VOL. 42, NO.
1
J O UR NA L
of the
Ame rican Ceramic Soc iety
Design of Extrusion Augers and the Characteristic
Equation of Ceramic Extrusion Machines
by J. R. PARKS and M. J. Hlll
lnorganic Chemicals Division, Monsanto Chemical Company, St. Louis, Missouri
Since the invention of the auger-type extrusion
machine, there has developed a large business
devoted to the production of extrusion machines
of various types and sizes for the ceramic indus-
try. During this time, a vast body of empirical
knowledge concerning the design of augers, dies,
and machines to do particular jobs has grown.
As of today, no method has been proposed by
which values may be assigned to the design pa-
rameters of an auger so that there may be reason-
able assurance that it will extrude a material, the
plastic properties of which may be known. This
paper proposes a model for the operation of an
auger on a material and adapts the theory of the
screw conveying of solids in organic thermoplastic
extrusion machines to the study of this model.
The concept of the characteristic function, which
describes the action of a particular extruder on a
plastic material, is discussed.
l. lntroduction
ETTERS patent were granted to Chambers in 18G3 for the
L invention of the first auger-type extrusion machine.
This was the birth of the rather large industry that is
today devoted to the production of many different types
and sizes of extrusion machines to do particular jobs for the
ceramic industry. The designs of these machines have come
about through the intelligent cooperation of the machinery
producers and users. In this way, a vast body of empirical
knowledge concerning machines, augers, and dies has been
developed over the past 94 years. Much of this knowledge
may be of such special nature as may be rightly considered
to be the property of the company or individuals who de-
veloped it; and it may also be true that the experimental
and historical data that were used to support the various
developments are no longer in existence. A consequence of
this state of the art is that as of today there does not exist a
systematic theory of the design of augers or extrusion ma-
chines as general classes.
The general observations in the literature promote the
ideas that the movement of the material in an auger is such
1
JANUARY 1, 1959
that the coefficient of friction of the material in contact with
the materials of construction of the barre! and the auger
appear to govern and that the interna! friction of the material
is such that it tends to move along the channel of the auger
as a plug. 1 This implies that for augers to operate most
efficiently, the flights should have a high degree of polish
that is comparable to the finish resulting from prolonged
usage in production. 2 In conjunction with the observations
of the importance of the surface condition of the flights, it
has been reported that the leading surfaces of the flights do
much more of the work in urging the material forward in the
screw channel than do the trailing surfaces. 3 Seanor has
discussed in sorne detail the various factors, such as com-
position of the material being extruded, the degree of star-
vation of the auger in operation, and the number and shape
of the wings on the auger tips, that influence clay extrusion. 1
Of the engineering approaches to the design of augers that
are reported in the literature, two are briefly mentioned here.
Grunwell reported in 1928 on an extensive series of ex-
periments on a high-power, high-tonnage auger extruder of
a design commonly used to extrude columns of clay for
brick production. 5 These experiments were performed at
Received December 16, 1957; revised copy rcceivcd May 21,
1958.
The writers are, respectively, research physicist, Inorgauic
Research Laboratory, Research Department, Inorganic Chemi-
cals Division, Monsanto Chemical Company, St. Louis, Mo.,
and production engineer, Production Department, Inorganic
Chemicals Division, W. G. Krummrich Plant, Monsanto, Ill.
1 E. A. Hawk, Sr., "Handling the Difficult Extrusion Prob-
lem," Am. Ceram. Soc. Bull., 33 [ll] 326-27 (1954).
2 D. D. Starkey, "Basic Design of Augers ami Dies," A m.
Ceram. Soc. Bull., 35 [3 ] 116 (1956).
3 Edward Meeka, "The Extrusion Problem," Am. Ceram. Soc.
Bull., 34 [2] 51-54 (1955).
4 J. G. Seanor, "Extraneous Factors That Affect the Operation
of Clay Extrusion Dies," Am. Ceram. Soc. Bull., 35 [9] 361-62
(1956).
6 P. C. Grunwell, "Studies of Machines for Extruding Clay
Columns: Augers, Spacers, and Dies for Brick Machines," Bur.
Standards J. Research, 1 [6] 1023-57 (1928) ; RP 36; Ceram.
Abstr., 8 [2] 113 (1929).
2 Journal of The American Ceramic Society--Park s and Hill
(a)
A 8
( b)
Pressure Zones - ( 2) ( 3)
Conveying ( 1 )
"'
e:
Atmos- l_ i...e::..._...L
pheric
Fig. 1. General model of an extruder operating on a claylike
the National Bureau of Slandards for lhe purpose of in-
vestigating, for the ceramic industry as a whole, the de-
liverv rate of a 131/rin. auger in pounds of extrudate per
l10u/ and in pounds per horsepower minute, and the quality
of the day column as functions of the number of wings on
the auger tip, the dimensions of the die, the length of spacer
between the auger tip and rear face of the die, the type of
clay, and the type of lubrication introduced into the die
during extrusion. In brief, Grunwell came to the con-
clusion that the effectiveness ratings in pounds per horse-
power minute of extrudate of the single-, double-, and triple-
winged auger tips were in general in the ratio 100:60. 51: 60. 53,
and that the efiectiveness ratings in pounds per hour of the
double- and triple-winged tips were in general higher than
that of the single-winged tip. The auger used in these tests
had a helix angle of 1035 1; Grunwell, however, made no
statement as to why this helix angle was used, nor did he
