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PART IExtrusion Machinery
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2Extruders in the polymer industry come in many different designs The main dis-
tinction between the various extruders is their mode o operation continuous or
discontinuous The latter type extruder delivers polymer in an intermittent ashion
and thereore is ideally suited or batch type processes such as injection molding
and blow molding As mentioned earlier continuous extruders have a rotating mem-ber whereas batch extruders have a reciprocating member A classification o the
various extruders is shown in Table 21
983090983089The Single Screw Extruder
Screw extruders are divided into single screw and multi screw extruders The singlescrew extruder is the most important type o extruder used in the polymer industry
Its key advantages are relatively low cost straightorward design ruggedness and
reliability and a avorable perormancecost ratio A detailed description o the hard-
ware components o a single screw extruder is given in Chapter 3
The extruder screw o a conventional plasticating extruder has three geometrically
different sections see Fig 21
This geometry is also referred to as a ldquosingle stagerdquo The single stage refers to the fact
that the screw has only one compression section even though the screw has threedistinct geometrical sections The first section (closest to the feed opening) generally
has deep flights The material in this section will be mostly in the solid state This
section is referred to as the feed section of the screw The last section (closest to the
die) usually has shallow flights The material in this section will be mostly in the
molten state This screw section is referred to as the metering section or pump sec-
tion The third screw section connects the feed section and the metering section
This section is called the transition section or compression section In most cases
the depth of the screw channel (or the height of the screw flight) reduces in a linear
fashion going from the feed section towards the metering section thus causing acompression of the material in the screw channel Later it will be shown that this
compression in many cases is essential to the proper functioning of the extruder
Different Typesof Extruders
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983089983092 983090Different Types of Extruders
The extruder is usually designated by the diameter o the extruder barrel In the
U S the standard extruder sizes are 34 1 1ndash12 2 2ndash12 3ndash12 4ndash12 6 8 10
12 14 16 18 20 and 24 inches
Obviously the very large machines are much less common than the smaller extrud-
ers Some machines go up in size as large as 35 inches These machines are used in
specialty operations such as melt removal directly rom a polymerization reactor
In Europe the standard extruder sizes are 20 25 30 35 40 50 60 90 120 150
200 250 300 350 400 450 500 and 600 millimeters Most extruders range in
size rom 1 to 6 inches or rom 25 to 150 mm An additional designation ofen used
is the length o the extruder generally expressed as length to diameter (L D) ratio
Typical L D ratios range rom 20 to 30 with 24 being very common Extruders used
or extraction o volatiles (vented extruders see Section 212) can have an L D ratio
as high as 35 or 40 and sometimes even higher
Table 21 Classification of Polymer Extruders
Screw extruders
(continuous)
Single screw extruders
Melt fed
Plasticating
Single stage
Multi stage
Compounding
Multi screw extruders
Twin screw extruders
Gear pumps
Planetary gear extruders
Multi (gt2) screw extruders
Disk or drum extruders
(continuous)
Viscous drag extruders
Spiral disk extruder
Drum extruder
Diskpack extruder
Stepped disk extruder
Elastic melt extrudersScrewless extruder
Screw or disk type melt extruder
Reciprocating extruders
(discontinuous)
Ram extruders
Melt fed extruder
Plasticating extruder
Capillary rheometer
Reciprocating single
screw extruders
Plasticating unit in injection molding machines
Compounding extruders such as the Kneader
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983090983089 The Single Screw Extruder 983089983093
983090983089983089Basic Operation
The basic operation o a single screw extruder is rather straightorward Material
enters rom the eed hopper Generally the eed material flows by gravity rom the
eed hopper down into the extruder barrel Some materials do not flow easily in dryorm and special measures have to be taken to prevent hang-up (bridging) o the
material in the eed hopper
As material alls down into the extruder barrel it is situated in the annular space
between the extruder screw and barrel and is urther bounded by the passive and
active flanks o the screw flight the screw channel The barrel is stationary and the
screw is rotating As a result rictional orces will act on the material both on the
barrel as well as on the screw surace These rictional orces are responsible or the
orward transport o the material at least as long as the material is in the solid state(below its melting point)
Feed section Compression Metering section
Figure 21 Geometry of conventional extruder screw
As the material moves orward it will heat up as a result o rictional heat genera-
tion and because o heat conducted rom the barrel heaters When the temperature
o the material exceeds the melting point a melt film will orm at the barrel surace
This is where the solids conveying zone ends and the plasticating zone starts It
should be noted that this point generally does not coincide with the start o the
compression section The boundaries o the unctional zones will depend on poly-
mer properties machine geometry and operating conditions Thus they can change
as operating conditions change However the geometrical sections o the screw are
determined by the design and will not change with operating conditions As thematerial moves orward the amount o solid material at each location will reduce as
a result o melting When all solid polymer has disappeared the end o the plasticat-
ing zone has been reached and the melt conveying zone starts In the melt-convey-
ing zone the polymer melt is simply pumped to the die
As the polymer flows through the die it adopts the shape o the flow channel o the
die Thus as the polymer leaves the die its shape will more or less correspond to
the cross-sectional shape o the final portion o the die flow channel Since the die
exerts a resistance to flow a pressure is required to orce the material through thedie This is generally reerred to as the diehead pressure The diehead pressure is
determined by the shape o the die (particularly the flow channel) the temperature
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983089983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
o the polymer melt the flow rate through the die and the rheological properties o
the polymer melt It is important to understand that the diehead pressure is caused
by the die and not by the extruder The extruder simply has to generate sufficient
pressure to orce the material through the die I the polymer the throughput the
die and the temperatures in the die are the same then it does not make any differ-ence whether the extruder is a gear pump a single screw extruder a twin screw
extruder etc the diehead pressure will be the same Thus the diehead pressure is
caused by the die and by the flow process taking place in the die flow channel This
is an important point to remember
983090983089983090Vented Extruders
Vented extruders are significantly different rom non-vented extruders in design
and in unctional capabilities A vented extruder is equipped with one or more open-
ings (vent ports) in the extruder barrel through which volatiles can escape Thus
the vented extruder can extract volatiles rom the polymer in a continuous ashion
This devolatilization adds a unctional capability not present in non-vented extrud-
ers Instead o the extraction o volatiles one can use the vent port to add certain
components to the polymer such as additives fillers reactive components etc This
clearly adds to the versatility o vented extruders with the additional benefit that
the extruder can be operated as a conventional non-vented extruder by simply plug-ging the vent port and possibly changing the screw geometry
A schematic picture o a vented extruder is shown in Fig 22
Feed housing
Cooling channel Heaters Barrel Die
Breaker plateVent port
Screw
Figure 22 Schematic of vented extruder
The design o the extruder screw is very critical to the proper unctioning o the
vented extruder One o the main problems that vented extruders are plagued with
is vent flow This is a situation where not only the volatiles are escaping through the
vent port but also some amount o polymer Thus the extruder screw has to be
designed in such a way that there will be no positive pressure in the polymer under
the vent port (extraction section) This has led to the development o the two-stage
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983090983089 The Single Screw Extruder 983089983095
extruder screw especially designed or devolatilizing extrusion Two-stage extruder
screws have two compression sections separated by a decompression extraction
section It is somewhat like two single-stage extruder screws coupled in series along
one shaf The details o the design o two-stage extruder screws will be covered in
Chapter 8 Vented extruders are used or the removal o monomers and oligomersreaction products moisture solvents etc
The devolatilization capability o single screw extruders o conventional design is
limited compared to twin screw extruders Twin screw extruders can handle solvent
contents o 50 and higher using a multiple-stage extraction system and solvent
content o up to 15 using singlestage extraction Single screw vented extruders
o conventional design usually cannot handle more than 5 volatiles this would
require multiple vent ports With a single vent port a single screw vented extruder
o conventional design can generally reduce the level o volatiles only a raction oone percent depending o course on the polymersolvent system
Because o the limited devolatilization capacity o single screw extruders o con-
ventional design they are sometimes equipped with two or more vent ports A draw-
back o such a design is that the length o the extruder can become a problem
Some o these extruders have a L D ration o 40 to 50 This creates a problem in
handling the screw or instance when the screw is pulled and increases the chance
o mechanical problems in the extruder (deflection buckling etc) I substantial
amounts o volatiles need to be removed a twin screw extruder may be more cost-
effective than a single screw extruder However some vented single screw extruderso more modern design have substantially improved devolatilization capability and
deserve equal consideration see Section 852
983090983089983091Rubber Extruders
Extruders or processing elastomers have been around longer than any other type o
extruder Industrial machines or rubber extrusion were built as early as the second
hal o the nineteenth century Some o the early extruder manuacturers were John
Royle in the U S and Francis Shaw in England One o the major rubber extruder
manuacturers in Germany was Paul Troester in act it still is a producer o extrud-
ers Despite the act that rubber extruders have been around or more than a cen-
tury there is limited literature on the subject o rubber extrusion Some o the hand-
books on rubber [1ndash5] discuss rubber extrusion but in most cases the inormation
is very meager and o limited useulness Harmsrsquo book on rubber extruders [13]
appears to be the only book devoted exclusively to rubber extrusion The ew publi-
cations on rubber extrusion stand in sharp contrast to the abundance o books andarticles on plastic extrusion Considering the commercial significance o rubber
extrusion this is a surprising situation
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983089983096 983090Different Types of Extruders
The first rubber extruders were built or hot eed extrusion These machines are ed
with warm material rom a mill or other mixing device Around 1950 machines
were developed or cold eed extrusion The advantages o cold eed extruders are
thought to be
Less capital equipment cost
Better control o stock temperature
Reduced labor cost
Capable o handling a wider variety o compounds
However there is no general agreement on this issue As a result hot eed rubber
extruders are still in use today
Cold eed rubber extruders nowadays do not differ too much rom thermoplastic
extruders Some o the differences are Reduced length
Heating and cooling
Feed section
Screw design
There are several reasons or the reduced length The viscosity o rubbers is gener-
ally very high compared to most thermoplastics about an order o magnitude higher
[5] Consequently there is a substantial amount o heat generated in the extru-
sion process The reduced length keeps the temperature build-up within limits The
specific energy requirement or rubbers is generally low partly because they are
usually extruded at relatively low temperatures (rom 20 to 120degC) This is another
reason or the short extruder length The length o the rubber extruder will depend
on whether it is a cold or hot eed extruder Hot eed rubber extruders are usually
very short about 5D (D = diameter) Cold eed extruders range rom 15 to 20D
Vented cold eed extruders may be even longer than 20D
Rubber extruders used to be heated quite requently with steam because o the rela-
tively low extrusion temperatures Today many rubber extruders are heated likethermoplastic extruders with electrical heater bands clamped around the barrel Oil
heating is also used on rubber extruders and the circulating oil system can be used
to cool the rubber Many rubber extruders use water cooling because it allows effec-
tive heat transer
The eed section o the rubber extruders has to be designed specifically to the eed
stock characteristics o the material The extruder may be ed with either strips
chunks or pellets I the extruder is ed rom an internal mixer (e g Banbury Shaw
etc) a power-operated ram can be used to orce the rubber compound into the
extruder The eed opening can be undercut to improve the intake capability o the
extruder This can be useul because the rubber eed stock at times comes in rela-
tively large particles o irregular shape When the material is supplied in the orm o
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983090983089 The Single Screw Extruder 983089983097
a strip the eed opening is ofen equipped with a driven roll parallel to the screw to
give a ldquoroller eedrdquo Material can also be supplied in powder orm It has been shown
that satisactory extrusion is possible i the powder is consolidated by ldquopill-makingrdquo
techniques Powdered rubber technology is discussed in detail in [6]
The rubber extrusion technology appears to be considerably behind the plastics
extrusion technology Kennaway in one o the ew articles on rubber extrusion [8]
attributes this situation to two actors The first is the requent tendency o rubber
process personnel to solve extrusion problems by changing the ormulation o the
compound The second is the widespread notion that the extrusion behavior o rub-
bers is substantially different rom plastics because rubbers crosslink and plastics
generally do not This is a misconception however because the extrusion character-
istics o rubber and plastics are actually not substantially different [9]
When the rubber is slippery as in dewatering rubber extruders the eed section othe barrel is grooved to prevent slipping along the barrel surace or the barrel I D
may be fitted with pins This significantly improves the conveying action o the
extruder The same technique has been applied to the thermoplastic extrusion as
discussed in Section 14 and Section 7222
The extruder screw or rubber ofen has constant depth and variable decreasing
pitch (VDP) many rubber screws use a double-flighted design see Fig 23 Screws
or thermoplastics usually have a decreasing depth and constant pitch see Fig 21
Figure 983090983091
Typical screw geometry for rubber
extrusion
Another difference with the rubber extruder screw is that the channel depth is usu-
ally considerably larger than with a plastic extruder screw The larger depth is used
to reduce the shearing o the rubber and the resulting viscous heat generation
There is a large variety o rubber extruder screws as is the case with plastic extruder
screws Figure 24 shows the ldquoPlastiscrewrdquo manuactured by NRM
Figure 983090983092
The NRM Plastiscrew
Figure 25 shows the Pirelli rubber extruder screw This design uses a eed section
o large diameter reducing quickly to the much smaller diameter o the pumping
section The conical eed section uses a large clearance between screw flight and
barrel wall This causes a large amount o leakage over the flight and improves the
batch-mixing capability o the extruder
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983090983088 983090Different Types of Extruders
Figure 983090983093
The Pirelli rubber extruder screw
Figure 26 shows the EVK screw by Werner amp Pfleiderer [14] This design eatures
cross-channel barriers with preceding undercuts in the flights to provide a change
in flow direction and increased shearing as the material flows over the barrier or the
undercut in the flight A rather unusual design is the Transermix [10ndash13] extrudermixer which has been used or compounding rubber ormulations This machine
eatures helical channels in both the screw and barrel see Fig 27
Figure 983090983094
The EVK screw by Werner amp Pfleiderer
Vent
Feed
Figure 27 The Transfermix extruder
By a varying root diameter o the screw the material is orced in the flow channel
o the barrel A reduction o the depth o the barrel channel orces the material
back into the screw channel This requent reorientation provides good mixing
However the machine is difficult to manuacture and expensive to repair in case o
damageAnother rubber extruder is the QSM extruder [7 15ndash20] QSM stands or the Ger-
man words ldquoQuer Strom Mischrdquo meaning cross-flow mixing This extruder has
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983090983089 The Single Screw Extruder 983090983089
adjustable pins in the extruder barrel that protrude all the way into the screw chan-
nel see Fig 28
Figure 28 The QSM extruder (pin barrel extruder)
The screw flight has slots at the various pin locations The advantages o this ex-
truder in rubber applications are good mixing capability with a low stock tempera-
ture increase and low specific energy consumption This extruder was developed by
Harms in Germany and is manuactured and sold by Troester and other companies
Even though the QSM extruder has become popular in the rubber industry its appli-
cations clearly extend beyond just rubber extrusion In thermoplastic extrusion its
most obvious application would be in high viscosity thermally less stable resins
PVC could possibly be a candidate although dead spots may create problems with
degradation However it can probably be applied wherever good mixing and good
temperature control are requiredAnother typical rubber extrusion piece o hardware is the roller die A schematic
representation is shown in Fig 29
Figure 29 The roller die used in rubber extrusion
The roller die (B F Goodrich 1933) is a combination o a standard sheet die and a
calender It allows high throughput by reducing the diehead pressure it reduces air
entrapment and provides good gauge control
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983090983090 983090Different Types of Extruders
983090983089983092High-Speed Extrusion
One way to achieve high throughputs is to use high-speed extrusion High-speed
extrusion has been used in twin screw compounding or many yearsmdashsince the
1960s However in single screw extrusion high speed extrusion has not been usedon a significant scale until about 1995 Twin screw extruders (TSE) used in com-
pounding typically run at screw speeds ranging rom 200 to 500 rpm in some cases
screw speeds beyond 1000 rpm are possible Single screw extruders (SSE) usually
operate at screw speeds between 50 to 150 rpm
Since approx 1995 several extruder manuacturers have worked on developing
high-speed single screw extruders (HS-SSE) Most o these developments have taken
place at German extruder manuacturers such as Batteneld Reienhaumluser Kuhne
and Esde Currently HS-SSEs are commercially available and have been in use orseveral years [108]
Batteneld supplies a high speed 75-mm SSE that can run at screw speeds up to
1500 rpm [109] This machine can achieve throughputs up to 2200 kg hr It uses a
our-motor CMG torque drive with 390 kW made by K amp A Knoedler
983090983089983092983089Melt Temperature
One o the interesting characteristics o the HS-SSE is that the melt temperature
remains more or less constant over a broad range o screw speed [108 109] see
Fig 210
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0
T h r o u g
h p u t [ k g h r ]
75-mm extruder PS 486
P Rieg Battenfeld HJ Renner BASF
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200
Screw speed [revmin]
250
240
230
220
210
200
M e l t t e m
p e r a t u r e [ o C ]
Figure 983090983089983088
Throughput and melt
temperature versus
screw speed
This graph shows both the throughput in kg hr and the melt temperature in degC The
temperature curve indicates that there is less than a 2degC change in melt tempera-ture rom 200 rpm up to about 1000 rpm At screw speeds rom 110 rpm to 225 rpm
the melt temperature actually drops rom about 223 to about 215degC
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983090983089 The Single Screw Extruder 983090983091
In conventional extruders the melt temperature typically increases with screw
speed This ofen creates problems when we deal with high-viscosity polymers par-
ticularly when they have limited thermal stability In the example shown in Fig 210
the melt temperature is essentially constant as screw speed increases rom 200 to
1000 rpm This is probably the result o two actors the residence time o the poly-mer melt is reduced with increasing screw speed and the volume o the molten poly-
mer likely reduces with increasing screw speed as the melting length becomes
longer with increased screw speed
983090983089983092983090Extruders without Gear Reducer
An important advantage o high-speed SSE is that a conventional gear reducer is no
longer necessary The gear reducer is one o the largest cost actors or a conven-
tional extruder As a result extruders without a gear reducer are significantly lessexpensive compared to conventional extruders that achieve the same rate A urther
advantage o the elimination o the gear reducer is a significant reduction in noise
level Contrary to what one would expect HS-SSE actually run very quiet the noise
level is substantially lower than it is or conventional extruders with gear reducers
983090983089983092983091Energy Consumption
Another benefit o high-speed SSE is the reduction in energy consumption Rieg
[108 109] reports the ollowing mechanical specific energy consumption
The reduction in energy consumption listed in Table 22 is significant between 35
and 45 I the extruder runs PP at 2000 kg hr a reduction in SEC o 010 kWh kg
corresponds to a reduction in power consumption o 200 kW every hour I the power
cost is $010 per kWh (or consistency) the savings per hour will be $20 per hour
$480 per day $3360 per week and $168000 per year at 50 weeks per year Clearly
this can have a significant effect on the profitability o an extrusion operation
Table 22 Specific Energy Consumption for Standard Extruder and High-Speed Extruder
Type of extruder SEC with polystyrene [kWhkg] SEC with polypropylene [kWhkg]
Standard extruder 019minus021 027minus029
High-speed extruder 010minus012 017minus019
983090983089983092983092Change-over Resin Consumption
Another important issue in efficient extrusion is the time and material used when a
change in resin is made With high-speed extruders the change-over time is quite
short because the volume occupied by the plastic is small while the throughput is
very high
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983090983092 983090Different Types of Extruders
Table 23 shows a comparison o the high-speed 75-mm extruder to a conventional
180-mm extruder running at the same throughput The amount o material con-
sumed in the change-over is 150 kg or the 75-mm extruder and 1300 kg or the
180-mm extruder I we assume a resin cost o $100 per kg the savings are
$115000 per change-over I we have three change-overs per week the yearly sav-ings in reduced resin usage comes to $172500 per year Clearly this is not an insig-
nificant amount
Table 23 Comparison of Change-Over Time and Material Consumption
75-mm extruder 180-mm extruder
Volume in the extruder [liter] 4 40
Material consumption for change-over [kg] 150 1300
Change-over time [min] 5 40
983090983089983092983093 Change-over Time and Residence Time
Table 23 also shows that the change-over time or the 75-mm extruder is approx
5 minutes while it is approx 40 minutes in the 180-mm extruder Clearly the
reduced change-over time results rom the act that the volume occupied by the plas-
tic is much smaller (4 liter) in the 75-mm extruder than in the 180-mm extruder
(40 liter) I the change-over time can be reduced rom 40 to 5 minutes this means
that 35 minutes are now available to run production resulting in greater up-time othe extrusion line
The small volume o the HS-SSE also results in short residence times The mean
residence time ranges rom approx 5 to 10 seconds In conventional SSE the resi-
dence times are substantially longer typically between 50 to 100 seconds Since
HS-SSE can run at relatively low melt temperatures the chance o degradation is
actually less in these extruders There is ample evidence in actual high-speed ex-
trusion operations that the plastic is less susceptible to degradation in these opera-
tions
983090983090The Multiscrew Extruder
221The Twin Screw Extruder
A twin screw extruder is a machine with two Archimedean screws Admittedly this
is a very general definition However as soon as the definition is made more spe-
cific it is limited to a specific class o twin screw extruders There is a tremendous
variety o twin screw extruders with vast differences in design principle o opera-
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983090983090 The Multiscrew Extruder 983090983093
tion and field o application It is thereore difficult to make general comments
about twin screw extruders The differences between the various twin screw extrud-
ers are much larger than the differences between single screw extruders This is to
be expected since the twin screw construction substantially increases the number
o design variables such as direction o rotation degree o intermeshing etc A clas-sification o twin screw extruders is shown in Table 24 This classification is pri-
marily based on the geometrical configuration o the twin screw extruder Some
twin screw extruders unction in much the same ashion as single screw extruders
Other twin screw extruders operate quite differently rom single screw extruders
and are used in very different applications The design o the various twin screw
extruders with their operational and unctional aspects will be covered in more
detail in Chapter 10
Table 24 Classification of Twin Screw Extruders
Intermeshing extruders
Co-rotating extrudersLow speed extruders for profile extrusion
High speed extruders for compounding
Counter-rotating extruders
Conical extruders for profile extrusion
Parallel extruders for profile extrusion
High speed extruders for compounding
Non-intermeshing
extruders
Counter-rotating extrudersEqual screw length
Unequal screw length
Co-rotating extruders Not used in practice
Co-axial extruders
Inner melt transport forward
Inner melt transport rearward
Inner solids transport rearward
Inner plasticating with rearward transport
983090983090983090The Multiscrew Extruder With More Than Two Screws
There are several types o extruders which incorporate more than two screws One
relatively well-known example is the planetary roller extruder see Fig 211
Planetary screws
Sun (main) screw Melting and feed section
Discharge
Figure 211 The planetary roller extruder
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983090983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
This extruder looks similar to a single screw extruder The eed section is in act
the same as on a standard single screw extruder However the mixing section o the
extruder looks considerably different In the planetary roller section o the extruder
six or more planetary screws evenly spaced revolve around the circumerence o
the main screw In the planetary screw section the main screw is reerred to as thesun screw The planetary screws intermesh with the sun screw and the barrel The
planetary barrel section thereore must have helical grooves corresponding to the
helical flights on the planetary screws This planetary barrel section is generally a
separate barrel section with a flange-type connection to the eed barrel section
In the first part o the machine beore the planetary screws the material moves
orward as in a regular single screw extruder As the material reaches the planetary
section being largely plasticated at this point it is exposed to intensive mixing by
the rolling action between the planetary screws the sun screw and the barrel Thehelical design o the barrel sun screw and planetary screws result in a large sur-
ace area relative to the barrel length The small clearance between the planetary
screws and the mating suraces about frac14 mm allows thin layers o compound to be
exposed to large surace areas resulting in effective devolatilization heat exchange
and temperature control Thus heat-sensitive compounds can be processed with a
minimum o degradation For this reason the planetary gear extruder is requently
used or extrusion compounding o PVC ormulations both rigid and plasticized
[21 22] Planetary roller sections are also used as add-ons to regular extruders to
improve mixing perormance [97 98] Another multiscrew extruder is the our-screw extruder shown in Fig 212
Figure 983090983089983090
Four-screw extruder
This machine is used primarily or devolatilization o solvents rom 40 to as low as
03 [23] Flash devolatilization occurs in a flash dome attached to the barrel The
polymer solution is delivered under pressure and at temperatures above the boiling
point o the solvent The solution is then expanded through a nozzle into the flash
dome The oamy material resulting rom the flash devolatilization is then trans-
ported away by the our screws In many cases downstream vent sections will beincorporated to urther reduce the solvent level
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983090983090 The Multiscrew Extruder 983090983095
983090983090983091The Gear Pump Extruder
Gear pumps are used in some extrusion operations at the end o a plasticating
extruder either single screw or twin screw [99ndash106] Strictly speaking the gear
pump is a closely intermeshing counterrotating twin screw extruder However sincegear pumps are solely used to generate pressure they are generally not reerred to
as an extruder although the gear pump is an extruder One o the main advantages
o the gear pump is its good pressure-generating capability and its ability to main-
tain a relatively constant outlet pressure even i the inlet pressure fluctuates con-
siderably Some fluctuation in the outlet pressure will result rom the intermeshing
o the gear teeth This fluctuation can be reduced by a helical orientation o the gear
teeth instead o an axial orientation
Gear pumps are sometimes reerred to as positive displacement devices This is notcompletely correct because there must be mechanical clearances between the gears
and the housing which causes leakage Thereore the gear pump output is depend-
ent on pressure although the pressure sensitivity will generally be less than that o
a single screw extruder The actual pressure sensitivity will be determined by the
design clearances the polymer melt viscosity and the rotational speed o the gears
A good method to obtain constant throughput is to maintain a constant pressure di-
erential across the pump This can be done by a relatively simple pressure eedback
control on the extruder eeding into the gear pump [102] The non-zero clearances
in the gear pump will cause a transormation o mechanical energy into heat by vis-cous heat generation see Section 534 Thus the energy efficiency o actual gear
pumps is considerably below 100 the pumping efficiency generally ranges rom
15 to 35 The other 65 to 85 goes into mechanical losses and viscous heat gene-
ration Mechanical losses usually range rom about 20 to 40 and viscous heating
rom about 40 to 50 As a result the polymer melt going through the gear pump
will experience a considerable temperature rise typically 5 to 10degC However in
some cases the temperature rise can be as much as 20 to 30degC Since the gear
pump has limited energy efficiency the combination extruder-gear pump is not nec-
essarily more energy-efficient than the extruder without the gear pump Only i the
extruder eeding into the gear pump is very inefficient in its pressure development
will the addition o a gear pump allow a reduction in energy consumption This
could be the case with co-rotating twin screw extruders or single screw extruders
with inefficient screw design
The mixing capacity o gear pumps is very limited This was clearly demonstrated
by Kramer [106] by comparing melt temperature fluctuation beore and afer the
gear pump which showed no distinguishable improvement in melt temperature uni-
ormity Gear pumps are ofen added to extruders with unacceptable output fluc-tuations In many cases this constitutes treating the symptoms but not curing the
actual problem Most single screw extruders i properly designed can maintain
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983090983096 983090Different Types of Extruders
their output to within plusmn 1 I the output fluctuation is considerably larger than 1
there is probably something wrong with the machine very ofen incorrect screw
design In these cases solving the actual problem will generally be more efficient
than adding a gear pump For an efficient extruder-gear pump system the extruder
screw has to be modified to reduce the pressure-generating capacity o the screw
Gear pumps can be used advantageously
1 On extruders with poor pressure-generating capability (e g co-rotating twin
screws multi-stage vented extruders etc)
2 When output stability is required better than 1 i e in close tolerance extru-
sion (e g fiber spinning cable extrusion medical tubing coextrusion etc)
Gear pumps can cause problems when
1 The polymer contains abrasive components because o the small clearances thegear pump is very susceptible to wear
2 When the polymer is susceptible to degradation gear pumps are not sel-clean-
ing and combined with the exposure to high temperatures this will result in
degraded product
983090983091Disk Extruders
There are a number o extruders which do not utilize an Archimedean screw or
transport o the material but still all in the class o continuous extruders Some-
times these machines are reerred to as screwless extruders These machines
employ some kind o disk or drum to extrude the material One can classiy the disk
extruders according to their conveying mechanism (see Table 21) Most o the disk
extruders are based on viscous drag transport One special disk extruder utilizes
the elasticity o polymer melts to convey the material and to develop the necessary
diehead pressure
Disk extruders have been around or a long time at least since 1950 However at
this point in time the industrial significance o disk extruders is still relatively small
compared to screw extruders
983090983091983089Viscous Drag Disk Extruders
983090983091983089983089Stepped Disk Extruder
One o the first disk extruders was developed by Westover at Bell Telephone Labo-
ratories it is ofen reerred to as a stepped disk extruder or slider pad extruder [24]
A schematic picture o the extruder is shown in Fig 213
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983090983097
In
Out
Figure 983090983089983091
The stepped disk
The heart o the machine is the stepped disk positioned a small distance rom a flat
disk When one o the disks is rotated with a polymer melt in the axial gap a pres-
sure build-up will occur at the transition o one gap size to another smaller gap sizesee Fig 214
v
Distance
P r e s s u r e
Figure 983090983089983092
Pressure generation in the step region
I exit channels are incorporated into the stepped disk the polymer can be extruded
in a continuous ashion The design o this extruder is based on Rayleighrsquos [25]
analysis o hydrodynamic lubrication in various geometries He concluded that the
parallel stepped pad was capable o supporting the greatest load The stepped disk
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983091983088 983090Different Types of Extruders
extruder has also been designed in a different configuration using a gradual change
in gap size This extruder has a wedge-shaped disk with a gradual increase in pres-
sure with radial distance
A practical disadvantage o the stepped disk extruder is the act that the machine is
difficult to clean because o the intricate design o the flow channels in the stepped
disk
983090983091983089983090Drum Extruder
Another rather old concept is the drum extruder A schematic picture o a machine
manuactured by Schmid amp Kocher in Switzerland is shown in Fig 215
In
OutOutIn
Figure 983090983089983093 The drum extruder by Schmid amp Kocher
Material is ed by a eed hopper into an annular space between rotor and barrel By
the rotational motion o the rotor the material is carried along the circumerence o
the barrel Just beore the material reaches the eed hopper it encounters a wiper
bar This wiper bar scrapes the polymer rom the rotor and deflects the polymer flow
into a channel that leads to the extruder die Several patents [26 27] were issued on
this design however these patents have long since expired
A very similar extruder (see Fig 216) was developed by Askco Engineering andCosden Oil amp Chemical in a joint venture later this became Permian Research Two
patents have been issued on this design [28 29] even though the concept is very
similar to the Schmid amp Kocher design
One special eature o this design is the capability to adjust the local gap by means
o a choker bar similar to the gap adjustment in a flat sheet die see Section 92 The
choker bar in this drum extruder is activated by adjustable hydraulic oil pressure
Drum extruders have not been able to be a serious competition to the single screw
extruder over the last 50 years
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983091983089
Hopper
DieRotor
Housing
Wiper bar
Hopper
Wiper bar
DieRotor
Housing
Figure 983090983089983094
The drum extruder by AskoCosden
983090983091983089983091Spiral Disk Extruder
The spiral disk extruder is another type o disk extruder that has been known or
many years Several patented designs were described by Schenkel (Chapter 1 [3])
Similar to the stepped disk extruder the development o the spiral disk extruder
is closely connected to spiral groove bearings It has long been known that spiral
groove bearings are capable o supporting substantial loads Ingen Housz [30] has
analyzed the melt conveying in a spiral disk extruder with logarithmic grooves in
the disk based on Newtonian flow behavior o the polymer melt In terms o melt
conveying capability the spiral disk extruder seems comparable to the screw ex-truder however the solids conveying capability is questionable
983090983091983089983092Diskpack Extruder
Another development in disk extruders is the diskpack extruder Tadmor originated
the idea o the diskpack machine which is covered under several patents [31ndash33]
The development o the machine was undertaken by the Farrel Machinery Group o
Emgart Corporation in cooperation with Tadmor [34ndash39] The basic concept o the
machine is shown in Fig 217Material drops in the axial gap between relatively thin disks mounted on a rotating
shaf The material will move with the disks almost a ull turn then it meets a chan-
nel block The channel block closes off the space between the disks and deflects the
polymer flow to either an outlet channel or to a transer channel in the barrel The
shape o the disks can be optimized or specific unctions solids conveying melting
devolatilization melt conveying and mixing A detailed unctional analysis can be
ound in Tadmorrsquos book on polymer processing (Chapter 1 [32])
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983091983090 983090Different Types of Extruders
v
v
Channel blockInlet
Outlet
Barrel
Solid bed
Shaft
Melt pool
Inlet Channel block
Outlet
Melt pool
Solid bed
Barrel
Shaft
v
v Figure 983090983089983095
The diskpack extruder
It is claimed that this machine can perorm all basic polymer-processing operations
with efficiency equaling or surpassing existing machinery Clearly i the claim is
true and can be delivered or a competitive price the diskpack extruder will become
an important machine in the extrusion industry The first diskpack machines were
delivered to the industry in 1982 still under a joint development type o agreement
Now almost 20 years afer the first diskpack machines were delivered it is clear
that the acceptance o these machines in the industry has been very limited In act
Farrel no longer actively markets the diskpack machine In most o the publications
the diskpack machine is reerred to as a polymer processor This term is probably
used to indicate that this machine can do more than just extruding although the
diskpack is o course an extruder
The diskpack machine incorporates some o the eatures o the drum extruder and
the single screw extruder One can think o the diskpack as a single screw extruder
using a screw with zero helix angle and very deep flights Forward axial transportcan only take place by transport channels in the barrel with the material orced into
those channels by a restrictor bar as with the drum extruder The use o restrictor
bars (channel block) and transer channels in the housing make it considerably
more complex than the barrel o a single screw extruder
One o the advantages o the diskpack is that mixing blocks and spreading dams can
be incorporated into the machine as shown in Fig 218(a)
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983091983091
v
v
Channel blockInlet
Outlet
Mixing block
Disk
Inlet Channel block
Outlet
Mixing blockDisk v
v Figure 983090983089983096(a)
Mixing blocks in the diskpack
Mixing blocks o various shapes can be positioned externally into the processing
chamber This is similar to the QSM extruder only that in the QSM extruder the
screw flight has to be interrupted to avoid contact This is not necessary in the disk-
pack because the flights have zero helix angles in other words they run perpen-
dicular to the rotor axis By the number o blocks the geometry o the block and the
clearance between block and disk one can tailor the mixing capability to the par-
ticular application The use o spreading dams allows the generation o a thin film
with a large surace area this results in effective devolatilization capability The
diskpack has inherently higher pressure-generating capability than the single
screw extruder does This is because the diskpack has two dragging suraces while
the single screw extruder has only one see Fig 218(b)
v
v=0
v
v
Conveying mechanismsingle screw extruder
Conveying mechanism
diskpack extruder Figure 983090983089983096(b)
Comparison of conveying mechanism in diskpackand single screw extruder
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983091983092 983090Different Types of Extruders
At the same net flow rate equal viscosity equal plate velocity and optimum plate
separation the theoretical maximum pressure gradient o the diskpack is eight
times higher than the single screw extruder [34] Thus high pressures can be gen-
erated over a short distance which allows a more compact machine design The
energy efficiency o the pressure generation is also better than in the single screwextruder the maximum pumping efficiency approaches 100 see derivation in
Appendix 21 For the single screw extruder the maximum pumping efficiency is
only 33 as discussed in Section 7413 The energy efficiency o pressure genera-
tion is the ratio o the theoretical energy requirement (flow rate times pressure rise)
to the actual energy requirement (wall velocity times shear stress integrated over
wall surace) It should be noted that the two dragging platesrsquo pumping mechanism
exists only in tangential direction The pumping in axial (orward) direction occurs
only in the transer channel in the housing This orward pumping occurs by the one
dragging plate mechanism as in the single screw extruder The maximum efficiency
or orward pumping thereore is only 33 The overall pumping efficiency will be
somewhere between 33 and 100 i the power consumption in the disk and channel
block clearance is neglected
Studies on melting in the diskpack were reported by Valsamis et al [96] It was
ound that two types o melting mechanism could take place in the diskpack the
drag melt removal (DMR) mechanism and the dissipative melt mixing (DMM) mech-
anism The DMR melting mechanism is the predominant mechanism in single screw
extruders this is discussed in detail in Section 73 In the DMR melting mechanismthe solids and melt coexist as two largely continuous and separate phases In the
DMM melting mechanism the solids are dispersed in the melt there is no conti-
nuous solid bed It was ound that the DMM mechanism could be induced by pro-
moting back leakage o the polymer melt past the channel block This can be con-
trolled by varying the clearance between the channel block and the disks The
advantage o the DMM melting mechanism is that the melting rate can be substan-
tially higher than with the DMR mechanism reportedly by as much as a actor o 3
[96]
Among all elementary polymer processing unctions the solids conveying in a disk-
pack extruder has not been discussed to any extent in the open technical literature
Considering that the solids conveying mechanism is a rictional drag mechanism
(as in single screw extruders) and not a positive displacement type o transport (as
in intermeshing counterrotating twin screw extruders see Sections 102 and 104)
it can be expected that the diskpack will have solids conveying limitations similar
to those o single screw extruders see Section 722 This means that powders
blends o powders and pellets slippery materials etc are likely to encounter solids
conveying problems in a diskpack extruder unless special measures are taken toenhance the solids conveying capability (e g crammer eeder grooves in the disks
etc)
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983091983093
Because o the more complex machine geometry the cost per unit throughput o the
diskpack is higher than or the conventional single screw extruder Thereore the
diskpack does not compete directly with single screw extruders
Applications or the diskpack are specialty polymer processing operations such as
polymerization post-reactor processing (devolatilization) continuous compound-
ing etc As such the diskpack competes mostly with twin screw extruders Pres-
ently twin screw extruders are usually the first choice when it comes to specialty
polymer processing operations
983090983091983090The Elastic Melt Extruder
The elastic melt extruder was developed in the late 1950s by Maxwell and Scalora[40 41] The extruder makes use o the viscoelastic in particular the elastic pro-
perties o polymer melts When a viscoelastic fluid is exposed to a shearing deor-
mation normal stresses will develop in the fluid that are not equal in all directions
as opposed to a purely viscous fluid In the elastic melt extruder the polymer is
sheared between two plates one stationary and one rotating see Fig 219
Hopper
Heaters
Solid polymer
Die
Extrudate
Polymer melt
Rotor
Solid polymerHopper
Heaters
Die
Extrudate
Polymer melt
Rotor
Figure 983090983089983097
The elastic melt extruder
As the polymer is sheared normal stresses will generate a centripetal pumping
action Thus the polymer can be extruded through the central opening in the sta-
tionary plate in a continuous ashion Because normal stresses generate the pump-
ing action this machine is sometimes reerred to as a normal stress extruderThis extruder is quite interesting rom a rheological point o view since it is prob-
ably the only extruder that utilizes the elasticity o the melt or its conveying Thus
