Fundamentals of Polymer PE-302 Engineering

Rabia Nazar

Extrusion

PE-302

Fundamentals of Polymer Engg.

Extrusion (Lect # 1)
What to cover
Purpose, advantages and disadvantages of Extrusion Development of Extrusion Line and Control Extrusion Problems and Troubleshootings Types of Extruders and Products of Extrusion Different Extrusion processes ( Extrusion film blowing, Extrusion blow molding, Calendaring etc. ) Post Extrusion Processing and its Importance

PE-302

Fundamentals of Polymer Engg.

Today's Topics

Introduction to Extrusion General terminologies involved in extrusion Advantages and Disadvantages of Extrusion Development of Extrusion Line Control of an Extrusion Line

PE-302

Fundamentals of Polymer Engg.

Extrusion
Extrusion a Greek word: To push out An Extruder is a pump that supplies a continuous stream of material to a shaping tool or post shaping process.

Objective
One of the most famous and easiest method of plastic processing. Use is not restricted to Plastics, some metals are also extruded (e,g. Al window frames).

PE-302

Fundamentals of Polymer Engg.

General Terminologies
Extruder : Mechanical assembly used to melt and push the material Extrusion Line: A typical set up that shows the complete arrangement and sequencing of all the important auxiliaries involved along with extruder to produce any uniform product. Converter: The extruder that simple operates to convert raw resin into the part. Tolling: The process of converting someone elses product. Barrel: The upper portion of extruder that covers the screw. Pipes or tubings: The parts which are in hollow cylindrical shape. Profiles: Parts that are hollow but not cylindrical. Die: The shaping tool installed usually at the end of a typical processing equipment. .

PE-302

Fundamentals of Polymer Engg.

FALLO Approach

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Fundamentals of Polymer Engg.

Advantages and Disadvantages

Uniform products Continuous Process High production Low processing cost Flexibility of Raw materials Can act as compounder.

No narrow and complex part Low extrusion pressures Uniform products only Screw is almost material specific

PE-302

Fundamentals of Polymer Engg.

Extrusion Line
Figure 10.1

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Fundamentals of Polymer Engg.

1- Base
1 meter high Massive support to extruder Control mechanical vibrations during processing

PE-302

Fundamentals of Polymer Engg.

2- Drive Motor

Power Requirements depend: Output Screw length Barrel Diameter Type of Resin and shaping tool design

Motor:

Provides power for operation DC motors are more common than AC due to cost but speed drift is much higher and low efficiencies. High ampere shutdown is always provided.

PE-302

Fundamentals of Polymer Engg.

3- Gear Box
Normal operating speed of Motors: 1750-2000 RPM Operating speed of extruder: 15-200 RPM For this speed reduction purpose, a gear box is installed that uses gears. Very small and very large screw extruders are run at about 50 RPM due to un-efficient processing. Intermediate extruders ( 3-5in. Screw) normally achieve 200 RPM max.

PE-302

Fundamentals of Polymer Engg.

4- Thrust Bearing
It is a mechanical assembly that is used to fix the screw at its mean position along with the drive motor. Prevents the fluctuations in screw rotations Prevents the leakage of material back One of most unreliable part of extruder and must be checked time to time during routine maintenance.

PE-302

Fundamentals of Polymer Engg.

5- Barrel
A rigid

chamber in which screw rotates and material flow. Size and capacity of extruder are directly related with barrel size. Usually made of Hard steel lined inside with wear and corrosion resistant materials. Barrel is heated Externally by heaters. Thermocouples are usually used for temperature measurement. Hopper is mounted over barrel near thrust bearing and might be fed manually or automatically.

PE-302

Fundamentals of Polymer Engg.

Screw

The feed box and barrel of the extruder form the casing for the screw. The screw must fit closely into the inner wall of its barrel so that the material feeding, pumping, and plasticizing actions are accomplished efficiently.

PE-302

Fundamentals of Polymer Engg.

6- Screw
A metal shaft over which a metal helix is mounted the acts as a normal screw flights is Screw of Extruder. Flight: One turn of the helix is called flight. Root Diameter: Actual diameter of Shaft of screw Screw Diameter: Root diameter + Flight (constant) Clearance: Clearance between flight tip and barrel inside diameter Pitch: The angle made by flight over screw (variable) Channel: Distance between two consecutive flights Flight Depth: Distance between tip of flight and root diameter.

PE-302 Fundamentals of Polymer Engg.

Screw Picture

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Fundamentals of Polymer Engg.

Commercial Screw

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Fundamentals of Polymer Engg.

Contd

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Fundamentals of Polymer Engg.

Functions of Screw
Screw is the most effective and costly part of an extruder. It wears soon and repairing costs 75% of a new screw cost.

Functions
1. 2. 3. 4.

Conveying Mixing of ingredients Melting by shearing action Pressure building so that material goes out of extruder.

PE-302

Fundamentals of Polymer Engg.

Aspect Ratio
L = Length of flighted portion of screw D = Inside diameter of barrel or/ screw outside diameter

Aspect Ratio = L/D

Importance: 1- Measure of capability of screw to mix 2- Measure of capability of screw to melt 3- Direct measure of the power requirements of extruder

Thermosets require low A.R. Typical values of A.R. are 16:1 32:1
PE-302 Fundamentals of Polymer Engg.

Compression Ratio

flight depth in the feed section to the flight depth in the metering section. Mostly, ranges from 1.1 :1 to 5:1 It is a measure of the work expended on the resin.

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Fundamentals of Polymer Engg.