report the condition of the flight surfaces. In general, .the
design parameters concerning which he reached conclus10ns
were the die dimensions and the length of the spacer between
the auger tip and the die.
Hawk has proposed a firsl approximation method far the
calculation of the pitch-to-diameter ratio of an auger based
on the consideration that the friction of the material in con-
tact with the barre! and the screw governs the flow. 1 Accept-
ing this as a basic assumption, he concludes that the screw
should present the same area to the material as does the
barrel. As an illustration of his method, he has computed
the pitch of a screw far a barre!6 in. in diai_neter, the root
diameter of the screw being assumed to be 2 m. The result
is a pitch of the auger of 4 in. when a 1/s-in. radial clearance
in the barre! is allowed far, thus giving a pitch-to-diameter
ratio of 0.695. A pitch-to-diameter ratio of 0.75 has been
recommended to the present writers. * These pitch-to-di-
ameter ratios correspond to helix angles of 1225' and 1323',
respectively. In both these cases, the factor of frction of
the material in contact with the barre!and screw 1s recog-
nized; however, no statement is made as to how each of these
screws may differ in their action on two materials that may
have widely different coefficients of friction against .the
materials of construction of the barre! and auger and agamst
themselves (such as a plastic clay and a graphite-based
plastic material).
The general ideas discussed here have been. corroboraed
by the writers, who have stopped extruders m production
operating on a claylike plastic and have carefully drawn the
* C. Ludwig, chief engineer, The Welhan. Engineering Com-
pany Clevelan<l, Ohio; private commumcahon, October 1957.
Vol. 42, No. l
augers for visual examination of the properties of the material
// in the channels and the condition of the flight surfaces.
These experiences plus infarmation gleaned from the litera-
ture and discussions with extrusion machine experts have led
the writers to propose a model of an extruder fed with a
loase plastic mass The model is discussed in the light of
the theory of conveying solids that has proved to be success-
ful in studying the conveying section of the augers in or-
ganic thermoplastic extruders. Following this is a brief
Die discussion of the plastic properties of the plastic body ex-
perimented with and its die equation. This paper is con-
cluded with a proposed characteristic function that seeks
to descrihe the action of an extruder on a particular material.
11. The Model
, w Figure l is a schematic drawing depicting thc proposed
model. The sketch of the barre! auger and die of an extruder
plastic. in Fig. 1 (a) shows five zones in which the action of ma-
terial is different in response to the driving forces of the auger.
These zones are described as fallows:
Zone 1: The feed end of the auger to poinl A. This is
the conveying zone in which the loose material is moved
from the feed end to point A along the barre! without sig-
nificant densification. There is no buildup of pressure nor
increase in the bulk density of the material in this region.
Zone 2: Point A to point B. This zone is the densifying
region of the auger. In this region, the loose material is
compacted and partly deaired. The position of points A
and B are not to be considered fixed, as they may depend on
the pressure required to drive the compacted material through
the die.
Zone 3: Point B to the end of the auger, point C. This
zone is the metering zone of the auger in which the material
is as compact as it will get under the action of the auger.
It feeds the densified material to the pressure-distributing
zone at a rate that depends on the pressure in the pressure-
distributing chamber, tending to drive the material hack
along the channel of the auger.
Zone 4: Point C to point JJ. This zone serves the pur-
pose of distributing the pressure generated by the metering
zone more evenly over the die, thus tending to yield a more
even flow through the die. If the die is a multihole die,
the outermost holes tend to flow faster than the innermost
hales when the pressure-distributing zone is short and vice
versa when the pressure-distributing zone is long. There
appears to be a die to tip of the auger distance that will
yield a more even flow from all holes.6
Zone 5: The die plate, points D to E. The die plate
constitutes a resistance to flow that causes a pressure drop
from the pressure at its rear face to atmospheric pressure
at its front face. The pressure drop depends on the number
and type of die openings, the thickness of the die plate, the
volume rate of flow of material through the die, and the
plastic or rheological properties of the material.
Figure 1 ( b) is a hypothetical picture of the pressre
distribution along the axis of an extruder. In the conveymg
zone, the pressure remains essentially at atmospheric pres-
sure. In the densi.fying zone, the pressure builds up as the
bulk density of the material is increased as high as it will
get, at which point the material enters the meering zon. The
metering zone generates the pressure reqmred to dnve the
material through the die. The pressure in the pressure-dis-
tributing zone stays constant or drops along its length, de-
pending on the resistance of the die. In he die zone, te
pressure drops along the thickness of the die to atmosphenc
pressure. The pressure is shown to drop linearly : propo:-
tionally with the distance along the lenisth of the die. Th1s
L. F. Street, "Plastic Flow Paths in an Extruder Worm,"
Modern Plastics, 30, 130, 132, 134, 136, 200, 203-204, 206, 208,
210 (April 1953) .
January 1959 Extrusion Augers and the Characteristic Equation oj Extrusion Machines 3
is based on the assumption that the resistance of the die is
proportional to the thickness of the die. This is not
"'
X
<(

