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Effects of using preheated pellets in corotating twin‐screw extruders
Author(s) -
Elemans P.H.M.,
Bleiman P.W.P.V.,
Winkelhorst H.J.
Publication year - 2005
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.20332
Subject(s) - pellets , plastics extrusion , materials science , extrusion , composite material , throughput , torque , polymer , rotational speed , pellet , mechanical engineering , thermodynamics , engineering , physics , telecommunications , wireless
Experiments with a corotating twin‐screw extruder show that a considerable throughput increase can be achieved by feeding the extruder with preheated pellets. The use of preheated pellets is also advantageous in that, for a given throughput, the extrusion of preheated pellets requires a lower torque. Thus, when shifting from cold to preheated pellets, the screw speed can be lowered until the original torque is again reached. As a result, the temperature of the exiting melt is lower as well. The use of preheated pellets thus gives an extra degree of freedom in terms of the maximum throughput of a given extruder and control of degradation‐sensitive polymers. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 45:728–732, 2005. © 2005 Society of Plastics Engineers