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983091983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
several detailed experimental and theoretical studies have been devoted to the elas-
tic melt extruder [42ndash47]
The detailed study by Fritz [44] concluded that transport by normal stresses only
could be as much as two orders o magnitude lower than a corresponding system
with orced eed In addition substantial temperature gradients developed in the
polymer causing substantial degradation in high molecular weight polyolefins The
scant market acceptance o the elastic melt extruder would tend to confirm Fritzrsquos
conclusions
Several modifications have been proposed to improve the perormance o the elastic
melt extruder Fritz [43] suggested incorporation o spiral grooves to improve the
pressure generating capability essentially combining the elastic melt extruder and
the spiral disk extruder into one machine In Russia [47] several modifications
were made to the design o the elastic melt extruder One o those combined a screwextruder with the elastic melt extruder to eliminate the eeding and plasticating
problem Despite all o these activities the elastic melt extruder has not been able to
acquire a position o importance in the extrusion industry
983090983091983091Overview of Disk Extruders
Many attempts have been made in the past to come up with a continuous plasticat-
ing extruder o simple design that could perorm better than the single screw ex-truder It seems air to say that at this point in time no disk extruder has been able
to meet this goal The simple disk extruders do not perorm nearly as well as the
single screw extruder The more complex disk extruder such as the diskpack can
possibly outperorm the single screw extruder However this is at the expense o
design simplicity thus increasing the cost o the machine Disk extruders there-
ore have not been able to seriously challenge the position o the single screw
extruder This is not to say however that it is not possible or this to happen some
time in the uture But considering the long dominance o the single screw extruder
it is not probable that a new disk extruder will come along that can challenge the
single screw extruder
983090983092Ram Extruders
Ram or plunger extruders are simple in design rugged and discontinuous in their
mode o operation Ram extruders are essentially positive displacement devices and
are able to generate very high pressures Because o the intermittent operation o
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983091983095
ram extruders they are ideally suited or cyclic processes such as injection molding
and blow molding In act the early molding machines were almost exclusively
equipped with ram extruders to supply the polymer melt to the mold Certain limita-
tions o the ram extruder have caused a switch to reciprocating screw extruders or
combinations o the two The two main limitations are
1 Limited melting capacity
2 Poor temperature uniormity o the polymer melt
Presently ram extruders are used in relatively small shot size molding machines
and certain specialty operations where use is made o the positive displacement
characteristics and the outstanding pressure generation capability There are basic-
ally two types o ram extruders single ram extruders and multi ram extruders
983090983092983089Single Ram Extruders
The single ram extruder is used in small general purpose molding machines but
also in some special polymer processing operations One such operation is the ex-
trusion o intractable polymers such as ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene
(UHMWPE) or polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) These polymers are not considered to
be melt processable on conventional melt processing equipment Teledynamik [48]
has built a ram injection-molding machine under a license rom Th Engel who
developed the prototype machine This machine is used to mold UHMWPE under
very high pressures The machine uses a reciprocating plunger that densifies the
cold incoming material with a pressure up to 300 MPa (about 44000 psi) The re-
quency o the ram can be adjusted continuously with a maximum o 250 strokes
minute The densified material is orced through heated channels into the heated
cylinder where final melting takes place The material is then injected into a mold
by a telescoping injection ram Pressures up to 100 MPa (about 14500 psi) occur
during the injection o the polymer into the mold
Another application is the extrusion o PTFE with again the primary ingredient orsuccessul extrusion being very high pressures Granular PTFE can be extruded at
slow rates in a ram extruder [49ndash51] The powder is compacted by the ram orced
into a die where the material is heated above the melting point and shaped into the
desired orm PTFE is ofen processed as a PTFE paste [52 53] This is small particle
size PTFE powder (about 02 mm) mixed with a processing aid such as naphta PTFE
paste can be extruded at room temperature or slightly above room temperature
Afer extrusion the processing aid is removed by heating the extrudate above its
volatilization temperature The extruded PTFE paste product may be sintered i the
application requires a more ully coalesced product
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983091983096 983090Different Types of Extruders
983090983092983089983089Solid State Extrusion
An extrusion technique that has slowly been gaining popularity is solid-state extru-
sion The polymer is orced through a die while it is below its melting point This
causes substantial deormation o the polymer in the die but since the polymer is in
the solid state a very effective molecular orientation takes place This orientation ismuch more effective than the one which occurs in conventional melt processing As
a result extraordinary mechanical properties can be obtained
Solid-state extrusion is a technique borrowed rom the metal industry where solid-
state extrusion has been used commercially since the late 1940s Bridgman [54]
was one o the first to do a systematic study on the effect o pressure on the mechan-
ical properties o metals He also studied polymers and ound that the glass tran-
sition temperature was raised by the application o pressure
There are two methods o solid-state extrusion one is direct solid-state extrusionthe other is hydrostatic extrusion In direct solid-state extrusion a pre-ormed solid
rod o material (a billet) is in direct contact with the plunger and the walls o the
extrusion die see Fig 220 The material is extruded as the ram is pushed towards
the die
Plunger
Billet
Barrel
DieExtrudate Figure 983090983090983088
Direct solid state extrusion
In hydrostatic extrusion the pressure required or extrusion is transmitted rom the
plunger to the billet through a lubricating liquid usually castor oil The billet must
be shaped to fit the die to prevent loss o fluid The hydrostatic fluid reduces the ric-
tion thereby reducing the extrusion pressure see Fig 221
In hydrostatic extrusion the pressure-generating device or the fluid does not neces-
sarily have to be in close proximity to the orming part o the machine The fluid canbe supplied to the extrusion device by high-pressure tubes
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983091983097
Plunger
Billet
Oil
Barrel
DieExtrudate Figure 983090983090983089
Hydrostatic solid state extrusion
Judging rom publications in the open literature most o the work on solid-state
extrusion o polymers is done at universities and research institutes It is possible
o course that some companies are working on solid-state extrusion but are keeping
the inormation proprietary A major research effort in solid-state extrusion has
been made at the University o Amherst Massachusetts [50ndash64] University o
Leeds England [65ndash72] Fyushu University Fukuoka Japan [73ndash76] Research
Institute or Polymers and Textiles Yokohama Japan [77ndash79] Battelle Columbus
Ohio [80ndash83] and Rutgers University New Brunswick New Jersey [84ndash86] As
mentioned earlier publications rom other sources are considerably less plentiul
[87ndash90] Efforts have also been made to achieve the same high degree o orientation
in a more or less conventional extrusion process by special die design and tempera-
ture control in the die region [91]
Table 25 shows a comparison o mechanical properties between steel aluminum
solid state extruded HDPE and HDPE extruded by conventional means
Table 25 clearly indicates that the mechanical properties o solid-state extruded
HDPE are much superior to the melt extruded HDPE In act the tensile strength o
solid-state extruded HDPE is about the same as carbon steel There are some other
interesting benefits associated with solidstate extrusion o polymers There is essen-
tially no die swell at high extrusion ratios (extrusion ratio is the ratio o the area in
the cylinder to the area in the die) Thus the dimensions o the extrudate closely
conorm to those o the die exit The surace o the extrudate produced by hydro-
static extrusion has a lower coefficient o riction than that o the un-oriented poly-
mer Above a certain extrusion ratio (about ten) polyethylene and polypropylene
become transparent Further solid-state extruded polymers maintain their ten-sile properties at elevated temperatures Polyethylene maintains its modulus up to
120degC when it is extruded in the solid state at a high extrusion ratio The thermal
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983092983088 983090Different Types of Extruders
conductivity in the extrusion direction is much higher than that o the un-oriented
polymer as much as 25 times higher The melting point o the solid-state extruded
polymer increases with the amount o orientation The melting point o HDPE can be
shifed to as high as 140degC
Table 25 Comparison of Mechanical Properties
Material Tensile modulus[MPa]
Tensile strength[MPa]
Elongation[]
Density[gcc]
Annealed SAE 1020 210000 410 35 786
W-200 degF SAE 1020 210000 720 6 786
Annealed 304 stainless
steel
200000 590 50 792
Aluminum 1100ndash0 70000 90 45 271
HDPE solid state
extruded
70000 480 3 097
HDPE melt extruded 10000 30 20ndash1000 096
A recent application o solid-state extrusion is the process developed by Synthetic
Hardwood Technologies Inc [107] This company has developed an expanded ori-
ented wood-filled polypropylene (EOW-PP) that is about 300 stronger than regular
PP The process is based on technology developed at Aluminum Company o Canada
Ltd (Alcan) in the early 1990s to solidstate extrude PP It involves ram extrusion
drawing o billets o PP just below the melting point with very high draw ratio and
high haul-off tension (about 3 MPa) to reeze-in the high level o orientation Alcan
did not pursue the technology and Symplastics Ltd licensed the patented process
this company started experimenting with adding small amounts o wood flour to the
PP However Symplastics ound the research and development too costly and sold
the patents and lab extrusion equipment to Frank Maine who set up SHW to com-
mercialize applications or the EOW-PP The key to the SHW process is that it com-
bines extrusion with drawing As the polymer is oriented the density drops about
50 rom about 1 g cc to 05 g cc The die drawing also allowed substantial in-creases in line speed rom about 0050 m min to about 9 m min The properties
achieved with EOW-PP are shown in Table 24 and compared to regular PP wood
and oriented PP
Solid-state extrusion has been practiced with coextrusion o different polymers [93]
Despite the large amount o research on solid-state extrusion and the outstanding
mechanical properties that can be obtained there does not seem to be much interest
in the polymer industry The main drawbacks o course are that solid-state extru-
sion is basically a discontinuous process it cannot be done on conventional polymer
processing equipment and very high pressures are required to achieve solid-stateextrusion Also one should keep in mind that very good mechanical properties can
be obtained by taking a profile (fiber film tube etc) produced by conventional con-
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983092983089
tinuous extrusion and exposing it to controlled deormation at a temperature below
the melting point This is a well-established technique in many extrusion operations
(fiber spinning film extrusion etc) and it can be done at a high rate This method
o producing extrudates with very good mechanical properties is likely to be more
cost-effective than solid-state extrusion It is possible that the die drawing processdeveloped by SHW can make solid-state extrusion more attractive commercially by
allowing large profiles to be processed at reasonable line speeds
Table 26 Mechanical Properties of PP Wood OPP and EOW-PP
Flexural strength [MPa] Flexural modulus [MPa]
Regular PP 50 1850
Wood 100 9000
Oriented PP 275 7600EOW-PP 140 7600
983090983092983090Multi Ram Extruder
As mentioned beore the main disadvantage o ram extruders is their intermittent
operation Several attempts have been made to overcome this problem by designing
multi-ram extruders that work together in such a way as to produce a continuousflow o material
Westover [94] designed a continuous ram extruder that combined our plunger-
cylinders Two plunger-cylinders were used or plasticating and two or pumping
An intricate shuttle valve connecting all the plunger cylinders provides continuous
extrusion
Another attempt to develop a continuous ram extruder was made by Yi and Fenner
[95] They designed a twin ram extruder with the cylinders in a V-configuration see
Fig 222The two rams discharge into a common barrel in which a plasticating shaf is rotat-
ing Thus solids conveying occurs in the two separate cylinders and plasticating
and melt conveying occurs in the annular region between the barrel and plasticat-
ing shaf The machine is able to extrude however the throughput uniormity is
poor The perormance could probably have been improved i the plasticating shaf
had been provided with a helical channel But o course then the machine would
have become a screw extruder with a ram-assisted eed This only goes to demon-
strate that it is ar rom easy to improve upon the simple screw extruder
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983092983090 983090Different Types of Extruders
Die Breaker plate
Plasticating shaft
Main
block
Feed cylinder
Figure 222 Twin ram extruder
983090983092983091 Appendix 983090983089
983090983092983091983089 Pumping Efficiency in Diskpack Extruder
The velocity profile between the moving walls is a parabolic unction when the fluid
is a Newtonian fluid see Section 621 and Fig 223
y
z H
Small pressure gradient
Medium pressure gradient
Large pressure gradient
Figure 983090983090983091
Velocity profiles between moving
walls
The velocity profile or a Newtonian fluid is
L8
PH
H
y41vv(y)
2
2
2
∆micro∆
minusminus= (1)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3337
983090983092 Ram Extruders 983092983091
where v is the velocity o the plates H the distance between the plates and μ the
viscosity o the fluid The flow rate can be ound by integrating v(y) over the width
and depth o the channel this yields
L12
PWHvWHV
3
∆micro∆minus=
bull
(2)
The first term on the right-hand side o the equalation is the drag flow term The
second term is the pressure flow term The ratio o pressure flow to drag flow is
termed the throttle ratio rd (see Section 7413)
r d =Lv12
PH2
∆micro
∆ (3)
The flow rate can now be written as
(4)
The shear stress at the wall is obtained rom
dv H∆Pτ = micro =dy
05H 2∆L
(5)
The power consumption in the channel is
Zch = PvHWLvW2 ∆=∆τ (6)
The energy efficiency or pressure generation is
V∆Pε = =1 minus r
d Zch
(7)
Equation 7 is not valid or rd = 0 because in this case both numerator and denomi-
nator become zero From Eq 7 it can be seen that when the machine is operated atlow rd values the pumping efficiency can become close to 100 This is considerably
better than the single screw extruder where the optimum pumping efficiency is 33
at a throttle ratio value o 033 (rd = 13)
References
1 J LeBras ldquoRubber Fundamentals o its Science and Technologyrdquo Chemical Publ Co
NY (1957)
2 W S Penn ldquoSynthetic Rubber Technology Volume Irdquo MacLaren amp Sons Ltd London(1960)
3 W J S Naunton ldquoThe Applied Science o Rubberrdquo Edward Arnold Ltd London (1961)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3437
983092983092 983090Different Types of Extruders
4 C M Blow ldquoRubber Technology and Manuacturerdquo Butterworth amp Co Ltd London
(1971)
5 F R Eirich (Ed) ldquoScience and Technology o Rubberrdquo Academic Press NY (1978)
6 C W Evans ldquoPowdered and Particulate Rubber Technologyrdquo Applied Science Publ Ltd
London (1978)
7 G Targiel et al 10 IKV-Kolloquium Aachen March 12ndash14 45 (1980)
8 A Kennaway Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 17 378ndash391 (1964)
9 G Menges and J P Lehnen Plastverarbeiter 20 1 31ndash39 (1969)
10 M Parshall and A J Saulino Rubber World 2 5 78ndash83 (1967)
11 S E Perlberg Rubber World 2 6 71ndash76 (1967)
12 H H Gohlisch Gummi Asbest Kunststoffe 25 9 834ndash835 (1972)
13 E Harms ldquoKautschuk-Extruder Aubau und Einsatz aus verahrenstechnischer Sichtrdquo
Krausskop-Verlag Mainz Bd 2 Buchreihe Kunststo983142echnik (1974)
14 G Schwarz Eur Rubber Journal Sept 28ndash32 (1977)
15 G Menges and E G Harms Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 25 10 469ndash475 (1972)
16 G Menges and E G Harms Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 27 5 187ndash193 (1974)
17 E G Harms Elastomerics 109 6 33ndash39 (1977)
18 E G Harms Eur Rubber Journal 6 23 (1978)
19 E G Harms Kunststoffe 69 1 32ndash33 (1979)
20 E G Harms Dissertation RWTH Aachen Germany (1981)21 S H Collins Plastics Compounding Nov Dec 29 (1982)
22 D Anders Kunststoffe 69 194ndash198 (1979)
23 D Gras and K Eise SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 21 386 (1975)
24 R F Westover SPE Journal 18 12 1473 (1962)
25 Lord Raleigh Philosophical Magazine 35 1ndash12 (1918)
26 German Patent DRP 1129681
27 British Patent BP 759354
28 U S Patent 3880564
29 U S Patent 4012477
30 J F Ingen Housz Plastverarbeiter 10 1 (1975)
31 U S Patent 4142805
32 U S Patent 4194841
33 U S Patent 4213709
34 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 25 193 (1979)
35 P Hold Z Tadmor and L Valsamis SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 25 205 (1979)
36 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis Plastics Engineering Nov 20ndash25 (1979)
37 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis Plastics Engineering Dec 30ndash38 (1979)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3537
References 983092983093
38 Z Tadmor et al The Diskpack Plastics Processor Farrel Publication Jan (1982)
39 L Valsamis AIChE Meeting Washington D C Oct (1983)
40 B Maxwell and A J Scalora Modern Plastics 37 107 Oct (1959)
41 U S Patent 3 046603
42 L L Blyler PhD thesis Princeton University NJ (1966)
43 H G Fritz Kunststo983142echnik 6 430 (1968)
44 H G Fritz PhD thesis Stuttgart University Germany (1971)
45 C W Macosko and J M Starita SPE Journal 27 30 (1971)
46 P A Good A J Schwartz and C W Macosko AIChE Journal 20 1 67 (1974)
47 V L Kocherov Y L Lukach E A Sporyagin and G V Vinogradov Polym Eng Sci 13
194 (1973)
48 J Berzen and G Braun Kunststoffe 69 2 62ndash66 (1979)49 R S Porter et al J Polym Sci 17 485ndash488 (1979)
50 C A Sperati Modern Plastics Encyclopedia McGraw-Hill NY (1983)
51 S S Schwartz and S H Goodman see Chapter 1 [36]
52 G R Snelling and J F Lontz J Appl Polym Sci 3 9 257ndash265 (1960)
53 D C F Couzens Plastics and Rubber Processing March 45ndash48 (1976)
54 P W Bridgman ldquoStudies in Large Plastic Flow and Fracturerdquo McGraw-Hill NY (1952)
55 H L D Push ldquoThe Mechanical Behavior o Materials Under Pressurerdquo Elsevier Amster-
dam (1970)56 H L D Push and A H Low J Inst Metals 93 201 (196565)
57 F Slack Mach Design Oct 7 61ndash64 (1982)
58 J H Southern and R S Porter J Appl Polym Sci 14 2305 (1970)
59 J H Southern and R S Porter J Macromol Sci Phys 3ndash4 541 (1970)
60 J H Southern N E Weeks and R S Porter Macromol Chem 162 19 (1972)
61 N J Capiati and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 13 1177 (1975)
62 R S Porter J H Southern and N E Weeks Polym Eng Sci 15 213 (1975)
63 A E Zachariades E S Sherman and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 17 255
(1979)
64 A E Zachariades and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 17 277 (1979)
65 B Parsons D Bretherton and B N Cole in Advances in MTDR 11th Int Con Proc
S A Tobias and F Koeningsberger (Eds) Pergamon Press London Vol B 1049 (1971)
66 G Capaccio and I M Ward Polymer 15 233 (1974)
67 A G Gibson I M Ward B N Cole and B Parsons J Mater Sci 9 1193ndash1196 (1974)
68 A G Gibson and I M Ward J Appl Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 16 2015ndash2030 (1978)
69 P S Hope and B Parsons Polym Eng Sci 20 589ndash600 (1980)
70 P S Hope I M Ward and A G Gibson J Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 18 1242ndash1256
(1980)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3637
983092983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
71 P S Hope A G Gibson B Parsons and I M Ward Polym Eng Sci 20 54ndash55 (1980)
72 B Parsons and I M Ward Plast Rubber Proc Appl 2 3 215ndash224 (1982)
73 K Imada T Yamamoto K Shigematsu and M Takayanagi J Mater Sci 6 537ndash546
(1971)
74 K Nakamura K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 2 71 (1972)
75 K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 2 89 (1973)
76 K Nakamura K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 3 23 (1974)
77 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Mater Sci 10 1105 (1975)
78 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Mater Sci 12 1477 (1977)
79 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Appl Polym Sci 23 2543ndash2554 (1979)
80 D M Bigg Polym Eng Sci 16 725 (1976)
81 D M Bigg M M Epstein R J Fiorentino and E G Smith Polym Eng Sci 18 908(1978)
82 D M Bigg and M M Epstein ldquoScience and Technology o Polymer Processingrdquo N S Suh
and N Sung (Eds) 897 MIT Press (1979)
83 D M Bigg M M Epstein R J Fiorentino and E G Smith J Appl Polym Sci 26 395ndash
409 (1981)
84 K D Pae and D R Mears J Polym Sci B-6 269 (1968)
85 K D Pae D R Mears and J A Sauer J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 6 773 (1968)
86 D R Mears K P Pae and J A Sauer J Appl Phys 40 11 4229ndash4237 (1969)
87 L A Davis and C A Pampillo J Appl Phys 42 12 4659ndash4666 (1971)
88 A Buckley and H A Long Polym Eng Sci 9 2 115ndash120 (1969)
89 L A Davis Polym Eng Sci 14 9 641ndash645 (1974)
90 R K Okine and N P Suh Polym Eng Sci 22 5 269ndash279 (1982)
91 J R Collier T Y T Tam J Newcome and N Dinos Polym Eng Sci 16 204ndash211 (1976)
92 J H Faupel and F E Fisher ldquoEngineering Designrdquo Wiley NY (1981)
93 A E Zachariades R Ball and R S Porter J Mater Sci 13 2671ndash2675 (1978)
94 R R Westover Modern Plastics March (1963) 95 B Yi and R T Fenner Plastics and Polymers Dec 224ndash228 (1975)
96 A Mekkaoui and L N Valsamis Polym Eng Sci 24 1260ndash1269 (1984)
97 H Rust Kunststoffe 73 342ndash346 (1983)
98 J Huszman Kunststoffe 73 3437ndash348 (1983)
99 J M McKelvey U Maire and F Haupt Chem Eng Sept 27 94ndash102 (1976)
100 K Schneider Kunststoffe 68 201ndash206 (1978)
101 W T Rice Plastic Technology 87ndash91 Feb (1980)
102 Harrel Corp ldquoMelt Pump Systems or Extrudersrdquo Product Description TDS-264 (1982)
103 J M McKelvey and W T Rice Chem Eng 90 2 89ndash94 (1983)
104 K Kaper K Eise and H Herrmann SPE ANTEC Chicago 161ndash163 (1983)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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References 983092983095
105 C L Woodworth SPE ANTEC New Orleans 122ndash126 (1984)
106 W A Kramer SPE ANTEC Washington D C 23ndash29 (1985)
107 J Schut ldquoDie Drawing Makes Plastic Steelrdquo Plastics Technology Online Article March
5 (2001)
108 VDI Conerence Extrusiontechnik 2006 ldquoDer Einschnecken-Extruder von Morgenrdquo VDI
Verlag GmbH Duumlsseldor (2006)
109 P Rieg ldquoLatest Developments in High-Speed Extrusionrdquo Plastic Extrusion Asia Con-
erence Bangkok Thailand March 17ndash18 (2008) also presented at Advances in Ex-
trusion Conerence New Orleans December 9ndash10 (2008)
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7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 337
2Extruders in the polymer industry come in many different designs The main dis-
tinction between the various extruders is their mode o operation continuous or
discontinuous The latter type extruder delivers polymer in an intermittent ashion
and thereore is ideally suited or batch type processes such as injection molding
and blow molding As mentioned earlier continuous extruders have a rotating mem-ber whereas batch extruders have a reciprocating member A classification o the
various extruders is shown in Table 21
983090983089The Single Screw Extruder
Screw extruders are divided into single screw and multi screw extruders The singlescrew extruder is the most important type o extruder used in the polymer industry
Its key advantages are relatively low cost straightorward design ruggedness and
reliability and a avorable perormancecost ratio A detailed description o the hard-
ware components o a single screw extruder is given in Chapter 3
The extruder screw o a conventional plasticating extruder has three geometrically
different sections see Fig 21
This geometry is also referred to as a ldquosingle stagerdquo The single stage refers to the fact
that the screw has only one compression section even though the screw has threedistinct geometrical sections The first section (closest to the feed opening) generally
has deep flights The material in this section will be mostly in the solid state This
section is referred to as the feed section of the screw The last section (closest to the
die) usually has shallow flights The material in this section will be mostly in the
molten state This screw section is referred to as the metering section or pump sec-
tion The third screw section connects the feed section and the metering section
This section is called the transition section or compression section In most cases
the depth of the screw channel (or the height of the screw flight) reduces in a linear
fashion going from the feed section towards the metering section thus causing acompression of the material in the screw channel Later it will be shown that this
compression in many cases is essential to the proper functioning of the extruder
Different Typesof Extruders
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983089983092 983090Different Types of Extruders
The extruder is usually designated by the diameter o the extruder barrel In the
U S the standard extruder sizes are 34 1 1ndash12 2 2ndash12 3ndash12 4ndash12 6 8 10
12 14 16 18 20 and 24 inches
Obviously the very large machines are much less common than the smaller extrud-
ers Some machines go up in size as large as 35 inches These machines are used in
specialty operations such as melt removal directly rom a polymerization reactor
In Europe the standard extruder sizes are 20 25 30 35 40 50 60 90 120 150
200 250 300 350 400 450 500 and 600 millimeters Most extruders range in
size rom 1 to 6 inches or rom 25 to 150 mm An additional designation ofen used
is the length o the extruder generally expressed as length to diameter (L D) ratio
Typical L D ratios range rom 20 to 30 with 24 being very common Extruders used
or extraction o volatiles (vented extruders see Section 212) can have an L D ratio
as high as 35 or 40 and sometimes even higher
Table 21 Classification of Polymer Extruders
Screw extruders
(continuous)
Single screw extruders
Melt fed
Plasticating
Single stage
Multi stage
Compounding
Multi screw extruders
Twin screw extruders
Gear pumps
Planetary gear extruders
Multi (gt2) screw extruders
Disk or drum extruders
(continuous)
Viscous drag extruders
Spiral disk extruder
Drum extruder
Diskpack extruder
Stepped disk extruder
Elastic melt extrudersScrewless extruder
Screw or disk type melt extruder
Reciprocating extruders
(discontinuous)
Ram extruders
Melt fed extruder
Plasticating extruder
Capillary rheometer
Reciprocating single
screw extruders
Plasticating unit in injection molding machines
Compounding extruders such as the Kneader
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983089 The Single Screw Extruder 983089983093
983090983089983089Basic Operation
The basic operation o a single screw extruder is rather straightorward Material
enters rom the eed hopper Generally the eed material flows by gravity rom the
eed hopper down into the extruder barrel Some materials do not flow easily in dryorm and special measures have to be taken to prevent hang-up (bridging) o the
material in the eed hopper
As material alls down into the extruder barrel it is situated in the annular space
between the extruder screw and barrel and is urther bounded by the passive and
active flanks o the screw flight the screw channel The barrel is stationary and the
screw is rotating As a result rictional orces will act on the material both on the
barrel as well as on the screw surace These rictional orces are responsible or the
orward transport o the material at least as long as the material is in the solid state(below its melting point)
Feed section Compression Metering section
Figure 21 Geometry of conventional extruder screw
As the material moves orward it will heat up as a result o rictional heat genera-
tion and because o heat conducted rom the barrel heaters When the temperature
o the material exceeds the melting point a melt film will orm at the barrel surace
This is where the solids conveying zone ends and the plasticating zone starts It
should be noted that this point generally does not coincide with the start o the
compression section The boundaries o the unctional zones will depend on poly-
mer properties machine geometry and operating conditions Thus they can change
as operating conditions change However the geometrical sections o the screw are
determined by the design and will not change with operating conditions As thematerial moves orward the amount o solid material at each location will reduce as
a result o melting When all solid polymer has disappeared the end o the plasticat-
ing zone has been reached and the melt conveying zone starts In the melt-convey-
ing zone the polymer melt is simply pumped to the die
As the polymer flows through the die it adopts the shape o the flow channel o the
die Thus as the polymer leaves the die its shape will more or less correspond to
the cross-sectional shape o the final portion o the die flow channel Since the die
exerts a resistance to flow a pressure is required to orce the material through thedie This is generally reerred to as the diehead pressure The diehead pressure is
determined by the shape o the die (particularly the flow channel) the temperature
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983089983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
o the polymer melt the flow rate through the die and the rheological properties o
the polymer melt It is important to understand that the diehead pressure is caused
by the die and not by the extruder The extruder simply has to generate sufficient
pressure to orce the material through the die I the polymer the throughput the
die and the temperatures in the die are the same then it does not make any differ-ence whether the extruder is a gear pump a single screw extruder a twin screw
extruder etc the diehead pressure will be the same Thus the diehead pressure is
caused by the die and by the flow process taking place in the die flow channel This
is an important point to remember
983090983089983090Vented Extruders
Vented extruders are significantly different rom non-vented extruders in design
and in unctional capabilities A vented extruder is equipped with one or more open-
ings (vent ports) in the extruder barrel through which volatiles can escape Thus
the vented extruder can extract volatiles rom the polymer in a continuous ashion
This devolatilization adds a unctional capability not present in non-vented extrud-
ers Instead o the extraction o volatiles one can use the vent port to add certain
components to the polymer such as additives fillers reactive components etc This
clearly adds to the versatility o vented extruders with the additional benefit that
the extruder can be operated as a conventional non-vented extruder by simply plug-ging the vent port and possibly changing the screw geometry
A schematic picture o a vented extruder is shown in Fig 22
Feed housing
Cooling channel Heaters Barrel Die
Breaker plateVent port
Screw
Figure 22 Schematic of vented extruder
The design o the extruder screw is very critical to the proper unctioning o the
vented extruder One o the main problems that vented extruders are plagued with
is vent flow This is a situation where not only the volatiles are escaping through the
vent port but also some amount o polymer Thus the extruder screw has to be
designed in such a way that there will be no positive pressure in the polymer under
the vent port (extraction section) This has led to the development o the two-stage
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983089 The Single Screw Extruder 983089983095
extruder screw especially designed or devolatilizing extrusion Two-stage extruder
screws have two compression sections separated by a decompression extraction
section It is somewhat like two single-stage extruder screws coupled in series along
one shaf The details o the design o two-stage extruder screws will be covered in
Chapter 8 Vented extruders are used or the removal o monomers and oligomersreaction products moisture solvents etc
The devolatilization capability o single screw extruders o conventional design is
limited compared to twin screw extruders Twin screw extruders can handle solvent
contents o 50 and higher using a multiple-stage extraction system and solvent
content o up to 15 using singlestage extraction Single screw vented extruders
o conventional design usually cannot handle more than 5 volatiles this would
require multiple vent ports With a single vent port a single screw vented extruder
o conventional design can generally reduce the level o volatiles only a raction oone percent depending o course on the polymersolvent system
Because o the limited devolatilization capacity o single screw extruders o con-
ventional design they are sometimes equipped with two or more vent ports A draw-
back o such a design is that the length o the extruder can become a problem
Some o these extruders have a L D ration o 40 to 50 This creates a problem in
handling the screw or instance when the screw is pulled and increases the chance
o mechanical problems in the extruder (deflection buckling etc) I substantial
amounts o volatiles need to be removed a twin screw extruder may be more cost-
effective than a single screw extruder However some vented single screw extruderso more modern design have substantially improved devolatilization capability and
deserve equal consideration see Section 852
983090983089983091Rubber Extruders
Extruders or processing elastomers have been around longer than any other type o
extruder Industrial machines or rubber extrusion were built as early as the second
hal o the nineteenth century Some o the early extruder manuacturers were John
Royle in the U S and Francis Shaw in England One o the major rubber extruder
manuacturers in Germany was Paul Troester in act it still is a producer o extrud-
ers Despite the act that rubber extruders have been around or more than a cen-
tury there is limited literature on the subject o rubber extrusion Some o the hand-
books on rubber [1ndash5] discuss rubber extrusion but in most cases the inormation
is very meager and o limited useulness Harmsrsquo book on rubber extruders [13]
appears to be the only book devoted exclusively to rubber extrusion The ew publi-
cations on rubber extrusion stand in sharp contrast to the abundance o books andarticles on plastic extrusion Considering the commercial significance o rubber
extrusion this is a surprising situation
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983089983096 983090Different Types of Extruders
The first rubber extruders were built or hot eed extrusion These machines are ed
with warm material rom a mill or other mixing device Around 1950 machines
were developed or cold eed extrusion The advantages o cold eed extruders are
thought to be
Less capital equipment cost
Better control o stock temperature
Reduced labor cost
Capable o handling a wider variety o compounds
However there is no general agreement on this issue As a result hot eed rubber
extruders are still in use today
Cold eed rubber extruders nowadays do not differ too much rom thermoplastic
extruders Some o the differences are Reduced length
Heating and cooling
Feed section
Screw design
There are several reasons or the reduced length The viscosity o rubbers is gener-
ally very high compared to most thermoplastics about an order o magnitude higher
[5] Consequently there is a substantial amount o heat generated in the extru-
sion process The reduced length keeps the temperature build-up within limits The
specific energy requirement or rubbers is generally low partly because they are
usually extruded at relatively low temperatures (rom 20 to 120degC) This is another
reason or the short extruder length The length o the rubber extruder will depend
on whether it is a cold or hot eed extruder Hot eed rubber extruders are usually
very short about 5D (D = diameter) Cold eed extruders range rom 15 to 20D
Vented cold eed extruders may be even longer than 20D
Rubber extruders used to be heated quite requently with steam because o the rela-
tively low extrusion temperatures Today many rubber extruders are heated likethermoplastic extruders with electrical heater bands clamped around the barrel Oil
heating is also used on rubber extruders and the circulating oil system can be used
to cool the rubber Many rubber extruders use water cooling because it allows effec-
tive heat transer
The eed section o the rubber extruders has to be designed specifically to the eed
stock characteristics o the material The extruder may be ed with either strips
chunks or pellets I the extruder is ed rom an internal mixer (e g Banbury Shaw
etc) a power-operated ram can be used to orce the rubber compound into the
extruder The eed opening can be undercut to improve the intake capability o the
extruder This can be useul because the rubber eed stock at times comes in rela-
tively large particles o irregular shape When the material is supplied in the orm o
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983089 The Single Screw Extruder 983089983097
a strip the eed opening is ofen equipped with a driven roll parallel to the screw to
give a ldquoroller eedrdquo Material can also be supplied in powder orm It has been shown
that satisactory extrusion is possible i the powder is consolidated by ldquopill-makingrdquo
techniques Powdered rubber technology is discussed in detail in [6]
The rubber extrusion technology appears to be considerably behind the plastics
extrusion technology Kennaway in one o the ew articles on rubber extrusion [8]
attributes this situation to two actors The first is the requent tendency o rubber
process personnel to solve extrusion problems by changing the ormulation o the
compound The second is the widespread notion that the extrusion behavior o rub-
bers is substantially different rom plastics because rubbers crosslink and plastics
generally do not This is a misconception however because the extrusion character-
istics o rubber and plastics are actually not substantially different [9]
When the rubber is slippery as in dewatering rubber extruders the eed section othe barrel is grooved to prevent slipping along the barrel surace or the barrel I D
may be fitted with pins This significantly improves the conveying action o the
extruder The same technique has been applied to the thermoplastic extrusion as
discussed in Section 14 and Section 7222
The extruder screw or rubber ofen has constant depth and variable decreasing
pitch (VDP) many rubber screws use a double-flighted design see Fig 23 Screws
or thermoplastics usually have a decreasing depth and constant pitch see Fig 21
Figure 983090983091
Typical screw geometry for rubber
extrusion
Another difference with the rubber extruder screw is that the channel depth is usu-
ally considerably larger than with a plastic extruder screw The larger depth is used
to reduce the shearing o the rubber and the resulting viscous heat generation
There is a large variety o rubber extruder screws as is the case with plastic extruder
screws Figure 24 shows the ldquoPlastiscrewrdquo manuactured by NRM
Figure 983090983092
The NRM Plastiscrew
Figure 25 shows the Pirelli rubber extruder screw This design uses a eed section
o large diameter reducing quickly to the much smaller diameter o the pumping
section The conical eed section uses a large clearance between screw flight and
barrel wall This causes a large amount o leakage over the flight and improves the
batch-mixing capability o the extruder
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983088 983090Different Types of Extruders
Figure 983090983093
The Pirelli rubber extruder screw
Figure 26 shows the EVK screw by Werner amp Pfleiderer [14] This design eatures
cross-channel barriers with preceding undercuts in the flights to provide a change
in flow direction and increased shearing as the material flows over the barrier or the
undercut in the flight A rather unusual design is the Transermix [10ndash13] extrudermixer which has been used or compounding rubber ormulations This machine
eatures helical channels in both the screw and barrel see Fig 27
Figure 983090983094
The EVK screw by Werner amp Pfleiderer
Vent
Feed
Figure 27 The Transfermix extruder
By a varying root diameter o the screw the material is orced in the flow channel
o the barrel A reduction o the depth o the barrel channel orces the material
back into the screw channel This requent reorientation provides good mixing
However the machine is difficult to manuacture and expensive to repair in case o
damageAnother rubber extruder is the QSM extruder [7 15ndash20] QSM stands or the Ger-
man words ldquoQuer Strom Mischrdquo meaning cross-flow mixing This extruder has
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983089 The Single Screw Extruder 983090983089
adjustable pins in the extruder barrel that protrude all the way into the screw chan-
nel see Fig 28
Figure 28 The QSM extruder (pin barrel extruder)
The screw flight has slots at the various pin locations The advantages o this ex-
truder in rubber applications are good mixing capability with a low stock tempera-
ture increase and low specific energy consumption This extruder was developed by
Harms in Germany and is manuactured and sold by Troester and other companies
Even though the QSM extruder has become popular in the rubber industry its appli-
cations clearly extend beyond just rubber extrusion In thermoplastic extrusion its
most obvious application would be in high viscosity thermally less stable resins
PVC could possibly be a candidate although dead spots may create problems with
degradation However it can probably be applied wherever good mixing and good
temperature control are requiredAnother typical rubber extrusion piece o hardware is the roller die A schematic
representation is shown in Fig 29
Figure 29 The roller die used in rubber extrusion
The roller die (B F Goodrich 1933) is a combination o a standard sheet die and a
calender It allows high throughput by reducing the diehead pressure it reduces air
entrapment and provides good gauge control
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983090983090 983090Different Types of Extruders
983090983089983092High-Speed Extrusion
One way to achieve high throughputs is to use high-speed extrusion High-speed
extrusion has been used in twin screw compounding or many yearsmdashsince the
1960s However in single screw extrusion high speed extrusion has not been usedon a significant scale until about 1995 Twin screw extruders (TSE) used in com-
pounding typically run at screw speeds ranging rom 200 to 500 rpm in some cases
screw speeds beyond 1000 rpm are possible Single screw extruders (SSE) usually
operate at screw speeds between 50 to 150 rpm
Since approx 1995 several extruder manuacturers have worked on developing
high-speed single screw extruders (HS-SSE) Most o these developments have taken
place at German extruder manuacturers such as Batteneld Reienhaumluser Kuhne
and Esde Currently HS-SSEs are commercially available and have been in use orseveral years [108]
Batteneld supplies a high speed 75-mm SSE that can run at screw speeds up to
1500 rpm [109] This machine can achieve throughputs up to 2200 kg hr It uses a
our-motor CMG torque drive with 390 kW made by K amp A Knoedler
983090983089983092983089Melt Temperature
One o the interesting characteristics o the HS-SSE is that the melt temperature
remains more or less constant over a broad range o screw speed [108 109] see
Fig 210
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0
T h r o u g
h p u t [ k g h r ]
75-mm extruder PS 486
P Rieg Battenfeld HJ Renner BASF
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200
Screw speed [revmin]
250
240
230
220
210
200
M e l t t e m
p e r a t u r e [ o C ]
Figure 983090983089983088
Throughput and melt
temperature versus
screw speed
This graph shows both the throughput in kg hr and the melt temperature in degC The
temperature curve indicates that there is less than a 2degC change in melt tempera-ture rom 200 rpm up to about 1000 rpm At screw speeds rom 110 rpm to 225 rpm
the melt temperature actually drops rom about 223 to about 215degC
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983090983089 The Single Screw Extruder 983090983091
In conventional extruders the melt temperature typically increases with screw
speed This ofen creates problems when we deal with high-viscosity polymers par-
ticularly when they have limited thermal stability In the example shown in Fig 210
the melt temperature is essentially constant as screw speed increases rom 200 to
1000 rpm This is probably the result o two actors the residence time o the poly-mer melt is reduced with increasing screw speed and the volume o the molten poly-
mer likely reduces with increasing screw speed as the melting length becomes
longer with increased screw speed
983090983089983092983090Extruders without Gear Reducer
An important advantage o high-speed SSE is that a conventional gear reducer is no
longer necessary The gear reducer is one o the largest cost actors or a conven-
tional extruder As a result extruders without a gear reducer are significantly lessexpensive compared to conventional extruders that achieve the same rate A urther
advantage o the elimination o the gear reducer is a significant reduction in noise
level Contrary to what one would expect HS-SSE actually run very quiet the noise
level is substantially lower than it is or conventional extruders with gear reducers
983090983089983092983091Energy Consumption
Another benefit o high-speed SSE is the reduction in energy consumption Rieg
[108 109] reports the ollowing mechanical specific energy consumption
The reduction in energy consumption listed in Table 22 is significant between 35
and 45 I the extruder runs PP at 2000 kg hr a reduction in SEC o 010 kWh kg
corresponds to a reduction in power consumption o 200 kW every hour I the power
cost is $010 per kWh (or consistency) the savings per hour will be $20 per hour
$480 per day $3360 per week and $168000 per year at 50 weeks per year Clearly
this can have a significant effect on the profitability o an extrusion operation
Table 22 Specific Energy Consumption for Standard Extruder and High-Speed Extruder
Type of extruder SEC with polystyrene [kWhkg] SEC with polypropylene [kWhkg]
Standard extruder 019minus021 027minus029
High-speed extruder 010minus012 017minus019
983090983089983092983092Change-over Resin Consumption
Another important issue in efficient extrusion is the time and material used when a
change in resin is made With high-speed extruders the change-over time is quite
short because the volume occupied by the plastic is small while the throughput is
very high
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983090983092 983090Different Types of Extruders
Table 23 shows a comparison o the high-speed 75-mm extruder to a conventional
180-mm extruder running at the same throughput The amount o material con-
sumed in the change-over is 150 kg or the 75-mm extruder and 1300 kg or the