necessarily true for all materials, as the plastic or rheological

properties of materials may be influenced by the distance the
material has to travel to leave the die.
Of the five zones shown in Fig. 1 and considered to be
typical of ceramic plastics extruders, four are present in
organic thermoplastic extruders. The zone usually absent
is the pressure-distributing zone (zone 4), inasrnuch as the
organic plastics are liquids, under the conditions of extrusion,
in which case the pressure is hydraulic and therefore distrib-
uted uniformly over all containing surfaces. Two of the
remaining zones in plastics extruders, namely, the convey-
ing and metering zones (zones 1 and 3, respectively), have
been studied extensively both experimentally and theoreti-
cally, with the result that the engineering design of organic
plastics extruders is now more of a science than an art.7
In the densifying zone (zone 2) of both the organic and in-
organic plastics extruders, the condition of the material and
the forces acting on the material are changing in ways not
readily amenable to theoretical and experimental treat-
-- Direction of
Flight Motion

ments. The implication is that point B in Fig. 1, the en- Fig. 2. Forces acting on a plug of material in an auger channel.
trance to the metering zone, is not readily fixed. In the
case of the inorganic plastics extruder, the length of the
metering zone may be estimated by examining worn augers.
In the metering zone, there is extensive and high polish on
the leading surfaces of the flights and point B is approxi-
A more realistic case, as is seen from the following discussion,
mately where this condition markedly decreases.
is one in which the coefficient of friction of the plug in con-
111. Engineering Treatment of the Proposed Model tact with the auger is very small compared with the coefficient
of friction of the plug in contact with the barrel. The angle
The development of the theory of the auger action in an
of advance will approach a maximum that is less than 90.
inorganic plastics extruder is based on the work of Darnell
By studying the forces and torques acting on a differential
and Mol as modified by the assumption that the plug touches
length of the plug in the auger channel as shown in Fig. 2,
all sides of the auger channel, including the barrel, except Darnell and Mol showed that the angle of advance, e, is a
the trailing surface of the flights 7Ca) (see Fig. 2). function of the helix angle, r/>, and of the coefficients of
In the development of the theory, the assumption that friction of the plug against the barrel and auger. 1
Ca) In
the coefficients of friction of the plug of material against the light of the exception to their assumptions, mentioned
the auger and barrel are the same is made only to simplify previously, their equations reduce to equations (2) and (3).
the mathematics. It can be seen intuitively and in the
mathematical treatment that a higher coefficient of friction
at the barrel than at the auger should lead to better per-
cos () = K sin () + cos </>, (K tan et, + C)2 + X ( 2)

formance.
Equation (1) gives the delivery rate in terms of the pa-
r (K tan </> + E 2) + h 1::</>a (K tan </> + E 2) ln

rameters of the auger. K = E(tan et, + E!2 (3 )

