mm
143.4
144.3
Q.
1754
12. The averaged melt temperature predicted b y the hybrid FEM/ FDM under an adiabatic screw.
POLYMER ENGINEERING AND SCIENCE, NOVEMBER 1995, Vol. 35, No. 22
0 8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0.0
220
250
240
230
260
T e m p e r a t u r e ("C)
Fig. 13. The exit melt temperature profrles across the depth
oj-lhe screw channels andflight lands.
160
I20
h
L)
1
1
d=0.06 m n
Ec:
L
-
20
60
40
80
100
120
RPM
(a)
240
Lj
"
235
,
d = 0.6
d = 0.3
d = 0.1
d=O.06
mm
mm
mm
mm
230
i
CI
Ee:
225
220
LAI
20
40
60
60
100
120
RPM
(b)
Fig. 14. (4, The throughput us. rpm with vanomflight clearances provided by the hybrid F E M / F D M under a cool
screw.lb) The averaged exit melt temperature us. rpm with
various flight clearances provided by the hybrid FEM/ FDM
under a cool screw.
1755
shown in Fig. 16. The pressure BCs do not apparently disturb the pressure profiles in the inner regions, as indicated in Figs. 9 and 16.The throughput
predicted by the hybrid FEM/FDM with linear-like
pressures BCs is 146.1 cm3/sec, and the averaged
exit melt temperature is 233C. The results are similar to those using constant pressure BCs. Therefore,
those results will not be addressed again.
---
d= 0 6 mrn
d = 0 3 mrn
d= 0 I mm
d=O06 mrn
CONCLUSIONS
20
40
60
80
100
The hybrid FEM/FDM computer model was employed in this investigation for simulating the polymer melt flow in the metering section of a single-screw
extruder. With fewer assumptions, the hybrid
FEM/FDM can provide similar results to those of a
conventional 2 D FDM modeling for the thermally fully
developed flow. The hybrid FEM/FDM can predict the
flow over the flight lands. Additionally, the results
suggest that the flights are capable of providing efficient pumping as long as the clearance is close to the
normal design clearance, i.e., 0.001 Db. If the clearance becomes too large, the leakage flow would increase and the exist melt temperature would rise. The
hybrid FEM/FDM uses the 3 D shell elements to r e p
resent the screw surface. Therefore, the hybrid FEM/
FDM approach can be easily extended towards the
non-Newtonian, nonisothermal flow in a complex
screw surface such as the barrier screw and the
Maddock mixing head. In addition, this work can be
extended to other continuous polymer processes, e.g.
extrusion dies.
120
RPM
(a)
d = 0 8 rnm
d= 0 3 m r n
a,
4
!
K
at:
ra
230
225
3
I
220
2-1-
20
40
60
80
100
120
RPM
(W
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Fig. 15. fd The throughput us. rpm with uariousJight clearances provided by the hybrid FEM/ FDM under an adiabatic
screw. fb) The averaged exit melt temperature us. rprn with
various flight clearances provided by the hybrid FEM/ FDM
under an adiabatic screw.
The authors would like to thank the National Science Council of the Republic of China for its financial
support under Contract No. NSC 8 1-0405-E-007-586.
.
.. .
1
.
1
.
-2
L:.
/-/----
-.
1
.
.---.-I-.
.
...
....
2sL-\.
50
x(cm)
--.
,
.,\.
-\
75
-------.I,->/-loo 0
, , . .
..&
20
_-
30
--->
40
Y (cm)
Rg. J 6. The pressure projles predicted by the hybrid FEM/ FDM with linear-likepressure BCs.
1756
REFERENCES
1. 2. Tadmor and I. Klein, Engineering Principles of PlastG
1757