Premium
Dynamics and criteria for bubble instabilities in a single layer film blowing extrusion
Author(s) -
Kim Seungoh,
Fang Yunli,
Lafleur Pierre G.,
Carreau Pierre J.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
polymer engineering and science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.503
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1548-2634
pISSN - 0032-3888
DOI - 10.1002/pen.20027
Subject(s) - bubble , instability , materials science , extrusion , mechanics , linear low density polyethylene , eccentricity (behavior) , radius , composite material , physics , polyethylene , computer security , political science , computer science , law
In this paper, the performance of a new in‐line scanning camera system for the study of various bubble instabilities in film blowing extrusion is critically evaluated. Three commercial film‐grade polyethylenes, LmPE, LLDPE and LDPE, were used to generate the bubble instabilities. Reliable and objective criteria for differentiating various bubble instabilities such as draw resonance, helicoidal instability, and frost line height instability are proposed by using the new device. Detailed dynamics of each bubble instability was carefully investigated as a function of time in a broad range of the take‐up ratio (TUR), blow‐up ratio (BUR) and frost line height (FLH). In addition, effects of melt temperature and mass flow rates on dynamics of the bubble instabilities are discussed. It was found that the new system could capture the main characteristics of all bubble instabilities quantitatively. It was also found that magnitude and periodicity of radius variation during draw resonance of LmPE decreased as TUR increased at constant FLH and BUR. This implies that the origin of draw resonance in film blowing seems to be different from that observed in fiber spinning. In the case of helicoidal instability, eccentricity, which defines the deviation of the bubble center from the die center, decreased as TUR increased. However, the bubble could not be stabilized as expected. A graphical quantification approach to determine the stable zone in the bubble stability map is also discussed.