tan II tan et, N E - , tan et,
Q = 1r ZDh( D - h) tan 11 + tan et, P (1) </>, = helix angle at root diameter of auger.
</>a = average helix angle obtained by reducing outside. diameter
Q = delivery rate of extruder (lb. per hour). of auger by depth of channel.
D = outside diameter of auger (in.). . = coefficient of friction of material in contact with auger.
h = depth of auger channel (in.). b = coefficient of friction of material in contact with barre!.
et, = helix angle of auger. P1 = pressure at feed point of auger or section of auger under
N = speed of auger (revolutions per hour). consideration (lb. per sq. in.).
p = density of material in screw channel (lb. per cu. in.). P, = pressure at tip of auger or end of section of auger under
11 = angle of advance of plug in auger channel measured from a consideration (lb. per sq. in.).
plane at right angles to axis of auger as shown in Fig. 2. L = length (in.) of auger between two points where the pressures
P 1 and P2 are exerted.
When the angle of advance, e, is zero, intuition and equa- t = pitch of auger (in.).
tion (1) show that the delivery rate, Q, should be zero. In E and C = constants havng same definitions in terms of dimen-
sions of the auger as gven by Darnell and Mol.
such a situation, the auger is said to have become logged.
At the other extreme, e is a right angle, and the plug moves Equation (2) can be written in a more understandable form
along the barrel like a nut on a bolt; the plug is advanced as follows:
one pitch for each revolution of the auger. This is not a
cos () = K sin () + M (4)
realistic case, however, as it would require that the coefficient
of friction of the plug in contact with the barrel have directional
properties, i.e., a low value parallel to the axis of the barrel and
M = cos ct,.( K tan et, + C2 ) + ;(K tan et, + E 2) +
an extremely high value perpendicular to the axis of the barrel.
h sin 2ct,"( K tan </> + EZ) In P2 (5)
Lb P1
Equation (4) shows that the conditions for no forward
movement of the plug, e = O , is that M = 1, and that the
condition for the nut-on-bolt movement, e = 90, is that
7 (a) W. H. Darnell and E. A. J. Mol, "Solids Conveying in
K = M = O, since K and M cannot be negative. Equation
Extruders," Soc. Plastics Engrs. Journal , 12, 20-29 (April 1956). (4) and the conditions show that the maximum forward
(b) Symposium on Plastics Extrusion, Ind . Eng. Chem., 45, 969
(1953). movement, which is short of the nut on bolt, is obtained by
4 Journal of The American Ceramic Society- Park s and Hill
"'o'
2
o
o::
;".' 4
Q)
.:':
o
Q)
Q)
Q)
i.t
30
Helix Angle ( deg.)
Fig. 3. Free delivery retes af the conveying and meter-
ing zones of a screw 4 in. in diameter.
choosing the design parameters of the auger in relation to
the coefficients of friction of the material so that K and M
are as small as practicable. In general, equations (4) and
(5) and the conditions show that it is just as good practice
in the inorganic plastics industry as in the organic plastics
industry to (1) make the channel as deep as practicable, (2)
roughen the barrel to increase the coefficient of friction,
b, and (3) polish the auger to decrease the coefficient of
friction, ., as doing these things tends to reduce K and M.
The ceramic extruder manufacturers include items (1) and
(2) in this list as their general practice. The channels of
their augers are rather deep and they roughen their barreis
by means of axial grooves. However, they do not finish
their flights surface as well as could be. It should be possible
to balance the loss of production during the break-in time
against the cost of a better finish on the flight surface by the
manufacturer of the extruder. Further conclusions can be
drawn from equation (5). The second term on the right-
hand side is a retardation (decrease of the angle of advance)
due to the pressure of the plug against the leading flights and
the third term is the retardation due to the pressure, P2,
tending to drive the plug back along the channel of the auger,
due primarily to the presence of a die on the extruder.
If the die is removed, the pressure retardation term in
equation (5) vanishes, and if the retardation due to the
leading flights is considered to be negligible, then equation
(2) reduces to
cos () = K sin () + cos </>, (K tan <f, + C2)
It was this simplified equation that Darnell and Mol
examined thoroughly in conjunction with equation (1) to
show thata the
through free delivery
maximum as therate (extruder
helix less the die)
angle increases frompasses
zero
when the other design parameters and the coefficients of
friction are known. The helix angle that yields the maxi-
mum delivery rate is the optimum helix angle. Darnell and
