Intermittent Crosslinked Gels in a Film Product

At the startup of the line, the extruder was operated at 91 rpm to produce the required rate of 148 kg/h for a specific rate of 1.63 kg/(h-rpm). The temperature of the extrudate was measured through the transfer line wall at 232 °C. Due to process safety constraints the extrudate temperature could not be measured using a handheld temperature sensor. The extrusion rate was required in order to maintain the downstream take-away equipment at its maximum rate. At first the extruder appeared to be operating well except that the specific rate was lower than predicted. That is, the screw was rotated at an rpm that was higher than expected to produce the 148 kg/h. At 91 rpm, the rotational flow rate was calculated at 228 kg/h the specific rotational flow rate was calculated at 2.51 kg/(h-rpm). Thus, the line was operating at only 65% of the rotational flow rate. A barrier design 

Maddock-styie mixer 25.2 2 0.51 mm undercut on the mixing flight 

The iead iength was 124 mm for the main flight of the barrier section and 88.9 mm for all other sections of the screw. The main flight width and clearance were 9 and 0.09 mm, respectively, in all sections of the screw. The first 2.5 diameters of the screw were inside a water-cooled feed casing. The compression ratio was 2.7 and the compression rate was 0.0050. The specific rotational rate was calculated at 2.51 kg/(h-rpm).  

After the screw modification, the 148 kg/h rate was obtained at a screw speed of about 69 rpm with an extrudate temperature of 223 °C. Thus, the specific rate increased from 1.63 kg/(h rpm) before the modification to 2.14 kg/(h-rpm) after the modification, a specific rate increase of about 30%. At a screw speed of 69 rpm, the rotationai flow rate was calculated at 173 kg/h now the extruder was operating at about 86% of the rotational flow rate. The calculated axial pressure gradient required to maintain the flow of the extruder at the reported flow rate showed that pressures in the screw never decreased to zero, indicating that the channels were full as shown in Fig. 11.21. No adverse effects were experienced with the reduced discharge temperature (8 °C lower), no unmelted material was observed in the extrudate, and no gel showers occurred after the modification. A summary of the extrusion performance before and after the modification is shown in Table 11.5. 

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