180-mm extruder I we assume a resin cost o $100 per kg the savings are
$115000 per change-over I we have three change-overs per week the yearly sav-ings in reduced resin usage comes to $172500 per year Clearly this is not an insig-
nificant amount
Table 23 Comparison of Change-Over Time and Material Consumption
75-mm extruder 180-mm extruder
Volume in the extruder [liter] 4 40
Material consumption for change-over [kg] 150 1300
Change-over time [min] 5 40
983090983089983092983093 Change-over Time and Residence Time
Table 23 also shows that the change-over time or the 75-mm extruder is approx
5 minutes while it is approx 40 minutes in the 180-mm extruder Clearly the
reduced change-over time results rom the act that the volume occupied by the plas-
tic is much smaller (4 liter) in the 75-mm extruder than in the 180-mm extruder
(40 liter) I the change-over time can be reduced rom 40 to 5 minutes this means
that 35 minutes are now available to run production resulting in greater up-time othe extrusion line
The small volume o the HS-SSE also results in short residence times The mean
residence time ranges rom approx 5 to 10 seconds In conventional SSE the resi-
dence times are substantially longer typically between 50 to 100 seconds Since
HS-SSE can run at relatively low melt temperatures the chance o degradation is
actually less in these extruders There is ample evidence in actual high-speed ex-
trusion operations that the plastic is less susceptible to degradation in these opera-
tions
983090983090The Multiscrew Extruder
221The Twin Screw Extruder
A twin screw extruder is a machine with two Archimedean screws Admittedly this
is a very general definition However as soon as the definition is made more spe-
cific it is limited to a specific class o twin screw extruders There is a tremendous
variety o twin screw extruders with vast differences in design principle o opera-
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983090983090 The Multiscrew Extruder 983090983093
tion and field o application It is thereore difficult to make general comments
about twin screw extruders The differences between the various twin screw extrud-
ers are much larger than the differences between single screw extruders This is to
be expected since the twin screw construction substantially increases the number
o design variables such as direction o rotation degree o intermeshing etc A clas-sification o twin screw extruders is shown in Table 24 This classification is pri-
marily based on the geometrical configuration o the twin screw extruder Some
twin screw extruders unction in much the same ashion as single screw extruders
Other twin screw extruders operate quite differently rom single screw extruders
and are used in very different applications The design o the various twin screw
extruders with their operational and unctional aspects will be covered in more
detail in Chapter 10
Table 24 Classification of Twin Screw Extruders
Intermeshing extruders
Co-rotating extrudersLow speed extruders for profile extrusion
High speed extruders for compounding
Counter-rotating extruders
Conical extruders for profile extrusion
Parallel extruders for profile extrusion
High speed extruders for compounding
Non-intermeshing
extruders
Counter-rotating extrudersEqual screw length
Unequal screw length
Co-rotating extruders Not used in practice
Co-axial extruders
Inner melt transport forward
Inner melt transport rearward
Inner solids transport rearward
Inner plasticating with rearward transport
983090983090983090The Multiscrew Extruder With More Than Two Screws
There are several types o extruders which incorporate more than two screws One
relatively well-known example is the planetary roller extruder see Fig 211
Planetary screws
Sun (main) screw Melting and feed section
Discharge
Figure 211 The planetary roller extruder
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983090983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
This extruder looks similar to a single screw extruder The eed section is in act
the same as on a standard single screw extruder However the mixing section o the
extruder looks considerably different In the planetary roller section o the extruder
six or more planetary screws evenly spaced revolve around the circumerence o
the main screw In the planetary screw section the main screw is reerred to as thesun screw The planetary screws intermesh with the sun screw and the barrel The
planetary barrel section thereore must have helical grooves corresponding to the
helical flights on the planetary screws This planetary barrel section is generally a
separate barrel section with a flange-type connection to the eed barrel section
In the first part o the machine beore the planetary screws the material moves
orward as in a regular single screw extruder As the material reaches the planetary
section being largely plasticated at this point it is exposed to intensive mixing by
the rolling action between the planetary screws the sun screw and the barrel Thehelical design o the barrel sun screw and planetary screws result in a large sur-
ace area relative to the barrel length The small clearance between the planetary
screws and the mating suraces about frac14 mm allows thin layers o compound to be
exposed to large surace areas resulting in effective devolatilization heat exchange
and temperature control Thus heat-sensitive compounds can be processed with a
minimum o degradation For this reason the planetary gear extruder is requently
used or extrusion compounding o PVC ormulations both rigid and plasticized
[21 22] Planetary roller sections are also used as add-ons to regular extruders to
improve mixing perormance [97 98] Another multiscrew extruder is the our-screw extruder shown in Fig 212
Figure 983090983089983090
Four-screw extruder
This machine is used primarily or devolatilization o solvents rom 40 to as low as
03 [23] Flash devolatilization occurs in a flash dome attached to the barrel The
polymer solution is delivered under pressure and at temperatures above the boiling
point o the solvent The solution is then expanded through a nozzle into the flash
dome The oamy material resulting rom the flash devolatilization is then trans-
ported away by the our screws In many cases downstream vent sections will beincorporated to urther reduce the solvent level
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983090983090 The Multiscrew Extruder 983090983095
983090983090983091The Gear Pump Extruder
Gear pumps are used in some extrusion operations at the end o a plasticating
extruder either single screw or twin screw [99ndash106] Strictly speaking the gear
pump is a closely intermeshing counterrotating twin screw extruder However sincegear pumps are solely used to generate pressure they are generally not reerred to
as an extruder although the gear pump is an extruder One o the main advantages
o the gear pump is its good pressure-generating capability and its ability to main-
tain a relatively constant outlet pressure even i the inlet pressure fluctuates con-
siderably Some fluctuation in the outlet pressure will result rom the intermeshing
o the gear teeth This fluctuation can be reduced by a helical orientation o the gear
teeth instead o an axial orientation
Gear pumps are sometimes reerred to as positive displacement devices This is notcompletely correct because there must be mechanical clearances between the gears
and the housing which causes leakage Thereore the gear pump output is depend-
ent on pressure although the pressure sensitivity will generally be less than that o
a single screw extruder The actual pressure sensitivity will be determined by the
design clearances the polymer melt viscosity and the rotational speed o the gears
A good method to obtain constant throughput is to maintain a constant pressure di-
erential across the pump This can be done by a relatively simple pressure eedback
control on the extruder eeding into the gear pump [102] The non-zero clearances
in the gear pump will cause a transormation o mechanical energy into heat by vis-cous heat generation see Section 534 Thus the energy efficiency o actual gear
pumps is considerably below 100 the pumping efficiency generally ranges rom
15 to 35 The other 65 to 85 goes into mechanical losses and viscous heat gene-
ration Mechanical losses usually range rom about 20 to 40 and viscous heating
rom about 40 to 50 As a result the polymer melt going through the gear pump
will experience a considerable temperature rise typically 5 to 10degC However in
some cases the temperature rise can be as much as 20 to 30degC Since the gear
pump has limited energy efficiency the combination extruder-gear pump is not nec-
essarily more energy-efficient than the extruder without the gear pump Only i the
extruder eeding into the gear pump is very inefficient in its pressure development
will the addition o a gear pump allow a reduction in energy consumption This
could be the case with co-rotating twin screw extruders or single screw extruders
with inefficient screw design
The mixing capacity o gear pumps is very limited This was clearly demonstrated
by Kramer [106] by comparing melt temperature fluctuation beore and afer the
gear pump which showed no distinguishable improvement in melt temperature uni-
ormity Gear pumps are ofen added to extruders with unacceptable output fluc-tuations In many cases this constitutes treating the symptoms but not curing the
actual problem Most single screw extruders i properly designed can maintain
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983090983096 983090Different Types of Extruders
their output to within plusmn 1 I the output fluctuation is considerably larger than 1
there is probably something wrong with the machine very ofen incorrect screw
design In these cases solving the actual problem will generally be more efficient
than adding a gear pump For an efficient extruder-gear pump system the extruder
screw has to be modified to reduce the pressure-generating capacity o the screw
Gear pumps can be used advantageously
1 On extruders with poor pressure-generating capability (e g co-rotating twin
screws multi-stage vented extruders etc)
2 When output stability is required better than 1 i e in close tolerance extru-
sion (e g fiber spinning cable extrusion medical tubing coextrusion etc)
Gear pumps can cause problems when
1 The polymer contains abrasive components because o the small clearances thegear pump is very susceptible to wear
2 When the polymer is susceptible to degradation gear pumps are not sel-clean-
ing and combined with the exposure to high temperatures this will result in
degraded product
983090983091Disk Extruders
There are a number o extruders which do not utilize an Archimedean screw or
transport o the material but still all in the class o continuous extruders Some-
times these machines are reerred to as screwless extruders These machines
employ some kind o disk or drum to extrude the material One can classiy the disk
extruders according to their conveying mechanism (see Table 21) Most o the disk
extruders are based on viscous drag transport One special disk extruder utilizes
the elasticity o polymer melts to convey the material and to develop the necessary
diehead pressure
Disk extruders have been around or a long time at least since 1950 However at
this point in time the industrial significance o disk extruders is still relatively small
compared to screw extruders
983090983091983089Viscous Drag Disk Extruders
983090983091983089983089Stepped Disk Extruder
One o the first disk extruders was developed by Westover at Bell Telephone Labo-
ratories it is ofen reerred to as a stepped disk extruder or slider pad extruder [24]
A schematic picture o the extruder is shown in Fig 213
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983090983097
In
Out
Figure 983090983089983091
The stepped disk
The heart o the machine is the stepped disk positioned a small distance rom a flat
disk When one o the disks is rotated with a polymer melt in the axial gap a pres-
sure build-up will occur at the transition o one gap size to another smaller gap sizesee Fig 214
v
Distance
P r e s s u r e
Figure 983090983089983092
Pressure generation in the step region
I exit channels are incorporated into the stepped disk the polymer can be extruded
in a continuous ashion The design o this extruder is based on Rayleighrsquos [25]
analysis o hydrodynamic lubrication in various geometries He concluded that the
parallel stepped pad was capable o supporting the greatest load The stepped disk
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983091983088 983090Different Types of Extruders
extruder has also been designed in a different configuration using a gradual change
in gap size This extruder has a wedge-shaped disk with a gradual increase in pres-
sure with radial distance
A practical disadvantage o the stepped disk extruder is the act that the machine is
difficult to clean because o the intricate design o the flow channels in the stepped
disk
983090983091983089983090Drum Extruder
Another rather old concept is the drum extruder A schematic picture o a machine
manuactured by Schmid amp Kocher in Switzerland is shown in Fig 215
In
OutOutIn
Figure 983090983089983093 The drum extruder by Schmid amp Kocher
Material is ed by a eed hopper into an annular space between rotor and barrel By
the rotational motion o the rotor the material is carried along the circumerence o
the barrel Just beore the material reaches the eed hopper it encounters a wiper
bar This wiper bar scrapes the polymer rom the rotor and deflects the polymer flow
into a channel that leads to the extruder die Several patents [26 27] were issued on
this design however these patents have long since expired
A very similar extruder (see Fig 216) was developed by Askco Engineering andCosden Oil amp Chemical in a joint venture later this became Permian Research Two
patents have been issued on this design [28 29] even though the concept is very
similar to the Schmid amp Kocher design
One special eature o this design is the capability to adjust the local gap by means
o a choker bar similar to the gap adjustment in a flat sheet die see Section 92 The
choker bar in this drum extruder is activated by adjustable hydraulic oil pressure
Drum extruders have not been able to be a serious competition to the single screw
extruder over the last 50 years
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983091983089
Hopper
DieRotor
Housing
Wiper bar
Hopper
Wiper bar
DieRotor
Housing
Figure 983090983089983094
The drum extruder by AskoCosden
983090983091983089983091Spiral Disk Extruder
The spiral disk extruder is another type o disk extruder that has been known or
many years Several patented designs were described by Schenkel (Chapter 1 [3])
Similar to the stepped disk extruder the development o the spiral disk extruder
is closely connected to spiral groove bearings It has long been known that spiral
groove bearings are capable o supporting substantial loads Ingen Housz [30] has
analyzed the melt conveying in a spiral disk extruder with logarithmic grooves in
the disk based on Newtonian flow behavior o the polymer melt In terms o melt
conveying capability the spiral disk extruder seems comparable to the screw ex-truder however the solids conveying capability is questionable
983090983091983089983092Diskpack Extruder
Another development in disk extruders is the diskpack extruder Tadmor originated
the idea o the diskpack machine which is covered under several patents [31ndash33]
The development o the machine was undertaken by the Farrel Machinery Group o
Emgart Corporation in cooperation with Tadmor [34ndash39] The basic concept o the
machine is shown in Fig 217Material drops in the axial gap between relatively thin disks mounted on a rotating
shaf The material will move with the disks almost a ull turn then it meets a chan-
nel block The channel block closes off the space between the disks and deflects the
polymer flow to either an outlet channel or to a transer channel in the barrel The
shape o the disks can be optimized or specific unctions solids conveying melting
devolatilization melt conveying and mixing A detailed unctional analysis can be
ound in Tadmorrsquos book on polymer processing (Chapter 1 [32])
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983091983090 983090Different Types of Extruders
v
v
Channel blockInlet
Outlet
Barrel
Solid bed
Shaft
Melt pool
Inlet Channel block
Outlet
Melt pool
Solid bed
Barrel
Shaft
v
v Figure 983090983089983095
The diskpack extruder
It is claimed that this machine can perorm all basic polymer-processing operations
with efficiency equaling or surpassing existing machinery Clearly i the claim is
true and can be delivered or a competitive price the diskpack extruder will become
an important machine in the extrusion industry The first diskpack machines were
delivered to the industry in 1982 still under a joint development type o agreement
Now almost 20 years afer the first diskpack machines were delivered it is clear
that the acceptance o these machines in the industry has been very limited In act
Farrel no longer actively markets the diskpack machine In most o the publications
the diskpack machine is reerred to as a polymer processor This term is probably
used to indicate that this machine can do more than just extruding although the
diskpack is o course an extruder
The diskpack machine incorporates some o the eatures o the drum extruder and
the single screw extruder One can think o the diskpack as a single screw extruder
using a screw with zero helix angle and very deep flights Forward axial transportcan only take place by transport channels in the barrel with the material orced into
those channels by a restrictor bar as with the drum extruder The use o restrictor
bars (channel block) and transer channels in the housing make it considerably
more complex than the barrel o a single screw extruder
One o the advantages o the diskpack is that mixing blocks and spreading dams can
be incorporated into the machine as shown in Fig 218(a)
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983091983091
v
v
Channel blockInlet
Outlet
Mixing block
Disk
Inlet Channel block
Outlet
Mixing blockDisk v
v Figure 983090983089983096(a)
Mixing blocks in the diskpack
Mixing blocks o various shapes can be positioned externally into the processing
chamber This is similar to the QSM extruder only that in the QSM extruder the
screw flight has to be interrupted to avoid contact This is not necessary in the disk-
pack because the flights have zero helix angles in other words they run perpen-
dicular to the rotor axis By the number o blocks the geometry o the block and the
clearance between block and disk one can tailor the mixing capability to the par-
ticular application The use o spreading dams allows the generation o a thin film
with a large surace area this results in effective devolatilization capability The
diskpack has inherently higher pressure-generating capability than the single
screw extruder does This is because the diskpack has two dragging suraces while
the single screw extruder has only one see Fig 218(b)
v
v=0
v
v
Conveying mechanismsingle screw extruder
Conveying mechanism
diskpack extruder Figure 983090983089983096(b)
Comparison of conveying mechanism in diskpackand single screw extruder
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983091983092 983090Different Types of Extruders
At the same net flow rate equal viscosity equal plate velocity and optimum plate
separation the theoretical maximum pressure gradient o the diskpack is eight
times higher than the single screw extruder [34] Thus high pressures can be gen-
erated over a short distance which allows a more compact machine design The
energy efficiency o the pressure generation is also better than in the single screwextruder the maximum pumping efficiency approaches 100 see derivation in
Appendix 21 For the single screw extruder the maximum pumping efficiency is
only 33 as discussed in Section 7413 The energy efficiency o pressure genera-
tion is the ratio o the theoretical energy requirement (flow rate times pressure rise)
to the actual energy requirement (wall velocity times shear stress integrated over
wall surace) It should be noted that the two dragging platesrsquo pumping mechanism
exists only in tangential direction The pumping in axial (orward) direction occurs
only in the transer channel in the housing This orward pumping occurs by the one
dragging plate mechanism as in the single screw extruder The maximum efficiency
or orward pumping thereore is only 33 The overall pumping efficiency will be
somewhere between 33 and 100 i the power consumption in the disk and channel
block clearance is neglected
Studies on melting in the diskpack were reported by Valsamis et al [96] It was
ound that two types o melting mechanism could take place in the diskpack the
drag melt removal (DMR) mechanism and the dissipative melt mixing (DMM) mech-
anism The DMR melting mechanism is the predominant mechanism in single screw
extruders this is discussed in detail in Section 73 In the DMR melting mechanismthe solids and melt coexist as two largely continuous and separate phases In the
DMM melting mechanism the solids are dispersed in the melt there is no conti-
nuous solid bed It was ound that the DMM mechanism could be induced by pro-
moting back leakage o the polymer melt past the channel block This can be con-
trolled by varying the clearance between the channel block and the disks The
advantage o the DMM melting mechanism is that the melting rate can be substan-
tially higher than with the DMR mechanism reportedly by as much as a actor o 3
[96]
Among all elementary polymer processing unctions the solids conveying in a disk-
pack extruder has not been discussed to any extent in the open technical literature
Considering that the solids conveying mechanism is a rictional drag mechanism
(as in single screw extruders) and not a positive displacement type o transport (as
in intermeshing counterrotating twin screw extruders see Sections 102 and 104)
it can be expected that the diskpack will have solids conveying limitations similar
to those o single screw extruders see Section 722 This means that powders
blends o powders and pellets slippery materials etc are likely to encounter solids
conveying problems in a diskpack extruder unless special measures are taken toenhance the solids conveying capability (e g crammer eeder grooves in the disks
etc)
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983091983093
Because o the more complex machine geometry the cost per unit throughput o the
diskpack is higher than or the conventional single screw extruder Thereore the
diskpack does not compete directly with single screw extruders
Applications or the diskpack are specialty polymer processing operations such as
polymerization post-reactor processing (devolatilization) continuous compound-
ing etc As such the diskpack competes mostly with twin screw extruders Pres-
ently twin screw extruders are usually the first choice when it comes to specialty
polymer processing operations
983090983091983090The Elastic Melt Extruder
The elastic melt extruder was developed in the late 1950s by Maxwell and Scalora[40 41] The extruder makes use o the viscoelastic in particular the elastic pro-
perties o polymer melts When a viscoelastic fluid is exposed to a shearing deor-
mation normal stresses will develop in the fluid that are not equal in all directions
as opposed to a purely viscous fluid In the elastic melt extruder the polymer is
sheared between two plates one stationary and one rotating see Fig 219
Hopper
Heaters
Solid polymer
Die
Extrudate
Polymer melt
Rotor
Solid polymerHopper
Heaters
Die
Extrudate
Polymer melt
Rotor
Figure 983090983089983097
The elastic melt extruder
As the polymer is sheared normal stresses will generate a centripetal pumping
action Thus the polymer can be extruded through the central opening in the sta-
tionary plate in a continuous ashion Because normal stresses generate the pump-
ing action this machine is sometimes reerred to as a normal stress extruderThis extruder is quite interesting rom a rheological point o view since it is prob-
ably the only extruder that utilizes the elasticity o the melt or its conveying Thus
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983091983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
several detailed experimental and theoretical studies have been devoted to the elas-
tic melt extruder [42ndash47]
The detailed study by Fritz [44] concluded that transport by normal stresses only
could be as much as two orders o magnitude lower than a corresponding system
with orced eed In addition substantial temperature gradients developed in the
polymer causing substantial degradation in high molecular weight polyolefins The
scant market acceptance o the elastic melt extruder would tend to confirm Fritzrsquos
conclusions
Several modifications have been proposed to improve the perormance o the elastic
melt extruder Fritz [43] suggested incorporation o spiral grooves to improve the
pressure generating capability essentially combining the elastic melt extruder and
the spiral disk extruder into one machine In Russia [47] several modifications
were made to the design o the elastic melt extruder One o those combined a screwextruder with the elastic melt extruder to eliminate the eeding and plasticating
problem Despite all o these activities the elastic melt extruder has not been able to
acquire a position o importance in the extrusion industry
983090983091983091Overview of Disk Extruders
Many attempts have been made in the past to come up with a continuous plasticat-
ing extruder o simple design that could perorm better than the single screw ex-truder It seems air to say that at this point in time no disk extruder has been able
to meet this goal The simple disk extruders do not perorm nearly as well as the
single screw extruder The more complex disk extruder such as the diskpack can
possibly outperorm the single screw extruder However this is at the expense o
design simplicity thus increasing the cost o the machine Disk extruders there-
ore have not been able to seriously challenge the position o the single screw
extruder This is not to say however that it is not possible or this to happen some
time in the uture But considering the long dominance o the single screw extruder
it is not probable that a new disk extruder will come along that can challenge the
single screw extruder
983090983092Ram Extruders
Ram or plunger extruders are simple in design rugged and discontinuous in their
mode o operation Ram extruders are essentially positive displacement devices and
are able to generate very high pressures Because o the intermittent operation o
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983091983095
ram extruders they are ideally suited or cyclic processes such as injection molding
and blow molding In act the early molding machines were almost exclusively
equipped with ram extruders to supply the polymer melt to the mold Certain limita-
tions o the ram extruder have caused a switch to reciprocating screw extruders or
combinations o the two The two main limitations are
1 Limited melting capacity
2 Poor temperature uniormity o the polymer melt
Presently ram extruders are used in relatively small shot size molding machines
and certain specialty operations where use is made o the positive displacement
characteristics and the outstanding pressure generation capability There are basic-
ally two types o ram extruders single ram extruders and multi ram extruders
983090983092983089Single Ram Extruders
The single ram extruder is used in small general purpose molding machines but
also in some special polymer processing operations One such operation is the ex-
trusion o intractable polymers such as ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene
(UHMWPE) or polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) These polymers are not considered to
be melt processable on conventional melt processing equipment Teledynamik [48]
has built a ram injection-molding machine under a license rom Th Engel who
developed the prototype machine This machine is used to mold UHMWPE under
very high pressures The machine uses a reciprocating plunger that densifies the
cold incoming material with a pressure up to 300 MPa (about 44000 psi) The re-
quency o the ram can be adjusted continuously with a maximum o 250 strokes
minute The densified material is orced through heated channels into the heated
cylinder where final melting takes place The material is then injected into a mold
by a telescoping injection ram Pressures up to 100 MPa (about 14500 psi) occur
during the injection o the polymer into the mold
Another application is the extrusion o PTFE with again the primary ingredient orsuccessul extrusion being very high pressures Granular PTFE can be extruded at
slow rates in a ram extruder [49ndash51] The powder is compacted by the ram orced
into a die where the material is heated above the melting point and shaped into the
desired orm PTFE is ofen processed as a PTFE paste [52 53] This is small particle
size PTFE powder (about 02 mm) mixed with a processing aid such as naphta PTFE
paste can be extruded at room temperature or slightly above room temperature
Afer extrusion the processing aid is removed by heating the extrudate above its
volatilization temperature The extruded PTFE paste product may be sintered i the
application requires a more ully coalesced product
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983091983096 983090Different Types of Extruders
983090983092983089983089Solid State Extrusion
An extrusion technique that has slowly been gaining popularity is solid-state extru-
sion The polymer is orced through a die while it is below its melting point This
causes substantial deormation o the polymer in the die but since the polymer is in
the solid state a very effective molecular orientation takes place This orientation ismuch more effective than the one which occurs in conventional melt processing As
a result extraordinary mechanical properties can be obtained
Solid-state extrusion is a technique borrowed rom the metal industry where solid-
state extrusion has been used commercially since the late 1940s Bridgman [54]
was one o the first to do a systematic study on the effect o pressure on the mechan-
ical properties o metals He also studied polymers and ound that the glass tran-
sition temperature was raised by the application o pressure
There are two methods o solid-state extrusion one is direct solid-state extrusionthe other is hydrostatic extrusion In direct solid-state extrusion a pre-ormed solid
rod o material (a billet) is in direct contact with the plunger and the walls o the
extrusion die see Fig 220 The material is extruded as the ram is pushed towards
the die
Plunger
Billet
Barrel
DieExtrudate Figure 983090983090983088
Direct solid state extrusion
In hydrostatic extrusion the pressure required or extrusion is transmitted rom the
plunger to the billet through a lubricating liquid usually castor oil The billet must
be shaped to fit the die to prevent loss o fluid The hydrostatic fluid reduces the ric-
tion thereby reducing the extrusion pressure see Fig 221
In hydrostatic extrusion the pressure-generating device or the fluid does not neces-
sarily have to be in close proximity to the orming part o the machine The fluid canbe supplied to the extrusion device by high-pressure tubes
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983091983097
Plunger
Billet
Oil
Barrel
DieExtrudate Figure 983090983090983089
Hydrostatic solid state extrusion
Judging rom publications in the open literature most o the work on solid-state
extrusion o polymers is done at universities and research institutes It is possible
o course that some companies are working on solid-state extrusion but are keeping
the inormation proprietary A major research effort in solid-state extrusion has
been made at the University o Amherst Massachusetts [50ndash64] University o
Leeds England [65ndash72] Fyushu University Fukuoka Japan [73ndash76] Research
Institute or Polymers and Textiles Yokohama Japan [77ndash79] Battelle Columbus
Ohio [80ndash83] and Rutgers University New Brunswick New Jersey [84ndash86] As
mentioned earlier publications rom other sources are considerably less plentiul
[87ndash90] Efforts have also been made to achieve the same high degree o orientation
in a more or less conventional extrusion process by special die design and tempera-
ture control in the die region [91]
Table 25 shows a comparison o mechanical properties between steel aluminum
solid state extruded HDPE and HDPE extruded by conventional means
Table 25 clearly indicates that the mechanical properties o solid-state extruded
HDPE are much superior to the melt extruded HDPE In act the tensile strength o
solid-state extruded HDPE is about the same as carbon steel There are some other
interesting benefits associated with solidstate extrusion o polymers There is essen-
tially no die swell at high extrusion ratios (extrusion ratio is the ratio o the area in
the cylinder to the area in the die) Thus the dimensions o the extrudate closely
conorm to those o the die exit The surace o the extrudate produced by hydro-
static extrusion has a lower coefficient o riction than that o the un-oriented poly-
mer Above a certain extrusion ratio (about ten) polyethylene and polypropylene
become transparent Further solid-state extruded polymers maintain their ten-sile properties at elevated temperatures Polyethylene maintains its modulus up to
120degC when it is extruded in the solid state at a high extrusion ratio The thermal
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983092983088 983090Different Types of Extruders
conductivity in the extrusion direction is much higher than that o the un-oriented
polymer as much as 25 times higher The melting point o the solid-state extruded
polymer increases with the amount o orientation The melting point o HDPE can be
shifed to as high as 140degC
Table 25 Comparison of Mechanical Properties
Material Tensile modulus[MPa]
Tensile strength[MPa]
Elongation[]
Density[gcc]
Annealed SAE 1020 210000 410 35 786
W-200 degF SAE 1020 210000 720 6 786
Annealed 304 stainless
steel
200000 590 50 792
Aluminum 1100ndash0 70000 90 45 271
HDPE solid state
extruded
70000 480 3 097
HDPE melt extruded 10000 30 20ndash1000 096
A recent application o solid-state extrusion is the process developed by Synthetic
Hardwood Technologies Inc [107] This company has developed an expanded ori-
ented wood-filled polypropylene (EOW-PP) that is about 300 stronger than regular
PP The process is based on technology developed at Aluminum Company o Canada
Ltd (Alcan) in the early 1990s to solidstate extrude PP It involves ram extrusion
drawing o billets o PP just below the melting point with very high draw ratio and
high haul-off tension (about 3 MPa) to reeze-in the high level o orientation Alcan
did not pursue the technology and Symplastics Ltd licensed the patented process
this company started experimenting with adding small amounts o wood flour to the
PP However Symplastics ound the research and development too costly and sold
the patents and lab extrusion equipment to Frank Maine who set up SHW to com-
mercialize applications or the EOW-PP The key to the SHW process is that it com-
bines extrusion with drawing As the polymer is oriented the density drops about
50 rom about 1 g cc to 05 g cc The die drawing also allowed substantial in-creases in line speed rom about 0050 m min to about 9 m min The properties
achieved with EOW-PP are shown in Table 24 and compared to regular PP wood
and oriented PP
Solid-state extrusion has been practiced with coextrusion o different polymers [93]
Despite the large amount o research on solid-state extrusion and the outstanding
mechanical properties that can be obtained there does not seem to be much interest
in the polymer industry The main drawbacks o course are that solid-state extru-
sion is basically a discontinuous process it cannot be done on conventional polymer
processing equipment and very high pressures are required to achieve solid-stateextrusion Also one should keep in mind that very good mechanical properties can
be obtained by taking a profile (fiber film tube etc) produced by conventional con-
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983092983089
tinuous extrusion and exposing it to controlled deormation at a temperature below
the melting point This is a well-established technique in many extrusion operations
(fiber spinning film extrusion etc) and it can be done at a high rate This method
o producing extrudates with very good mechanical properties is likely to be more
cost-effective than solid-state extrusion It is possible that the die drawing processdeveloped by SHW can make solid-state extrusion more attractive commercially by
allowing large profiles to be processed at reasonable line speeds
Table 26 Mechanical Properties of PP Wood OPP and EOW-PP
Flexural strength [MPa] Flexural modulus [MPa]
Regular PP 50 1850
Wood 100 9000
Oriented PP 275 7600EOW-PP 140 7600
983090983092983090Multi Ram Extruder
As mentioned beore the main disadvantage o ram extruders is their intermittent
operation Several attempts have been made to overcome this problem by designing
multi-ram extruders that work together in such a way as to produce a continuousflow o material
Westover [94] designed a continuous ram extruder that combined our plunger-
cylinders Two plunger-cylinders were used or plasticating and two or pumping
An intricate shuttle valve connecting all the plunger cylinders provides continuous
extrusion
Another attempt to develop a continuous ram extruder was made by Yi and Fenner
[95] They designed a twin ram extruder with the cylinders in a V-configuration see
Fig 222The two rams discharge into a common barrel in which a plasticating shaf is rotat-
ing Thus solids conveying occurs in the two separate cylinders and plasticating
and melt conveying occurs in the annular region between the barrel and plasticat-
ing shaf The machine is able to extrude however the throughput uniormity is
poor The perormance could probably have been improved i the plasticating shaf
had been provided with a helical channel But o course then the machine would
have become a screw extruder with a ram-assisted eed This only goes to demon-
strate that it is ar rom easy to improve upon the simple screw extruder
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983092983090 983090Different Types of Extruders
Die Breaker plate
Plasticating shaft
Main
block
Feed cylinder
Figure 222 Twin ram extruder
983090983092983091 Appendix 983090983089
983090983092983091983089 Pumping Efficiency in Diskpack Extruder
The velocity profile between the moving walls is a parabolic unction when the fluid
is a Newtonian fluid see Section 621 and Fig 223
y
z H
Small pressure gradient
Medium pressure gradient
Large pressure gradient
Figure 983090983090983091
Velocity profiles between moving
walls
The velocity profile or a Newtonian fluid is
L8
PH
H
y41vv(y)
2
2
2
∆micro∆
minusminus= (1)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983092983091
where v is the velocity o the plates H the distance between the plates and μ the
viscosity o the fluid The flow rate can be ound by integrating v(y) over the width
and depth o the channel this yields
L12
PWHvWHV
3
∆micro∆minus=
bull
(2)
The first term on the right-hand side o the equalation is the drag flow term The
second term is the pressure flow term The ratio o pressure flow to drag flow is
termed the throttle ratio rd (see Section 7413)
r d =Lv12
PH2
∆micro
∆ (3)
The flow rate can now be written as
(4)
The shear stress at the wall is obtained rom
dv H∆Pτ = micro =dy
05H 2∆L
(5)
The power consumption in the channel is
Zch = PvHWLvW2 ∆=∆τ (6)
The energy efficiency or pressure generation is
V∆Pε = =1 minus r
d Zch
(7)
Equation 7 is not valid or rd = 0 because in this case both numerator and denomi-
nator become zero From Eq 7 it can be seen that when the machine is operated atlow rd values the pumping efficiency can become close to 100 This is considerably
better than the single screw extruder where the optimum pumping efficiency is 33
at a throttle ratio value o 033 (rd = 13)
References
1 J LeBras ldquoRubber Fundamentals o its Science and Technologyrdquo Chemical Publ Co
NY (1957)
2 W S Penn ldquoSynthetic Rubber Technology Volume Irdquo MacLaren amp Sons Ltd London(1960)
3 W J S Naunton ldquoThe Applied Science o Rubberrdquo Edward Arnold Ltd London (1961)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3437
983092983092 983090Different Types of Extruders
4 C M Blow ldquoRubber Technology and Manuacturerdquo Butterworth amp Co Ltd London
(1971)
5 F R Eirich (Ed) ldquoScience and Technology o Rubberrdquo Academic Press NY (1978)
6 C W Evans ldquoPowdered and Particulate Rubber Technologyrdquo Applied Science Publ Ltd
London (1978)
7 G Targiel et al 10 IKV-Kolloquium Aachen March 12ndash14 45 (1980)
8 A Kennaway Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 17 378ndash391 (1964)
9 G Menges and J P Lehnen Plastverarbeiter 20 1 31ndash39 (1969)
10 M Parshall and A J Saulino Rubber World 2 5 78ndash83 (1967)
11 S E Perlberg Rubber World 2 6 71ndash76 (1967)
12 H H Gohlisch Gummi Asbest Kunststoffe 25 9 834ndash835 (1972)
13 E Harms ldquoKautschuk-Extruder Aubau und Einsatz aus verahrenstechnischer Sichtrdquo
Krausskop-Verlag Mainz Bd 2 Buchreihe Kunststo983142echnik (1974)
14 G Schwarz Eur Rubber Journal Sept 28ndash32 (1977)
15 G Menges and E G Harms Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 25 10 469ndash475 (1972)
16 G Menges and E G Harms Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 27 5 187ndash193 (1974)
17 E G Harms Elastomerics 109 6 33ndash39 (1977)
18 E G Harms Eur Rubber Journal 6 23 (1978)
19 E G Harms Kunststoffe 69 1 32ndash33 (1979)
20 E G Harms Dissertation RWTH Aachen Germany (1981)21 S H Collins Plastics Compounding Nov Dec 29 (1982)
22 D Anders Kunststoffe 69 194ndash198 (1979)
23 D Gras and K Eise SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 21 386 (1975)
24 R F Westover SPE Journal 18 12 1473 (1962)
25 Lord Raleigh Philosophical Magazine 35 1ndash12 (1918)
26 German Patent DRP 1129681
27 British Patent BP 759354
28 U S Patent 3880564
29 U S Patent 4012477
30 J F Ingen Housz Plastverarbeiter 10 1 (1975)
31 U S Patent 4142805
32 U S Patent 4194841
33 U S Patent 4213709
34 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 25 193 (1979)
35 P Hold Z Tadmor and L Valsamis SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 25 205 (1979)
36 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis Plastics Engineering Nov 20ndash25 (1979)
37 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis Plastics Engineering Dec 30ndash38 (1979)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3537
References 983092983093
38 Z Tadmor et al The Diskpack Plastics Processor Farrel Publication Jan (1982)
39 L Valsamis AIChE Meeting Washington D C Oct (1983)
40 B Maxwell and A J Scalora Modern Plastics 37 107 Oct (1959)
41 U S Patent 3 046603
42 L L Blyler PhD thesis Princeton University NJ (1966)
43 H G Fritz Kunststo983142echnik 6 430 (1968)
44 H G Fritz PhD thesis Stuttgart University Germany (1971)
45 C W Macosko and J M Starita SPE Journal 27 30 (1971)
46 P A Good A J Schwartz and C W Macosko AIChE Journal 20 1 67 (1974)
47 V L Kocherov Y L Lukach E A Sporyagin and G V Vinogradov Polym Eng Sci 13
194 (1973)
48 J Berzen and G Braun Kunststoffe 69 2 62ndash66 (1979)49 R S Porter et al J Polym Sci 17 485ndash488 (1979)
50 C A Sperati Modern Plastics Encyclopedia McGraw-Hill NY (1983)
51 S S Schwartz and S H Goodman see Chapter 1 [36]
52 G R Snelling and J F Lontz J Appl Polym Sci 3 9 257ndash265 (1960)
53 D C F Couzens Plastics and Rubber Processing March 45ndash48 (1976)
54 P W Bridgman ldquoStudies in Large Plastic Flow and Fracturerdquo McGraw-Hill NY (1952)
55 H L D Push ldquoThe Mechanical Behavior o Materials Under Pressurerdquo Elsevier Amster-
dam (1970)56 H L D Push and A H Low J Inst Metals 93 201 (196565)
57 F Slack Mach Design Oct 7 61ndash64 (1982)
58 J H Southern and R S Porter J Appl Polym Sci 14 2305 (1970)
59 J H Southern and R S Porter J Macromol Sci Phys 3ndash4 541 (1970)
60 J H Southern N E Weeks and R S Porter Macromol Chem 162 19 (1972)
61 N J Capiati and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 13 1177 (1975)
62 R S Porter J H Southern and N E Weeks Polym Eng Sci 15 213 (1975)
63 A E Zachariades E S Sherman and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 17 255
(1979)
64 A E Zachariades and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 17 277 (1979)
65 B Parsons D Bretherton and B N Cole in Advances in MTDR 11th Int Con Proc
S A Tobias and F Koeningsberger (Eds) Pergamon Press London Vol B 1049 (1971)
66 G Capaccio and I M Ward Polymer 15 233 (1974)
67 A G Gibson I M Ward B N Cole and B Parsons J Mater Sci 9 1193ndash1196 (1974)
68 A G Gibson and I M Ward J Appl Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 16 2015ndash2030 (1978)
69 P S Hope and B Parsons Polym Eng Sci 20 589ndash600 (1980)
70 P S Hope I M Ward and A G Gibson J Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 18 1242ndash1256
(1980)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3637
983092983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
71 P S Hope A G Gibson B Parsons and I M Ward Polym Eng Sci 20 54ndash55 (1980)
72 B Parsons and I M Ward Plast Rubber Proc Appl 2 3 215ndash224 (1982)
73 K Imada T Yamamoto K Shigematsu and M Takayanagi J Mater Sci 6 537ndash546
(1971)
74 K Nakamura K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 2 71 (1972)
75 K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 2 89 (1973)
76 K Nakamura K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 3 23 (1974)
77 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Mater Sci 10 1105 (1975)
78 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Mater Sci 12 1477 (1977)
79 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Appl Polym Sci 23 2543ndash2554 (1979)
80 D M Bigg Polym Eng Sci 16 725 (1976)
81 D M Bigg M M Epstein R J Fiorentino and E G Smith Polym Eng Sci 18 908(1978)
82 D M Bigg and M M Epstein ldquoScience and Technology o Polymer Processingrdquo N S Suh
and N Sung (Eds) 897 MIT Press (1979)
83 D M Bigg M M Epstein R J Fiorentino and E G Smith J Appl Polym Sci 26 395ndash
409 (1981)
84 K D Pae and D R Mears J Polym Sci B-6 269 (1968)
85 K D Pae D R Mears and J A Sauer J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 6 773 (1968)
86 D R Mears K P Pae and J A Sauer J Appl Phys 40 11 4229ndash4237 (1969)
87 L A Davis and C A Pampillo J Appl Phys 42 12 4659ndash4666 (1971)
88 A Buckley and H A Long Polym Eng Sci 9 2 115ndash120 (1969)
89 L A Davis Polym Eng Sci 14 9 641ndash645 (1974)
90 R K Okine and N P Suh Polym Eng Sci 22 5 269ndash279 (1982)
91 J R Collier T Y T Tam J Newcome and N Dinos Polym Eng Sci 16 204ndash211 (1976)
92 J H Faupel and F E Fisher ldquoEngineering Designrdquo Wiley NY (1981)
93 A E Zachariades R Ball and R S Porter J Mater Sci 13 2671ndash2675 (1978)
94 R R Westover Modern Plastics March (1963) 95 B Yi and R T Fenner Plastics and Polymers Dec 224ndash228 (1975)
96 A Mekkaoui and L N Valsamis Polym Eng Sci 24 1260ndash1269 (1984)
97 H Rust Kunststoffe 73 342ndash346 (1983)
98 J Huszman Kunststoffe 73 3437ndash348 (1983)
99 J M McKelvey U Maire and F Haupt Chem Eng Sept 27 94ndash102 (1976)
100 K Schneider Kunststoffe 68 201ndash206 (1978)
101 W T Rice Plastic Technology 87ndash91 Feb (1980)
102 Harrel Corp ldquoMelt Pump Systems or Extrudersrdquo Product Description TDS-264 (1982)
103 J M McKelvey and W T Rice Chem Eng 90 2 89ndash94 (1983)
104 K Kaper K Eise and H Herrmann SPE ANTEC Chicago 161ndash163 (1983)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3737
References 983092983095
105 C L Woodworth SPE ANTEC New Orleans 122ndash126 (1984)
106 W A Kramer SPE ANTEC Washington D C 23ndash29 (1985)
107 J Schut ldquoDie Drawing Makes Plastic Steelrdquo Plastics Technology Online Article March
5 (2001)
108 VDI Conerence Extrusiontechnik 2006 ldquoDer Einschnecken-Extruder von Morgenrdquo VDI
Verlag GmbH Duumlsseldor (2006)
109 P Rieg ldquoLatest Developments in High-Speed Extrusionrdquo Plastic Extrusion Asia Con-
erence Bangkok Thailand March 17ndash18 (2008) also presented at Advances in Ex-
trusion Conerence New Orleans December 9ndash10 (2008)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 337
2Extruders in the polymer industry come in many different designs The main dis-
tinction between the various extruders is their mode o operation continuous or