Sections of Screw

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Fundamentals of Polymer Engg.

Screw Wear

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Fundamentals of Polymer Engg.

7- Head Zone
It consists of two parts: 1- Screen Pack 2- Breaker plates Screen pack prevents the removal of unmelted material acting as a filter while breaker plate acts as a support. Clogging of screens may occur leading to blinded screen conditions. Replacement of screen pack is necessary then. Two methods are available: 1- Direct insertion of screen pack 2-Smooth and continuous insertion
PE-302 Fundamentals of Polymer Engg.

8- Die
It is the shaping tool that is mounted at the end of screw along with a removable part called adapter. Typical dies include profile, pipe die, sheet, annular die, wire and cable coating dies etc. The exit orifice of the die is made flat and parallel to stabilize the melt shape. This flat portion is called Land. Practically Land length and effects are very important in designing an extruder because more the land, high would be the back pressure and smaller be the output. Experiments are always conducted to determine Land distance to designing new screw.
PE-302 Fundamentals of Polymer Engg.

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Fundamentals of Polymer Engg.

10- Cooling
The extrudate comes from die in hot form and must be cooled by any mean to maintain a specific shape. The cooling mechanism may differ from cold water bath to normal air, depending upon part requirements. A sizing plate is preferred in the cooling bath to attain better control over part dimensions. Vacuum cooling may be provided to provide the normal stresses to relax down normally.

PE-302

Fundamentals of Polymer Engg.

11- Puller
Pulling is required to pull the extrudate away from the extruder and through cooling system. The puller can not be sequenced before the cooling bath because hot melts do not have much strength to be pulled in hot form. The speed of the puller belt also dictates precise control over part dimensions. Also it defines the rate of extrusion.

PE-302

Fundamentals of Polymer Engg.

12- Part Removal Mechanism

The nature of removal mechanism depends upon the nature of the part manufactured: e,g. Pipes and rods are cut into long pieces of specific lengths through a manual or automated cutter. Flexible parts like sheets, wires and cables are wound over some reel.

PE-302

Fundamentals of Polymer Engg.

Size of extruder

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Fundamentals of Polymer Engg.

Operation and Control of Extrusion

This includes the followings:

Start up procedure for extruder Part dimension control Operational parameters and techniques to control

PE-302

Fundamentals of Polymer Engg.

Machine operation can take place in three stages. 1. The first stage requires operating the extruder for warmup with operational settings of up-stream and downstream equipment. 2. The next stage involves setting the required processing conditions to meet product requirements at the lowest cost. 3. The final stage is devoted to fine-tuning and problem solving the complete line. A successful operation requires close attention to many details, such as the melt quality, temperature profile adequate to melt but which does not degrade the plastic, production of a minimum of scrap, and procedures for start-up and shut-down that will not (or minimize) degrade the PE-302 Fundamentals of Polymer Engg. plastic.

Start-Up Procedure Layout

Preheat the three zones of extruder and die. 2. Run the extruder empty without die so that any residual resin from previous processing must be removed. 3. Use some reference material (LLDPE) if necessary for residual removal. This is called as purging. 4. If the melt exiting the die looks discolored, increase the frequency of purging. 5. All the material treatment steps should be completed before you run the extruder. 6. Initially allow the extrudate to simply drool onto the floor. 7. When all the purging material goes out, manually pull the extrudate through the cooling system into the puller. This is called String-Up. 8. to get uniform product PE-302 Run the extruder at steady state Fundamentals of Polymer Engg. and cut the product into specific lengths by using
1.

Material fed through hopper will flow through the gravity. Special measures are taken and devices used for materials that do not flow easily or can cause hangups (bridging or solidification resulting in plastic not flowing through the hopper). As the screw turns in the heated barrel, plastic falls down into its channel. Frictional forces develop in the plastic during plasticizing so that the melt moves forward toward the die

PE-302

Fundamentals of Polymer Engg.

The initial action is where the plastic is in a solid state with its temperature below its melting point. With the rise in temperature plasticizing action starts , and a melt film will form on the barrel surface. This change-over can occur at any location downstream in the plasticator, although generally not prior to the start of the compression (transition) zone. The actual location depends on the plastics rheological behavior, machine geometry which is general fixed, and operating conditions.

PE-302

Fundamentals of Polymer Engg.

Melt pressure in the barrel can vary from a low of about 3 MPa (500 psi) to a high of at least 34.5MPa (5000psi) depending on die/product requirements. An average pressure ranges from 14-20 MPa (20003000 psi).

PE-302

Fundamentals of Polymer Engg.

Part Dimension Control

1- Die Swell: Ratio of Extrudate dia to die orifice dia D.S. = Dx / Dd

Reasons for Die Swell:

Visco-elastic nature Plastic memory of polymers Un-even stress relaxation
PE-302 Fundamentals of Polymer Engg.

Controlling Die Swell

Increase the Land length Increase the processing temperature Decreasing the gap distance,extrudate is drawn more quickly into the water tank,through the sizing plate. Choice is there for you in the hole size of the sizing plate.

PE-302

Fundamentals of Polymer Engg.

Some Part Dimension Variables

Drawdown Ratio = Dd / Df Ratio of max. die swell to final part diameter. It is because of the change in the speed of the extruder and the puller.

PE-302

Fundamentals of Polymer Engg.

Critical Operational Parameters

Melt temperature Melt pressure Barrel temperature Die temperature Heater power Screw speed Line speed Finished products dimension Cooling rate

PE-302

Fundamentals of Polymer Engg.