Modeling of the extrudate swell with the aid of the POLYFLOW System

The extrudate swell (of the polymer stream leaving the forming channel) is described and the underlying mechanisms are discussed. Four swelling mechanisms were selected: Newtonian swelling, elastic recovery, thermal swelling and stress relaxation. The POLYFLOW System-based modeling techniques are described, enabling the free surface of generalized Newtonian fluids, i.e., viscous fluids with the viscosity related to shear rate and temperature, to be described and modelled. The planar and 3D flows of those fluids were modelled. The results obtained for the planar flow were found to be consistent with reported experimental data. The POLYFLOW System-assisted modeling has been found useful in analyzing a generalized Newtonian flow through channels of varying and complex geometries and thus applicable in designing of extrusion dies.