Mol also showed that as the coefficient of friction of the
plug against the auger, ., is increased, the optimum helix
angle decreases and the maximum delivery rate corre-
sponding to the optimum helix angle also decreases. These
ideas are illustrated by Darnell and Mol in their Fig. 6.
This is a possible explanation of why the ceramic extruder
manufacturers design their augers with helix angles on the
low side, as , for clay materials may be rather on the high
side.
Vol. 42, No. 1
Table l. States of a Claylike Ceramic Material Containing
32% Water
Conveying Metering
zone zone
Density (lb./cu. in.) 0. 0210 0 . 0382
Angle of repose (degrees) 32 37
Coefficient of friction 0. 63 0 . 76
Table 11. Fixed Parameters of the 4-ln. Extruder
Auger speed, N = 1560 r.p.h.
Outside diameter of screw, D = 4 in.
Channel depth of auger, h = 1.08 in.
IV. Design of an Optimum Auger
The problem of optimizing an auger consists of finding that
pitch or combination of pitches that will give the maximum
throughput of the extruder when the other pertinent dimen-
sions of the extruder are given and the coefficients of friction
of the material against the auger are known. Stated in this
way, the problem of applying the equations presented here
to the model of the entire extruder is a formidable task.
With the following simplifying assumption, the equations can
be applied and sufficient information obtained to aid in the
choice of an auger to do a particular job. The assumption
is that if an auger is optimum under the conditions of free
delivery, it will also be optimum with the die attached.
This has the merit of removing the retardation due to back-
pressure from the equation for M (equation (5)). Experi-
ment can justify this assumption. However, sufficient
data do not now exist to test the validity of it and it is
proposed on the basis of its reasonableness.
Under this assumption, the modified equations are appli-
cable to the conveying and metering zones of the auger.
In these zones, the state of the material may be specified, in
contrast to the constantly changing state of the material
in the densifying zone. The state of the material in a zone
may be specified by the bulk density and the coefficient of
friction of the material against the screw in the zone under
consideration.
The auger of a 4-in. extruder was studied for optimiza-
tion when working on a claylike ceramic material containing
32% water. The state of the material in the conveying zone
of the auger was considered to be the state of the loose, damp,
powdery material fed to the extruder and the state in the
metering zone to be that of the stiff, densified, extruded mate-
rial. The coefficients of friction of these materials were
experimentally determined from their angles of repose on a
smooth steel plate. Table I shows the states of the materials
in the conveying and metering zones. The parameters of
the extruder auger considered as fixed are given in Table II.
(6) The data in Table I and II were used to compute the variation
of the free delivery rate of the conveying zone, Q, as a
function of the helix angle, </>. The free delivery rate of the
metering zone was similarly calculated except that the
following equation was substituted for equation (6) :
cos </> = K sin </> + cos </>. ( K tan </> + C2 ) + r (K tan </> + E 2 ) (7)
This equation is the same as equation (6) except that the
term in M (equation (5)) representing the retardation due
to the pressure against the leading surfaces of the flights is
significant enough to retain. The results of these com-
putations are shown in Fig. 3.
The curves in Fig. 3 suggest sorne very interesting ideas.
The pitches for an optimum auger in the extruder operating
on a claylike plastic containing about 32% water and having
the properties shown in Table I are about 31/s in. in the
metering zone and 37/8 in. in the conveying zone corre-
January 1959 Extrusion Augers and the Characteristic Equation of Extrusion Machines 5
sponding to the maxima in the metering zone and conveying
zone curves, respectively. This is a tapered pitch auger Die Hole Diom. - 0.25 "
defined by maximum delivery rate and not by compression 60 Die Thickness - 1 "
of the eed material. The implication is that an auger .:
made th1s way would be such that the conveying zone would .e
starve the metering zone, as the pounds per hour rate of the '
..ci
conveying zone is considerably lower than that of the meter- 40
ing zone. Thus it appears that the advice of Seanor to a
Q)
starve augers may be followed by the construction of the o
auger and not necessarily by reducing the feed rate relative a::
to the auger speed.4 Drawing a line parallel to the cf> axis >. 20
Q)

