Polymer Engineering and Science, Vol.50, No.2, 420-427, 2010
Experimental Analysis for Extrusion Screw Geometry to Produce Highly Transparent Polypropylene Sheets
The observation was experimentally conducted by using many screws with various geometries to obtain a highly transparent polypropylene melt resin sheet. The pressure distribution in the extruder, melt temperature profile across melt flow, the extruder throughput and the specific energy consumption were monitored. In a preliminary evaluation, transparent melt web was obtained in a simple straight channel depth screw and a straight channel depth screw with a torpedo type barrier section. The transparency of melted resin sheet was obtained by the screw geometry so that the specific energy consumption was small and the melted temperature was low. Based on these results and taking a wide applicability for a large size extruder of the production machine into consideration, the screw of gently tapered compression with a torpedo type barrier section was selected as the basic design of the screw geometry to satisfy both the transparency and the extrusion stability. The screw geometry optimization was conducted using the analysis of melting performance by the cooling experiment and the pressure pattern. As a result, the screw geometry to satisfy a low external haze and an extrusion stability under higher throughput conditions was designed. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 50:420-427, 2010. (C) 2009 Society of Plastics Engineers