Melt conveying screw extruders

All single-screw extruders have several common characteristics, as shown in Figs. 1.1 and 1.2. The main sections of the extruder include the barrel, a screw that fits inside the barrel, a motor-drive system for rotating the screw, and a control system for the barrel heaters and motor speed. Many innovations on the construction of these components have been developed by machine suppliers over the years. A hopper is attached to the barrel at the entrance end of the screw and the resin is either gravity-fed (flood-fed) into the feed section of the screw or metered (starve-fed) through the hopper to the screw flights. The resin can be in either a solid particle form or molten. If the resin feedstock is in the solid form, typically pellets (or powders), the extruder screw must first convey the pellets away from the feed opening, melt the resin, and then pump and pressurize it for a down-... 

The fundamental processes and mechanisms that control single-screw extrusion are presented in Chapters 5 through 8. These processes include solids conveying, melting, polymer fluid flow, and mixing. The analyses presented in these chapters focus on easily utilized functions needed to assess the operation of the single-screw extruder. The derivation of these relationships will be presented in detail in the appendices for those who desire to explore the theory of extrusion in more detail. 

S. Bawiskar and J. L. White, A Composite Model for Solid Conveying, Melting, Pressure and Fill Factor Profiles in Modular Co-rotating Twin Screw Extruders, Int. Polym. Proc., 12, 1331 (1997). 

S. Syrjala, On the Analysis of Fluid Flow and Heat Transfer in the Melt Conveying Section of a Single Screw Extruder, Num. Heat Trans., Part A, 35, 25-4-1 (1999). 

Melt conveying is the forward motion of the molten polymer through the extruder, due to the pumping action of the rotating screw. This simple drag flow Md is proportional to melt density, down-channel velocity, and cross-sectional area of the screw channel. In most cases, however, there is also a pressure gradient as the melt moves downstream, either... 

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