discontinuous The latter type extruder delivers polymer in an intermittent ashion
and thereore is ideally suited or batch type processes such as injection molding
and blow molding As mentioned earlier continuous extruders have a rotating mem-ber whereas batch extruders have a reciprocating member A classification o the
various extruders is shown in Table 21
983090983089The Single Screw Extruder
Screw extruders are divided into single screw and multi screw extruders The singlescrew extruder is the most important type o extruder used in the polymer industry
Its key advantages are relatively low cost straightorward design ruggedness and
reliability and a avorable perormancecost ratio A detailed description o the hard-
ware components o a single screw extruder is given in Chapter 3
The extruder screw o a conventional plasticating extruder has three geometrically
different sections see Fig 21
This geometry is also referred to as a ldquosingle stagerdquo The single stage refers to the fact
that the screw has only one compression section even though the screw has threedistinct geometrical sections The first section (closest to the feed opening) generally
has deep flights The material in this section will be mostly in the solid state This
section is referred to as the feed section of the screw The last section (closest to the
die) usually has shallow flights The material in this section will be mostly in the
molten state This screw section is referred to as the metering section or pump sec-
tion The third screw section connects the feed section and the metering section
This section is called the transition section or compression section In most cases
the depth of the screw channel (or the height of the screw flight) reduces in a linear
fashion going from the feed section towards the metering section thus causing acompression of the material in the screw channel Later it will be shown that this
compression in many cases is essential to the proper functioning of the extruder
Different Typesof Extruders
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983089983092 983090Different Types of Extruders
The extruder is usually designated by the diameter o the extruder barrel In the
U S the standard extruder sizes are 34 1 1ndash12 2 2ndash12 3ndash12 4ndash12 6 8 10
12 14 16 18 20 and 24 inches
Obviously the very large machines are much less common than the smaller extrud-
ers Some machines go up in size as large as 35 inches These machines are used in
specialty operations such as melt removal directly rom a polymerization reactor
In Europe the standard extruder sizes are 20 25 30 35 40 50 60 90 120 150
200 250 300 350 400 450 500 and 600 millimeters Most extruders range in
size rom 1 to 6 inches or rom 25 to 150 mm An additional designation ofen used
is the length o the extruder generally expressed as length to diameter (L D) ratio
Typical L D ratios range rom 20 to 30 with 24 being very common Extruders used
or extraction o volatiles (vented extruders see Section 212) can have an L D ratio
as high as 35 or 40 and sometimes even higher
Table 21 Classification of Polymer Extruders
Screw extruders
(continuous)
Single screw extruders
Melt fed
Plasticating
Single stage
Multi stage
Compounding
Multi screw extruders
Twin screw extruders
Gear pumps
Planetary gear extruders
Multi (gt2) screw extruders
Disk or drum extruders
(continuous)
Viscous drag extruders
Spiral disk extruder
Drum extruder
Diskpack extruder
Stepped disk extruder
Elastic melt extrudersScrewless extruder
Screw or disk type melt extruder
Reciprocating extruders
(discontinuous)
Ram extruders
Melt fed extruder
Plasticating extruder
Capillary rheometer
Reciprocating single
screw extruders
Plasticating unit in injection molding machines
Compounding extruders such as the Kneader
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 537
983090983089 The Single Screw Extruder 983089983093
983090983089983089Basic Operation
The basic operation o a single screw extruder is rather straightorward Material
enters rom the eed hopper Generally the eed material flows by gravity rom the
eed hopper down into the extruder barrel Some materials do not flow easily in dryorm and special measures have to be taken to prevent hang-up (bridging) o the
material in the eed hopper
As material alls down into the extruder barrel it is situated in the annular space
between the extruder screw and barrel and is urther bounded by the passive and
active flanks o the screw flight the screw channel The barrel is stationary and the
screw is rotating As a result rictional orces will act on the material both on the
barrel as well as on the screw surace These rictional orces are responsible or the
orward transport o the material at least as long as the material is in the solid state(below its melting point)
Feed section Compression Metering section
Figure 21 Geometry of conventional extruder screw
As the material moves orward it will heat up as a result o rictional heat genera-
tion and because o heat conducted rom the barrel heaters When the temperature
o the material exceeds the melting point a melt film will orm at the barrel surace
This is where the solids conveying zone ends and the plasticating zone starts It
should be noted that this point generally does not coincide with the start o the
compression section The boundaries o the unctional zones will depend on poly-
mer properties machine geometry and operating conditions Thus they can change
as operating conditions change However the geometrical sections o the screw are
determined by the design and will not change with operating conditions As thematerial moves orward the amount o solid material at each location will reduce as
a result o melting When all solid polymer has disappeared the end o the plasticat-
ing zone has been reached and the melt conveying zone starts In the melt-convey-
ing zone the polymer melt is simply pumped to the die
As the polymer flows through the die it adopts the shape o the flow channel o the
die Thus as the polymer leaves the die its shape will more or less correspond to
the cross-sectional shape o the final portion o the die flow channel Since the die
exerts a resistance to flow a pressure is required to orce the material through thedie This is generally reerred to as the diehead pressure The diehead pressure is
determined by the shape o the die (particularly the flow channel) the temperature
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983089983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
o the polymer melt the flow rate through the die and the rheological properties o
the polymer melt It is important to understand that the diehead pressure is caused
by the die and not by the extruder The extruder simply has to generate sufficient
pressure to orce the material through the die I the polymer the throughput the
die and the temperatures in the die are the same then it does not make any differ-ence whether the extruder is a gear pump a single screw extruder a twin screw
extruder etc the diehead pressure will be the same Thus the diehead pressure is
caused by the die and by the flow process taking place in the die flow channel This
is an important point to remember
983090983089983090Vented Extruders
Vented extruders are significantly different rom non-vented extruders in design
and in unctional capabilities A vented extruder is equipped with one or more open-
ings (vent ports) in the extruder barrel through which volatiles can escape Thus
the vented extruder can extract volatiles rom the polymer in a continuous ashion
This devolatilization adds a unctional capability not present in non-vented extrud-
ers Instead o the extraction o volatiles one can use the vent port to add certain
components to the polymer such as additives fillers reactive components etc This
clearly adds to the versatility o vented extruders with the additional benefit that
the extruder can be operated as a conventional non-vented extruder by simply plug-ging the vent port and possibly changing the screw geometry
A schematic picture o a vented extruder is shown in Fig 22
Feed housing
Cooling channel Heaters Barrel Die
Breaker plateVent port
Screw
Figure 22 Schematic of vented extruder
The design o the extruder screw is very critical to the proper unctioning o the
vented extruder One o the main problems that vented extruders are plagued with
is vent flow This is a situation where not only the volatiles are escaping through the
vent port but also some amount o polymer Thus the extruder screw has to be
designed in such a way that there will be no positive pressure in the polymer under
the vent port (extraction section) This has led to the development o the two-stage
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983090983089 The Single Screw Extruder 983089983095
extruder screw especially designed or devolatilizing extrusion Two-stage extruder
screws have two compression sections separated by a decompression extraction
section It is somewhat like two single-stage extruder screws coupled in series along
one shaf The details o the design o two-stage extruder screws will be covered in
Chapter 8 Vented extruders are used or the removal o monomers and oligomersreaction products moisture solvents etc
The devolatilization capability o single screw extruders o conventional design is
limited compared to twin screw extruders Twin screw extruders can handle solvent
contents o 50 and higher using a multiple-stage extraction system and solvent
content o up to 15 using singlestage extraction Single screw vented extruders
o conventional design usually cannot handle more than 5 volatiles this would
require multiple vent ports With a single vent port a single screw vented extruder
o conventional design can generally reduce the level o volatiles only a raction oone percent depending o course on the polymersolvent system
Because o the limited devolatilization capacity o single screw extruders o con-
ventional design they are sometimes equipped with two or more vent ports A draw-
back o such a design is that the length o the extruder can become a problem
Some o these extruders have a L D ration o 40 to 50 This creates a problem in
handling the screw or instance when the screw is pulled and increases the chance
o mechanical problems in the extruder (deflection buckling etc) I substantial
amounts o volatiles need to be removed a twin screw extruder may be more cost-
effective than a single screw extruder However some vented single screw extruderso more modern design have substantially improved devolatilization capability and
deserve equal consideration see Section 852
983090983089983091Rubber Extruders
Extruders or processing elastomers have been around longer than any other type o
extruder Industrial machines or rubber extrusion were built as early as the second
hal o the nineteenth century Some o the early extruder manuacturers were John
Royle in the U S and Francis Shaw in England One o the major rubber extruder
manuacturers in Germany was Paul Troester in act it still is a producer o extrud-
ers Despite the act that rubber extruders have been around or more than a cen-
tury there is limited literature on the subject o rubber extrusion Some o the hand-
books on rubber [1ndash5] discuss rubber extrusion but in most cases the inormation
is very meager and o limited useulness Harmsrsquo book on rubber extruders [13]
appears to be the only book devoted exclusively to rubber extrusion The ew publi-
cations on rubber extrusion stand in sharp contrast to the abundance o books andarticles on plastic extrusion Considering the commercial significance o rubber
extrusion this is a surprising situation
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983089983096 983090Different Types of Extruders
The first rubber extruders were built or hot eed extrusion These machines are ed
with warm material rom a mill or other mixing device Around 1950 machines
were developed or cold eed extrusion The advantages o cold eed extruders are
thought to be
Less capital equipment cost
Better control o stock temperature
Reduced labor cost
Capable o handling a wider variety o compounds
However there is no general agreement on this issue As a result hot eed rubber
extruders are still in use today
Cold eed rubber extruders nowadays do not differ too much rom thermoplastic
extruders Some o the differences are Reduced length
Heating and cooling
Feed section
Screw design
There are several reasons or the reduced length The viscosity o rubbers is gener-
ally very high compared to most thermoplastics about an order o magnitude higher
[5] Consequently there is a substantial amount o heat generated in the extru-
sion process The reduced length keeps the temperature build-up within limits The
specific energy requirement or rubbers is generally low partly because they are
usually extruded at relatively low temperatures (rom 20 to 120degC) This is another
reason or the short extruder length The length o the rubber extruder will depend
on whether it is a cold or hot eed extruder Hot eed rubber extruders are usually
very short about 5D (D = diameter) Cold eed extruders range rom 15 to 20D
Vented cold eed extruders may be even longer than 20D
Rubber extruders used to be heated quite requently with steam because o the rela-
tively low extrusion temperatures Today many rubber extruders are heated likethermoplastic extruders with electrical heater bands clamped around the barrel Oil
heating is also used on rubber extruders and the circulating oil system can be used
to cool the rubber Many rubber extruders use water cooling because it allows effec-
tive heat transer
The eed section o the rubber extruders has to be designed specifically to the eed
stock characteristics o the material The extruder may be ed with either strips
chunks or pellets I the extruder is ed rom an internal mixer (e g Banbury Shaw
etc) a power-operated ram can be used to orce the rubber compound into the
extruder The eed opening can be undercut to improve the intake capability o the
extruder This can be useul because the rubber eed stock at times comes in rela-
tively large particles o irregular shape When the material is supplied in the orm o
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983090983089 The Single Screw Extruder 983089983097
a strip the eed opening is ofen equipped with a driven roll parallel to the screw to
give a ldquoroller eedrdquo Material can also be supplied in powder orm It has been shown
that satisactory extrusion is possible i the powder is consolidated by ldquopill-makingrdquo
techniques Powdered rubber technology is discussed in detail in [6]
The rubber extrusion technology appears to be considerably behind the plastics
extrusion technology Kennaway in one o the ew articles on rubber extrusion [8]
attributes this situation to two actors The first is the requent tendency o rubber
process personnel to solve extrusion problems by changing the ormulation o the
compound The second is the widespread notion that the extrusion behavior o rub-
bers is substantially different rom plastics because rubbers crosslink and plastics
generally do not This is a misconception however because the extrusion character-
istics o rubber and plastics are actually not substantially different [9]
When the rubber is slippery as in dewatering rubber extruders the eed section othe barrel is grooved to prevent slipping along the barrel surace or the barrel I D
may be fitted with pins This significantly improves the conveying action o the
extruder The same technique has been applied to the thermoplastic extrusion as
discussed in Section 14 and Section 7222
The extruder screw or rubber ofen has constant depth and variable decreasing
pitch (VDP) many rubber screws use a double-flighted design see Fig 23 Screws
or thermoplastics usually have a decreasing depth and constant pitch see Fig 21
Figure 983090983091
Typical screw geometry for rubber
extrusion
Another difference with the rubber extruder screw is that the channel depth is usu-
ally considerably larger than with a plastic extruder screw The larger depth is used
to reduce the shearing o the rubber and the resulting viscous heat generation
There is a large variety o rubber extruder screws as is the case with plastic extruder
screws Figure 24 shows the ldquoPlastiscrewrdquo manuactured by NRM
Figure 983090983092
The NRM Plastiscrew
Figure 25 shows the Pirelli rubber extruder screw This design uses a eed section
o large diameter reducing quickly to the much smaller diameter o the pumping
section The conical eed section uses a large clearance between screw flight and
barrel wall This causes a large amount o leakage over the flight and improves the
batch-mixing capability o the extruder
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983090983088 983090Different Types of Extruders
Figure 983090983093
The Pirelli rubber extruder screw
Figure 26 shows the EVK screw by Werner amp Pfleiderer [14] This design eatures
cross-channel barriers with preceding undercuts in the flights to provide a change
in flow direction and increased shearing as the material flows over the barrier or the
undercut in the flight A rather unusual design is the Transermix [10ndash13] extrudermixer which has been used or compounding rubber ormulations This machine
eatures helical channels in both the screw and barrel see Fig 27
Figure 983090983094
The EVK screw by Werner amp Pfleiderer
Vent
Feed
Figure 27 The Transfermix extruder
By a varying root diameter o the screw the material is orced in the flow channel
o the barrel A reduction o the depth o the barrel channel orces the material
back into the screw channel This requent reorientation provides good mixing
However the machine is difficult to manuacture and expensive to repair in case o
damageAnother rubber extruder is the QSM extruder [7 15ndash20] QSM stands or the Ger-
man words ldquoQuer Strom Mischrdquo meaning cross-flow mixing This extruder has
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983090983089 The Single Screw Extruder 983090983089
adjustable pins in the extruder barrel that protrude all the way into the screw chan-
nel see Fig 28
Figure 28 The QSM extruder (pin barrel extruder)
The screw flight has slots at the various pin locations The advantages o this ex-
truder in rubber applications are good mixing capability with a low stock tempera-
ture increase and low specific energy consumption This extruder was developed by
Harms in Germany and is manuactured and sold by Troester and other companies
Even though the QSM extruder has become popular in the rubber industry its appli-
cations clearly extend beyond just rubber extrusion In thermoplastic extrusion its
most obvious application would be in high viscosity thermally less stable resins
PVC could possibly be a candidate although dead spots may create problems with
degradation However it can probably be applied wherever good mixing and good
temperature control are requiredAnother typical rubber extrusion piece o hardware is the roller die A schematic
representation is shown in Fig 29
Figure 29 The roller die used in rubber extrusion
The roller die (B F Goodrich 1933) is a combination o a standard sheet die and a
calender It allows high throughput by reducing the diehead pressure it reduces air
entrapment and provides good gauge control
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983090983090 983090Different Types of Extruders
983090983089983092High-Speed Extrusion
One way to achieve high throughputs is to use high-speed extrusion High-speed
extrusion has been used in twin screw compounding or many yearsmdashsince the
1960s However in single screw extrusion high speed extrusion has not been usedon a significant scale until about 1995 Twin screw extruders (TSE) used in com-
pounding typically run at screw speeds ranging rom 200 to 500 rpm in some cases
screw speeds beyond 1000 rpm are possible Single screw extruders (SSE) usually
operate at screw speeds between 50 to 150 rpm
Since approx 1995 several extruder manuacturers have worked on developing
high-speed single screw extruders (HS-SSE) Most o these developments have taken
place at German extruder manuacturers such as Batteneld Reienhaumluser Kuhne
and Esde Currently HS-SSEs are commercially available and have been in use orseveral years [108]
Batteneld supplies a high speed 75-mm SSE that can run at screw speeds up to
1500 rpm [109] This machine can achieve throughputs up to 2200 kg hr It uses a
our-motor CMG torque drive with 390 kW made by K amp A Knoedler
983090983089983092983089Melt Temperature
One o the interesting characteristics o the HS-SSE is that the melt temperature
remains more or less constant over a broad range o screw speed [108 109] see
Fig 210
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0
T h r o u g
h p u t [ k g h r ]
75-mm extruder PS 486
P Rieg Battenfeld HJ Renner BASF
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200
Screw speed [revmin]
250
240
230
220
210
200
M e l t t e m
p e r a t u r e [ o C ]
Figure 983090983089983088
Throughput and melt
temperature versus
screw speed
This graph shows both the throughput in kg hr and the melt temperature in degC The
temperature curve indicates that there is less than a 2degC change in melt tempera-ture rom 200 rpm up to about 1000 rpm At screw speeds rom 110 rpm to 225 rpm
the melt temperature actually drops rom about 223 to about 215degC
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983090983089 The Single Screw Extruder 983090983091
In conventional extruders the melt temperature typically increases with screw
speed This ofen creates problems when we deal with high-viscosity polymers par-
ticularly when they have limited thermal stability In the example shown in Fig 210
the melt temperature is essentially constant as screw speed increases rom 200 to
1000 rpm This is probably the result o two actors the residence time o the poly-mer melt is reduced with increasing screw speed and the volume o the molten poly-
mer likely reduces with increasing screw speed as the melting length becomes
longer with increased screw speed
983090983089983092983090Extruders without Gear Reducer
An important advantage o high-speed SSE is that a conventional gear reducer is no
longer necessary The gear reducer is one o the largest cost actors or a conven-
tional extruder As a result extruders without a gear reducer are significantly lessexpensive compared to conventional extruders that achieve the same rate A urther
advantage o the elimination o the gear reducer is a significant reduction in noise
level Contrary to what one would expect HS-SSE actually run very quiet the noise
level is substantially lower than it is or conventional extruders with gear reducers
983090983089983092983091Energy Consumption
Another benefit o high-speed SSE is the reduction in energy consumption Rieg
[108 109] reports the ollowing mechanical specific energy consumption
The reduction in energy consumption listed in Table 22 is significant between 35
and 45 I the extruder runs PP at 2000 kg hr a reduction in SEC o 010 kWh kg
corresponds to a reduction in power consumption o 200 kW every hour I the power
cost is $010 per kWh (or consistency) the savings per hour will be $20 per hour
$480 per day $3360 per week and $168000 per year at 50 weeks per year Clearly
this can have a significant effect on the profitability o an extrusion operation
Table 22 Specific Energy Consumption for Standard Extruder and High-Speed Extruder
Type of extruder SEC with polystyrene [kWhkg] SEC with polypropylene [kWhkg]
Standard extruder 019minus021 027minus029
High-speed extruder 010minus012 017minus019
983090983089983092983092Change-over Resin Consumption
Another important issue in efficient extrusion is the time and material used when a
change in resin is made With high-speed extruders the change-over time is quite
short because the volume occupied by the plastic is small while the throughput is
very high
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983090983092 983090Different Types of Extruders
Table 23 shows a comparison o the high-speed 75-mm extruder to a conventional
180-mm extruder running at the same throughput The amount o material con-
sumed in the change-over is 150 kg or the 75-mm extruder and 1300 kg or the
180-mm extruder I we assume a resin cost o $100 per kg the savings are
$115000 per change-over I we have three change-overs per week the yearly sav-ings in reduced resin usage comes to $172500 per year Clearly this is not an insig-
nificant amount
Table 23 Comparison of Change-Over Time and Material Consumption
75-mm extruder 180-mm extruder
Volume in the extruder [liter] 4 40
Material consumption for change-over [kg] 150 1300
Change-over time [min] 5 40
983090983089983092983093 Change-over Time and Residence Time
Table 23 also shows that the change-over time or the 75-mm extruder is approx
5 minutes while it is approx 40 minutes in the 180-mm extruder Clearly the
reduced change-over time results rom the act that the volume occupied by the plas-
tic is much smaller (4 liter) in the 75-mm extruder than in the 180-mm extruder
(40 liter) I the change-over time can be reduced rom 40 to 5 minutes this means
that 35 minutes are now available to run production resulting in greater up-time othe extrusion line
The small volume o the HS-SSE also results in short residence times The mean
residence time ranges rom approx 5 to 10 seconds In conventional SSE the resi-
dence times are substantially longer typically between 50 to 100 seconds Since
HS-SSE can run at relatively low melt temperatures the chance o degradation is
actually less in these extruders There is ample evidence in actual high-speed ex-
trusion operations that the plastic is less susceptible to degradation in these opera-
tions
983090983090The Multiscrew Extruder
221The Twin Screw Extruder
A twin screw extruder is a machine with two Archimedean screws Admittedly this
is a very general definition However as soon as the definition is made more spe-
cific it is limited to a specific class o twin screw extruders There is a tremendous
variety o twin screw extruders with vast differences in design principle o opera-
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983090983090 The Multiscrew Extruder 983090983093
tion and field o application It is thereore difficult to make general comments
about twin screw extruders The differences between the various twin screw extrud-
ers are much larger than the differences between single screw extruders This is to
be expected since the twin screw construction substantially increases the number
o design variables such as direction o rotation degree o intermeshing etc A clas-sification o twin screw extruders is shown in Table 24 This classification is pri-
marily based on the geometrical configuration o the twin screw extruder Some
twin screw extruders unction in much the same ashion as single screw extruders
Other twin screw extruders operate quite differently rom single screw extruders
and are used in very different applications The design o the various twin screw
extruders with their operational and unctional aspects will be covered in more
detail in Chapter 10
Table 24 Classification of Twin Screw Extruders
Intermeshing extruders
Co-rotating extrudersLow speed extruders for profile extrusion
High speed extruders for compounding
Counter-rotating extruders
Conical extruders for profile extrusion
Parallel extruders for profile extrusion
High speed extruders for compounding
Non-intermeshing
extruders
Counter-rotating extrudersEqual screw length
Unequal screw length
Co-rotating extruders Not used in practice
Co-axial extruders
Inner melt transport forward
Inner melt transport rearward
Inner solids transport rearward
Inner plasticating with rearward transport
983090983090983090The Multiscrew Extruder With More Than Two Screws
There are several types o extruders which incorporate more than two screws One
relatively well-known example is the planetary roller extruder see Fig 211
Planetary screws
Sun (main) screw Melting and feed section
Discharge
Figure 211 The planetary roller extruder
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983090983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
This extruder looks similar to a single screw extruder The eed section is in act
the same as on a standard single screw extruder However the mixing section o the
extruder looks considerably different In the planetary roller section o the extruder
six or more planetary screws evenly spaced revolve around the circumerence o
the main screw In the planetary screw section the main screw is reerred to as thesun screw The planetary screws intermesh with the sun screw and the barrel The
planetary barrel section thereore must have helical grooves corresponding to the
helical flights on the planetary screws This planetary barrel section is generally a
separate barrel section with a flange-type connection to the eed barrel section
In the first part o the machine beore the planetary screws the material moves
orward as in a regular single screw extruder As the material reaches the planetary
section being largely plasticated at this point it is exposed to intensive mixing by
the rolling action between the planetary screws the sun screw and the barrel Thehelical design o the barrel sun screw and planetary screws result in a large sur-
ace area relative to the barrel length The small clearance between the planetary
screws and the mating suraces about frac14 mm allows thin layers o compound to be
exposed to large surace areas resulting in effective devolatilization heat exchange
and temperature control Thus heat-sensitive compounds can be processed with a
minimum o degradation For this reason the planetary gear extruder is requently
used or extrusion compounding o PVC ormulations both rigid and plasticized
[21 22] Planetary roller sections are also used as add-ons to regular extruders to
improve mixing perormance [97 98] Another multiscrew extruder is the our-screw extruder shown in Fig 212
Figure 983090983089983090
Four-screw extruder
This machine is used primarily or devolatilization o solvents rom 40 to as low as
03 [23] Flash devolatilization occurs in a flash dome attached to the barrel The
polymer solution is delivered under pressure and at temperatures above the boiling
point o the solvent The solution is then expanded through a nozzle into the flash
dome The oamy material resulting rom the flash devolatilization is then trans-
ported away by the our screws In many cases downstream vent sections will beincorporated to urther reduce the solvent level
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983090983090 The Multiscrew Extruder 983090983095
983090983090983091The Gear Pump Extruder
Gear pumps are used in some extrusion operations at the end o a plasticating
extruder either single screw or twin screw [99ndash106] Strictly speaking the gear
pump is a closely intermeshing counterrotating twin screw extruder However sincegear pumps are solely used to generate pressure they are generally not reerred to
as an extruder although the gear pump is an extruder One o the main advantages
o the gear pump is its good pressure-generating capability and its ability to main-
tain a relatively constant outlet pressure even i the inlet pressure fluctuates con-
siderably Some fluctuation in the outlet pressure will result rom the intermeshing
o the gear teeth This fluctuation can be reduced by a helical orientation o the gear
teeth instead o an axial orientation
Gear pumps are sometimes reerred to as positive displacement devices This is notcompletely correct because there must be mechanical clearances between the gears
and the housing which causes leakage Thereore the gear pump output is depend-
ent on pressure although the pressure sensitivity will generally be less than that o
a single screw extruder The actual pressure sensitivity will be determined by the
design clearances the polymer melt viscosity and the rotational speed o the gears
A good method to obtain constant throughput is to maintain a constant pressure di-
erential across the pump This can be done by a relatively simple pressure eedback
control on the extruder eeding into the gear pump [102] The non-zero clearances
in the gear pump will cause a transormation o mechanical energy into heat by vis-cous heat generation see Section 534 Thus the energy efficiency o actual gear
pumps is considerably below 100 the pumping efficiency generally ranges rom
15 to 35 The other 65 to 85 goes into mechanical losses and viscous heat gene-
ration Mechanical losses usually range rom about 20 to 40 and viscous heating
rom about 40 to 50 As a result the polymer melt going through the gear pump
will experience a considerable temperature rise typically 5 to 10degC However in
some cases the temperature rise can be as much as 20 to 30degC Since the gear
pump has limited energy efficiency the combination extruder-gear pump is not nec-
essarily more energy-efficient than the extruder without the gear pump Only i the
extruder eeding into the gear pump is very inefficient in its pressure development
will the addition o a gear pump allow a reduction in energy consumption This
could be the case with co-rotating twin screw extruders or single screw extruders
with inefficient screw design
The mixing capacity o gear pumps is very limited This was clearly demonstrated
by Kramer [106] by comparing melt temperature fluctuation beore and afer the
gear pump which showed no distinguishable improvement in melt temperature uni-
ormity Gear pumps are ofen added to extruders with unacceptable output fluc-tuations In many cases this constitutes treating the symptoms but not curing the
actual problem Most single screw extruders i properly designed can maintain
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983090983096 983090Different Types of Extruders
their output to within plusmn 1 I the output fluctuation is considerably larger than 1
there is probably something wrong with the machine very ofen incorrect screw
design In these cases solving the actual problem will generally be more efficient
than adding a gear pump For an efficient extruder-gear pump system the extruder
screw has to be modified to reduce the pressure-generating capacity o the screw
Gear pumps can be used advantageously
1 On extruders with poor pressure-generating capability (e g co-rotating twin
screws multi-stage vented extruders etc)
2 When output stability is required better than 1 i e in close tolerance extru-
sion (e g fiber spinning cable extrusion medical tubing coextrusion etc)
Gear pumps can cause problems when
1 The polymer contains abrasive components because o the small clearances thegear pump is very susceptible to wear
2 When the polymer is susceptible to degradation gear pumps are not sel-clean-
ing and combined with the exposure to high temperatures this will result in
degraded product
983090983091Disk Extruders
There are a number o extruders which do not utilize an Archimedean screw or
transport o the material but still all in the class o continuous extruders Some-
times these machines are reerred to as screwless extruders These machines
employ some kind o disk or drum to extrude the material One can classiy the disk
extruders according to their conveying mechanism (see Table 21) Most o the disk
extruders are based on viscous drag transport One special disk extruder utilizes
the elasticity o polymer melts to convey the material and to develop the necessary
diehead pressure
Disk extruders have been around or a long time at least since 1950 However at
this point in time the industrial significance o disk extruders is still relatively small
compared to screw extruders
983090983091983089Viscous Drag Disk Extruders
983090983091983089983089Stepped Disk Extruder
One o the first disk extruders was developed by Westover at Bell Telephone Labo-
ratories it is ofen reerred to as a stepped disk extruder or slider pad extruder [24]
A schematic picture o the extruder is shown in Fig 213
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983090983097
In
Out
Figure 983090983089983091
The stepped disk
The heart o the machine is the stepped disk positioned a small distance rom a flat
disk When one o the disks is rotated with a polymer melt in the axial gap a pres-
sure build-up will occur at the transition o one gap size to another smaller gap sizesee Fig 214
v
Distance
P r e s s u r e
Figure 983090983089983092
Pressure generation in the step region
I exit channels are incorporated into the stepped disk the polymer can be extruded
in a continuous ashion The design o this extruder is based on Rayleighrsquos [25]
analysis o hydrodynamic lubrication in various geometries He concluded that the
parallel stepped pad was capable o supporting the greatest load The stepped disk
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983091983088 983090Different Types of Extruders
extruder has also been designed in a different configuration using a gradual change
in gap size This extruder has a wedge-shaped disk with a gradual increase in pres-
sure with radial distance
A practical disadvantage o the stepped disk extruder is the act that the machine is
difficult to clean because o the intricate design o the flow channels in the stepped
disk
983090983091983089983090Drum Extruder
Another rather old concept is the drum extruder A schematic picture o a machine
manuactured by Schmid amp Kocher in Switzerland is shown in Fig 215
In
OutOutIn
Figure 983090983089983093 The drum extruder by Schmid amp Kocher
Material is ed by a eed hopper into an annular space between rotor and barrel By
the rotational motion o the rotor the material is carried along the circumerence o
the barrel Just beore the material reaches the eed hopper it encounters a wiper
bar This wiper bar scrapes the polymer rom the rotor and deflects the polymer flow
into a channel that leads to the extruder die Several patents [26 27] were issued on
this design however these patents have long since expired
A very similar extruder (see Fig 216) was developed by Askco Engineering andCosden Oil amp Chemical in a joint venture later this became Permian Research Two
patents have been issued on this design [28 29] even though the concept is very
similar to the Schmid amp Kocher design
One special eature o this design is the capability to adjust the local gap by means
o a choker bar similar to the gap adjustment in a flat sheet die see Section 92 The
choker bar in this drum extruder is activated by adjustable hydraulic oil pressure
Drum extruders have not been able to be a serious competition to the single screw
extruder over the last 50 years
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983091983089
Hopper
DieRotor
Housing
Wiper bar
Hopper
Wiper bar
DieRotor
Housing
Figure 983090983089983094
The drum extruder by AskoCosden
983090983091983089983091Spiral Disk Extruder
The spiral disk extruder is another type o disk extruder that has been known or
many years Several patented designs were described by Schenkel (Chapter 1 [3])
Similar to the stepped disk extruder the development o the spiral disk extruder
is closely connected to spiral groove bearings It has long been known that spiral
groove bearings are capable o supporting substantial loads Ingen Housz [30] has
analyzed the melt conveying in a spiral disk extruder with logarithmic grooves in
the disk based on Newtonian flow behavior o the polymer melt In terms o melt
conveying capability the spiral disk extruder seems comparable to the screw ex-truder however the solids conveying capability is questionable
983090983091983089983092Diskpack Extruder
Another development in disk extruders is the diskpack extruder Tadmor originated
the idea o the diskpack machine which is covered under several patents [31ndash33]
The development o the machine was undertaken by the Farrel Machinery Group o
Emgart Corporation in cooperation with Tadmor [34ndash39] The basic concept o the
machine is shown in Fig 217Material drops in the axial gap between relatively thin disks mounted on a rotating
shaf The material will move with the disks almost a ull turn then it meets a chan-
nel block The channel block closes off the space between the disks and deflects the
polymer flow to either an outlet channel or to a transer channel in the barrel The
shape o the disks can be optimized or specific unctions solids conveying melting
devolatilization melt conveying and mixing A detailed unctional analysis can be
ound in Tadmorrsquos book on polymer processing (Chapter 1 [32])
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983091983090 983090Different Types of Extruders
v
v
Channel blockInlet
Outlet
Barrel
Solid bed
Shaft
Melt pool
Inlet Channel block
Outlet
Melt pool
Solid bed
Barrel
Shaft
v
v Figure 983090983089983095
The diskpack extruder
It is claimed that this machine can perorm all basic polymer-processing operations
with efficiency equaling or surpassing existing machinery Clearly i the claim is
true and can be delivered or a competitive price the diskpack extruder will become
an important machine in the extrusion industry The first diskpack machines were
delivered to the industry in 1982 still under a joint development type o agreement
Now almost 20 years afer the first diskpack machines were delivered it is clear
that the acceptance o these machines in the industry has been very limited In act
Farrel no longer actively markets the diskpack machine In most o the publications
the diskpack machine is reerred to as a polymer processor This term is probably
used to indicate that this machine can do more than just extruding although the
diskpack is o course an extruder
The diskpack machine incorporates some o the eatures o the drum extruder and
the single screw extruder One can think o the diskpack as a single screw extruder
using a screw with zero helix angle and very deep flights Forward axial transportcan only take place by transport channels in the barrel with the material orced into
those channels by a restrictor bar as with the drum extruder The use o restrictor
bars (channel block) and transer channels in the housing make it considerably
more complex than the barrel o a single screw extruder
One o the advantages o the diskpack is that mixing blocks and spreading dams can
be incorporated into the machine as shown in Fig 218(a)
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983091983091
v
v
Channel blockInlet
Outlet
Mixing block
Disk
Inlet Channel block
Outlet
Mixing blockDisk v
v Figure 983090983089983096(a)
Mixing blocks in the diskpack
Mixing blocks o various shapes can be positioned externally into the processing
chamber This is similar to the QSM extruder only that in the QSM extruder the
screw flight has to be interrupted to avoid contact This is not necessary in the disk-
pack because the flights have zero helix angles in other words they run perpen-
dicular to the rotor axis By the number o blocks the geometry o the block and the
clearance between block and disk one can tailor the mixing capability to the par-
ticular application The use o spreading dams allows the generation o a thin film
with a large surace area this results in effective devolatilization capability The
diskpack has inherently higher pressure-generating capability than the single
screw extruder does This is because the diskpack has two dragging suraces while
the single screw extruder has only one see Fig 218(b)
v
v=0
v
v
Conveying mechanismsingle screw extruder
Conveying mechanism
diskpack extruder Figure 983090983089983096(b)
Comparison of conveying mechanism in diskpackand single screw extruder
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983091983092 983090Different Types of Extruders
At the same net flow rate equal viscosity equal plate velocity and optimum plate
separation the theoretical maximum pressure gradient o the diskpack is eight
times higher than the single screw extruder [34] Thus high pressures can be gen-
erated over a short distance which allows a more compact machine design The
energy efficiency o the pressure generation is also better than in the single screwextruder the maximum pumping efficiency approaches 100 see derivation in
Appendix 21 For the single screw extruder the maximum pumping efficiency is
only 33 as discussed in Section 7413 The energy efficiency o pressure genera-
tion is the ratio o the theoretical energy requirement (flow rate times pressure rise)
to the actual energy requirement (wall velocity times shear stress integrated over
wall surace) It should be noted that the two dragging platesrsquo pumping mechanism
exists only in tangential direction The pumping in axial (orward) direction occurs
only in the transer channel in the housing This orward pumping occurs by the one
dragging plate mechanism as in the single screw extruder The maximum efficiency
or orward pumping thereore is only 33 The overall pumping efficiency will be
somewhere between 33 and 100 i the power consumption in the disk and channel
block clearance is neglected
Studies on melting in the diskpack were reported by Valsamis et al [96] It was
ound that two types o melting mechanism could take place in the diskpack the
drag melt removal (DMR) mechanism and the dissipative melt mixing (DMM) mech-
anism The DMR melting mechanism is the predominant mechanism in single screw
extruders this is discussed in detail in Section 73 In the DMR melting mechanismthe solids and melt coexist as two largely continuous and separate phases In the
DMM melting mechanism the solids are dispersed in the melt there is no conti-
nuous solid bed It was ound that the DMM mechanism could be induced by pro-
moting back leakage o the polymer melt past the channel block This can be con-
trolled by varying the clearance between the channel block and the disks The
advantage o the DMM melting mechanism is that the melting rate can be substan-
tially higher than with the DMR mechanism reportedly by as much as a actor o 3
[96]
Among all elementary polymer processing unctions the solids conveying in a disk-
pack extruder has not been discussed to any extent in the open technical literature
Considering that the solids conveying mechanism is a rictional drag mechanism
(as in single screw extruders) and not a positive displacement type o transport (as
in intermeshing counterrotating twin screw extruders see Sections 102 and 104)
it can be expected that the diskpack will have solids conveying limitations similar
to those o single screw extruders see Section 722 This means that powders
blends o powders and pellets slippery materials etc are likely to encounter solids
conveying problems in a diskpack extruder unless special measures are taken toenhance the solids conveying capability (e g crammer eeder grooves in the disks
etc)
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983091983093
Because o the more complex machine geometry the cost per unit throughput o the
diskpack is higher than or the conventional single screw extruder Thereore the
diskpack does not compete directly with single screw extruders
Applications or the diskpack are specialty polymer processing operations such as
polymerization post-reactor processing (devolatilization) continuous compound-
ing etc As such the diskpack competes mostly with twin screw extruders Pres-
ently twin screw extruders are usually the first choice when it comes to specialty
polymer processing operations
983090983091983090The Elastic Melt Extruder
The elastic melt extruder was developed in the late 1950s by Maxwell and Scalora[40 41] The extruder makes use o the viscoelastic in particular the elastic pro-
perties o polymer melts When a viscoelastic fluid is exposed to a shearing deor-
mation normal stresses will develop in the fluid that are not equal in all directions
as opposed to a purely viscous fluid In the elastic melt extruder the polymer is
sheared between two plates one stationary and one rotating see Fig 219
Hopper
Heaters
Solid polymer
Die
Extrudate
Polymer melt
Rotor
Solid polymerHopper
Heaters
Die
Extrudate
Polymer melt
Rotor
Figure 983090983089983097
The elastic melt extruder
As the polymer is sheared normal stresses will generate a centripetal pumping
action Thus the polymer can be extruded through the central opening in the sta-
tionary plate in a continuous ashion Because normal stresses generate the pump-
ing action this machine is sometimes reerred to as a normal stress extruderThis extruder is quite interesting rom a rheological point o view since it is prob-
ably the only extruder that utilizes the elasticity o the melt or its conveying Thus
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983091983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
several detailed experimental and theoretical studies have been devoted to the elas-
tic melt extruder [42ndash47]
The detailed study by Fritz [44] concluded that transport by normal stresses only
