Premium
Thickness uniformity of HDPE blown film: Relation to rheological properties and density
Author(s) -
Higuchi Hiroyuki,
Fujikawa Shinjiro,
Sato Mikio,
Koyama Kiyohito
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.20088
Subject(s) - materials science , rheology , high density polyethylene , shear thinning , composite material , slip (aerodynamics) , polymer , shear stress , viscosity , shear rate , shear (geology) , polyethylene , thermodynamics , physics
Previous work has elucidated that the wall slip velocity and viscosity of polymer melts influence the thickness uniformity of blown film. The present study investigates the effects of the stress dependence of wall slip, the shear thinning and the density on the uniformity. We have prepared high‐density polyethylenes with a variety of molecular weight distributions, which have different rheological properties. Examination of the thickness uniformity of their blown film has shown that the uniformity is correlated with wall slip velocity, the stress dependence of the velocity, melt viscosity, shear thinning and density; the coefficient of the correlation is determined to be 0.990. The reason why the stress dependence of wall slip and the shear thinning affect the uniformity is explained in terms of polymer melt flow behavior in a die, while the effect of density is interpreted considering bubble fluctuation in the blow‐up process. Polym. Eng. Sci. 44:965–972, 2004. © 2004 Society of Plastics Engineers.