Rheologica Acta, Vol.41, No.1-2, 144-153, 2002
Three-dimensional viscoelastic simulation of coextrusion process: comparison with experimental data
Three-dimensional numerical simulation of viscoelastic coextrusion process has been performed and numerical results were compared with the experimental data of Karagiannis et al. (1990). By varying the magnitude of the second normal stress difference and its ratio of Fluid I and Fluid II, we were able to control the interface profile and the degree of encapsulation along the downstream direction. By increasing the parameter alpha (alpha(Fluid) (I) = alpha(Fluid II)) from 0.1 to 0.4 in the Giesekus model and increasing the alpha ratio (alpha(Fluid I):alpha(Fluid II)) between Fluid I and Fluid II from 2.0 to 4.0 in the permissible range of realistic polymeric systems, the interface profile and the degree of encapsulation along the downstream direction were fitted with the experimental results. There was little difference between the numerical results and the experimental data in the interface profile and the degree of encapsulation along the downstream direction when the alpha ratio was set to 3.0 (0.3:0.1). Fluid I with larger magnitude of the second normal stress difference protrudes into Fluid II with smaller magnitude of the second normal stress difference around the symmetric plane, while Fluid II wraps around Fluid I near the side walls. As the xi(1) ratio (xi(1,Fluid I):xi(1Fluid II)) increases from 1.0 to 3.0 for the two-mode Phan-Thien and Tanner model, it was found that the curvature of the interface profile increased, and the difference between the numerical results and the experimental data in the interface profile and the degree of encapsulation along the downstream direction was almost negligible when the xi(1) ratio was set to 3.0 (0.54:0.18). Although the parameters of viscoelastic models were fitted by using the shear viscosity data only, quantitative agreements between the numerical results and the experimental coextrusion data were quite satisfactory.
Keywords:three-dimensional numerical simulation coextrusion;interface profile;encapsulation;shear viscosity;second normal stress difference