could be as much as two orders o magnitude lower than a corresponding system
with orced eed In addition substantial temperature gradients developed in the
polymer causing substantial degradation in high molecular weight polyolefins The
scant market acceptance o the elastic melt extruder would tend to confirm Fritzrsquos
conclusions
Several modifications have been proposed to improve the perormance o the elastic
melt extruder Fritz [43] suggested incorporation o spiral grooves to improve the
pressure generating capability essentially combining the elastic melt extruder and
the spiral disk extruder into one machine In Russia [47] several modifications
were made to the design o the elastic melt extruder One o those combined a screwextruder with the elastic melt extruder to eliminate the eeding and plasticating
problem Despite all o these activities the elastic melt extruder has not been able to
acquire a position o importance in the extrusion industry
983090983091983091Overview of Disk Extruders
Many attempts have been made in the past to come up with a continuous plasticat-
ing extruder o simple design that could perorm better than the single screw ex-truder It seems air to say that at this point in time no disk extruder has been able
to meet this goal The simple disk extruders do not perorm nearly as well as the
single screw extruder The more complex disk extruder such as the diskpack can
possibly outperorm the single screw extruder However this is at the expense o
design simplicity thus increasing the cost o the machine Disk extruders there-
ore have not been able to seriously challenge the position o the single screw
extruder This is not to say however that it is not possible or this to happen some
time in the uture But considering the long dominance o the single screw extruder
it is not probable that a new disk extruder will come along that can challenge the
single screw extruder
983090983092Ram Extruders
Ram or plunger extruders are simple in design rugged and discontinuous in their
mode o operation Ram extruders are essentially positive displacement devices and
are able to generate very high pressures Because o the intermittent operation o
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983091983095
ram extruders they are ideally suited or cyclic processes such as injection molding
and blow molding In act the early molding machines were almost exclusively
equipped with ram extruders to supply the polymer melt to the mold Certain limita-
tions o the ram extruder have caused a switch to reciprocating screw extruders or
combinations o the two The two main limitations are
1 Limited melting capacity
2 Poor temperature uniormity o the polymer melt
Presently ram extruders are used in relatively small shot size molding machines
and certain specialty operations where use is made o the positive displacement
characteristics and the outstanding pressure generation capability There are basic-
ally two types o ram extruders single ram extruders and multi ram extruders
983090983092983089Single Ram Extruders
The single ram extruder is used in small general purpose molding machines but
also in some special polymer processing operations One such operation is the ex-
trusion o intractable polymers such as ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene
(UHMWPE) or polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) These polymers are not considered to
be melt processable on conventional melt processing equipment Teledynamik [48]
has built a ram injection-molding machine under a license rom Th Engel who
developed the prototype machine This machine is used to mold UHMWPE under
very high pressures The machine uses a reciprocating plunger that densifies the
cold incoming material with a pressure up to 300 MPa (about 44000 psi) The re-
quency o the ram can be adjusted continuously with a maximum o 250 strokes
minute The densified material is orced through heated channels into the heated
cylinder where final melting takes place The material is then injected into a mold
by a telescoping injection ram Pressures up to 100 MPa (about 14500 psi) occur
during the injection o the polymer into the mold
Another application is the extrusion o PTFE with again the primary ingredient orsuccessul extrusion being very high pressures Granular PTFE can be extruded at
slow rates in a ram extruder [49ndash51] The powder is compacted by the ram orced
into a die where the material is heated above the melting point and shaped into the
desired orm PTFE is ofen processed as a PTFE paste [52 53] This is small particle
size PTFE powder (about 02 mm) mixed with a processing aid such as naphta PTFE
paste can be extruded at room temperature or slightly above room temperature
Afer extrusion the processing aid is removed by heating the extrudate above its
volatilization temperature The extruded PTFE paste product may be sintered i the
application requires a more ully coalesced product
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983091983096 983090Different Types of Extruders
983090983092983089983089Solid State Extrusion
An extrusion technique that has slowly been gaining popularity is solid-state extru-
sion The polymer is orced through a die while it is below its melting point This
causes substantial deormation o the polymer in the die but since the polymer is in
the solid state a very effective molecular orientation takes place This orientation ismuch more effective than the one which occurs in conventional melt processing As
a result extraordinary mechanical properties can be obtained
Solid-state extrusion is a technique borrowed rom the metal industry where solid-
state extrusion has been used commercially since the late 1940s Bridgman [54]
was one o the first to do a systematic study on the effect o pressure on the mechan-
ical properties o metals He also studied polymers and ound that the glass tran-
sition temperature was raised by the application o pressure
There are two methods o solid-state extrusion one is direct solid-state extrusionthe other is hydrostatic extrusion In direct solid-state extrusion a pre-ormed solid
rod o material (a billet) is in direct contact with the plunger and the walls o the
extrusion die see Fig 220 The material is extruded as the ram is pushed towards
the die
Plunger
Billet
Barrel
DieExtrudate Figure 983090983090983088
Direct solid state extrusion
In hydrostatic extrusion the pressure required or extrusion is transmitted rom the
plunger to the billet through a lubricating liquid usually castor oil The billet must
be shaped to fit the die to prevent loss o fluid The hydrostatic fluid reduces the ric-
tion thereby reducing the extrusion pressure see Fig 221
In hydrostatic extrusion the pressure-generating device or the fluid does not neces-
sarily have to be in close proximity to the orming part o the machine The fluid canbe supplied to the extrusion device by high-pressure tubes
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983091983097
Plunger
Billet
Oil
Barrel
DieExtrudate Figure 983090983090983089
Hydrostatic solid state extrusion
Judging rom publications in the open literature most o the work on solid-state
extrusion o polymers is done at universities and research institutes It is possible
o course that some companies are working on solid-state extrusion but are keeping
the inormation proprietary A major research effort in solid-state extrusion has
been made at the University o Amherst Massachusetts [50ndash64] University o
Leeds England [65ndash72] Fyushu University Fukuoka Japan [73ndash76] Research
Institute or Polymers and Textiles Yokohama Japan [77ndash79] Battelle Columbus
Ohio [80ndash83] and Rutgers University New Brunswick New Jersey [84ndash86] As
mentioned earlier publications rom other sources are considerably less plentiul
[87ndash90] Efforts have also been made to achieve the same high degree o orientation
in a more or less conventional extrusion process by special die design and tempera-
ture control in the die region [91]
Table 25 shows a comparison o mechanical properties between steel aluminum
solid state extruded HDPE and HDPE extruded by conventional means
Table 25 clearly indicates that the mechanical properties o solid-state extruded
HDPE are much superior to the melt extruded HDPE In act the tensile strength o
solid-state extruded HDPE is about the same as carbon steel There are some other
interesting benefits associated with solidstate extrusion o polymers There is essen-
tially no die swell at high extrusion ratios (extrusion ratio is the ratio o the area in
the cylinder to the area in the die) Thus the dimensions o the extrudate closely
conorm to those o the die exit The surace o the extrudate produced by hydro-
static extrusion has a lower coefficient o riction than that o the un-oriented poly-
mer Above a certain extrusion ratio (about ten) polyethylene and polypropylene
become transparent Further solid-state extruded polymers maintain their ten-sile properties at elevated temperatures Polyethylene maintains its modulus up to
120degC when it is extruded in the solid state at a high extrusion ratio The thermal
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983092983088 983090Different Types of Extruders
conductivity in the extrusion direction is much higher than that o the un-oriented
polymer as much as 25 times higher The melting point o the solid-state extruded
polymer increases with the amount o orientation The melting point o HDPE can be
shifed to as high as 140degC
Table 25 Comparison of Mechanical Properties
Material Tensile modulus[MPa]
Tensile strength[MPa]
Elongation[]
Density[gcc]
Annealed SAE 1020 210000 410 35 786
W-200 degF SAE 1020 210000 720 6 786
Annealed 304 stainless
steel
200000 590 50 792
Aluminum 1100ndash0 70000 90 45 271
HDPE solid state
extruded
70000 480 3 097
HDPE melt extruded 10000 30 20ndash1000 096
A recent application o solid-state extrusion is the process developed by Synthetic
Hardwood Technologies Inc [107] This company has developed an expanded ori-
ented wood-filled polypropylene (EOW-PP) that is about 300 stronger than regular
PP The process is based on technology developed at Aluminum Company o Canada
Ltd (Alcan) in the early 1990s to solidstate extrude PP It involves ram extrusion
drawing o billets o PP just below the melting point with very high draw ratio and
high haul-off tension (about 3 MPa) to reeze-in the high level o orientation Alcan
did not pursue the technology and Symplastics Ltd licensed the patented process
this company started experimenting with adding small amounts o wood flour to the
PP However Symplastics ound the research and development too costly and sold
the patents and lab extrusion equipment to Frank Maine who set up SHW to com-
mercialize applications or the EOW-PP The key to the SHW process is that it com-
bines extrusion with drawing As the polymer is oriented the density drops about
50 rom about 1 g cc to 05 g cc The die drawing also allowed substantial in-creases in line speed rom about 0050 m min to about 9 m min The properties
achieved with EOW-PP are shown in Table 24 and compared to regular PP wood
and oriented PP
Solid-state extrusion has been practiced with coextrusion o different polymers [93]
Despite the large amount o research on solid-state extrusion and the outstanding
mechanical properties that can be obtained there does not seem to be much interest
in the polymer industry The main drawbacks o course are that solid-state extru-
sion is basically a discontinuous process it cannot be done on conventional polymer
processing equipment and very high pressures are required to achieve solid-stateextrusion Also one should keep in mind that very good mechanical properties can
be obtained by taking a profile (fiber film tube etc) produced by conventional con-
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983092983089
tinuous extrusion and exposing it to controlled deormation at a temperature below
the melting point This is a well-established technique in many extrusion operations
(fiber spinning film extrusion etc) and it can be done at a high rate This method
o producing extrudates with very good mechanical properties is likely to be more
cost-effective than solid-state extrusion It is possible that the die drawing processdeveloped by SHW can make solid-state extrusion more attractive commercially by
allowing large profiles to be processed at reasonable line speeds
Table 26 Mechanical Properties of PP Wood OPP and EOW-PP
Flexural strength [MPa] Flexural modulus [MPa]
Regular PP 50 1850
Wood 100 9000
Oriented PP 275 7600EOW-PP 140 7600
983090983092983090Multi Ram Extruder
As mentioned beore the main disadvantage o ram extruders is their intermittent
operation Several attempts have been made to overcome this problem by designing
multi-ram extruders that work together in such a way as to produce a continuousflow o material
Westover [94] designed a continuous ram extruder that combined our plunger-
cylinders Two plunger-cylinders were used or plasticating and two or pumping
An intricate shuttle valve connecting all the plunger cylinders provides continuous
extrusion
Another attempt to develop a continuous ram extruder was made by Yi and Fenner
[95] They designed a twin ram extruder with the cylinders in a V-configuration see
Fig 222The two rams discharge into a common barrel in which a plasticating shaf is rotat-
ing Thus solids conveying occurs in the two separate cylinders and plasticating
and melt conveying occurs in the annular region between the barrel and plasticat-
ing shaf The machine is able to extrude however the throughput uniormity is
poor The perormance could probably have been improved i the plasticating shaf
had been provided with a helical channel But o course then the machine would
have become a screw extruder with a ram-assisted eed This only goes to demon-
strate that it is ar rom easy to improve upon the simple screw extruder
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983092983090 983090Different Types of Extruders
Die Breaker plate
Plasticating shaft
Main
block
Feed cylinder
Figure 222 Twin ram extruder
983090983092983091 Appendix 983090983089
983090983092983091983089 Pumping Efficiency in Diskpack Extruder
The velocity profile between the moving walls is a parabolic unction when the fluid
is a Newtonian fluid see Section 621 and Fig 223
y
z H
Small pressure gradient
Medium pressure gradient
Large pressure gradient
Figure 983090983090983091
Velocity profiles between moving
walls
The velocity profile or a Newtonian fluid is
L8
PH
H
y41vv(y)
2
2
2
∆micro∆
minusminus= (1)
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983092983091
where v is the velocity o the plates H the distance between the plates and μ the
viscosity o the fluid The flow rate can be ound by integrating v(y) over the width
and depth o the channel this yields
L12
PWHvWHV
3
∆micro∆minus=
bull
(2)
The first term on the right-hand side o the equalation is the drag flow term The
second term is the pressure flow term The ratio o pressure flow to drag flow is
termed the throttle ratio rd (see Section 7413)
r d =Lv12
PH2
∆micro
∆ (3)
The flow rate can now be written as
(4)
The shear stress at the wall is obtained rom
dv H∆Pτ = micro =dy
05H 2∆L
(5)
The power consumption in the channel is
Zch = PvHWLvW2 ∆=∆τ (6)
The energy efficiency or pressure generation is
V∆Pε = =1 minus r
d Zch
(7)
Equation 7 is not valid or rd = 0 because in this case both numerator and denomi-
nator become zero From Eq 7 it can be seen that when the machine is operated atlow rd values the pumping efficiency can become close to 100 This is considerably
better than the single screw extruder where the optimum pumping efficiency is 33
at a throttle ratio value o 033 (rd = 13)
References
1 J LeBras ldquoRubber Fundamentals o its Science and Technologyrdquo Chemical Publ Co
NY (1957)
2 W S Penn ldquoSynthetic Rubber Technology Volume Irdquo MacLaren amp Sons Ltd London(1960)
3 W J S Naunton ldquoThe Applied Science o Rubberrdquo Edward Arnold Ltd London (1961)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3437
983092983092 983090Different Types of Extruders
4 C M Blow ldquoRubber Technology and Manuacturerdquo Butterworth amp Co Ltd London
(1971)
5 F R Eirich (Ed) ldquoScience and Technology o Rubberrdquo Academic Press NY (1978)
6 C W Evans ldquoPowdered and Particulate Rubber Technologyrdquo Applied Science Publ Ltd
London (1978)
7 G Targiel et al 10 IKV-Kolloquium Aachen March 12ndash14 45 (1980)
8 A Kennaway Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 17 378ndash391 (1964)
9 G Menges and J P Lehnen Plastverarbeiter 20 1 31ndash39 (1969)
10 M Parshall and A J Saulino Rubber World 2 5 78ndash83 (1967)
11 S E Perlberg Rubber World 2 6 71ndash76 (1967)
12 H H Gohlisch Gummi Asbest Kunststoffe 25 9 834ndash835 (1972)
13 E Harms ldquoKautschuk-Extruder Aubau und Einsatz aus verahrenstechnischer Sichtrdquo
Krausskop-Verlag Mainz Bd 2 Buchreihe Kunststo983142echnik (1974)
14 G Schwarz Eur Rubber Journal Sept 28ndash32 (1977)
15 G Menges and E G Harms Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 25 10 469ndash475 (1972)
16 G Menges and E G Harms Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 27 5 187ndash193 (1974)
17 E G Harms Elastomerics 109 6 33ndash39 (1977)
18 E G Harms Eur Rubber Journal 6 23 (1978)
19 E G Harms Kunststoffe 69 1 32ndash33 (1979)
20 E G Harms Dissertation RWTH Aachen Germany (1981)21 S H Collins Plastics Compounding Nov Dec 29 (1982)
22 D Anders Kunststoffe 69 194ndash198 (1979)
23 D Gras and K Eise SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 21 386 (1975)
24 R F Westover SPE Journal 18 12 1473 (1962)
25 Lord Raleigh Philosophical Magazine 35 1ndash12 (1918)
26 German Patent DRP 1129681
27 British Patent BP 759354
28 U S Patent 3880564
29 U S Patent 4012477
30 J F Ingen Housz Plastverarbeiter 10 1 (1975)
31 U S Patent 4142805
32 U S Patent 4194841
33 U S Patent 4213709
34 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 25 193 (1979)
35 P Hold Z Tadmor and L Valsamis SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 25 205 (1979)
36 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis Plastics Engineering Nov 20ndash25 (1979)
37 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis Plastics Engineering Dec 30ndash38 (1979)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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References 983092983093
38 Z Tadmor et al The Diskpack Plastics Processor Farrel Publication Jan (1982)
39 L Valsamis AIChE Meeting Washington D C Oct (1983)
40 B Maxwell and A J Scalora Modern Plastics 37 107 Oct (1959)
41 U S Patent 3 046603
42 L L Blyler PhD thesis Princeton University NJ (1966)
43 H G Fritz Kunststo983142echnik 6 430 (1968)
44 H G Fritz PhD thesis Stuttgart University Germany (1971)
45 C W Macosko and J M Starita SPE Journal 27 30 (1971)
46 P A Good A J Schwartz and C W Macosko AIChE Journal 20 1 67 (1974)
47 V L Kocherov Y L Lukach E A Sporyagin and G V Vinogradov Polym Eng Sci 13
194 (1973)
48 J Berzen and G Braun Kunststoffe 69 2 62ndash66 (1979)49 R S Porter et al J Polym Sci 17 485ndash488 (1979)
50 C A Sperati Modern Plastics Encyclopedia McGraw-Hill NY (1983)
51 S S Schwartz and S H Goodman see Chapter 1 [36]
52 G R Snelling and J F Lontz J Appl Polym Sci 3 9 257ndash265 (1960)
53 D C F Couzens Plastics and Rubber Processing March 45ndash48 (1976)
54 P W Bridgman ldquoStudies in Large Plastic Flow and Fracturerdquo McGraw-Hill NY (1952)
55 H L D Push ldquoThe Mechanical Behavior o Materials Under Pressurerdquo Elsevier Amster-
dam (1970)56 H L D Push and A H Low J Inst Metals 93 201 (196565)
57 F Slack Mach Design Oct 7 61ndash64 (1982)
58 J H Southern and R S Porter J Appl Polym Sci 14 2305 (1970)
59 J H Southern and R S Porter J Macromol Sci Phys 3ndash4 541 (1970)
60 J H Southern N E Weeks and R S Porter Macromol Chem 162 19 (1972)
61 N J Capiati and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 13 1177 (1975)
62 R S Porter J H Southern and N E Weeks Polym Eng Sci 15 213 (1975)
63 A E Zachariades E S Sherman and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 17 255
(1979)
64 A E Zachariades and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 17 277 (1979)
65 B Parsons D Bretherton and B N Cole in Advances in MTDR 11th Int Con Proc
S A Tobias and F Koeningsberger (Eds) Pergamon Press London Vol B 1049 (1971)
66 G Capaccio and I M Ward Polymer 15 233 (1974)
67 A G Gibson I M Ward B N Cole and B Parsons J Mater Sci 9 1193ndash1196 (1974)
68 A G Gibson and I M Ward J Appl Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 16 2015ndash2030 (1978)
69 P S Hope and B Parsons Polym Eng Sci 20 589ndash600 (1980)
70 P S Hope I M Ward and A G Gibson J Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 18 1242ndash1256
(1980)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983092983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
71 P S Hope A G Gibson B Parsons and I M Ward Polym Eng Sci 20 54ndash55 (1980)
72 B Parsons and I M Ward Plast Rubber Proc Appl 2 3 215ndash224 (1982)
73 K Imada T Yamamoto K Shigematsu and M Takayanagi J Mater Sci 6 537ndash546
(1971)
74 K Nakamura K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 2 71 (1972)
75 K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 2 89 (1973)
76 K Nakamura K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 3 23 (1974)
77 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Mater Sci 10 1105 (1975)
78 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Mater Sci 12 1477 (1977)
79 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Appl Polym Sci 23 2543ndash2554 (1979)
80 D M Bigg Polym Eng Sci 16 725 (1976)
81 D M Bigg M M Epstein R J Fiorentino and E G Smith Polym Eng Sci 18 908(1978)
82 D M Bigg and M M Epstein ldquoScience and Technology o Polymer Processingrdquo N S Suh
and N Sung (Eds) 897 MIT Press (1979)
83 D M Bigg M M Epstein R J Fiorentino and E G Smith J Appl Polym Sci 26 395ndash
409 (1981)
84 K D Pae and D R Mears J Polym Sci B-6 269 (1968)
85 K D Pae D R Mears and J A Sauer J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 6 773 (1968)
86 D R Mears K P Pae and J A Sauer J Appl Phys 40 11 4229ndash4237 (1969)
87 L A Davis and C A Pampillo J Appl Phys 42 12 4659ndash4666 (1971)
88 A Buckley and H A Long Polym Eng Sci 9 2 115ndash120 (1969)
89 L A Davis Polym Eng Sci 14 9 641ndash645 (1974)
90 R K Okine and N P Suh Polym Eng Sci 22 5 269ndash279 (1982)
91 J R Collier T Y T Tam J Newcome and N Dinos Polym Eng Sci 16 204ndash211 (1976)
92 J H Faupel and F E Fisher ldquoEngineering Designrdquo Wiley NY (1981)
93 A E Zachariades R Ball and R S Porter J Mater Sci 13 2671ndash2675 (1978)
94 R R Westover Modern Plastics March (1963) 95 B Yi and R T Fenner Plastics and Polymers Dec 224ndash228 (1975)
96 A Mekkaoui and L N Valsamis Polym Eng Sci 24 1260ndash1269 (1984)
97 H Rust Kunststoffe 73 342ndash346 (1983)
98 J Huszman Kunststoffe 73 3437ndash348 (1983)
99 J M McKelvey U Maire and F Haupt Chem Eng Sept 27 94ndash102 (1976)
100 K Schneider Kunststoffe 68 201ndash206 (1978)
101 W T Rice Plastic Technology 87ndash91 Feb (1980)
102 Harrel Corp ldquoMelt Pump Systems or Extrudersrdquo Product Description TDS-264 (1982)
103 J M McKelvey and W T Rice Chem Eng 90 2 89ndash94 (1983)
104 K Kaper K Eise and H Herrmann SPE ANTEC Chicago 161ndash163 (1983)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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References 983092983095
105 C L Woodworth SPE ANTEC New Orleans 122ndash126 (1984)
106 W A Kramer SPE ANTEC Washington D C 23ndash29 (1985)
107 J Schut ldquoDie Drawing Makes Plastic Steelrdquo Plastics Technology Online Article March
5 (2001)
108 VDI Conerence Extrusiontechnik 2006 ldquoDer Einschnecken-Extruder von Morgenrdquo VDI
Verlag GmbH Duumlsseldor (2006)
109 P Rieg ldquoLatest Developments in High-Speed Extrusionrdquo Plastic Extrusion Asia Con-
erence Bangkok Thailand March 17ndash18 (2008) also presented at Advances in Ex-
trusion Conerence New Orleans December 9ndash10 (2008)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983089983092 983090Different Types of Extruders
The extruder is usually designated by the diameter o the extruder barrel In the
U S the standard extruder sizes are 34 1 1ndash12 2 2ndash12 3ndash12 4ndash12 6 8 10
12 14 16 18 20 and 24 inches
Obviously the very large machines are much less common than the smaller extrud-
ers Some machines go up in size as large as 35 inches These machines are used in
specialty operations such as melt removal directly rom a polymerization reactor
In Europe the standard extruder sizes are 20 25 30 35 40 50 60 90 120 150
200 250 300 350 400 450 500 and 600 millimeters Most extruders range in
size rom 1 to 6 inches or rom 25 to 150 mm An additional designation ofen used
is the length o the extruder generally expressed as length to diameter (L D) ratio
Typical L D ratios range rom 20 to 30 with 24 being very common Extruders used
or extraction o volatiles (vented extruders see Section 212) can have an L D ratio
as high as 35 or 40 and sometimes even higher
Table 21 Classification of Polymer Extruders
Screw extruders
(continuous)
Single screw extruders
Melt fed
Plasticating
Single stage
Multi stage
Compounding
Multi screw extruders
Twin screw extruders
Gear pumps
Planetary gear extruders
Multi (gt2) screw extruders
Disk or drum extruders
(continuous)
Viscous drag extruders
Spiral disk extruder
Drum extruder
Diskpack extruder
Stepped disk extruder
Elastic melt extrudersScrewless extruder
Screw or disk type melt extruder
Reciprocating extruders
(discontinuous)
Ram extruders
Melt fed extruder
Plasticating extruder
Capillary rheometer
Reciprocating single
screw extruders
Plasticating unit in injection molding machines
Compounding extruders such as the Kneader
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983089 The Single Screw Extruder 983089983093
983090983089983089Basic Operation
The basic operation o a single screw extruder is rather straightorward Material
enters rom the eed hopper Generally the eed material flows by gravity rom the
eed hopper down into the extruder barrel Some materials do not flow easily in dryorm and special measures have to be taken to prevent hang-up (bridging) o the
material in the eed hopper
As material alls down into the extruder barrel it is situated in the annular space
between the extruder screw and barrel and is urther bounded by the passive and
active flanks o the screw flight the screw channel The barrel is stationary and the
screw is rotating As a result rictional orces will act on the material both on the
barrel as well as on the screw surace These rictional orces are responsible or the
orward transport o the material at least as long as the material is in the solid state(below its melting point)
Feed section Compression Metering section
Figure 21 Geometry of conventional extruder screw
As the material moves orward it will heat up as a result o rictional heat genera-
tion and because o heat conducted rom the barrel heaters When the temperature
o the material exceeds the melting point a melt film will orm at the barrel surace
This is where the solids conveying zone ends and the plasticating zone starts It
should be noted that this point generally does not coincide with the start o the
compression section The boundaries o the unctional zones will depend on poly-
mer properties machine geometry and operating conditions Thus they can change
as operating conditions change However the geometrical sections o the screw are
determined by the design and will not change with operating conditions As thematerial moves orward the amount o solid material at each location will reduce as
a result o melting When all solid polymer has disappeared the end o the plasticat-
ing zone has been reached and the melt conveying zone starts In the melt-convey-
ing zone the polymer melt is simply pumped to the die
As the polymer flows through the die it adopts the shape o the flow channel o the
die Thus as the polymer leaves the die its shape will more or less correspond to
the cross-sectional shape o the final portion o the die flow channel Since the die
exerts a resistance to flow a pressure is required to orce the material through thedie This is generally reerred to as the diehead pressure The diehead pressure is
determined by the shape o the die (particularly the flow channel) the temperature
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983089983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
o the polymer melt the flow rate through the die and the rheological properties o
the polymer melt It is important to understand that the diehead pressure is caused
by the die and not by the extruder The extruder simply has to generate sufficient
pressure to orce the material through the die I the polymer the throughput the
die and the temperatures in the die are the same then it does not make any differ-ence whether the extruder is a gear pump a single screw extruder a twin screw
extruder etc the diehead pressure will be the same Thus the diehead pressure is
caused by the die and by the flow process taking place in the die flow channel This
is an important point to remember
983090983089983090Vented Extruders
Vented extruders are significantly different rom non-vented extruders in design
and in unctional capabilities A vented extruder is equipped with one or more open-
ings (vent ports) in the extruder barrel through which volatiles can escape Thus
the vented extruder can extract volatiles rom the polymer in a continuous ashion
This devolatilization adds a unctional capability not present in non-vented extrud-
ers Instead o the extraction o volatiles one can use the vent port to add certain
components to the polymer such as additives fillers reactive components etc This
clearly adds to the versatility o vented extruders with the additional benefit that
the extruder can be operated as a conventional non-vented extruder by simply plug-ging the vent port and possibly changing the screw geometry
A schematic picture o a vented extruder is shown in Fig 22
Feed housing
Cooling channel Heaters Barrel Die
Breaker plateVent port
Screw
Figure 22 Schematic of vented extruder
The design o the extruder screw is very critical to the proper unctioning o the
vented extruder One o the main problems that vented extruders are plagued with
is vent flow This is a situation where not only the volatiles are escaping through the
vent port but also some amount o polymer Thus the extruder screw has to be
designed in such a way that there will be no positive pressure in the polymer under
the vent port (extraction section) This has led to the development o the two-stage
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983090983089 The Single Screw Extruder 983089983095
extruder screw especially designed or devolatilizing extrusion Two-stage extruder
screws have two compression sections separated by a decompression extraction
section It is somewhat like two single-stage extruder screws coupled in series along
one shaf The details o the design o two-stage extruder screws will be covered in
Chapter 8 Vented extruders are used or the removal o monomers and oligomersreaction products moisture solvents etc
The devolatilization capability o single screw extruders o conventional design is
limited compared to twin screw extruders Twin screw extruders can handle solvent
contents o 50 and higher using a multiple-stage extraction system and solvent
content o up to 15 using singlestage extraction Single screw vented extruders
o conventional design usually cannot handle more than 5 volatiles this would
require multiple vent ports With a single vent port a single screw vented extruder
o conventional design can generally reduce the level o volatiles only a raction oone percent depending o course on the polymersolvent system
Because o the limited devolatilization capacity o single screw extruders o con-
ventional design they are sometimes equipped with two or more vent ports A draw-
back o such a design is that the length o the extruder can become a problem
Some o these extruders have a L D ration o 40 to 50 This creates a problem in
handling the screw or instance when the screw is pulled and increases the chance
o mechanical problems in the extruder (deflection buckling etc) I substantial
amounts o volatiles need to be removed a twin screw extruder may be more cost-
effective than a single screw extruder However some vented single screw extruderso more modern design have substantially improved devolatilization capability and
deserve equal consideration see Section 852
983090983089983091Rubber Extruders
Extruders or processing elastomers have been around longer than any other type o
extruder Industrial machines or rubber extrusion were built as early as the second
hal o the nineteenth century Some o the early extruder manuacturers were John
Royle in the U S and Francis Shaw in England One o the major rubber extruder
manuacturers in Germany was Paul Troester in act it still is a producer o extrud-
ers Despite the act that rubber extruders have been around or more than a cen-
tury there is limited literature on the subject o rubber extrusion Some o the hand-
books on rubber [1ndash5] discuss rubber extrusion but in most cases the inormation
is very meager and o limited useulness Harmsrsquo book on rubber extruders [13]
appears to be the only book devoted exclusively to rubber extrusion The ew publi-
cations on rubber extrusion stand in sharp contrast to the abundance o books andarticles on plastic extrusion Considering the commercial significance o rubber
extrusion this is a surprising situation
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983089983096 983090Different Types of Extruders
The first rubber extruders were built or hot eed extrusion These machines are ed
with warm material rom a mill or other mixing device Around 1950 machines
were developed or cold eed extrusion The advantages o cold eed extruders are
thought to be
Less capital equipment cost
Better control o stock temperature
Reduced labor cost
Capable o handling a wider variety o compounds
However there is no general agreement on this issue As a result hot eed rubber
extruders are still in use today
Cold eed rubber extruders nowadays do not differ too much rom thermoplastic
extruders Some o the differences are Reduced length
Heating and cooling
Feed section
Screw design
There are several reasons or the reduced length The viscosity o rubbers is gener-
ally very high compared to most thermoplastics about an order o magnitude higher
[5] Consequently there is a substantial amount o heat generated in the extru-
sion process The reduced length keeps the temperature build-up within limits The
specific energy requirement or rubbers is generally low partly because they are
usually extruded at relatively low temperatures (rom 20 to 120degC) This is another
reason or the short extruder length The length o the rubber extruder will depend
on whether it is a cold or hot eed extruder Hot eed rubber extruders are usually
very short about 5D (D = diameter) Cold eed extruders range rom 15 to 20D
Vented cold eed extruders may be even longer than 20D
Rubber extruders used to be heated quite requently with steam because o the rela-
tively low extrusion temperatures Today many rubber extruders are heated likethermoplastic extruders with electrical heater bands clamped around the barrel Oil
heating is also used on rubber extruders and the circulating oil system can be used
to cool the rubber Many rubber extruders use water cooling because it allows effec-
tive heat transer
The eed section o the rubber extruders has to be designed specifically to the eed
stock characteristics o the material The extruder may be ed with either strips
chunks or pellets I the extruder is ed rom an internal mixer (e g Banbury Shaw
etc) a power-operated ram can be used to orce the rubber compound into the
extruder The eed opening can be undercut to improve the intake capability o the
extruder This can be useul because the rubber eed stock at times comes in rela-
tively large particles o irregular shape When the material is supplied in the orm o
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983090983089 The Single Screw Extruder 983089983097
a strip the eed opening is ofen equipped with a driven roll parallel to the screw to
give a ldquoroller eedrdquo Material can also be supplied in powder orm It has been shown
that satisactory extrusion is possible i the powder is consolidated by ldquopill-makingrdquo
techniques Powdered rubber technology is discussed in detail in [6]
The rubber extrusion technology appears to be considerably behind the plastics
extrusion technology Kennaway in one o the ew articles on rubber extrusion [8]
attributes this situation to two actors The first is the requent tendency o rubber
process personnel to solve extrusion problems by changing the ormulation o the
compound The second is the widespread notion that the extrusion behavior o rub-
bers is substantially different rom plastics because rubbers crosslink and plastics
generally do not This is a misconception however because the extrusion character-
istics o rubber and plastics are actually not substantially different [9]
When the rubber is slippery as in dewatering rubber extruders the eed section othe barrel is grooved to prevent slipping along the barrel surace or the barrel I D
may be fitted with pins This significantly improves the conveying action o the
extruder The same technique has been applied to the thermoplastic extrusion as
discussed in Section 14 and Section 7222
The extruder screw or rubber ofen has constant depth and variable decreasing
pitch (VDP) many rubber screws use a double-flighted design see Fig 23 Screws
or thermoplastics usually have a decreasing depth and constant pitch see Fig 21
Figure 983090983091
Typical screw geometry for rubber
extrusion
Another difference with the rubber extruder screw is that the channel depth is usu-
ally considerably larger than with a plastic extruder screw The larger depth is used
to reduce the shearing o the rubber and the resulting viscous heat generation
There is a large variety o rubber extruder screws as is the case with plastic extruder
screws Figure 24 shows the ldquoPlastiscrewrdquo manuactured by NRM
Figure 983090983092
The NRM Plastiscrew
Figure 25 shows the Pirelli rubber extruder screw This design uses a eed section
o large diameter reducing quickly to the much smaller diameter o the pumping
section The conical eed section uses a large clearance between screw flight and
barrel wall This causes a large amount o leakage over the flight and improves the
batch-mixing capability o the extruder
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983088 983090Different Types of Extruders
Figure 983090983093
The Pirelli rubber extruder screw
Figure 26 shows the EVK screw by Werner amp Pfleiderer [14] This design eatures
cross-channel barriers with preceding undercuts in the flights to provide a change
in flow direction and increased shearing as the material flows over the barrier or the
undercut in the flight A rather unusual design is the Transermix [10ndash13] extrudermixer which has been used or compounding rubber ormulations This machine
eatures helical channels in both the screw and barrel see Fig 27
Figure 983090983094
The EVK screw by Werner amp Pfleiderer
Vent
Feed
Figure 27 The Transfermix extruder
By a varying root diameter o the screw the material is orced in the flow channel
o the barrel A reduction o the depth o the barrel channel orces the material
back into the screw channel This requent reorientation provides good mixing
However the machine is difficult to manuacture and expensive to repair in case o
damageAnother rubber extruder is the QSM extruder [7 15ndash20] QSM stands or the Ger-
man words ldquoQuer Strom Mischrdquo meaning cross-flow mixing This extruder has
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983089 The Single Screw Extruder 983090983089
adjustable pins in the extruder barrel that protrude all the way into the screw chan-
nel see Fig 28
Figure 28 The QSM extruder (pin barrel extruder)
The screw flight has slots at the various pin locations The advantages o this ex-
truder in rubber applications are good mixing capability with a low stock tempera-
ture increase and low specific energy consumption This extruder was developed by
Harms in Germany and is manuactured and sold by Troester and other companies
Even though the QSM extruder has become popular in the rubber industry its appli-
cations clearly extend beyond just rubber extrusion In thermoplastic extrusion its
most obvious application would be in high viscosity thermally less stable resins
PVC could possibly be a candidate although dead spots may create problems with
degradation However it can probably be applied wherever good mixing and good
temperature control are requiredAnother typical rubber extrusion piece o hardware is the roller die A schematic
representation is shown in Fig 29
Figure 29 The roller die used in rubber extrusion
The roller die (B F Goodrich 1933) is a combination o a standard sheet die and a
calender It allows high throughput by reducing the diehead pressure it reduces air
entrapment and provides good gauge control
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983090 983090Different Types of Extruders
983090983089983092High-Speed Extrusion
One way to achieve high throughputs is to use high-speed extrusion High-speed
extrusion has been used in twin screw compounding or many yearsmdashsince the
1960s However in single screw extrusion high speed extrusion has not been usedon a significant scale until about 1995 Twin screw extruders (TSE) used in com-
pounding typically run at screw speeds ranging rom 200 to 500 rpm in some cases
screw speeds beyond 1000 rpm are possible Single screw extruders (SSE) usually
operate at screw speeds between 50 to 150 rpm
Since approx 1995 several extruder manuacturers have worked on developing
high-speed single screw extruders (HS-SSE) Most o these developments have taken
place at German extruder manuacturers such as Batteneld Reienhaumluser Kuhne
and Esde Currently HS-SSEs are commercially available and have been in use orseveral years [108]
Batteneld supplies a high speed 75-mm SSE that can run at screw speeds up to
1500 rpm [109] This machine can achieve throughputs up to 2200 kg hr It uses a
our-motor CMG torque drive with 390 kW made by K amp A Knoedler
983090983089983092983089Melt Temperature
One o the interesting characteristics o the HS-SSE is that the melt temperature
remains more or less constant over a broad range o screw speed [108 109] see
Fig 210
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0
T h r o u g
h p u t [ k g h r ]
75-mm extruder PS 486
P Rieg Battenfeld HJ Renner BASF
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200
Screw speed [revmin]
250
240
230
220
210
200
M e l t t e m
p e r a t u r e [ o C ]
Figure 983090983089983088
Throughput and melt
temperature versus
screw speed
This graph shows both the throughput in kg hr and the melt temperature in degC The
temperature curve indicates that there is less than a 2degC change in melt tempera-ture rom 200 rpm up to about 1000 rpm At screw speeds rom 110 rpm to 225 rpm
the melt temperature actually drops rom about 223 to about 215degC
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983089 The Single Screw Extruder 983090983091
In conventional extruders the melt temperature typically increases with screw
speed This ofen creates problems when we deal with high-viscosity polymers par-
ticularly when they have limited thermal stability In the example shown in Fig 210
the melt temperature is essentially constant as screw speed increases rom 200 to
1000 rpm This is probably the result o two actors the residence time o the poly-mer melt is reduced with increasing screw speed and the volume o the molten poly-
mer likely reduces with increasing screw speed as the melting length becomes
longer with increased screw speed
983090983089983092983090Extruders without Gear Reducer
An important advantage o high-speed SSE is that a conventional gear reducer is no
longer necessary The gear reducer is one o the largest cost actors or a conven-
tional extruder As a result extruders without a gear reducer are significantly lessexpensive compared to conventional extruders that achieve the same rate A urther
advantage o the elimination o the gear reducer is a significant reduction in noise
level Contrary to what one would expect HS-SSE actually run very quiet the noise
level is substantially lower than it is or conventional extruders with gear reducers
983090983089983092983091Energy Consumption
Another benefit o high-speed SSE is the reduction in energy consumption Rieg
[108 109] reports the ollowing mechanical specific energy consumption
The reduction in energy consumption listed in Table 22 is significant between 35
and 45 I the extruder runs PP at 2000 kg hr a reduction in SEC o 010 kWh kg
corresponds to a reduction in power consumption o 200 kW every hour I the power
cost is $010 per kWh (or consistency) the savings per hour will be $20 per hour
$480 per day $3360 per week and $168000 per year at 50 weeks per year Clearly
this can have a significant effect on the profitability o an extrusion operation
Table 22 Specific Energy Consumption for Standard Extruder and High-Speed Extruder
Type of extruder SEC with polystyrene [kWhkg] SEC with polypropylene [kWhkg]
Standard extruder 019minus021 027minus029
High-speed extruder 010minus012 017minus019
983090983089983092983092Change-over Resin Consumption
Another important issue in efficient extrusion is the time and material used when a
change in resin is made With high-speed extruders the change-over time is quite
short because the volume occupied by the plastic is small while the throughput is
very high
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983092 983090Different Types of Extruders
Table 23 shows a comparison o the high-speed 75-mm extruder to a conventional
180-mm extruder running at the same throughput The amount o material con-
sumed in the change-over is 150 kg or the 75-mm extruder and 1300 kg or the
180-mm extruder I we assume a resin cost o $100 per kg the savings are
$115000 per change-over I we have three change-overs per week the yearly sav-ings in reduced resin usage comes to $172500 per year Clearly this is not an insig-
nificant amount
Table 23 Comparison of Change-Over Time and Material Consumption
75-mm extruder 180-mm extruder
Volume in the extruder [liter] 4 40
Material consumption for change-over [kg] 150 1300
Change-over time [min] 5 40
983090983089983092983093 Change-over Time and Residence Time
Table 23 also shows that the change-over time or the 75-mm extruder is approx
5 minutes while it is approx 40 minutes in the 180-mm extruder Clearly the
reduced change-over time results rom the act that the volume occupied by the plas-
tic is much smaller (4 liter) in the 75-mm extruder than in the 180-mm extruder
(40 liter) I the change-over time can be reduced rom 40 to 5 minutes this means
that 35 minutes are now available to run production resulting in greater up-time othe extrusion line
The small volume o the HS-SSE also results in short residence times The mean
residence time ranges rom approx 5 to 10 seconds In conventional SSE the resi-
dence times are substantially longer typically between 50 to 100 seconds Since
HS-SSE can run at relatively low melt temperatures the chance o degradation is
actually less in these extruders There is ample evidence in actual high-speed ex-
trusion operations that the plastic is less susceptible to degradation in these opera-
tions
983090983090The Multiscrew Extruder
221The Twin Screw Extruder
A twin screw extruder is a machine with two Archimedean screws Admittedly this
is a very general definition However as soon as the definition is made more spe-
cific it is limited to a specific class o twin screw extruders There is a tremendous
variety o twin screw extruders with vast differences in design principle o opera-
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983090 The Multiscrew Extruder 983090983093
tion and field o application It is thereore difficult to make general comments
about twin screw extruders The differences between the various twin screw extrud-
ers are much larger than the differences between single screw extruders This is to
be expected since the twin screw construction substantially increases the number
o design variables such as direction o rotation degree o intermeshing etc A clas-sification o twin screw extruders is shown in Table 24 This classification is pri-
marily based on the geometrical configuration o the twin screw extruder Some