and tangent to the delivery-rate curve of the conveying zone .:".

Q) /
at the maximum point B yields two augers, the metering o /
zones of which are not starved. The horizontal line inter- o
sects the metering-zone curve in two points, A and C. Point o 2 4 6
A defines a metering zone with a pitch smaller than the pitch Pressure ( lb./sq. in. ) x 10- 2
o the conveying zone and point B defines a metering zone Fig. 4. Die function of a single-hole die with a
shghtly larger than that of the conveying zone. The latter claylike plastic containing 32% water.
auger is one with a reverse taper pitch. Another auger in
which starvation would not be involved is defined by point
D in Fig. 3. The delivery-rate curves of the metering zone
and_convying zone inersect at that point. This auger is a
stra1ght p1tch auger w1th a pitch of about 4.6 in. and a helix Table 111. Plastic Viscosity and Yield Point of o Claylike
angle of about 20. The pitch of this auger is slightly off the Plastic Containing 32% Water as a Function of the Diameter
optimum pitch of the conveying zone and considerably off of the Die Hole
that of the metering zone. When the die is attached the Diam. of Plastic viscosity Yield point
delivery rates drop below those shown in Fig. 3 howver <_lie ho
_le
__(i_n_
.) (p
:_o_
is__e_
s) (:d._::y._n_e_s/sq. cm.)

