Theoretical and experimental investigations of the melting of pellets in co-rotating twin-screw extruders

Knowledge of the plasticizing behavior in tightly intermeshing, co-rotating twin-screw extruders is of crucial importance for assessing the compounding process. Experiments were conducted on a laboratory extruder in order to establish the parameters that influence the melting process. Solidified samples of material were taken from the screw and microtome cuts produced from the plasticizing section. These were then assessed on the basis of image analysis. This visualization of the solid and molten phases which are present simultaneously together with the distribution of the two phases made it possible to quantify the reduction that occurs in the amount of solid material over the length of the screw configuration employed. A model is additionally presented for the calculation of the melting lengths and the melting profiles. This works on the basis of individual particles which are uniformly dispersed in the polymer melt. Allowance is made for the temperature increase in the solid material conveying section. A comparison of calculated and experimentally determined melting lengths revealed a satisfactory level of agreement.