twin screw extruders unction in much the same ashion as single screw extruders
Other twin screw extruders operate quite differently rom single screw extruders
and are used in very different applications The design o the various twin screw
extruders with their operational and unctional aspects will be covered in more
detail in Chapter 10
Table 24 Classification of Twin Screw Extruders
Intermeshing extruders
Co-rotating extrudersLow speed extruders for profile extrusion
High speed extruders for compounding
Counter-rotating extruders
Conical extruders for profile extrusion
Parallel extruders for profile extrusion
High speed extruders for compounding
Non-intermeshing
extruders
Counter-rotating extrudersEqual screw length
Unequal screw length
Co-rotating extruders Not used in practice
Co-axial extruders
Inner melt transport forward
Inner melt transport rearward
Inner solids transport rearward
Inner plasticating with rearward transport
983090983090983090The Multiscrew Extruder With More Than Two Screws
There are several types o extruders which incorporate more than two screws One
relatively well-known example is the planetary roller extruder see Fig 211
Planetary screws
Sun (main) screw Melting and feed section
Discharge
Figure 211 The planetary roller extruder
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983090983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
This extruder looks similar to a single screw extruder The eed section is in act
the same as on a standard single screw extruder However the mixing section o the
extruder looks considerably different In the planetary roller section o the extruder
six or more planetary screws evenly spaced revolve around the circumerence o
the main screw In the planetary screw section the main screw is reerred to as thesun screw The planetary screws intermesh with the sun screw and the barrel The
planetary barrel section thereore must have helical grooves corresponding to the
helical flights on the planetary screws This planetary barrel section is generally a
separate barrel section with a flange-type connection to the eed barrel section
In the first part o the machine beore the planetary screws the material moves
orward as in a regular single screw extruder As the material reaches the planetary
section being largely plasticated at this point it is exposed to intensive mixing by
the rolling action between the planetary screws the sun screw and the barrel Thehelical design o the barrel sun screw and planetary screws result in a large sur-
ace area relative to the barrel length The small clearance between the planetary
screws and the mating suraces about frac14 mm allows thin layers o compound to be
exposed to large surace areas resulting in effective devolatilization heat exchange
and temperature control Thus heat-sensitive compounds can be processed with a
minimum o degradation For this reason the planetary gear extruder is requently
used or extrusion compounding o PVC ormulations both rigid and plasticized
[21 22] Planetary roller sections are also used as add-ons to regular extruders to
improve mixing perormance [97 98] Another multiscrew extruder is the our-screw extruder shown in Fig 212
Figure 983090983089983090
Four-screw extruder
This machine is used primarily or devolatilization o solvents rom 40 to as low as
03 [23] Flash devolatilization occurs in a flash dome attached to the barrel The
polymer solution is delivered under pressure and at temperatures above the boiling
point o the solvent The solution is then expanded through a nozzle into the flash
dome The oamy material resulting rom the flash devolatilization is then trans-
ported away by the our screws In many cases downstream vent sections will beincorporated to urther reduce the solvent level
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983090983090 The Multiscrew Extruder 983090983095
983090983090983091The Gear Pump Extruder
Gear pumps are used in some extrusion operations at the end o a plasticating
extruder either single screw or twin screw [99ndash106] Strictly speaking the gear
pump is a closely intermeshing counterrotating twin screw extruder However sincegear pumps are solely used to generate pressure they are generally not reerred to
as an extruder although the gear pump is an extruder One o the main advantages
o the gear pump is its good pressure-generating capability and its ability to main-
tain a relatively constant outlet pressure even i the inlet pressure fluctuates con-
siderably Some fluctuation in the outlet pressure will result rom the intermeshing
o the gear teeth This fluctuation can be reduced by a helical orientation o the gear
teeth instead o an axial orientation
Gear pumps are sometimes reerred to as positive displacement devices This is notcompletely correct because there must be mechanical clearances between the gears
and the housing which causes leakage Thereore the gear pump output is depend-
ent on pressure although the pressure sensitivity will generally be less than that o
a single screw extruder The actual pressure sensitivity will be determined by the
design clearances the polymer melt viscosity and the rotational speed o the gears
A good method to obtain constant throughput is to maintain a constant pressure di-
erential across the pump This can be done by a relatively simple pressure eedback
control on the extruder eeding into the gear pump [102] The non-zero clearances
in the gear pump will cause a transormation o mechanical energy into heat by vis-cous heat generation see Section 534 Thus the energy efficiency o actual gear
pumps is considerably below 100 the pumping efficiency generally ranges rom
15 to 35 The other 65 to 85 goes into mechanical losses and viscous heat gene-
ration Mechanical losses usually range rom about 20 to 40 and viscous heating
rom about 40 to 50 As a result the polymer melt going through the gear pump
will experience a considerable temperature rise typically 5 to 10degC However in
some cases the temperature rise can be as much as 20 to 30degC Since the gear
pump has limited energy efficiency the combination extruder-gear pump is not nec-
essarily more energy-efficient than the extruder without the gear pump Only i the
extruder eeding into the gear pump is very inefficient in its pressure development
will the addition o a gear pump allow a reduction in energy consumption This
could be the case with co-rotating twin screw extruders or single screw extruders
with inefficient screw design
The mixing capacity o gear pumps is very limited This was clearly demonstrated
by Kramer [106] by comparing melt temperature fluctuation beore and afer the
gear pump which showed no distinguishable improvement in melt temperature uni-
ormity Gear pumps are ofen added to extruders with unacceptable output fluc-tuations In many cases this constitutes treating the symptoms but not curing the
actual problem Most single screw extruders i properly designed can maintain
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983090983096 983090Different Types of Extruders
their output to within plusmn 1 I the output fluctuation is considerably larger than 1
there is probably something wrong with the machine very ofen incorrect screw
design In these cases solving the actual problem will generally be more efficient
than adding a gear pump For an efficient extruder-gear pump system the extruder
screw has to be modified to reduce the pressure-generating capacity o the screw
Gear pumps can be used advantageously
1 On extruders with poor pressure-generating capability (e g co-rotating twin
screws multi-stage vented extruders etc)
2 When output stability is required better than 1 i e in close tolerance extru-
sion (e g fiber spinning cable extrusion medical tubing coextrusion etc)
Gear pumps can cause problems when
1 The polymer contains abrasive components because o the small clearances thegear pump is very susceptible to wear
2 When the polymer is susceptible to degradation gear pumps are not sel-clean-
ing and combined with the exposure to high temperatures this will result in
degraded product
983090983091Disk Extruders
There are a number o extruders which do not utilize an Archimedean screw or
transport o the material but still all in the class o continuous extruders Some-
times these machines are reerred to as screwless extruders These machines
employ some kind o disk or drum to extrude the material One can classiy the disk
extruders according to their conveying mechanism (see Table 21) Most o the disk
extruders are based on viscous drag transport One special disk extruder utilizes
the elasticity o polymer melts to convey the material and to develop the necessary
diehead pressure
Disk extruders have been around or a long time at least since 1950 However at
this point in time the industrial significance o disk extruders is still relatively small
compared to screw extruders
983090983091983089Viscous Drag Disk Extruders
983090983091983089983089Stepped Disk Extruder
One o the first disk extruders was developed by Westover at Bell Telephone Labo-
ratories it is ofen reerred to as a stepped disk extruder or slider pad extruder [24]
A schematic picture o the extruder is shown in Fig 213
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983090983097
In
Out
Figure 983090983089983091
The stepped disk
The heart o the machine is the stepped disk positioned a small distance rom a flat
disk When one o the disks is rotated with a polymer melt in the axial gap a pres-
sure build-up will occur at the transition o one gap size to another smaller gap sizesee Fig 214
v
Distance
P r e s s u r e
Figure 983090983089983092
Pressure generation in the step region
I exit channels are incorporated into the stepped disk the polymer can be extruded
in a continuous ashion The design o this extruder is based on Rayleighrsquos [25]
analysis o hydrodynamic lubrication in various geometries He concluded that the
parallel stepped pad was capable o supporting the greatest load The stepped disk
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983091983088 983090Different Types of Extruders
extruder has also been designed in a different configuration using a gradual change
in gap size This extruder has a wedge-shaped disk with a gradual increase in pres-
sure with radial distance
A practical disadvantage o the stepped disk extruder is the act that the machine is
difficult to clean because o the intricate design o the flow channels in the stepped
disk
983090983091983089983090Drum Extruder
Another rather old concept is the drum extruder A schematic picture o a machine
manuactured by Schmid amp Kocher in Switzerland is shown in Fig 215
In
OutOutIn
Figure 983090983089983093 The drum extruder by Schmid amp Kocher
Material is ed by a eed hopper into an annular space between rotor and barrel By
the rotational motion o the rotor the material is carried along the circumerence o
the barrel Just beore the material reaches the eed hopper it encounters a wiper
bar This wiper bar scrapes the polymer rom the rotor and deflects the polymer flow
into a channel that leads to the extruder die Several patents [26 27] were issued on
this design however these patents have long since expired
A very similar extruder (see Fig 216) was developed by Askco Engineering andCosden Oil amp Chemical in a joint venture later this became Permian Research Two
patents have been issued on this design [28 29] even though the concept is very
similar to the Schmid amp Kocher design
One special eature o this design is the capability to adjust the local gap by means
o a choker bar similar to the gap adjustment in a flat sheet die see Section 92 The
choker bar in this drum extruder is activated by adjustable hydraulic oil pressure
Drum extruders have not been able to be a serious competition to the single screw
extruder over the last 50 years
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983091983089
Hopper
DieRotor
Housing
Wiper bar
Hopper
Wiper bar
DieRotor
Housing
Figure 983090983089983094
The drum extruder by AskoCosden
983090983091983089983091Spiral Disk Extruder
The spiral disk extruder is another type o disk extruder that has been known or
many years Several patented designs were described by Schenkel (Chapter 1 [3])
Similar to the stepped disk extruder the development o the spiral disk extruder
is closely connected to spiral groove bearings It has long been known that spiral
groove bearings are capable o supporting substantial loads Ingen Housz [30] has
analyzed the melt conveying in a spiral disk extruder with logarithmic grooves in
the disk based on Newtonian flow behavior o the polymer melt In terms o melt
conveying capability the spiral disk extruder seems comparable to the screw ex-truder however the solids conveying capability is questionable
983090983091983089983092Diskpack Extruder
Another development in disk extruders is the diskpack extruder Tadmor originated
the idea o the diskpack machine which is covered under several patents [31ndash33]
The development o the machine was undertaken by the Farrel Machinery Group o
Emgart Corporation in cooperation with Tadmor [34ndash39] The basic concept o the
machine is shown in Fig 217Material drops in the axial gap between relatively thin disks mounted on a rotating
shaf The material will move with the disks almost a ull turn then it meets a chan-
nel block The channel block closes off the space between the disks and deflects the
polymer flow to either an outlet channel or to a transer channel in the barrel The
shape o the disks can be optimized or specific unctions solids conveying melting
devolatilization melt conveying and mixing A detailed unctional analysis can be
ound in Tadmorrsquos book on polymer processing (Chapter 1 [32])
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983091983090 983090Different Types of Extruders
v
v
Channel blockInlet
Outlet
Barrel
Solid bed
Shaft
Melt pool
Inlet Channel block
Outlet
Melt pool
Solid bed
Barrel
Shaft
v
v Figure 983090983089983095
The diskpack extruder
It is claimed that this machine can perorm all basic polymer-processing operations
with efficiency equaling or surpassing existing machinery Clearly i the claim is
true and can be delivered or a competitive price the diskpack extruder will become
an important machine in the extrusion industry The first diskpack machines were
delivered to the industry in 1982 still under a joint development type o agreement
Now almost 20 years afer the first diskpack machines were delivered it is clear
that the acceptance o these machines in the industry has been very limited In act
Farrel no longer actively markets the diskpack machine In most o the publications
the diskpack machine is reerred to as a polymer processor This term is probably
used to indicate that this machine can do more than just extruding although the
diskpack is o course an extruder
The diskpack machine incorporates some o the eatures o the drum extruder and
the single screw extruder One can think o the diskpack as a single screw extruder
using a screw with zero helix angle and very deep flights Forward axial transportcan only take place by transport channels in the barrel with the material orced into
those channels by a restrictor bar as with the drum extruder The use o restrictor
bars (channel block) and transer channels in the housing make it considerably
more complex than the barrel o a single screw extruder
One o the advantages o the diskpack is that mixing blocks and spreading dams can
be incorporated into the machine as shown in Fig 218(a)
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983091983091
v
v
Channel blockInlet
Outlet
Mixing block
Disk
Inlet Channel block
Outlet
Mixing blockDisk v
v Figure 983090983089983096(a)
Mixing blocks in the diskpack
Mixing blocks o various shapes can be positioned externally into the processing
chamber This is similar to the QSM extruder only that in the QSM extruder the
screw flight has to be interrupted to avoid contact This is not necessary in the disk-
pack because the flights have zero helix angles in other words they run perpen-
dicular to the rotor axis By the number o blocks the geometry o the block and the
clearance between block and disk one can tailor the mixing capability to the par-
ticular application The use o spreading dams allows the generation o a thin film
with a large surace area this results in effective devolatilization capability The
diskpack has inherently higher pressure-generating capability than the single
screw extruder does This is because the diskpack has two dragging suraces while
the single screw extruder has only one see Fig 218(b)
v
v=0
v
v
Conveying mechanismsingle screw extruder
Conveying mechanism
diskpack extruder Figure 983090983089983096(b)
Comparison of conveying mechanism in diskpackand single screw extruder
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983091983092 983090Different Types of Extruders
At the same net flow rate equal viscosity equal plate velocity and optimum plate
separation the theoretical maximum pressure gradient o the diskpack is eight
times higher than the single screw extruder [34] Thus high pressures can be gen-
erated over a short distance which allows a more compact machine design The
energy efficiency o the pressure generation is also better than in the single screwextruder the maximum pumping efficiency approaches 100 see derivation in
Appendix 21 For the single screw extruder the maximum pumping efficiency is
only 33 as discussed in Section 7413 The energy efficiency o pressure genera-
tion is the ratio o the theoretical energy requirement (flow rate times pressure rise)
to the actual energy requirement (wall velocity times shear stress integrated over
wall surace) It should be noted that the two dragging platesrsquo pumping mechanism
exists only in tangential direction The pumping in axial (orward) direction occurs
only in the transer channel in the housing This orward pumping occurs by the one
dragging plate mechanism as in the single screw extruder The maximum efficiency
or orward pumping thereore is only 33 The overall pumping efficiency will be
somewhere between 33 and 100 i the power consumption in the disk and channel
block clearance is neglected
Studies on melting in the diskpack were reported by Valsamis et al [96] It was
ound that two types o melting mechanism could take place in the diskpack the
drag melt removal (DMR) mechanism and the dissipative melt mixing (DMM) mech-
anism The DMR melting mechanism is the predominant mechanism in single screw
extruders this is discussed in detail in Section 73 In the DMR melting mechanismthe solids and melt coexist as two largely continuous and separate phases In the
DMM melting mechanism the solids are dispersed in the melt there is no conti-
nuous solid bed It was ound that the DMM mechanism could be induced by pro-
moting back leakage o the polymer melt past the channel block This can be con-
trolled by varying the clearance between the channel block and the disks The
advantage o the DMM melting mechanism is that the melting rate can be substan-
tially higher than with the DMR mechanism reportedly by as much as a actor o 3
[96]
Among all elementary polymer processing unctions the solids conveying in a disk-
pack extruder has not been discussed to any extent in the open technical literature
Considering that the solids conveying mechanism is a rictional drag mechanism
(as in single screw extruders) and not a positive displacement type o transport (as
in intermeshing counterrotating twin screw extruders see Sections 102 and 104)
it can be expected that the diskpack will have solids conveying limitations similar
to those o single screw extruders see Section 722 This means that powders
blends o powders and pellets slippery materials etc are likely to encounter solids
conveying problems in a diskpack extruder unless special measures are taken toenhance the solids conveying capability (e g crammer eeder grooves in the disks
etc)
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983091983093
Because o the more complex machine geometry the cost per unit throughput o the
diskpack is higher than or the conventional single screw extruder Thereore the
diskpack does not compete directly with single screw extruders
Applications or the diskpack are specialty polymer processing operations such as
polymerization post-reactor processing (devolatilization) continuous compound-
ing etc As such the diskpack competes mostly with twin screw extruders Pres-
ently twin screw extruders are usually the first choice when it comes to specialty
polymer processing operations
983090983091983090The Elastic Melt Extruder
The elastic melt extruder was developed in the late 1950s by Maxwell and Scalora[40 41] The extruder makes use o the viscoelastic in particular the elastic pro-
perties o polymer melts When a viscoelastic fluid is exposed to a shearing deor-
mation normal stresses will develop in the fluid that are not equal in all directions
as opposed to a purely viscous fluid In the elastic melt extruder the polymer is
sheared between two plates one stationary and one rotating see Fig 219
Hopper
Heaters
Solid polymer
Die
Extrudate
Polymer melt
Rotor
Solid polymerHopper
Heaters
Die
Extrudate
Polymer melt
Rotor
Figure 983090983089983097
The elastic melt extruder
As the polymer is sheared normal stresses will generate a centripetal pumping
action Thus the polymer can be extruded through the central opening in the sta-
tionary plate in a continuous ashion Because normal stresses generate the pump-
ing action this machine is sometimes reerred to as a normal stress extruderThis extruder is quite interesting rom a rheological point o view since it is prob-
ably the only extruder that utilizes the elasticity o the melt or its conveying Thus
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983091983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
several detailed experimental and theoretical studies have been devoted to the elas-
tic melt extruder [42ndash47]
The detailed study by Fritz [44] concluded that transport by normal stresses only
could be as much as two orders o magnitude lower than a corresponding system
with orced eed In addition substantial temperature gradients developed in the
polymer causing substantial degradation in high molecular weight polyolefins The
scant market acceptance o the elastic melt extruder would tend to confirm Fritzrsquos
conclusions
Several modifications have been proposed to improve the perormance o the elastic
melt extruder Fritz [43] suggested incorporation o spiral grooves to improve the
pressure generating capability essentially combining the elastic melt extruder and
the spiral disk extruder into one machine In Russia [47] several modifications
were made to the design o the elastic melt extruder One o those combined a screwextruder with the elastic melt extruder to eliminate the eeding and plasticating
problem Despite all o these activities the elastic melt extruder has not been able to
acquire a position o importance in the extrusion industry
983090983091983091Overview of Disk Extruders
Many attempts have been made in the past to come up with a continuous plasticat-
ing extruder o simple design that could perorm better than the single screw ex-truder It seems air to say that at this point in time no disk extruder has been able
to meet this goal The simple disk extruders do not perorm nearly as well as the
single screw extruder The more complex disk extruder such as the diskpack can
possibly outperorm the single screw extruder However this is at the expense o
design simplicity thus increasing the cost o the machine Disk extruders there-
ore have not been able to seriously challenge the position o the single screw
extruder This is not to say however that it is not possible or this to happen some
time in the uture But considering the long dominance o the single screw extruder
it is not probable that a new disk extruder will come along that can challenge the
single screw extruder
983090983092Ram Extruders
Ram or plunger extruders are simple in design rugged and discontinuous in their
mode o operation Ram extruders are essentially positive displacement devices and
are able to generate very high pressures Because o the intermittent operation o
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983091983095
ram extruders they are ideally suited or cyclic processes such as injection molding
and blow molding In act the early molding machines were almost exclusively
equipped with ram extruders to supply the polymer melt to the mold Certain limita-
tions o the ram extruder have caused a switch to reciprocating screw extruders or
combinations o the two The two main limitations are
1 Limited melting capacity
2 Poor temperature uniormity o the polymer melt
Presently ram extruders are used in relatively small shot size molding machines
and certain specialty operations where use is made o the positive displacement
characteristics and the outstanding pressure generation capability There are basic-
ally two types o ram extruders single ram extruders and multi ram extruders
983090983092983089Single Ram Extruders
The single ram extruder is used in small general purpose molding machines but
also in some special polymer processing operations One such operation is the ex-
trusion o intractable polymers such as ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene
(UHMWPE) or polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) These polymers are not considered to
be melt processable on conventional melt processing equipment Teledynamik [48]
has built a ram injection-molding machine under a license rom Th Engel who
developed the prototype machine This machine is used to mold UHMWPE under
very high pressures The machine uses a reciprocating plunger that densifies the
cold incoming material with a pressure up to 300 MPa (about 44000 psi) The re-
quency o the ram can be adjusted continuously with a maximum o 250 strokes
minute The densified material is orced through heated channels into the heated
cylinder where final melting takes place The material is then injected into a mold
by a telescoping injection ram Pressures up to 100 MPa (about 14500 psi) occur
during the injection o the polymer into the mold
Another application is the extrusion o PTFE with again the primary ingredient orsuccessul extrusion being very high pressures Granular PTFE can be extruded at
slow rates in a ram extruder [49ndash51] The powder is compacted by the ram orced
into a die where the material is heated above the melting point and shaped into the
desired orm PTFE is ofen processed as a PTFE paste [52 53] This is small particle
size PTFE powder (about 02 mm) mixed with a processing aid such as naphta PTFE
paste can be extruded at room temperature or slightly above room temperature
Afer extrusion the processing aid is removed by heating the extrudate above its
volatilization temperature The extruded PTFE paste product may be sintered i the
application requires a more ully coalesced product
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983091983096 983090Different Types of Extruders
983090983092983089983089Solid State Extrusion
An extrusion technique that has slowly been gaining popularity is solid-state extru-
sion The polymer is orced through a die while it is below its melting point This
causes substantial deormation o the polymer in the die but since the polymer is in
the solid state a very effective molecular orientation takes place This orientation ismuch more effective than the one which occurs in conventional melt processing As
a result extraordinary mechanical properties can be obtained
Solid-state extrusion is a technique borrowed rom the metal industry where solid-
state extrusion has been used commercially since the late 1940s Bridgman [54]
was one o the first to do a systematic study on the effect o pressure on the mechan-
ical properties o metals He also studied polymers and ound that the glass tran-
sition temperature was raised by the application o pressure
There are two methods o solid-state extrusion one is direct solid-state extrusionthe other is hydrostatic extrusion In direct solid-state extrusion a pre-ormed solid
rod o material (a billet) is in direct contact with the plunger and the walls o the
extrusion die see Fig 220 The material is extruded as the ram is pushed towards
the die
Plunger
Billet
Barrel
DieExtrudate Figure 983090983090983088
Direct solid state extrusion
In hydrostatic extrusion the pressure required or extrusion is transmitted rom the
plunger to the billet through a lubricating liquid usually castor oil The billet must
be shaped to fit the die to prevent loss o fluid The hydrostatic fluid reduces the ric-
tion thereby reducing the extrusion pressure see Fig 221
In hydrostatic extrusion the pressure-generating device or the fluid does not neces-
sarily have to be in close proximity to the orming part o the machine The fluid canbe supplied to the extrusion device by high-pressure tubes
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983091983097
Plunger
Billet
Oil
Barrel
DieExtrudate Figure 983090983090983089
Hydrostatic solid state extrusion
Judging rom publications in the open literature most o the work on solid-state
extrusion o polymers is done at universities and research institutes It is possible
o course that some companies are working on solid-state extrusion but are keeping
the inormation proprietary A major research effort in solid-state extrusion has
been made at the University o Amherst Massachusetts [50ndash64] University o
Leeds England [65ndash72] Fyushu University Fukuoka Japan [73ndash76] Research
Institute or Polymers and Textiles Yokohama Japan [77ndash79] Battelle Columbus
Ohio [80ndash83] and Rutgers University New Brunswick New Jersey [84ndash86] As
mentioned earlier publications rom other sources are considerably less plentiul
[87ndash90] Efforts have also been made to achieve the same high degree o orientation
in a more or less conventional extrusion process by special die design and tempera-
ture control in the die region [91]
Table 25 shows a comparison o mechanical properties between steel aluminum
solid state extruded HDPE and HDPE extruded by conventional means
Table 25 clearly indicates that the mechanical properties o solid-state extruded
HDPE are much superior to the melt extruded HDPE In act the tensile strength o
solid-state extruded HDPE is about the same as carbon steel There are some other
interesting benefits associated with solidstate extrusion o polymers There is essen-
tially no die swell at high extrusion ratios (extrusion ratio is the ratio o the area in
the cylinder to the area in the die) Thus the dimensions o the extrudate closely
conorm to those o the die exit The surace o the extrudate produced by hydro-
static extrusion has a lower coefficient o riction than that o the un-oriented poly-
mer Above a certain extrusion ratio (about ten) polyethylene and polypropylene
become transparent Further solid-state extruded polymers maintain their ten-sile properties at elevated temperatures Polyethylene maintains its modulus up to
120degC when it is extruded in the solid state at a high extrusion ratio The thermal
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983092983088 983090Different Types of Extruders
conductivity in the extrusion direction is much higher than that o the un-oriented
polymer as much as 25 times higher The melting point o the solid-state extruded
polymer increases with the amount o orientation The melting point o HDPE can be
shifed to as high as 140degC
Table 25 Comparison of Mechanical Properties
Material Tensile modulus[MPa]
Tensile strength[MPa]
Elongation[]
Density[gcc]
Annealed SAE 1020 210000 410 35 786
W-200 degF SAE 1020 210000 720 6 786
Annealed 304 stainless
steel
200000 590 50 792
Aluminum 1100ndash0 70000 90 45 271
HDPE solid state
extruded
70000 480 3 097
HDPE melt extruded 10000 30 20ndash1000 096
A recent application o solid-state extrusion is the process developed by Synthetic
Hardwood Technologies Inc [107] This company has developed an expanded ori-
ented wood-filled polypropylene (EOW-PP) that is about 300 stronger than regular
PP The process is based on technology developed at Aluminum Company o Canada
Ltd (Alcan) in the early 1990s to solidstate extrude PP It involves ram extrusion
drawing o billets o PP just below the melting point with very high draw ratio and
high haul-off tension (about 3 MPa) to reeze-in the high level o orientation Alcan
did not pursue the technology and Symplastics Ltd licensed the patented process
this company started experimenting with adding small amounts o wood flour to the
PP However Symplastics ound the research and development too costly and sold
the patents and lab extrusion equipment to Frank Maine who set up SHW to com-
mercialize applications or the EOW-PP The key to the SHW process is that it com-
bines extrusion with drawing As the polymer is oriented the density drops about
50 rom about 1 g cc to 05 g cc The die drawing also allowed substantial in-creases in line speed rom about 0050 m min to about 9 m min The properties
achieved with EOW-PP are shown in Table 24 and compared to regular PP wood
and oriented PP
Solid-state extrusion has been practiced with coextrusion o different polymers [93]
Despite the large amount o research on solid-state extrusion and the outstanding
mechanical properties that can be obtained there does not seem to be much interest
in the polymer industry The main drawbacks o course are that solid-state extru-
sion is basically a discontinuous process it cannot be done on conventional polymer
processing equipment and very high pressures are required to achieve solid-stateextrusion Also one should keep in mind that very good mechanical properties can
be obtained by taking a profile (fiber film tube etc) produced by conventional con-
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983092983089
tinuous extrusion and exposing it to controlled deormation at a temperature below
the melting point This is a well-established technique in many extrusion operations
(fiber spinning film extrusion etc) and it can be done at a high rate This method
o producing extrudates with very good mechanical properties is likely to be more
cost-effective than solid-state extrusion It is possible that the die drawing processdeveloped by SHW can make solid-state extrusion more attractive commercially by
allowing large profiles to be processed at reasonable line speeds
Table 26 Mechanical Properties of PP Wood OPP and EOW-PP
Flexural strength [MPa] Flexural modulus [MPa]
Regular PP 50 1850
Wood 100 9000
Oriented PP 275 7600EOW-PP 140 7600
983090983092983090Multi Ram Extruder
As mentioned beore the main disadvantage o ram extruders is their intermittent
operation Several attempts have been made to overcome this problem by designing
multi-ram extruders that work together in such a way as to produce a continuousflow o material
Westover [94] designed a continuous ram extruder that combined our plunger-
cylinders Two plunger-cylinders were used or plasticating and two or pumping
An intricate shuttle valve connecting all the plunger cylinders provides continuous
extrusion
Another attempt to develop a continuous ram extruder was made by Yi and Fenner
[95] They designed a twin ram extruder with the cylinders in a V-configuration see
Fig 222The two rams discharge into a common barrel in which a plasticating shaf is rotat-
ing Thus solids conveying occurs in the two separate cylinders and plasticating
and melt conveying occurs in the annular region between the barrel and plasticat-
ing shaf The machine is able to extrude however the throughput uniormity is
poor The perormance could probably have been improved i the plasticating shaf
had been provided with a helical channel But o course then the machine would
have become a screw extruder with a ram-assisted eed This only goes to demon-
strate that it is ar rom easy to improve upon the simple screw extruder
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983092983090 983090Different Types of Extruders
Die Breaker plate
Plasticating shaft
Main
block
Feed cylinder
Figure 222 Twin ram extruder
983090983092983091 Appendix 983090983089
983090983092983091983089 Pumping Efficiency in Diskpack Extruder
The velocity profile between the moving walls is a parabolic unction when the fluid
is a Newtonian fluid see Section 621 and Fig 223
y
z H
Small pressure gradient
Medium pressure gradient
Large pressure gradient
Figure 983090983090983091
Velocity profiles between moving
walls
The velocity profile or a Newtonian fluid is
L8
PH
H
y41vv(y)
2
2
2
∆micro∆
minusminus= (1)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3337
983090983092 Ram Extruders 983092983091
where v is the velocity o the plates H the distance between the plates and μ the
viscosity o the fluid The flow rate can be ound by integrating v(y) over the width
and depth o the channel this yields
L12
PWHvWHV
3
∆micro∆minus=
bull
(2)
The first term on the right-hand side o the equalation is the drag flow term The
second term is the pressure flow term The ratio o pressure flow to drag flow is
termed the throttle ratio rd (see Section 7413)
r d =Lv12
PH2
∆micro
∆ (3)
The flow rate can now be written as
(4)
The shear stress at the wall is obtained rom
dv H∆Pτ = micro =dy
05H 2∆L
(5)
The power consumption in the channel is
Zch = PvHWLvW2 ∆=∆τ (6)
The energy efficiency or pressure generation is
V∆Pε = =1 minus r
d Zch
(7)
Equation 7 is not valid or rd = 0 because in this case both numerator and denomi-
nator become zero From Eq 7 it can be seen that when the machine is operated atlow rd values the pumping efficiency can become close to 100 This is considerably
better than the single screw extruder where the optimum pumping efficiency is 33
at a throttle ratio value o 033 (rd = 13)
References
1 J LeBras ldquoRubber Fundamentals o its Science and Technologyrdquo Chemical Publ Co
NY (1957)
2 W S Penn ldquoSynthetic Rubber Technology Volume Irdquo MacLaren amp Sons Ltd London(1960)
3 W J S Naunton ldquoThe Applied Science o Rubberrdquo Edward Arnold Ltd London (1961)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3437
983092983092 983090Different Types of Extruders
4 C M Blow ldquoRubber Technology and Manuacturerdquo Butterworth amp Co Ltd London
(1971)
5 F R Eirich (Ed) ldquoScience and Technology o Rubberrdquo Academic Press NY (1978)
6 C W Evans ldquoPowdered and Particulate Rubber Technologyrdquo Applied Science Publ Ltd
London (1978)
7 G Targiel et al 10 IKV-Kolloquium Aachen March 12ndash14 45 (1980)
8 A Kennaway Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 17 378ndash391 (1964)
9 G Menges and J P Lehnen Plastverarbeiter 20 1 31ndash39 (1969)
10 M Parshall and A J Saulino Rubber World 2 5 78ndash83 (1967)
11 S E Perlberg Rubber World 2 6 71ndash76 (1967)
12 H H Gohlisch Gummi Asbest Kunststoffe 25 9 834ndash835 (1972)
13 E Harms ldquoKautschuk-Extruder Aubau und Einsatz aus verahrenstechnischer Sichtrdquo
Krausskop-Verlag Mainz Bd 2 Buchreihe Kunststo983142echnik (1974)
14 G Schwarz Eur Rubber Journal Sept 28ndash32 (1977)
15 G Menges and E G Harms Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 25 10 469ndash475 (1972)
16 G Menges and E G Harms Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 27 5 187ndash193 (1974)
17 E G Harms Elastomerics 109 6 33ndash39 (1977)
18 E G Harms Eur Rubber Journal 6 23 (1978)
19 E G Harms Kunststoffe 69 1 32ndash33 (1979)
20 E G Harms Dissertation RWTH Aachen Germany (1981)21 S H Collins Plastics Compounding Nov Dec 29 (1982)
22 D Anders Kunststoffe 69 194ndash198 (1979)
23 D Gras and K Eise SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 21 386 (1975)
24 R F Westover SPE Journal 18 12 1473 (1962)
25 Lord Raleigh Philosophical Magazine 35 1ndash12 (1918)
26 German Patent DRP 1129681
27 British Patent BP 759354
28 U S Patent 3880564
29 U S Patent 4012477
30 J F Ingen Housz Plastverarbeiter 10 1 (1975)
31 U S Patent 4142805
32 U S Patent 4194841
33 U S Patent 4213709
34 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 25 193 (1979)
35 P Hold Z Tadmor and L Valsamis SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 25 205 (1979)
36 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis Plastics Engineering Nov 20ndash25 (1979)
37 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis Plastics Engineering Dec 30ndash38 (1979)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3537
References 983092983093
38 Z Tadmor et al The Diskpack Plastics Processor Farrel Publication Jan (1982)
39 L Valsamis AIChE Meeting Washington D C Oct (1983)
40 B Maxwell and A J Scalora Modern Plastics 37 107 Oct (1959)
41 U S Patent 3 046603
42 L L Blyler PhD thesis Princeton University NJ (1966)
43 H G Fritz Kunststo983142echnik 6 430 (1968)
44 H G Fritz PhD thesis Stuttgart University Germany (1971)
45 C W Macosko and J M Starita SPE Journal 27 30 (1971)
46 P A Good A J Schwartz and C W Macosko AIChE Journal 20 1 67 (1974)
47 V L Kocherov Y L Lukach E A Sporyagin and G V Vinogradov Polym Eng Sci 13
194 (1973)
48 J Berzen and G Braun Kunststoffe 69 2 62ndash66 (1979)49 R S Porter et al J Polym Sci 17 485ndash488 (1979)
50 C A Sperati Modern Plastics Encyclopedia McGraw-Hill NY (1983)
51 S S Schwartz and S H Goodman see Chapter 1 [36]
52 G R Snelling and J F Lontz J Appl Polym Sci 3 9 257ndash265 (1960)
53 D C F Couzens Plastics and Rubber Processing March 45ndash48 (1976)
54 P W Bridgman ldquoStudies in Large Plastic Flow and Fracturerdquo McGraw-Hill NY (1952)
55 H L D Push ldquoThe Mechanical Behavior o Materials Under Pressurerdquo Elsevier Amster-
dam (1970)56 H L D Push and A H Low J Inst Metals 93 201 (196565)
57 F Slack Mach Design Oct 7 61ndash64 (1982)
58 J H Southern and R S Porter J Appl Polym Sci 14 2305 (1970)
59 J H Southern and R S Porter J Macromol Sci Phys 3ndash4 541 (1970)
60 J H Southern N E Weeks and R S Porter Macromol Chem 162 19 (1972)
61 N J Capiati and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 13 1177 (1975)
62 R S Porter J H Southern and N E Weeks Polym Eng Sci 15 213 (1975)
63 A E Zachariades E S Sherman and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 17 255
(1979)
64 A E Zachariades and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 17 277 (1979)
65 B Parsons D Bretherton and B N Cole in Advances in MTDR 11th Int Con Proc
S A Tobias and F Koeningsberger (Eds) Pergamon Press London Vol B 1049 (1971)
66 G Capaccio and I M Ward Polymer 15 233 (1974)
67 A G Gibson I M Ward B N Cole and B Parsons J Mater Sci 9 1193ndash1196 (1974)
68 A G Gibson and I M Ward J Appl Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 16 2015ndash2030 (1978)
69 P S Hope and B Parsons Polym Eng Sci 20 589ndash600 (1980)
70 P S Hope I M Ward and A G Gibson J Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 18 1242ndash1256
(1980)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3637
983092983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
71 P S Hope A G Gibson B Parsons and I M Ward Polym Eng Sci 20 54ndash55 (1980)
72 B Parsons and I M Ward Plast Rubber Proc Appl 2 3 215ndash224 (1982)
73 K Imada T Yamamoto K Shigematsu and M Takayanagi J Mater Sci 6 537ndash546
(1971)
74 K Nakamura K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 2 71 (1972)
75 K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 2 89 (1973)
76 K Nakamura K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 3 23 (1974)
77 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Mater Sci 10 1105 (1975)
78 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Mater Sci 12 1477 (1977)
79 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Appl Polym Sci 23 2543ndash2554 (1979)
80 D M Bigg Polym Eng Sci 16 725 (1976)
81 D M Bigg M M Epstein R J Fiorentino and E G Smith Polym Eng Sci 18 908(1978)
82 D M Bigg and M M Epstein ldquoScience and Technology o Polymer Processingrdquo N S Suh
and N Sung (Eds) 897 MIT Press (1979)
83 D M Bigg M M Epstein R J Fiorentino and E G Smith J Appl Polym Sci 26 395ndash
409 (1981)
84 K D Pae and D R Mears J Polym Sci B-6 269 (1968)
85 K D Pae D R Mears and J A Sauer J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 6 773 (1968)
86 D R Mears K P Pae and J A Sauer J Appl Phys 40 11 4229ndash4237 (1969)
87 L A Davis and C A Pampillo J Appl Phys 42 12 4659ndash4666 (1971)
88 A Buckley and H A Long Polym Eng Sci 9 2 115ndash120 (1969)
89 L A Davis Polym Eng Sci 14 9 641ndash645 (1974)
90 R K Okine and N P Suh Polym Eng Sci 22 5 269ndash279 (1982)
91 J R Collier T Y T Tam J Newcome and N Dinos Polym Eng Sci 16 204ndash211 (1976)
92 J H Faupel and F E Fisher ldquoEngineering Designrdquo Wiley NY (1981)
93 A E Zachariades R Ball and R S Porter J Mater Sci 13 2671ndash2675 (1978)
94 R R Westover Modern Plastics March (1963) 95 B Yi and R T Fenner Plastics and Polymers Dec 224ndash228 (1975)
96 A Mekkaoui and L N Valsamis Polym Eng Sci 24 1260ndash1269 (1984)
97 H Rust Kunststoffe 73 342ndash346 (1983)
98 J Huszman Kunststoffe 73 3437ndash348 (1983)
99 J M McKelvey U Maire and F Haupt Chem Eng Sept 27 94ndash102 (1976)
100 K Schneider Kunststoffe 68 201ndash206 (1978)
101 W T Rice Plastic Technology 87ndash91 Feb (1980)
102 Harrel Corp ldquoMelt Pump Systems or Extrudersrdquo Product Description TDS-264 (1982)
103 J M McKelvey and W T Rice Chem Eng 90 2 89ndash94 (1983)
104 K Kaper K Eise and H Herrmann SPE ANTEC Chicago 161ndash163 (1983)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3737
References 983092983095
105 C L Woodworth SPE ANTEC New Orleans 122ndash126 (1984)
106 W A Kramer SPE ANTEC Washington D C 23ndash29 (1985)
107 J Schut ldquoDie Drawing Makes Plastic Steelrdquo Plastics Technology Online Article March
5 (2001)
108 VDI Conerence Extrusiontechnik 2006 ldquoDer Einschnecken-Extruder von Morgenrdquo VDI
Verlag GmbH Duumlsseldor (2006)
109 P Rieg ldquoLatest Developments in High-Speed Extrusionrdquo Plastic Extrusion Asia Con-
erence Bangkok Thailand March 17ndash18 (2008) also presented at Advances in Ex-
trusion Conerence New Orleans December 9ndash10 (2008)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983089 The Single Screw Extruder 983089983093
983090983089983089Basic Operation
The basic operation o a single screw extruder is rather straightorward Material
enters rom the eed hopper Generally the eed material flows by gravity rom the
eed hopper down into the extruder barrel Some materials do not flow easily in dryorm and special measures have to be taken to prevent hang-up (bridging) o the
material in the eed hopper
As material alls down into the extruder barrel it is situated in the annular space
between the extruder screw and barrel and is urther bounded by the passive and
active flanks o the screw flight the screw channel The barrel is stationary and the
screw is rotating As a result rictional orces will act on the material both on the
barrel as well as on the screw surace These rictional orces are responsible or the
orward transport o the material at least as long as the material is in the solid state(below its melting point)
Feed section Compression Metering section
Figure 21 Geometry of conventional extruder screw
As the material moves orward it will heat up as a result o rictional heat genera-
tion and because o heat conducted rom the barrel heaters When the temperature
o the material exceeds the melting point a melt film will orm at the barrel surace
This is where the solids conveying zone ends and the plasticating zone starts It
should be noted that this point generally does not coincide with the start o the
compression section The boundaries o the unctional zones will depend on poly-
mer properties machine geometry and operating conditions Thus they can change
as operating conditions change However the geometrical sections o the screw are
determined by the design and will not change with operating conditions As thematerial moves orward the amount o solid material at each location will reduce as
a result o melting When all solid polymer has disappeared the end o the plasticat-
ing zone has been reached and the melt conveying zone starts In the melt-convey-
ing zone the polymer melt is simply pumped to the die
As the polymer flows through the die it adopts the shape o the flow channel o the
die Thus as the polymer leaves the die its shape will more or less correspond to
the cross-sectional shape o the final portion o the die flow channel Since the die
exerts a resistance to flow a pressure is required to orce the material through thedie This is generally reerred to as the diehead pressure The diehead pressure is
determined by the shape o the die (particularly the flow channel) the temperature
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983089983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
o the polymer melt the flow rate through the die and the rheological properties o