it is obvious that the reduced delivery rate of th optimu
auger would be greater than that of any other auger that
could be used with the 4-in. extruder.
The effect of the die is due to the generation of pressure
by the metering zone required to drive the material through
the die. This resistance of the die to flow is primarily a
function of the rheological or plastic properties of the ma-
terial being extruded as well as the size and shape of the
opening in the die.
V. The Die Eq uation
The die equation is important in conjunction with the
characteristic function of an extruder. The characteristic
function describes how the delivery rate of an extruder varies
with the pressure developed by the metering zone of the
auger and the die equation shows how the flow rate of the die
varies with the pressure drop across it.
Te die equation is best approached experimentally. It
requires the measurement of various flow rates of the mate-
rial through the die and the pressures required to achieve
these flow rates. The best curve that can be put through
these data when they are plotted on a graph of flow rate ver-
sus pressure is the die function and the equation representing
this function is the die equation. Such experiments on sorne
dies are difficult to perform; there are, however, types of
dies that do not present too great a problem. These are
multiopening and multihole dies.
Sorne experimental work has been done with multihole
dies containing holes that are 1/4 in. in diameter. In this
case, the die equations were approached through experi-
ments on a small die 1 in. thick and containing one I/4-in.-
diameter hole.
The apparatus consisted of a cylinder into which the
sample .of claylike material with 32% water was placed;
the cylmder was then closed with a screw cap containing
the single-hole die. Ol was pumped into the cylinder at
variou flow rates with a metering gear type pump, thus
extrudmg the sample through the die. The sample and the
ol were separated by a close-fitting steel piston. A O to
2000 lb. per sq. in. gauge on a manifold in the oil line was
3/16 6.85 X 106 6 .8 X 106
'/, 1.18 X 106 8. 5 X 106
data when plotted as flow rate versus pressure served to give
the die function of the single-hale die.
Figure 4 shows the function obtained in this way. It is
interesting to note that this function is a straight line so
that the die equation is easily expressed as equation (8).
Q = 0.123 (P - 98.5) (8)
It should be noted that the function shown in Fig. 4 is
typical of plug flow, which adds sorne support to the theory
of auger design as developed in this paper. Equation (8)
may be treated by the method of Clark and Deutsch to
yield the plastic viscosity, rivi , and the yield point, Y, of the
claylike plastic used in these experiments.s
In general, the plastic viscosity and yield point should be
properties of the material and independent of the dimen-
sions of the die. However, experiments run with a 3/rn-in.-
diameter single-hole die gave a plastic viscosity and a yield
1
point significantly different from the values for the /4 -in.-
diameter single-hole die, as shown in Table III. An effect
of this type was observed by Scott Blair in his work on the
rheology of soil pastes. 9 The explanation of the effect is
not known. However, it indicates the pitfall one faces if
one studies the flow of claylike materials in one type of die
and expects it to behave similarly in a die of a different type
or area of opening.
If the multihole die with n boles is considered to be like
n electrical resistors in parallel, then the die equation becomes
equation (9).
Q = 0.123 n (P - 98.5) (9)
and for a 50-hole die the equation is
Q = 6.15 (P - 98.5) (10)
8 O. H. Clark and M. L. Deutsch, "Scheme for Analyzing Cap-

used to measure the pressure at the various flow rates.
Befare placing the sample into the cylinder, it was densified
to the proper bulk density by passing it through the meat-
grinder attachment of a Hobart Kitchen Aid mixer. These
tllary Measurements on Non-Newtonian Liquids," J. Appl.
Phys., 21, 713-15 (1950).
9 G. W. Scott Blair, An Introductory to Industrial Rheology,
pp. 33-35. P. Blakiston's Son & Co., Inc., Philadelphia, 1938.
143 pp.
6 Journal oj The American Ceramic Society-Kingery Vol. 42, No. 1
VI. The Characteristic Function
The characteristic function of an extruder operating on a
particular type of material is the plot of the delivery rate of (\j 6
1 p
the extruder versus the pressure at the die. As of now, the
writers of this paper do not know of any instrument that can
be used to measure the pressure in the pressure-distributing
><
..:: Choracterst
---- lC
.e
zone of a ceramic extruder. The nearest approach to this Functo;
is to measure the output of the extruder with the die in place
'
.ci 4

and then compute the pressure from the die equation. This o
method was used in obtaining the characteristic function of Q)

the 4-in. ceramic extruder operating on the claylike plastic. o

a::
Two of the points on the characteristic function of the >, 2
Q)
4-in. extruder were readily found. The delivery rate at >
zero pressure (less the die) was measured and was found to be o
Q)

