Processing, thermoplastics screw cooling

Several liquid cryatalline polymers were melt blended with an amorphous (Ultem) and two semicrystalline (PEEK and PPS) engineering thermoplastics in a single screw extruder. Flat film was processed with different degrees of stretch imparted while the film was being cooled. In the case of Vectra, which was thought to be ideally suited to be blended with PPS based on thermal and rheological... 

Paul Troester started manufacturing single-screw extruders (SSE) in 1892, but only in 1935 the first SSE for thermoplastics was introduced. Four years later, Paul Leistritz built electrically heated, air cooled SSE, having L/D = 10, automatic temperature control, variable screw speed, and nitrided barrel. The machine is considered prototype of the modem extmders. The SSE offered continuous processing capability, but it was notoriously poor as a mixer. Furthermore, under the standard processing conditions, a significant non uniformity in the shear history had resulted in large temperature differences of the melt, AT = 60°C. To alleviate the... 

The DV process for thermoplastic elastomers can be described as follows After sufficient melt-mixing of plastic and rubber, vulcanizing agents are added. Vulcanization of the rubber phase occurs as mixing continues. After removal from the mixer, the cooled blend can be chopped, extruded, pelletized, injection molded, and so on. Such a composition is described as a dispersion of very small particles of vulcanized rubber in a thermoplastic resin matrix. Such compositions are prepared commercially by a continuous process by using a twin-screw extruder. 

In extrusion, the preheated material is forced out of the extruder with a screw (Figure 12-2) or double screw and allowed to cool in a bath or in the air. Thermoplasts, elastomers, and thermosets are extruded. As a rule, thermosets are processed in torpedo-containing extruders. With thermosets, most of the curing reaction must occur in a heated pressure chamber. Pressures can approach several hundred bars. The rate of extrusion is lowest with thick-walled bodies. Tubes are extruded at rates of up to 10 m/min, films up to 150 m/min, and telephone-cable insulating material or fibers at up to 1000 m/min. In extrusion, the Barus effect (Section 11.3.1) and melt fracture (Section 7.6.1) may be observed. Tubes, films, ducts, cable insulation, and knot-free nets are produced by extrusion. 

A process in which melted plastic is injected into a mold cavity, where it cools and takes the shape of the cavity. Bosses, screw threads, ribs, and other details can be integrated, which allows the molding operation to be accomplished in one step. The finished part usually does not require additional work before assembling. Any IPN in which the individual polymers are thermoplastic. The polymers may contain physical cross-links as in ionomers where ionic clusters join two or more chains together. Nowadays, phase-separated polymeric systems, e.g., block and graft copolymers or thermoplastic polyurethanes, are frequently considered thermoplastic IPNs. 

This method, like extrusion, requires a molten polymer. The equipment is schematically illustrated in Fig. 3.5a. In this method, polymer granules are fed into a hopper and a screw transports the polymer through a barrel where the polymer is heated to make it flow, and the polymer melt is forced through a nozzle into a closed mold. The mold is cooled after it is filled, and the molded part ejected, and the equipment readied for the next shot. Injection molding is thus a semi-continuous batch process and is usually used for large-scale production, where high throughput and reproducibility are important. The process is economical. The method is commonly used for thermoplastics. E.g. PLA, PGA and copolymers. Some... 

---