the polymer melt It is important to understand that the diehead pressure is caused
by the die and not by the extruder The extruder simply has to generate sufficient
pressure to orce the material through the die I the polymer the throughput the
die and the temperatures in the die are the same then it does not make any differ-ence whether the extruder is a gear pump a single screw extruder a twin screw
extruder etc the diehead pressure will be the same Thus the diehead pressure is
caused by the die and by the flow process taking place in the die flow channel This
is an important point to remember
983090983089983090Vented Extruders
Vented extruders are significantly different rom non-vented extruders in design
and in unctional capabilities A vented extruder is equipped with one or more open-
ings (vent ports) in the extruder barrel through which volatiles can escape Thus
the vented extruder can extract volatiles rom the polymer in a continuous ashion
This devolatilization adds a unctional capability not present in non-vented extrud-
ers Instead o the extraction o volatiles one can use the vent port to add certain
components to the polymer such as additives fillers reactive components etc This
clearly adds to the versatility o vented extruders with the additional benefit that
the extruder can be operated as a conventional non-vented extruder by simply plug-ging the vent port and possibly changing the screw geometry
A schematic picture o a vented extruder is shown in Fig 22
Feed housing
Cooling channel Heaters Barrel Die
Breaker plateVent port
Screw
Figure 22 Schematic of vented extruder
The design o the extruder screw is very critical to the proper unctioning o the
vented extruder One o the main problems that vented extruders are plagued with
is vent flow This is a situation where not only the volatiles are escaping through the
vent port but also some amount o polymer Thus the extruder screw has to be
designed in such a way that there will be no positive pressure in the polymer under
the vent port (extraction section) This has led to the development o the two-stage
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983089 The Single Screw Extruder 983089983095
extruder screw especially designed or devolatilizing extrusion Two-stage extruder
screws have two compression sections separated by a decompression extraction
section It is somewhat like two single-stage extruder screws coupled in series along
one shaf The details o the design o two-stage extruder screws will be covered in
Chapter 8 Vented extruders are used or the removal o monomers and oligomersreaction products moisture solvents etc
The devolatilization capability o single screw extruders o conventional design is
limited compared to twin screw extruders Twin screw extruders can handle solvent
contents o 50 and higher using a multiple-stage extraction system and solvent
content o up to 15 using singlestage extraction Single screw vented extruders
o conventional design usually cannot handle more than 5 volatiles this would
require multiple vent ports With a single vent port a single screw vented extruder
o conventional design can generally reduce the level o volatiles only a raction oone percent depending o course on the polymersolvent system
Because o the limited devolatilization capacity o single screw extruders o con-
ventional design they are sometimes equipped with two or more vent ports A draw-
back o such a design is that the length o the extruder can become a problem
Some o these extruders have a L D ration o 40 to 50 This creates a problem in
handling the screw or instance when the screw is pulled and increases the chance
o mechanical problems in the extruder (deflection buckling etc) I substantial
amounts o volatiles need to be removed a twin screw extruder may be more cost-
effective than a single screw extruder However some vented single screw extruderso more modern design have substantially improved devolatilization capability and
deserve equal consideration see Section 852
983090983089983091Rubber Extruders
Extruders or processing elastomers have been around longer than any other type o
extruder Industrial machines or rubber extrusion were built as early as the second
hal o the nineteenth century Some o the early extruder manuacturers were John
Royle in the U S and Francis Shaw in England One o the major rubber extruder
manuacturers in Germany was Paul Troester in act it still is a producer o extrud-
ers Despite the act that rubber extruders have been around or more than a cen-
tury there is limited literature on the subject o rubber extrusion Some o the hand-
books on rubber [1ndash5] discuss rubber extrusion but in most cases the inormation
is very meager and o limited useulness Harmsrsquo book on rubber extruders [13]
appears to be the only book devoted exclusively to rubber extrusion The ew publi-
cations on rubber extrusion stand in sharp contrast to the abundance o books andarticles on plastic extrusion Considering the commercial significance o rubber
extrusion this is a surprising situation
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983089983096 983090Different Types of Extruders
The first rubber extruders were built or hot eed extrusion These machines are ed
with warm material rom a mill or other mixing device Around 1950 machines
were developed or cold eed extrusion The advantages o cold eed extruders are
thought to be
Less capital equipment cost
Better control o stock temperature
Reduced labor cost
Capable o handling a wider variety o compounds
However there is no general agreement on this issue As a result hot eed rubber
extruders are still in use today
Cold eed rubber extruders nowadays do not differ too much rom thermoplastic
extruders Some o the differences are Reduced length
Heating and cooling
Feed section
Screw design
There are several reasons or the reduced length The viscosity o rubbers is gener-
ally very high compared to most thermoplastics about an order o magnitude higher
[5] Consequently there is a substantial amount o heat generated in the extru-
sion process The reduced length keeps the temperature build-up within limits The
specific energy requirement or rubbers is generally low partly because they are
usually extruded at relatively low temperatures (rom 20 to 120degC) This is another
reason or the short extruder length The length o the rubber extruder will depend
on whether it is a cold or hot eed extruder Hot eed rubber extruders are usually
very short about 5D (D = diameter) Cold eed extruders range rom 15 to 20D
Vented cold eed extruders may be even longer than 20D
Rubber extruders used to be heated quite requently with steam because o the rela-
tively low extrusion temperatures Today many rubber extruders are heated likethermoplastic extruders with electrical heater bands clamped around the barrel Oil
heating is also used on rubber extruders and the circulating oil system can be used
to cool the rubber Many rubber extruders use water cooling because it allows effec-
tive heat transer
The eed section o the rubber extruders has to be designed specifically to the eed
stock characteristics o the material The extruder may be ed with either strips
chunks or pellets I the extruder is ed rom an internal mixer (e g Banbury Shaw
etc) a power-operated ram can be used to orce the rubber compound into the
extruder The eed opening can be undercut to improve the intake capability o the
extruder This can be useul because the rubber eed stock at times comes in rela-
tively large particles o irregular shape When the material is supplied in the orm o
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983089 The Single Screw Extruder 983089983097
a strip the eed opening is ofen equipped with a driven roll parallel to the screw to
give a ldquoroller eedrdquo Material can also be supplied in powder orm It has been shown
that satisactory extrusion is possible i the powder is consolidated by ldquopill-makingrdquo
techniques Powdered rubber technology is discussed in detail in [6]
The rubber extrusion technology appears to be considerably behind the plastics
extrusion technology Kennaway in one o the ew articles on rubber extrusion [8]
attributes this situation to two actors The first is the requent tendency o rubber
process personnel to solve extrusion problems by changing the ormulation o the
compound The second is the widespread notion that the extrusion behavior o rub-
bers is substantially different rom plastics because rubbers crosslink and plastics
generally do not This is a misconception however because the extrusion character-
istics o rubber and plastics are actually not substantially different [9]
When the rubber is slippery as in dewatering rubber extruders the eed section othe barrel is grooved to prevent slipping along the barrel surace or the barrel I D
may be fitted with pins This significantly improves the conveying action o the
extruder The same technique has been applied to the thermoplastic extrusion as
discussed in Section 14 and Section 7222
The extruder screw or rubber ofen has constant depth and variable decreasing
pitch (VDP) many rubber screws use a double-flighted design see Fig 23 Screws
or thermoplastics usually have a decreasing depth and constant pitch see Fig 21
Figure 983090983091
Typical screw geometry for rubber
extrusion
Another difference with the rubber extruder screw is that the channel depth is usu-
ally considerably larger than with a plastic extruder screw The larger depth is used
to reduce the shearing o the rubber and the resulting viscous heat generation
There is a large variety o rubber extruder screws as is the case with plastic extruder
screws Figure 24 shows the ldquoPlastiscrewrdquo manuactured by NRM
Figure 983090983092
The NRM Plastiscrew
Figure 25 shows the Pirelli rubber extruder screw This design uses a eed section
o large diameter reducing quickly to the much smaller diameter o the pumping
section The conical eed section uses a large clearance between screw flight and
barrel wall This causes a large amount o leakage over the flight and improves the
batch-mixing capability o the extruder
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983088 983090Different Types of Extruders
Figure 983090983093
The Pirelli rubber extruder screw
Figure 26 shows the EVK screw by Werner amp Pfleiderer [14] This design eatures
cross-channel barriers with preceding undercuts in the flights to provide a change
in flow direction and increased shearing as the material flows over the barrier or the
undercut in the flight A rather unusual design is the Transermix [10ndash13] extrudermixer which has been used or compounding rubber ormulations This machine
eatures helical channels in both the screw and barrel see Fig 27
Figure 983090983094
The EVK screw by Werner amp Pfleiderer
Vent
Feed
Figure 27 The Transfermix extruder
By a varying root diameter o the screw the material is orced in the flow channel
o the barrel A reduction o the depth o the barrel channel orces the material
back into the screw channel This requent reorientation provides good mixing
However the machine is difficult to manuacture and expensive to repair in case o
damageAnother rubber extruder is the QSM extruder [7 15ndash20] QSM stands or the Ger-
man words ldquoQuer Strom Mischrdquo meaning cross-flow mixing This extruder has
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983089 The Single Screw Extruder 983090983089
adjustable pins in the extruder barrel that protrude all the way into the screw chan-
nel see Fig 28
Figure 28 The QSM extruder (pin barrel extruder)
The screw flight has slots at the various pin locations The advantages o this ex-
truder in rubber applications are good mixing capability with a low stock tempera-
ture increase and low specific energy consumption This extruder was developed by
Harms in Germany and is manuactured and sold by Troester and other companies
Even though the QSM extruder has become popular in the rubber industry its appli-
cations clearly extend beyond just rubber extrusion In thermoplastic extrusion its
most obvious application would be in high viscosity thermally less stable resins
PVC could possibly be a candidate although dead spots may create problems with
degradation However it can probably be applied wherever good mixing and good
temperature control are requiredAnother typical rubber extrusion piece o hardware is the roller die A schematic
representation is shown in Fig 29
Figure 29 The roller die used in rubber extrusion
The roller die (B F Goodrich 1933) is a combination o a standard sheet die and a
calender It allows high throughput by reducing the diehead pressure it reduces air
entrapment and provides good gauge control
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983090983090 983090Different Types of Extruders
983090983089983092High-Speed Extrusion
One way to achieve high throughputs is to use high-speed extrusion High-speed
extrusion has been used in twin screw compounding or many yearsmdashsince the
1960s However in single screw extrusion high speed extrusion has not been usedon a significant scale until about 1995 Twin screw extruders (TSE) used in com-
pounding typically run at screw speeds ranging rom 200 to 500 rpm in some cases
screw speeds beyond 1000 rpm are possible Single screw extruders (SSE) usually
operate at screw speeds between 50 to 150 rpm
Since approx 1995 several extruder manuacturers have worked on developing
high-speed single screw extruders (HS-SSE) Most o these developments have taken
place at German extruder manuacturers such as Batteneld Reienhaumluser Kuhne
and Esde Currently HS-SSEs are commercially available and have been in use orseveral years [108]
Batteneld supplies a high speed 75-mm SSE that can run at screw speeds up to
1500 rpm [109] This machine can achieve throughputs up to 2200 kg hr It uses a
our-motor CMG torque drive with 390 kW made by K amp A Knoedler
983090983089983092983089Melt Temperature
One o the interesting characteristics o the HS-SSE is that the melt temperature
remains more or less constant over a broad range o screw speed [108 109] see
Fig 210
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0
T h r o u g
h p u t [ k g h r ]
75-mm extruder PS 486
P Rieg Battenfeld HJ Renner BASF
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200
Screw speed [revmin]
250
240
230
220
210
200
M e l t t e m
p e r a t u r e [ o C ]
Figure 983090983089983088
Throughput and melt
temperature versus
screw speed
This graph shows both the throughput in kg hr and the melt temperature in degC The
temperature curve indicates that there is less than a 2degC change in melt tempera-ture rom 200 rpm up to about 1000 rpm At screw speeds rom 110 rpm to 225 rpm
the melt temperature actually drops rom about 223 to about 215degC
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983090983089 The Single Screw Extruder 983090983091
In conventional extruders the melt temperature typically increases with screw
speed This ofen creates problems when we deal with high-viscosity polymers par-
ticularly when they have limited thermal stability In the example shown in Fig 210
the melt temperature is essentially constant as screw speed increases rom 200 to
1000 rpm This is probably the result o two actors the residence time o the poly-mer melt is reduced with increasing screw speed and the volume o the molten poly-
mer likely reduces with increasing screw speed as the melting length becomes
longer with increased screw speed
983090983089983092983090Extruders without Gear Reducer
An important advantage o high-speed SSE is that a conventional gear reducer is no
longer necessary The gear reducer is one o the largest cost actors or a conven-
tional extruder As a result extruders without a gear reducer are significantly lessexpensive compared to conventional extruders that achieve the same rate A urther
advantage o the elimination o the gear reducer is a significant reduction in noise
level Contrary to what one would expect HS-SSE actually run very quiet the noise
level is substantially lower than it is or conventional extruders with gear reducers
983090983089983092983091Energy Consumption
Another benefit o high-speed SSE is the reduction in energy consumption Rieg
[108 109] reports the ollowing mechanical specific energy consumption
The reduction in energy consumption listed in Table 22 is significant between 35
and 45 I the extruder runs PP at 2000 kg hr a reduction in SEC o 010 kWh kg
corresponds to a reduction in power consumption o 200 kW every hour I the power
cost is $010 per kWh (or consistency) the savings per hour will be $20 per hour
$480 per day $3360 per week and $168000 per year at 50 weeks per year Clearly
this can have a significant effect on the profitability o an extrusion operation
Table 22 Specific Energy Consumption for Standard Extruder and High-Speed Extruder
Type of extruder SEC with polystyrene [kWhkg] SEC with polypropylene [kWhkg]
Standard extruder 019minus021 027minus029
High-speed extruder 010minus012 017minus019
983090983089983092983092Change-over Resin Consumption
Another important issue in efficient extrusion is the time and material used when a
change in resin is made With high-speed extruders the change-over time is quite
short because the volume occupied by the plastic is small while the throughput is
very high
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983090983092 983090Different Types of Extruders
Table 23 shows a comparison o the high-speed 75-mm extruder to a conventional
180-mm extruder running at the same throughput The amount o material con-
sumed in the change-over is 150 kg or the 75-mm extruder and 1300 kg or the
180-mm extruder I we assume a resin cost o $100 per kg the savings are
$115000 per change-over I we have three change-overs per week the yearly sav-ings in reduced resin usage comes to $172500 per year Clearly this is not an insig-
nificant amount
Table 23 Comparison of Change-Over Time and Material Consumption
75-mm extruder 180-mm extruder
Volume in the extruder [liter] 4 40
Material consumption for change-over [kg] 150 1300
Change-over time [min] 5 40
983090983089983092983093 Change-over Time and Residence Time
Table 23 also shows that the change-over time or the 75-mm extruder is approx
5 minutes while it is approx 40 minutes in the 180-mm extruder Clearly the
reduced change-over time results rom the act that the volume occupied by the plas-
tic is much smaller (4 liter) in the 75-mm extruder than in the 180-mm extruder
(40 liter) I the change-over time can be reduced rom 40 to 5 minutes this means
that 35 minutes are now available to run production resulting in greater up-time othe extrusion line
The small volume o the HS-SSE also results in short residence times The mean
residence time ranges rom approx 5 to 10 seconds In conventional SSE the resi-
dence times are substantially longer typically between 50 to 100 seconds Since
HS-SSE can run at relatively low melt temperatures the chance o degradation is
actually less in these extruders There is ample evidence in actual high-speed ex-
trusion operations that the plastic is less susceptible to degradation in these opera-
tions
983090983090The Multiscrew Extruder
221The Twin Screw Extruder
A twin screw extruder is a machine with two Archimedean screws Admittedly this
is a very general definition However as soon as the definition is made more spe-
cific it is limited to a specific class o twin screw extruders There is a tremendous
variety o twin screw extruders with vast differences in design principle o opera-
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983090983090 The Multiscrew Extruder 983090983093
tion and field o application It is thereore difficult to make general comments
about twin screw extruders The differences between the various twin screw extrud-
ers are much larger than the differences between single screw extruders This is to
be expected since the twin screw construction substantially increases the number
o design variables such as direction o rotation degree o intermeshing etc A clas-sification o twin screw extruders is shown in Table 24 This classification is pri-
marily based on the geometrical configuration o the twin screw extruder Some
twin screw extruders unction in much the same ashion as single screw extruders
Other twin screw extruders operate quite differently rom single screw extruders
and are used in very different applications The design o the various twin screw
extruders with their operational and unctional aspects will be covered in more
detail in Chapter 10
Table 24 Classification of Twin Screw Extruders
Intermeshing extruders
Co-rotating extrudersLow speed extruders for profile extrusion
High speed extruders for compounding
Counter-rotating extruders
Conical extruders for profile extrusion
Parallel extruders for profile extrusion
High speed extruders for compounding
Non-intermeshing
extruders
Counter-rotating extrudersEqual screw length
Unequal screw length
Co-rotating extruders Not used in practice
Co-axial extruders
Inner melt transport forward
Inner melt transport rearward
Inner solids transport rearward
Inner plasticating with rearward transport
983090983090983090The Multiscrew Extruder With More Than Two Screws
There are several types o extruders which incorporate more than two screws One
relatively well-known example is the planetary roller extruder see Fig 211
Planetary screws
Sun (main) screw Melting and feed section
Discharge
Figure 211 The planetary roller extruder
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983090983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
This extruder looks similar to a single screw extruder The eed section is in act
the same as on a standard single screw extruder However the mixing section o the
extruder looks considerably different In the planetary roller section o the extruder
six or more planetary screws evenly spaced revolve around the circumerence o
the main screw In the planetary screw section the main screw is reerred to as thesun screw The planetary screws intermesh with the sun screw and the barrel The
planetary barrel section thereore must have helical grooves corresponding to the
helical flights on the planetary screws This planetary barrel section is generally a
separate barrel section with a flange-type connection to the eed barrel section
In the first part o the machine beore the planetary screws the material moves
orward as in a regular single screw extruder As the material reaches the planetary
section being largely plasticated at this point it is exposed to intensive mixing by
the rolling action between the planetary screws the sun screw and the barrel Thehelical design o the barrel sun screw and planetary screws result in a large sur-
ace area relative to the barrel length The small clearance between the planetary
screws and the mating suraces about frac14 mm allows thin layers o compound to be
exposed to large surace areas resulting in effective devolatilization heat exchange
and temperature control Thus heat-sensitive compounds can be processed with a
minimum o degradation For this reason the planetary gear extruder is requently
used or extrusion compounding o PVC ormulations both rigid and plasticized
[21 22] Planetary roller sections are also used as add-ons to regular extruders to
improve mixing perormance [97 98] Another multiscrew extruder is the our-screw extruder shown in Fig 212
Figure 983090983089983090
Four-screw extruder
This machine is used primarily or devolatilization o solvents rom 40 to as low as
03 [23] Flash devolatilization occurs in a flash dome attached to the barrel The
polymer solution is delivered under pressure and at temperatures above the boiling
point o the solvent The solution is then expanded through a nozzle into the flash
dome The oamy material resulting rom the flash devolatilization is then trans-
ported away by the our screws In many cases downstream vent sections will beincorporated to urther reduce the solvent level
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983090983090 The Multiscrew Extruder 983090983095
983090983090983091The Gear Pump Extruder
Gear pumps are used in some extrusion operations at the end o a plasticating
extruder either single screw or twin screw [99ndash106] Strictly speaking the gear
pump is a closely intermeshing counterrotating twin screw extruder However sincegear pumps are solely used to generate pressure they are generally not reerred to
as an extruder although the gear pump is an extruder One o the main advantages
o the gear pump is its good pressure-generating capability and its ability to main-
tain a relatively constant outlet pressure even i the inlet pressure fluctuates con-
siderably Some fluctuation in the outlet pressure will result rom the intermeshing
o the gear teeth This fluctuation can be reduced by a helical orientation o the gear
teeth instead o an axial orientation
Gear pumps are sometimes reerred to as positive displacement devices This is notcompletely correct because there must be mechanical clearances between the gears
and the housing which causes leakage Thereore the gear pump output is depend-
ent on pressure although the pressure sensitivity will generally be less than that o
a single screw extruder The actual pressure sensitivity will be determined by the
design clearances the polymer melt viscosity and the rotational speed o the gears
A good method to obtain constant throughput is to maintain a constant pressure di-
erential across the pump This can be done by a relatively simple pressure eedback
control on the extruder eeding into the gear pump [102] The non-zero clearances
in the gear pump will cause a transormation o mechanical energy into heat by vis-cous heat generation see Section 534 Thus the energy efficiency o actual gear
pumps is considerably below 100 the pumping efficiency generally ranges rom
15 to 35 The other 65 to 85 goes into mechanical losses and viscous heat gene-
ration Mechanical losses usually range rom about 20 to 40 and viscous heating
rom about 40 to 50 As a result the polymer melt going through the gear pump
will experience a considerable temperature rise typically 5 to 10degC However in
some cases the temperature rise can be as much as 20 to 30degC Since the gear
pump has limited energy efficiency the combination extruder-gear pump is not nec-
essarily more energy-efficient than the extruder without the gear pump Only i the
extruder eeding into the gear pump is very inefficient in its pressure development
will the addition o a gear pump allow a reduction in energy consumption This
could be the case with co-rotating twin screw extruders or single screw extruders
with inefficient screw design
The mixing capacity o gear pumps is very limited This was clearly demonstrated
by Kramer [106] by comparing melt temperature fluctuation beore and afer the
gear pump which showed no distinguishable improvement in melt temperature uni-
ormity Gear pumps are ofen added to extruders with unacceptable output fluc-tuations In many cases this constitutes treating the symptoms but not curing the
actual problem Most single screw extruders i properly designed can maintain
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983090983096 983090Different Types of Extruders
their output to within plusmn 1 I the output fluctuation is considerably larger than 1
there is probably something wrong with the machine very ofen incorrect screw
design In these cases solving the actual problem will generally be more efficient
than adding a gear pump For an efficient extruder-gear pump system the extruder
screw has to be modified to reduce the pressure-generating capacity o the screw
Gear pumps can be used advantageously
1 On extruders with poor pressure-generating capability (e g co-rotating twin
screws multi-stage vented extruders etc)
2 When output stability is required better than 1 i e in close tolerance extru-
sion (e g fiber spinning cable extrusion medical tubing coextrusion etc)
Gear pumps can cause problems when
1 The polymer contains abrasive components because o the small clearances thegear pump is very susceptible to wear
2 When the polymer is susceptible to degradation gear pumps are not sel-clean-
ing and combined with the exposure to high temperatures this will result in
degraded product
983090983091Disk Extruders
There are a number o extruders which do not utilize an Archimedean screw or
transport o the material but still all in the class o continuous extruders Some-
times these machines are reerred to as screwless extruders These machines
employ some kind o disk or drum to extrude the material One can classiy the disk
extruders according to their conveying mechanism (see Table 21) Most o the disk
extruders are based on viscous drag transport One special disk extruder utilizes
the elasticity o polymer melts to convey the material and to develop the necessary
diehead pressure
Disk extruders have been around or a long time at least since 1950 However at
this point in time the industrial significance o disk extruders is still relatively small
compared to screw extruders
983090983091983089Viscous Drag Disk Extruders
983090983091983089983089Stepped Disk Extruder
One o the first disk extruders was developed by Westover at Bell Telephone Labo-
ratories it is ofen reerred to as a stepped disk extruder or slider pad extruder [24]
A schematic picture o the extruder is shown in Fig 213
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983090983097
In
Out
Figure 983090983089983091
The stepped disk
The heart o the machine is the stepped disk positioned a small distance rom a flat
disk When one o the disks is rotated with a polymer melt in the axial gap a pres-
sure build-up will occur at the transition o one gap size to another smaller gap sizesee Fig 214
v
Distance
P r e s s u r e
Figure 983090983089983092
Pressure generation in the step region
I exit channels are incorporated into the stepped disk the polymer can be extruded
in a continuous ashion The design o this extruder is based on Rayleighrsquos [25]
analysis o hydrodynamic lubrication in various geometries He concluded that the
parallel stepped pad was capable o supporting the greatest load The stepped disk
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983091983088 983090Different Types of Extruders
extruder has also been designed in a different configuration using a gradual change
in gap size This extruder has a wedge-shaped disk with a gradual increase in pres-
sure with radial distance
A practical disadvantage o the stepped disk extruder is the act that the machine is
difficult to clean because o the intricate design o the flow channels in the stepped
disk
983090983091983089983090Drum Extruder
Another rather old concept is the drum extruder A schematic picture o a machine
manuactured by Schmid amp Kocher in Switzerland is shown in Fig 215
In
OutOutIn
Figure 983090983089983093 The drum extruder by Schmid amp Kocher
Material is ed by a eed hopper into an annular space between rotor and barrel By
the rotational motion o the rotor the material is carried along the circumerence o
the barrel Just beore the material reaches the eed hopper it encounters a wiper
bar This wiper bar scrapes the polymer rom the rotor and deflects the polymer flow
into a channel that leads to the extruder die Several patents [26 27] were issued on
this design however these patents have long since expired
A very similar extruder (see Fig 216) was developed by Askco Engineering andCosden Oil amp Chemical in a joint venture later this became Permian Research Two
patents have been issued on this design [28 29] even though the concept is very
similar to the Schmid amp Kocher design
One special eature o this design is the capability to adjust the local gap by means
o a choker bar similar to the gap adjustment in a flat sheet die see Section 92 The
choker bar in this drum extruder is activated by adjustable hydraulic oil pressure
Drum extruders have not been able to be a serious competition to the single screw
extruder over the last 50 years
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983091983089
Hopper
DieRotor
Housing
Wiper bar
Hopper
Wiper bar
DieRotor
Housing
Figure 983090983089983094
The drum extruder by AskoCosden
983090983091983089983091Spiral Disk Extruder
The spiral disk extruder is another type o disk extruder that has been known or
many years Several patented designs were described by Schenkel (Chapter 1 [3])
Similar to the stepped disk extruder the development o the spiral disk extruder
is closely connected to spiral groove bearings It has long been known that spiral
groove bearings are capable o supporting substantial loads Ingen Housz [30] has
analyzed the melt conveying in a spiral disk extruder with logarithmic grooves in
the disk based on Newtonian flow behavior o the polymer melt In terms o melt
conveying capability the spiral disk extruder seems comparable to the screw ex-truder however the solids conveying capability is questionable
983090983091983089983092Diskpack Extruder
Another development in disk extruders is the diskpack extruder Tadmor originated
the idea o the diskpack machine which is covered under several patents [31ndash33]
The development o the machine was undertaken by the Farrel Machinery Group o
Emgart Corporation in cooperation with Tadmor [34ndash39] The basic concept o the
machine is shown in Fig 217Material drops in the axial gap between relatively thin disks mounted on a rotating
shaf The material will move with the disks almost a ull turn then it meets a chan-
nel block The channel block closes off the space between the disks and deflects the
polymer flow to either an outlet channel or to a transer channel in the barrel The
shape o the disks can be optimized or specific unctions solids conveying melting
devolatilization melt conveying and mixing A detailed unctional analysis can be
ound in Tadmorrsquos book on polymer processing (Chapter 1 [32])
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983091983090 983090Different Types of Extruders
v
v
Channel blockInlet
Outlet
Barrel
Solid bed
Shaft
Melt pool
Inlet Channel block
Outlet
Melt pool
Solid bed
Barrel
Shaft
v
v Figure 983090983089983095
The diskpack extruder
It is claimed that this machine can perorm all basic polymer-processing operations
with efficiency equaling or surpassing existing machinery Clearly i the claim is
true and can be delivered or a competitive price the diskpack extruder will become
an important machine in the extrusion industry The first diskpack machines were
delivered to the industry in 1982 still under a joint development type o agreement
Now almost 20 years afer the first diskpack machines were delivered it is clear
that the acceptance o these machines in the industry has been very limited In act
Farrel no longer actively markets the diskpack machine In most o the publications
the diskpack machine is reerred to as a polymer processor This term is probably
used to indicate that this machine can do more than just extruding although the
diskpack is o course an extruder
The diskpack machine incorporates some o the eatures o the drum extruder and
the single screw extruder One can think o the diskpack as a single screw extruder
using a screw with zero helix angle and very deep flights Forward axial transportcan only take place by transport channels in the barrel with the material orced into
those channels by a restrictor bar as with the drum extruder The use o restrictor
bars (channel block) and transer channels in the housing make it considerably
more complex than the barrel o a single screw extruder
One o the advantages o the diskpack is that mixing blocks and spreading dams can
be incorporated into the machine as shown in Fig 218(a)
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983091983091
v
v
Channel blockInlet
Outlet
Mixing block
Disk
Inlet Channel block
Outlet
Mixing blockDisk v
v Figure 983090983089983096(a)
Mixing blocks in the diskpack
Mixing blocks o various shapes can be positioned externally into the processing
chamber This is similar to the QSM extruder only that in the QSM extruder the
screw flight has to be interrupted to avoid contact This is not necessary in the disk-
pack because the flights have zero helix angles in other words they run perpen-
dicular to the rotor axis By the number o blocks the geometry o the block and the
clearance between block and disk one can tailor the mixing capability to the par-
ticular application The use o spreading dams allows the generation o a thin film
with a large surace area this results in effective devolatilization capability The
diskpack has inherently higher pressure-generating capability than the single
screw extruder does This is because the diskpack has two dragging suraces while
the single screw extruder has only one see Fig 218(b)
v
v=0
v
v
Conveying mechanismsingle screw extruder
Conveying mechanism
diskpack extruder Figure 983090983089983096(b)
Comparison of conveying mechanism in diskpackand single screw extruder
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983091983092 983090Different Types of Extruders
At the same net flow rate equal viscosity equal plate velocity and optimum plate
separation the theoretical maximum pressure gradient o the diskpack is eight
times higher than the single screw extruder [34] Thus high pressures can be gen-
erated over a short distance which allows a more compact machine design The
energy efficiency o the pressure generation is also better than in the single screwextruder the maximum pumping efficiency approaches 100 see derivation in
Appendix 21 For the single screw extruder the maximum pumping efficiency is
only 33 as discussed in Section 7413 The energy efficiency o pressure genera-
tion is the ratio o the theoretical energy requirement (flow rate times pressure rise)
to the actual energy requirement (wall velocity times shear stress integrated over
wall surace) It should be noted that the two dragging platesrsquo pumping mechanism
exists only in tangential direction The pumping in axial (orward) direction occurs
only in the transer channel in the housing This orward pumping occurs by the one
dragging plate mechanism as in the single screw extruder The maximum efficiency
or orward pumping thereore is only 33 The overall pumping efficiency will be
somewhere between 33 and 100 i the power consumption in the disk and channel
block clearance is neglected
Studies on melting in the diskpack were reported by Valsamis et al [96] It was
ound that two types o melting mechanism could take place in the diskpack the
drag melt removal (DMR) mechanism and the dissipative melt mixing (DMM) mech-
anism The DMR melting mechanism is the predominant mechanism in single screw
extruders this is discussed in detail in Section 73 In the DMR melting mechanismthe solids and melt coexist as two largely continuous and separate phases In the
DMM melting mechanism the solids are dispersed in the melt there is no conti-
nuous solid bed It was ound that the DMM mechanism could be induced by pro-
moting back leakage o the polymer melt past the channel block This can be con-
trolled by varying the clearance between the channel block and the disks The
advantage o the DMM melting mechanism is that the melting rate can be substan-
tially higher than with the DMR mechanism reportedly by as much as a actor o 3
[96]
Among all elementary polymer processing unctions the solids conveying in a disk-
pack extruder has not been discussed to any extent in the open technical literature
Considering that the solids conveying mechanism is a rictional drag mechanism
(as in single screw extruders) and not a positive displacement type o transport (as
in intermeshing counterrotating twin screw extruders see Sections 102 and 104)
it can be expected that the diskpack will have solids conveying limitations similar
to those o single screw extruders see Section 722 This means that powders
blends o powders and pellets slippery materials etc are likely to encounter solids
conveying problems in a diskpack extruder unless special measures are taken toenhance the solids conveying capability (e g crammer eeder grooves in the disks
etc)
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983091983093
Because o the more complex machine geometry the cost per unit throughput o the
diskpack is higher than or the conventional single screw extruder Thereore the
diskpack does not compete directly with single screw extruders
Applications or the diskpack are specialty polymer processing operations such as
polymerization post-reactor processing (devolatilization) continuous compound-
ing etc As such the diskpack competes mostly with twin screw extruders Pres-
ently twin screw extruders are usually the first choice when it comes to specialty
polymer processing operations
983090983091983090The Elastic Melt Extruder
The elastic melt extruder was developed in the late 1950s by Maxwell and Scalora[40 41] The extruder makes use o the viscoelastic in particular the elastic pro-
perties o polymer melts When a viscoelastic fluid is exposed to a shearing deor-
mation normal stresses will develop in the fluid that are not equal in all directions
as opposed to a purely viscous fluid In the elastic melt extruder the polymer is
sheared between two plates one stationary and one rotating see Fig 219
Hopper
Heaters
Solid polymer
Die
Extrudate
Polymer melt
Rotor
Solid polymerHopper
Heaters
Die
Extrudate
Polymer melt
Rotor
Figure 983090983089983097
The elastic melt extruder
As the polymer is sheared normal stresses will generate a centripetal pumping
action Thus the polymer can be extruded through the central opening in the sta-
tionary plate in a continuous ashion Because normal stresses generate the pump-
ing action this machine is sometimes reerred to as a normal stress extruderThis extruder is quite interesting rom a rheological point o view since it is prob-
ably the only extruder that utilizes the elasticity o the melt or its conveying Thus
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983091983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
several detailed experimental and theoretical studies have been devoted to the elas-
tic melt extruder [42ndash47]
The detailed study by Fritz [44] concluded that transport by normal stresses only
could be as much as two orders o magnitude lower than a corresponding system
with orced eed In addition substantial temperature gradients developed in the
polymer causing substantial degradation in high molecular weight polyolefins The
scant market acceptance o the elastic melt extruder would tend to confirm Fritzrsquos
conclusions
Several modifications have been proposed to improve the perormance o the elastic
melt extruder Fritz [43] suggested incorporation o spiral grooves to improve the
pressure generating capability essentially combining the elastic melt extruder and
the spiral disk extruder into one machine In Russia [47] several modifications
were made to the design o the elastic melt extruder One o those combined a screwextruder with the elastic melt extruder to eliminate the eeding and plasticating
problem Despite all o these activities the elastic melt extruder has not been able to
acquire a position o importance in the extrusion industry
983090983091983091Overview of Disk Extruders
Many attempts have been made in the past to come up with a continuous plasticat-
ing extruder o simple design that could perorm better than the single screw ex-truder It seems air to say that at this point in time no disk extruder has been able
to meet this goal The simple disk extruders do not perorm nearly as well as the
single screw extruder The more complex disk extruder such as the diskpack can
possibly outperorm the single screw extruder However this is at the expense o
design simplicity thus increasing the cost o the machine Disk extruders there-
ore have not been able to seriously challenge the position o the single screw
extruder This is not to say however that it is not possible or this to happen some
time in the uture But considering the long dominance o the single screw extruder
it is not probable that a new disk extruder will come along that can challenge the
single screw extruder
983090983092Ram Extruders
Ram or plunger extruders are simple in design rugged and discontinuous in their
mode o operation Ram extruders are essentially positive displacement devices and
are able to generate very high pressures Because o the intermittent operation o
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983091983095
ram extruders they are ideally suited or cyclic processes such as injection molding
and blow molding In act the early molding machines were almost exclusively
equipped with ram extruders to supply the polymer melt to the mold Certain limita-
tions o the ram extruder have caused a switch to reciprocating screw extruders or
combinations o the two The two main limitations are
1 Limited melting capacity
2 Poor temperature uniormity o the polymer melt
Presently ram extruders are used in relatively small shot size molding machines
and certain specialty operations where use is made o the positive displacement
characteristics and the outstanding pressure generation capability There are basic-
ally two types o ram extruders single ram extruders and multi ram extruders
983090983092983089Single Ram Extruders
The single ram extruder is used in small general purpose molding machines but
also in some special polymer processing operations One such operation is the ex-
trusion o intractable polymers such as ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene
(UHMWPE) or polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) These polymers are not considered to
be melt processable on conventional melt processing equipment Teledynamik [48]
has built a ram injection-molding machine under a license rom Th Engel who
developed the prototype machine This machine is used to mold UHMWPE under
very high pressures The machine uses a reciprocating plunger that densifies the
cold incoming material with a pressure up to 300 MPa (about 44000 psi) The re-
quency o the ram can be adjusted continuously with a maximum o 250 strokes
minute The densified material is orced through heated channels into the heated
cylinder where final melting takes place The material is then injected into a mold
by a telescoping injection ram Pressures up to 100 MPa (about 14500 psi) occur
during the injection o the polymer into the mold
Another application is the extrusion o PTFE with again the primary ingredient orsuccessul extrusion being very high pressures Granular PTFE can be extruded at
slow rates in a ram extruder [49ndash51] The powder is compacted by the ram orced
into a die where the material is heated above the melting point and shaped into the
desired orm PTFE is ofen processed as a PTFE paste [52 53] This is small particle
size PTFE powder (about 02 mm) mixed with a processing aid such as naphta PTFE
paste can be extruded at room temperature or slightly above room temperature
Afer extrusion the processing aid is removed by heating the extrudate above its
volatilization temperature The extruded PTFE paste product may be sintered i the
application requires a more ully coalesced product
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983091983096 983090Different Types of Extruders
983090983092983089983089Solid State Extrusion
An extrusion technique that has slowly been gaining popularity is solid-state extru-
sion The polymer is orced through a die while it is below its melting point This
causes substantial deormation o the polymer in the die but since the polymer is in
the solid state a very effective molecular orientation takes place This orientation ismuch more effective than the one which occurs in conventional melt processing As
a result extraordinary mechanical properties can be obtained
Solid-state extrusion is a technique borrowed rom the metal industry where solid-
state extrusion has been used commercially since the late 1940s Bridgman [54]
was one o the first to do a systematic study on the effect o pressure on the mechan-
ical properties o metals He also studied polymers and ound that the glass tran-
sition temperature was raised by the application o pressure
There are two methods o solid-state extrusion one is direct solid-state extrusionthe other is hydrostatic extrusion In direct solid-state extrusion a pre-ormed solid
rod o material (a billet) is in direct contact with the plunger and the walls o the
extrusion die see Fig 220 The material is extruded as the ram is pushed towards
the die
Plunger
Billet
Barrel
DieExtrudate Figure 983090983090983088
Direct solid state extrusion
In hydrostatic extrusion the pressure required or extrusion is transmitted rom the
plunger to the billet through a lubricating liquid usually castor oil The billet must