540 lb. per hour, and the delivery rate was measured with
the 50-hole die in place and was found to be 480 lb. per hour.
By means of the die equation (10) the pressure correspond-
ing to the delivery rate of 480 lb. per hour was calculated
to be 177 lb. per sq. in. The two points were used to estab-
lish a tentative characteristic function for the 4-in. extruder
as shown in Fig. 5. Point P is the free delivery rate and
point Q is the delivery rate with a 50-hole die.
Other points on this characteristic function may be obtained
by drilling more holes or plugging up sorne of the boles in
the existing die, measuring the flow rates, and computing
the corresponding pressures using the die equation (9).
The characteristic function is very useful in predicting the
performance of an extruder when the die equation of a
particular die is known. If the die equation is plotted on
the same graph with a well-established characteristic function,
the performance of the extruder is given by the intersection
of the die function and the characteristic function, and the
expected delivery rate and pressure at the die may be read
from the graph. The concept of the characteristic function
o
o 2 3
Pressure al Die { lb. / sq. in. ) x 10-2
Fig. 5. Characteristic functian of a 4-in. extruder operating
on n claylike plastic containing 32% water. Point R is the
predicted performance of the 4-h extruder with a 70-hole die.
can also be useful in scale-up studies, as it is reasonable that
the characteristic function of a scaled-up extruder would be
related by a simple factor to the characteristic function of
the model being scaled up.
Acknowledgments
The writers wish to acknowledge the help and ideas given them
by J. G. Seanor and W. P. Schweizer of the Bonnot Company,
and R. H. Colwell, J. R. Donovan, R. H. Recard, and A. D. Davis
of the Monsanto Chemical Company.

Surface Tension of Sorne Liquid Oxides and Their

Temperature Coefficients
by W. D. KINGERY
Ceramics Division, Department of Metallurgy, Massachusetts lnstitute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Surface-tension data are reported for liquid point. 1 These liquids have temperature coefficients of surface
Al20s, B20a, Ge02, P206, and Si02, Abnormal tension in the range -0.05 to -0.13 dyne cm. -1 0c-1.
positive temperature coeffi.cients for B20 3,
Ge02, and Si02 are shown to be due mainly to f ( r
Similarly, organic and inorganic liquids near room temperature
have a negative temperature coefficient given to a good ap-

k ( T. - T)
(1)
changes in the with
liquid structure (dissociation)
temperature. proximation by the Ei.itvi.is equation
=

l. lntroduction where M is the molecular weight, p the density, Te the criti::al

XTENSIVE data are available in the literature for the temperature, and k the Ei.itvi.is constant. The temperature
E surface tension of various liquid salts and glasses.
Surface-tension values for typical alkali halides, nitrates,
and sulfates are in the range 80 to 250 dynecm. 1-at the melting
coefficient is unusually small for water, alcohols, and other
associated liquids, but is always negative for pure substances. 2

Received March 28, 1958; revised copy received June 12, 1958.
This research was supported by the U. S. Atomic Energy Com-
mission under Contract No. AT(30-1)-1852.
The writer is associate professor of ceramics, Ceramics Divi-
sion, Department of Metallurgy, Massachusetts Institute of
1 F. M. Jaeger, Optical Activity and High-Temperature.
Measurements. McGraw-Hill Book Co., lnc., New York, 1930.
450 pp.; Ceram. Abstr., 10 [7] 527 (1931).
2 N. K. Adam, Physics and Chemistry of Surfaces, 3d ed.

Technology. Oxford University Press, New York, 1941. 448 pp.