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The study of the distributive mixing in converging channels: Numerical method and analytical approach
Author(s) -
Mostafaiyan Mehdi,
Wiessner Sven,
Heinrich Gert
Publication year - 2015
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.24115
Subject(s) - distributive property , materials science , mixing (physics) , mechanics , mathematics , physics , pure mathematics , quantum mechanics
Using an in‐house finite element code, we analyzed the isothermal flow field of a polymer melt in a converging channel. More specifically, we calculated the mean strain function as a criterion for distributive mixing. The used power‐law model is implemented to incorporate the shear thinning behavior of the polymeric melts. A parametric study is also presented to provide a good understanding of the complex dependency of the distributive mixing on rheological and geometrical parameters. Finally, an analytical solution for the mixing parameter is developed using some simplifying assumptions and curve‐fitting techniques. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 55:2285–2292, 2015. © 2015 Society of Plastics Engineers