be shaped to fit the die to prevent loss o fluid The hydrostatic fluid reduces the ric-
tion thereby reducing the extrusion pressure see Fig 221
In hydrostatic extrusion the pressure-generating device or the fluid does not neces-
sarily have to be in close proximity to the orming part o the machine The fluid canbe supplied to the extrusion device by high-pressure tubes
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983091983097
Plunger
Billet
Oil
Barrel
DieExtrudate Figure 983090983090983089
Hydrostatic solid state extrusion
Judging rom publications in the open literature most o the work on solid-state
extrusion o polymers is done at universities and research institutes It is possible
o course that some companies are working on solid-state extrusion but are keeping
the inormation proprietary A major research effort in solid-state extrusion has
been made at the University o Amherst Massachusetts [50ndash64] University o
Leeds England [65ndash72] Fyushu University Fukuoka Japan [73ndash76] Research
Institute or Polymers and Textiles Yokohama Japan [77ndash79] Battelle Columbus
Ohio [80ndash83] and Rutgers University New Brunswick New Jersey [84ndash86] As
mentioned earlier publications rom other sources are considerably less plentiul
[87ndash90] Efforts have also been made to achieve the same high degree o orientation
in a more or less conventional extrusion process by special die design and tempera-
ture control in the die region [91]
Table 25 shows a comparison o mechanical properties between steel aluminum
solid state extruded HDPE and HDPE extruded by conventional means
Table 25 clearly indicates that the mechanical properties o solid-state extruded
HDPE are much superior to the melt extruded HDPE In act the tensile strength o
solid-state extruded HDPE is about the same as carbon steel There are some other
interesting benefits associated with solidstate extrusion o polymers There is essen-
tially no die swell at high extrusion ratios (extrusion ratio is the ratio o the area in
the cylinder to the area in the die) Thus the dimensions o the extrudate closely
conorm to those o the die exit The surace o the extrudate produced by hydro-
static extrusion has a lower coefficient o riction than that o the un-oriented poly-
mer Above a certain extrusion ratio (about ten) polyethylene and polypropylene
become transparent Further solid-state extruded polymers maintain their ten-sile properties at elevated temperatures Polyethylene maintains its modulus up to
120degC when it is extruded in the solid state at a high extrusion ratio The thermal
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983092983088 983090Different Types of Extruders
conductivity in the extrusion direction is much higher than that o the un-oriented
polymer as much as 25 times higher The melting point o the solid-state extruded
polymer increases with the amount o orientation The melting point o HDPE can be
shifed to as high as 140degC
Table 25 Comparison of Mechanical Properties
Material Tensile modulus[MPa]
Tensile strength[MPa]
Elongation[]
Density[gcc]
Annealed SAE 1020 210000 410 35 786
W-200 degF SAE 1020 210000 720 6 786
Annealed 304 stainless
steel
200000 590 50 792
Aluminum 1100ndash0 70000 90 45 271
HDPE solid state
extruded
70000 480 3 097
HDPE melt extruded 10000 30 20ndash1000 096
A recent application o solid-state extrusion is the process developed by Synthetic
Hardwood Technologies Inc [107] This company has developed an expanded ori-
ented wood-filled polypropylene (EOW-PP) that is about 300 stronger than regular
PP The process is based on technology developed at Aluminum Company o Canada
Ltd (Alcan) in the early 1990s to solidstate extrude PP It involves ram extrusion
drawing o billets o PP just below the melting point with very high draw ratio and
high haul-off tension (about 3 MPa) to reeze-in the high level o orientation Alcan
did not pursue the technology and Symplastics Ltd licensed the patented process
this company started experimenting with adding small amounts o wood flour to the
PP However Symplastics ound the research and development too costly and sold
the patents and lab extrusion equipment to Frank Maine who set up SHW to com-
mercialize applications or the EOW-PP The key to the SHW process is that it com-
bines extrusion with drawing As the polymer is oriented the density drops about
50 rom about 1 g cc to 05 g cc The die drawing also allowed substantial in-creases in line speed rom about 0050 m min to about 9 m min The properties
achieved with EOW-PP are shown in Table 24 and compared to regular PP wood
and oriented PP
Solid-state extrusion has been practiced with coextrusion o different polymers [93]
Despite the large amount o research on solid-state extrusion and the outstanding
mechanical properties that can be obtained there does not seem to be much interest
in the polymer industry The main drawbacks o course are that solid-state extru-
sion is basically a discontinuous process it cannot be done on conventional polymer
processing equipment and very high pressures are required to achieve solid-stateextrusion Also one should keep in mind that very good mechanical properties can
be obtained by taking a profile (fiber film tube etc) produced by conventional con-
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983092983089
tinuous extrusion and exposing it to controlled deormation at a temperature below
the melting point This is a well-established technique in many extrusion operations
(fiber spinning film extrusion etc) and it can be done at a high rate This method
o producing extrudates with very good mechanical properties is likely to be more
cost-effective than solid-state extrusion It is possible that the die drawing processdeveloped by SHW can make solid-state extrusion more attractive commercially by
allowing large profiles to be processed at reasonable line speeds
Table 26 Mechanical Properties of PP Wood OPP and EOW-PP
Flexural strength [MPa] Flexural modulus [MPa]
Regular PP 50 1850
Wood 100 9000
Oriented PP 275 7600EOW-PP 140 7600
983090983092983090Multi Ram Extruder
As mentioned beore the main disadvantage o ram extruders is their intermittent
operation Several attempts have been made to overcome this problem by designing
multi-ram extruders that work together in such a way as to produce a continuousflow o material
Westover [94] designed a continuous ram extruder that combined our plunger-
cylinders Two plunger-cylinders were used or plasticating and two or pumping
An intricate shuttle valve connecting all the plunger cylinders provides continuous
extrusion
Another attempt to develop a continuous ram extruder was made by Yi and Fenner
[95] They designed a twin ram extruder with the cylinders in a V-configuration see
Fig 222The two rams discharge into a common barrel in which a plasticating shaf is rotat-
ing Thus solids conveying occurs in the two separate cylinders and plasticating
and melt conveying occurs in the annular region between the barrel and plasticat-
ing shaf The machine is able to extrude however the throughput uniormity is
poor The perormance could probably have been improved i the plasticating shaf
had been provided with a helical channel But o course then the machine would
have become a screw extruder with a ram-assisted eed This only goes to demon-
strate that it is ar rom easy to improve upon the simple screw extruder
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983092983090 983090Different Types of Extruders
Die Breaker plate
Plasticating shaft
Main
block
Feed cylinder
Figure 222 Twin ram extruder
983090983092983091 Appendix 983090983089
983090983092983091983089 Pumping Efficiency in Diskpack Extruder
The velocity profile between the moving walls is a parabolic unction when the fluid
is a Newtonian fluid see Section 621 and Fig 223
y
z H
Small pressure gradient
Medium pressure gradient
Large pressure gradient
Figure 983090983090983091
Velocity profiles between moving
walls
The velocity profile or a Newtonian fluid is
L8
PH
H
y41vv(y)
2
2
2
∆micro∆
minusminus= (1)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983092983091
where v is the velocity o the plates H the distance between the plates and μ the
viscosity o the fluid The flow rate can be ound by integrating v(y) over the width
and depth o the channel this yields
L12
PWHvWHV
3
∆micro∆minus=
bull
(2)
The first term on the right-hand side o the equalation is the drag flow term The
second term is the pressure flow term The ratio o pressure flow to drag flow is
termed the throttle ratio rd (see Section 7413)
r d =Lv12
PH2
∆micro
∆ (3)
The flow rate can now be written as
(4)
The shear stress at the wall is obtained rom
dv H∆Pτ = micro =dy
05H 2∆L
(5)
The power consumption in the channel is
Zch = PvHWLvW2 ∆=∆τ (6)
The energy efficiency or pressure generation is
V∆Pε = =1 minus r
d Zch
(7)
Equation 7 is not valid or rd = 0 because in this case both numerator and denomi-
nator become zero From Eq 7 it can be seen that when the machine is operated atlow rd values the pumping efficiency can become close to 100 This is considerably
better than the single screw extruder where the optimum pumping efficiency is 33
at a throttle ratio value o 033 (rd = 13)
References
1 J LeBras ldquoRubber Fundamentals o its Science and Technologyrdquo Chemical Publ Co
NY (1957)
2 W S Penn ldquoSynthetic Rubber Technology Volume Irdquo MacLaren amp Sons Ltd London(1960)
3 W J S Naunton ldquoThe Applied Science o Rubberrdquo Edward Arnold Ltd London (1961)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3437
983092983092 983090Different Types of Extruders
4 C M Blow ldquoRubber Technology and Manuacturerdquo Butterworth amp Co Ltd London
(1971)
5 F R Eirich (Ed) ldquoScience and Technology o Rubberrdquo Academic Press NY (1978)
6 C W Evans ldquoPowdered and Particulate Rubber Technologyrdquo Applied Science Publ Ltd
London (1978)
7 G Targiel et al 10 IKV-Kolloquium Aachen March 12ndash14 45 (1980)
8 A Kennaway Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 17 378ndash391 (1964)
9 G Menges and J P Lehnen Plastverarbeiter 20 1 31ndash39 (1969)
10 M Parshall and A J Saulino Rubber World 2 5 78ndash83 (1967)
11 S E Perlberg Rubber World 2 6 71ndash76 (1967)
12 H H Gohlisch Gummi Asbest Kunststoffe 25 9 834ndash835 (1972)
13 E Harms ldquoKautschuk-Extruder Aubau und Einsatz aus verahrenstechnischer Sichtrdquo
Krausskop-Verlag Mainz Bd 2 Buchreihe Kunststo983142echnik (1974)
14 G Schwarz Eur Rubber Journal Sept 28ndash32 (1977)
15 G Menges and E G Harms Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 25 10 469ndash475 (1972)
16 G Menges and E G Harms Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 27 5 187ndash193 (1974)
17 E G Harms Elastomerics 109 6 33ndash39 (1977)
18 E G Harms Eur Rubber Journal 6 23 (1978)
19 E G Harms Kunststoffe 69 1 32ndash33 (1979)
20 E G Harms Dissertation RWTH Aachen Germany (1981)21 S H Collins Plastics Compounding Nov Dec 29 (1982)
22 D Anders Kunststoffe 69 194ndash198 (1979)
23 D Gras and K Eise SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 21 386 (1975)
24 R F Westover SPE Journal 18 12 1473 (1962)
25 Lord Raleigh Philosophical Magazine 35 1ndash12 (1918)
26 German Patent DRP 1129681
27 British Patent BP 759354
28 U S Patent 3880564
29 U S Patent 4012477
30 J F Ingen Housz Plastverarbeiter 10 1 (1975)
31 U S Patent 4142805
32 U S Patent 4194841
33 U S Patent 4213709
34 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 25 193 (1979)
35 P Hold Z Tadmor and L Valsamis SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 25 205 (1979)
36 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis Plastics Engineering Nov 20ndash25 (1979)
37 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis Plastics Engineering Dec 30ndash38 (1979)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3537
References 983092983093
38 Z Tadmor et al The Diskpack Plastics Processor Farrel Publication Jan (1982)
39 L Valsamis AIChE Meeting Washington D C Oct (1983)
40 B Maxwell and A J Scalora Modern Plastics 37 107 Oct (1959)
41 U S Patent 3 046603
42 L L Blyler PhD thesis Princeton University NJ (1966)
43 H G Fritz Kunststo983142echnik 6 430 (1968)
44 H G Fritz PhD thesis Stuttgart University Germany (1971)
45 C W Macosko and J M Starita SPE Journal 27 30 (1971)
46 P A Good A J Schwartz and C W Macosko AIChE Journal 20 1 67 (1974)
47 V L Kocherov Y L Lukach E A Sporyagin and G V Vinogradov Polym Eng Sci 13
194 (1973)
48 J Berzen and G Braun Kunststoffe 69 2 62ndash66 (1979)49 R S Porter et al J Polym Sci 17 485ndash488 (1979)
50 C A Sperati Modern Plastics Encyclopedia McGraw-Hill NY (1983)
51 S S Schwartz and S H Goodman see Chapter 1 [36]
52 G R Snelling and J F Lontz J Appl Polym Sci 3 9 257ndash265 (1960)
53 D C F Couzens Plastics and Rubber Processing March 45ndash48 (1976)
54 P W Bridgman ldquoStudies in Large Plastic Flow and Fracturerdquo McGraw-Hill NY (1952)
55 H L D Push ldquoThe Mechanical Behavior o Materials Under Pressurerdquo Elsevier Amster-
dam (1970)56 H L D Push and A H Low J Inst Metals 93 201 (196565)
57 F Slack Mach Design Oct 7 61ndash64 (1982)
58 J H Southern and R S Porter J Appl Polym Sci 14 2305 (1970)
59 J H Southern and R S Porter J Macromol Sci Phys 3ndash4 541 (1970)
60 J H Southern N E Weeks and R S Porter Macromol Chem 162 19 (1972)
61 N J Capiati and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 13 1177 (1975)
62 R S Porter J H Southern and N E Weeks Polym Eng Sci 15 213 (1975)
63 A E Zachariades E S Sherman and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 17 255
(1979)
64 A E Zachariades and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 17 277 (1979)
65 B Parsons D Bretherton and B N Cole in Advances in MTDR 11th Int Con Proc
S A Tobias and F Koeningsberger (Eds) Pergamon Press London Vol B 1049 (1971)
66 G Capaccio and I M Ward Polymer 15 233 (1974)
67 A G Gibson I M Ward B N Cole and B Parsons J Mater Sci 9 1193ndash1196 (1974)
68 A G Gibson and I M Ward J Appl Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 16 2015ndash2030 (1978)
69 P S Hope and B Parsons Polym Eng Sci 20 589ndash600 (1980)
70 P S Hope I M Ward and A G Gibson J Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 18 1242ndash1256
(1980)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3637
983092983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
71 P S Hope A G Gibson B Parsons and I M Ward Polym Eng Sci 20 54ndash55 (1980)
72 B Parsons and I M Ward Plast Rubber Proc Appl 2 3 215ndash224 (1982)
73 K Imada T Yamamoto K Shigematsu and M Takayanagi J Mater Sci 6 537ndash546
(1971)
74 K Nakamura K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 2 71 (1972)
75 K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 2 89 (1973)
76 K Nakamura K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 3 23 (1974)
77 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Mater Sci 10 1105 (1975)
78 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Mater Sci 12 1477 (1977)
79 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Appl Polym Sci 23 2543ndash2554 (1979)
80 D M Bigg Polym Eng Sci 16 725 (1976)
81 D M Bigg M M Epstein R J Fiorentino and E G Smith Polym Eng Sci 18 908(1978)
82 D M Bigg and M M Epstein ldquoScience and Technology o Polymer Processingrdquo N S Suh
and N Sung (Eds) 897 MIT Press (1979)
83 D M Bigg M M Epstein R J Fiorentino and E G Smith J Appl Polym Sci 26 395ndash
409 (1981)
84 K D Pae and D R Mears J Polym Sci B-6 269 (1968)
85 K D Pae D R Mears and J A Sauer J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 6 773 (1968)
86 D R Mears K P Pae and J A Sauer J Appl Phys 40 11 4229ndash4237 (1969)
87 L A Davis and C A Pampillo J Appl Phys 42 12 4659ndash4666 (1971)
88 A Buckley and H A Long Polym Eng Sci 9 2 115ndash120 (1969)
89 L A Davis Polym Eng Sci 14 9 641ndash645 (1974)
90 R K Okine and N P Suh Polym Eng Sci 22 5 269ndash279 (1982)
91 J R Collier T Y T Tam J Newcome and N Dinos Polym Eng Sci 16 204ndash211 (1976)
92 J H Faupel and F E Fisher ldquoEngineering Designrdquo Wiley NY (1981)
93 A E Zachariades R Ball and R S Porter J Mater Sci 13 2671ndash2675 (1978)
94 R R Westover Modern Plastics March (1963) 95 B Yi and R T Fenner Plastics and Polymers Dec 224ndash228 (1975)
96 A Mekkaoui and L N Valsamis Polym Eng Sci 24 1260ndash1269 (1984)
97 H Rust Kunststoffe 73 342ndash346 (1983)
98 J Huszman Kunststoffe 73 3437ndash348 (1983)
99 J M McKelvey U Maire and F Haupt Chem Eng Sept 27 94ndash102 (1976)
100 K Schneider Kunststoffe 68 201ndash206 (1978)
101 W T Rice Plastic Technology 87ndash91 Feb (1980)
102 Harrel Corp ldquoMelt Pump Systems or Extrudersrdquo Product Description TDS-264 (1982)
103 J M McKelvey and W T Rice Chem Eng 90 2 89ndash94 (1983)
104 K Kaper K Eise and H Herrmann SPE ANTEC Chicago 161ndash163 (1983)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3737
References 983092983095
105 C L Woodworth SPE ANTEC New Orleans 122ndash126 (1984)
106 W A Kramer SPE ANTEC Washington D C 23ndash29 (1985)
107 J Schut ldquoDie Drawing Makes Plastic Steelrdquo Plastics Technology Online Article March
5 (2001)
108 VDI Conerence Extrusiontechnik 2006 ldquoDer Einschnecken-Extruder von Morgenrdquo VDI
Verlag GmbH Duumlsseldor (2006)
109 P Rieg ldquoLatest Developments in High-Speed Extrusionrdquo Plastic Extrusion Asia Con-
erence Bangkok Thailand March 17ndash18 (2008) also presented at Advances in Ex-
trusion Conerence New Orleans December 9ndash10 (2008)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983089983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
o the polymer melt the flow rate through the die and the rheological properties o
the polymer melt It is important to understand that the diehead pressure is caused
by the die and not by the extruder The extruder simply has to generate sufficient
pressure to orce the material through the die I the polymer the throughput the
die and the temperatures in the die are the same then it does not make any differ-ence whether the extruder is a gear pump a single screw extruder a twin screw
extruder etc the diehead pressure will be the same Thus the diehead pressure is
caused by the die and by the flow process taking place in the die flow channel This
is an important point to remember
983090983089983090Vented Extruders
Vented extruders are significantly different rom non-vented extruders in design
and in unctional capabilities A vented extruder is equipped with one or more open-
ings (vent ports) in the extruder barrel through which volatiles can escape Thus
the vented extruder can extract volatiles rom the polymer in a continuous ashion
This devolatilization adds a unctional capability not present in non-vented extrud-
ers Instead o the extraction o volatiles one can use the vent port to add certain
components to the polymer such as additives fillers reactive components etc This
clearly adds to the versatility o vented extruders with the additional benefit that
the extruder can be operated as a conventional non-vented extruder by simply plug-ging the vent port and possibly changing the screw geometry
A schematic picture o a vented extruder is shown in Fig 22
Feed housing
Cooling channel Heaters Barrel Die
Breaker plateVent port
Screw
Figure 22 Schematic of vented extruder
The design o the extruder screw is very critical to the proper unctioning o the
vented extruder One o the main problems that vented extruders are plagued with
is vent flow This is a situation where not only the volatiles are escaping through the
vent port but also some amount o polymer Thus the extruder screw has to be
designed in such a way that there will be no positive pressure in the polymer under
the vent port (extraction section) This has led to the development o the two-stage
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983089 The Single Screw Extruder 983089983095
extruder screw especially designed or devolatilizing extrusion Two-stage extruder
screws have two compression sections separated by a decompression extraction
section It is somewhat like two single-stage extruder screws coupled in series along
one shaf The details o the design o two-stage extruder screws will be covered in
Chapter 8 Vented extruders are used or the removal o monomers and oligomersreaction products moisture solvents etc
The devolatilization capability o single screw extruders o conventional design is
limited compared to twin screw extruders Twin screw extruders can handle solvent
contents o 50 and higher using a multiple-stage extraction system and solvent
content o up to 15 using singlestage extraction Single screw vented extruders
o conventional design usually cannot handle more than 5 volatiles this would
require multiple vent ports With a single vent port a single screw vented extruder
o conventional design can generally reduce the level o volatiles only a raction oone percent depending o course on the polymersolvent system
Because o the limited devolatilization capacity o single screw extruders o con-
ventional design they are sometimes equipped with two or more vent ports A draw-
back o such a design is that the length o the extruder can become a problem
Some o these extruders have a L D ration o 40 to 50 This creates a problem in
handling the screw or instance when the screw is pulled and increases the chance
o mechanical problems in the extruder (deflection buckling etc) I substantial
amounts o volatiles need to be removed a twin screw extruder may be more cost-
effective than a single screw extruder However some vented single screw extruderso more modern design have substantially improved devolatilization capability and
deserve equal consideration see Section 852
983090983089983091Rubber Extruders
Extruders or processing elastomers have been around longer than any other type o
extruder Industrial machines or rubber extrusion were built as early as the second
hal o the nineteenth century Some o the early extruder manuacturers were John
Royle in the U S and Francis Shaw in England One o the major rubber extruder
manuacturers in Germany was Paul Troester in act it still is a producer o extrud-
ers Despite the act that rubber extruders have been around or more than a cen-
tury there is limited literature on the subject o rubber extrusion Some o the hand-
books on rubber [1ndash5] discuss rubber extrusion but in most cases the inormation
is very meager and o limited useulness Harmsrsquo book on rubber extruders [13]
appears to be the only book devoted exclusively to rubber extrusion The ew publi-
cations on rubber extrusion stand in sharp contrast to the abundance o books andarticles on plastic extrusion Considering the commercial significance o rubber
extrusion this is a surprising situation
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983089983096 983090Different Types of Extruders
The first rubber extruders were built or hot eed extrusion These machines are ed
with warm material rom a mill or other mixing device Around 1950 machines
were developed or cold eed extrusion The advantages o cold eed extruders are
thought to be
Less capital equipment cost
Better control o stock temperature
Reduced labor cost
Capable o handling a wider variety o compounds
However there is no general agreement on this issue As a result hot eed rubber
extruders are still in use today
Cold eed rubber extruders nowadays do not differ too much rom thermoplastic
extruders Some o the differences are Reduced length
Heating and cooling
Feed section
Screw design
There are several reasons or the reduced length The viscosity o rubbers is gener-
ally very high compared to most thermoplastics about an order o magnitude higher
[5] Consequently there is a substantial amount o heat generated in the extru-
sion process The reduced length keeps the temperature build-up within limits The
specific energy requirement or rubbers is generally low partly because they are
usually extruded at relatively low temperatures (rom 20 to 120degC) This is another
reason or the short extruder length The length o the rubber extruder will depend
on whether it is a cold or hot eed extruder Hot eed rubber extruders are usually
very short about 5D (D = diameter) Cold eed extruders range rom 15 to 20D
Vented cold eed extruders may be even longer than 20D
Rubber extruders used to be heated quite requently with steam because o the rela-
tively low extrusion temperatures Today many rubber extruders are heated likethermoplastic extruders with electrical heater bands clamped around the barrel Oil
heating is also used on rubber extruders and the circulating oil system can be used
to cool the rubber Many rubber extruders use water cooling because it allows effec-
tive heat transer
The eed section o the rubber extruders has to be designed specifically to the eed
stock characteristics o the material The extruder may be ed with either strips
chunks or pellets I the extruder is ed rom an internal mixer (e g Banbury Shaw
etc) a power-operated ram can be used to orce the rubber compound into the
extruder The eed opening can be undercut to improve the intake capability o the
extruder This can be useul because the rubber eed stock at times comes in rela-
tively large particles o irregular shape When the material is supplied in the orm o
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983090983089 The Single Screw Extruder 983089983097
a strip the eed opening is ofen equipped with a driven roll parallel to the screw to
give a ldquoroller eedrdquo Material can also be supplied in powder orm It has been shown
that satisactory extrusion is possible i the powder is consolidated by ldquopill-makingrdquo
techniques Powdered rubber technology is discussed in detail in [6]
The rubber extrusion technology appears to be considerably behind the plastics
extrusion technology Kennaway in one o the ew articles on rubber extrusion [8]
attributes this situation to two actors The first is the requent tendency o rubber
process personnel to solve extrusion problems by changing the ormulation o the
compound The second is the widespread notion that the extrusion behavior o rub-
bers is substantially different rom plastics because rubbers crosslink and plastics
generally do not This is a misconception however because the extrusion character-
istics o rubber and plastics are actually not substantially different [9]
When the rubber is slippery as in dewatering rubber extruders the eed section othe barrel is grooved to prevent slipping along the barrel surace or the barrel I D
may be fitted with pins This significantly improves the conveying action o the
extruder The same technique has been applied to the thermoplastic extrusion as
discussed in Section 14 and Section 7222
The extruder screw or rubber ofen has constant depth and variable decreasing
pitch (VDP) many rubber screws use a double-flighted design see Fig 23 Screws
or thermoplastics usually have a decreasing depth and constant pitch see Fig 21
Figure 983090983091
Typical screw geometry for rubber
extrusion
Another difference with the rubber extruder screw is that the channel depth is usu-
ally considerably larger than with a plastic extruder screw The larger depth is used
to reduce the shearing o the rubber and the resulting viscous heat generation
There is a large variety o rubber extruder screws as is the case with plastic extruder
screws Figure 24 shows the ldquoPlastiscrewrdquo manuactured by NRM
Figure 983090983092
The NRM Plastiscrew
Figure 25 shows the Pirelli rubber extruder screw This design uses a eed section
o large diameter reducing quickly to the much smaller diameter o the pumping
section The conical eed section uses a large clearance between screw flight and
barrel wall This causes a large amount o leakage over the flight and improves the
batch-mixing capability o the extruder
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983090983088 983090Different Types of Extruders
Figure 983090983093
The Pirelli rubber extruder screw
Figure 26 shows the EVK screw by Werner amp Pfleiderer [14] This design eatures
cross-channel barriers with preceding undercuts in the flights to provide a change
in flow direction and increased shearing as the material flows over the barrier or the
undercut in the flight A rather unusual design is the Transermix [10ndash13] extrudermixer which has been used or compounding rubber ormulations This machine
eatures helical channels in both the screw and barrel see Fig 27
Figure 983090983094
The EVK screw by Werner amp Pfleiderer
Vent
Feed
Figure 27 The Transfermix extruder
By a varying root diameter o the screw the material is orced in the flow channel
o the barrel A reduction o the depth o the barrel channel orces the material
back into the screw channel This requent reorientation provides good mixing
However the machine is difficult to manuacture and expensive to repair in case o
damageAnother rubber extruder is the QSM extruder [7 15ndash20] QSM stands or the Ger-
man words ldquoQuer Strom Mischrdquo meaning cross-flow mixing This extruder has
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983090983089 The Single Screw Extruder 983090983089
adjustable pins in the extruder barrel that protrude all the way into the screw chan-
nel see Fig 28
Figure 28 The QSM extruder (pin barrel extruder)
The screw flight has slots at the various pin locations The advantages o this ex-
truder in rubber applications are good mixing capability with a low stock tempera-
ture increase and low specific energy consumption This extruder was developed by
Harms in Germany and is manuactured and sold by Troester and other companies
Even though the QSM extruder has become popular in the rubber industry its appli-
cations clearly extend beyond just rubber extrusion In thermoplastic extrusion its
most obvious application would be in high viscosity thermally less stable resins
PVC could possibly be a candidate although dead spots may create problems with
degradation However it can probably be applied wherever good mixing and good
temperature control are requiredAnother typical rubber extrusion piece o hardware is the roller die A schematic
representation is shown in Fig 29
Figure 29 The roller die used in rubber extrusion
The roller die (B F Goodrich 1933) is a combination o a standard sheet die and a
calender It allows high throughput by reducing the diehead pressure it reduces air
entrapment and provides good gauge control
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983090983090 983090Different Types of Extruders
983090983089983092High-Speed Extrusion
One way to achieve high throughputs is to use high-speed extrusion High-speed
extrusion has been used in twin screw compounding or many yearsmdashsince the
1960s However in single screw extrusion high speed extrusion has not been usedon a significant scale until about 1995 Twin screw extruders (TSE) used in com-
pounding typically run at screw speeds ranging rom 200 to 500 rpm in some cases
screw speeds beyond 1000 rpm are possible Single screw extruders (SSE) usually
operate at screw speeds between 50 to 150 rpm
Since approx 1995 several extruder manuacturers have worked on developing
high-speed single screw extruders (HS-SSE) Most o these developments have taken
place at German extruder manuacturers such as Batteneld Reienhaumluser Kuhne
and Esde Currently HS-SSEs are commercially available and have been in use orseveral years [108]
Batteneld supplies a high speed 75-mm SSE that can run at screw speeds up to
1500 rpm [109] This machine can achieve throughputs up to 2200 kg hr It uses a
our-motor CMG torque drive with 390 kW made by K amp A Knoedler
983090983089983092983089Melt Temperature
One o the interesting characteristics o the HS-SSE is that the melt temperature
remains more or less constant over a broad range o screw speed [108 109] see
Fig 210
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0
T h r o u g
h p u t [ k g h r ]
75-mm extruder PS 486
P Rieg Battenfeld HJ Renner BASF
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200
Screw speed [revmin]
250
240
230
220
210
200
M e l t t e m
p e r a t u r e [ o C ]
Figure 983090983089983088
Throughput and melt
temperature versus
screw speed
This graph shows both the throughput in kg hr and the melt temperature in degC The
temperature curve indicates that there is less than a 2degC change in melt tempera-ture rom 200 rpm up to about 1000 rpm At screw speeds rom 110 rpm to 225 rpm
the melt temperature actually drops rom about 223 to about 215degC
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983090983089 The Single Screw Extruder 983090983091
In conventional extruders the melt temperature typically increases with screw
speed This ofen creates problems when we deal with high-viscosity polymers par-
ticularly when they have limited thermal stability In the example shown in Fig 210
the melt temperature is essentially constant as screw speed increases rom 200 to
1000 rpm This is probably the result o two actors the residence time o the poly-mer melt is reduced with increasing screw speed and the volume o the molten poly-
mer likely reduces with increasing screw speed as the melting length becomes
longer with increased screw speed
983090983089983092983090Extruders without Gear Reducer
An important advantage o high-speed SSE is that a conventional gear reducer is no
longer necessary The gear reducer is one o the largest cost actors or a conven-
tional extruder As a result extruders without a gear reducer are significantly lessexpensive compared to conventional extruders that achieve the same rate A urther
advantage o the elimination o the gear reducer is a significant reduction in noise
level Contrary to what one would expect HS-SSE actually run very quiet the noise
level is substantially lower than it is or conventional extruders with gear reducers
983090983089983092983091Energy Consumption
Another benefit o high-speed SSE is the reduction in energy consumption Rieg
[108 109] reports the ollowing mechanical specific energy consumption
The reduction in energy consumption listed in Table 22 is significant between 35
and 45 I the extruder runs PP at 2000 kg hr a reduction in SEC o 010 kWh kg
corresponds to a reduction in power consumption o 200 kW every hour I the power
cost is $010 per kWh (or consistency) the savings per hour will be $20 per hour
$480 per day $3360 per week and $168000 per year at 50 weeks per year Clearly
this can have a significant effect on the profitability o an extrusion operation
Table 22 Specific Energy Consumption for Standard Extruder and High-Speed Extruder
Type of extruder SEC with polystyrene [kWhkg] SEC with polypropylene [kWhkg]
Standard extruder 019minus021 027minus029
High-speed extruder 010minus012 017minus019
983090983089983092983092Change-over Resin Consumption
Another important issue in efficient extrusion is the time and material used when a
change in resin is made With high-speed extruders the change-over time is quite
short because the volume occupied by the plastic is small while the throughput is
very high
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983090983092 983090Different Types of Extruders
Table 23 shows a comparison o the high-speed 75-mm extruder to a conventional
180-mm extruder running at the same throughput The amount o material con-
sumed in the change-over is 150 kg or the 75-mm extruder and 1300 kg or the
180-mm extruder I we assume a resin cost o $100 per kg the savings are
$115000 per change-over I we have three change-overs per week the yearly sav-ings in reduced resin usage comes to $172500 per year Clearly this is not an insig-
nificant amount
Table 23 Comparison of Change-Over Time and Material Consumption
75-mm extruder 180-mm extruder
Volume in the extruder [liter] 4 40
Material consumption for change-over [kg] 150 1300
Change-over time [min] 5 40
983090983089983092983093 Change-over Time and Residence Time
Table 23 also shows that the change-over time or the 75-mm extruder is approx
5 minutes while it is approx 40 minutes in the 180-mm extruder Clearly the
reduced change-over time results rom the act that the volume occupied by the plas-
tic is much smaller (4 liter) in the 75-mm extruder than in the 180-mm extruder
(40 liter) I the change-over time can be reduced rom 40 to 5 minutes this means
that 35 minutes are now available to run production resulting in greater up-time othe extrusion line
The small volume o the HS-SSE also results in short residence times The mean
residence time ranges rom approx 5 to 10 seconds In conventional SSE the resi-
dence times are substantially longer typically between 50 to 100 seconds Since
HS-SSE can run at relatively low melt temperatures the chance o degradation is
actually less in these extruders There is ample evidence in actual high-speed ex-
trusion operations that the plastic is less susceptible to degradation in these opera-
tions
983090983090The Multiscrew Extruder
221The Twin Screw Extruder
A twin screw extruder is a machine with two Archimedean screws Admittedly this
is a very general definition However as soon as the definition is made more spe-
cific it is limited to a specific class o twin screw extruders There is a tremendous
variety o twin screw extruders with vast differences in design principle o opera-
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983090983090 The Multiscrew Extruder 983090983093
tion and field o application It is thereore difficult to make general comments
about twin screw extruders The differences between the various twin screw extrud-
ers are much larger than the differences between single screw extruders This is to
be expected since the twin screw construction substantially increases the number
o design variables such as direction o rotation degree o intermeshing etc A clas-sification o twin screw extruders is shown in Table 24 This classification is pri-
marily based on the geometrical configuration o the twin screw extruder Some
twin screw extruders unction in much the same ashion as single screw extruders
Other twin screw extruders operate quite differently rom single screw extruders
and are used in very different applications The design o the various twin screw
extruders with their operational and unctional aspects will be covered in more
detail in Chapter 10
Table 24 Classification of Twin Screw Extruders
Intermeshing extruders
Co-rotating extrudersLow speed extruders for profile extrusion
High speed extruders for compounding
Counter-rotating extruders
Conical extruders for profile extrusion
Parallel extruders for profile extrusion
High speed extruders for compounding
Non-intermeshing
extruders
Counter-rotating extrudersEqual screw length
Unequal screw length
Co-rotating extruders Not used in practice
Co-axial extruders
Inner melt transport forward
Inner melt transport rearward
Inner solids transport rearward
Inner plasticating with rearward transport
983090983090983090The Multiscrew Extruder With More Than Two Screws
There are several types o extruders which incorporate more than two screws One
relatively well-known example is the planetary roller extruder see Fig 211
Planetary screws
Sun (main) screw Melting and feed section
Discharge
Figure 211 The planetary roller extruder
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983090983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
This extruder looks similar to a single screw extruder The eed section is in act
the same as on a standard single screw extruder However the mixing section o the
extruder looks considerably different In the planetary roller section o the extruder
six or more planetary screws evenly spaced revolve around the circumerence o
the main screw In the planetary screw section the main screw is reerred to as thesun screw The planetary screws intermesh with the sun screw and the barrel The
planetary barrel section thereore must have helical grooves corresponding to the
helical flights on the planetary screws This planetary barrel section is generally a
separate barrel section with a flange-type connection to the eed barrel section
In the first part o the machine beore the planetary screws the material moves
orward as in a regular single screw extruder As the material reaches the planetary
section being largely plasticated at this point it is exposed to intensive mixing by
the rolling action between the planetary screws the sun screw and the barrel Thehelical design o the barrel sun screw and planetary screws result in a large sur-
ace area relative to the barrel length The small clearance between the planetary
screws and the mating suraces about frac14 mm allows thin layers o compound to be
exposed to large surace areas resulting in effective devolatilization heat exchange
and temperature control Thus heat-sensitive compounds can be processed with a
minimum o degradation For this reason the planetary gear extruder is requently
used or extrusion compounding o PVC ormulations both rigid and plasticized
[21 22] Planetary roller sections are also used as add-ons to regular extruders to
improve mixing perormance [97 98] Another multiscrew extruder is the our-screw extruder shown in Fig 212
Figure 983090983089983090
Four-screw extruder
This machine is used primarily or devolatilization o solvents rom 40 to as low as
03 [23] Flash devolatilization occurs in a flash dome attached to the barrel The
polymer solution is delivered under pressure and at temperatures above the boiling
point o the solvent The solution is then expanded through a nozzle into the flash
dome The oamy material resulting rom the flash devolatilization is then trans-
ported away by the our screws In many cases downstream vent sections will beincorporated to urther reduce the solvent level
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983090983090 The Multiscrew Extruder 983090983095
983090983090983091The Gear Pump Extruder
Gear pumps are used in some extrusion operations at the end o a plasticating
extruder either single screw or twin screw [99ndash106] Strictly speaking the gear
pump is a closely intermeshing counterrotating twin screw extruder However sincegear pumps are solely used to generate pressure they are generally not reerred to
as an extruder although the gear pump is an extruder One o the main advantages
o the gear pump is its good pressure-generating capability and its ability to main-
tain a relatively constant outlet pressure even i the inlet pressure fluctuates con-
siderably Some fluctuation in the outlet pressure will result rom the intermeshing
o the gear teeth This fluctuation can be reduced by a helical orientation o the gear
teeth instead o an axial orientation
Gear pumps are sometimes reerred to as positive displacement devices This is notcompletely correct because there must be mechanical clearances between the gears
and the housing which causes leakage Thereore the gear pump output is depend-
ent on pressure although the pressure sensitivity will generally be less than that o
a single screw extruder The actual pressure sensitivity will be determined by the
design clearances the polymer melt viscosity and the rotational speed o the gears
A good method to obtain constant throughput is to maintain a constant pressure di-
erential across the pump This can be done by a relatively simple pressure eedback
control on the extruder eeding into the gear pump [102] The non-zero clearances
in the gear pump will cause a transormation o mechanical energy into heat by vis-cous heat generation see Section 534 Thus the energy efficiency o actual gear
pumps is considerably below 100 the pumping efficiency generally ranges rom
15 to 35 The other 65 to 85 goes into mechanical losses and viscous heat gene-
ration Mechanical losses usually range rom about 20 to 40 and viscous heating
rom about 40 to 50 As a result the polymer melt going through the gear pump
will experience a considerable temperature rise typically 5 to 10degC However in
some cases the temperature rise can be as much as 20 to 30degC Since the gear
pump has limited energy efficiency the combination extruder-gear pump is not nec-
essarily more energy-efficient than the extruder without the gear pump Only i the
extruder eeding into the gear pump is very inefficient in its pressure development
will the addition o a gear pump allow a reduction in energy consumption This
could be the case with co-rotating twin screw extruders or single screw extruders
with inefficient screw design
The mixing capacity o gear pumps is very limited This was clearly demonstrated
by Kramer [106] by comparing melt temperature fluctuation beore and afer the
gear pump which showed no distinguishable improvement in melt temperature uni-
ormity Gear pumps are ofen added to extruders with unacceptable output fluc-tuations In many cases this constitutes treating the symptoms but not curing the
actual problem Most single screw extruders i properly designed can maintain
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983090983096 983090Different Types of Extruders
their output to within plusmn 1 I the output fluctuation is considerably larger than 1
there is probably something wrong with the machine very ofen incorrect screw
design In these cases solving the actual problem will generally be more efficient
than adding a gear pump For an efficient extruder-gear pump system the extruder
screw has to be modified to reduce the pressure-generating capacity o the screw
Gear pumps can be used advantageously
1 On extruders with poor pressure-generating capability (e g co-rotating twin
screws multi-stage vented extruders etc)
2 When output stability is required better than 1 i e in close tolerance extru-
sion (e g fiber spinning cable extrusion medical tubing coextrusion etc)
Gear pumps can cause problems when
1 The polymer contains abrasive components because o the small clearances thegear pump is very susceptible to wear
2 When the polymer is susceptible to degradation gear pumps are not sel-clean-
ing and combined with the exposure to high temperatures this will result in
degraded product
983090983091Disk Extruders
There are a number o extruders which do not utilize an Archimedean screw or
transport o the material but still all in the class o continuous extruders Some-
times these machines are reerred to as screwless extruders These machines
employ some kind o disk or drum to extrude the material One can classiy the disk
extruders according to their conveying mechanism (see Table 21) Most o the disk
extruders are based on viscous drag transport One special disk extruder utilizes
the elasticity o polymer melts to convey the material and to develop the necessary
diehead pressure
Disk extruders have been around or a long time at least since 1950 However at
this point in time the industrial significance o disk extruders is still relatively small
compared to screw extruders
983090983091983089Viscous Drag Disk Extruders
983090983091983089983089Stepped Disk Extruder
One o the first disk extruders was developed by Westover at Bell Telephone Labo-
ratories it is ofen reerred to as a stepped disk extruder or slider pad extruder [24]
A schematic picture o the extruder is shown in Fig 213
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983090983097
In
Out
Figure 983090983089983091
The stepped disk
The heart o the machine is the stepped disk positioned a small distance rom a flat
disk When one o the disks is rotated with a polymer melt in the axial gap a pres-
sure build-up will occur at the transition o one gap size to another smaller gap sizesee Fig 214
v
Distance
P r e s s u r e
Figure 983090983089983092
Pressure generation in the step region
I exit channels are incorporated into the stepped disk the polymer can be extruded
in a continuous ashion The design o this extruder is based on Rayleighrsquos [25]
analysis o hydrodynamic lubrication in various geometries He concluded that the
parallel stepped pad was capable o supporting the greatest load The stepped disk
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983091983088 983090Different Types of Extruders
extruder has also been designed in a different configuration using a gradual change
in gap size This extruder has a wedge-shaped disk with a gradual increase in pres-
sure with radial distance
A practical disadvantage o the stepped disk extruder is the act that the machine is
difficult to clean because o the intricate design o the flow channels in the stepped
disk
983090983091983089983090Drum Extruder
Another rather old concept is the drum extruder A schematic picture o a machine
manuactured by Schmid amp Kocher in Switzerland is shown in Fig 215
In
OutOutIn
Figure 983090983089983093 The drum extruder by Schmid amp Kocher
Material is ed by a eed hopper into an annular space between rotor and barrel By
the rotational motion o the rotor the material is carried along the circumerence o
the barrel Just beore the material reaches the eed hopper it encounters a wiper
bar This wiper bar scrapes the polymer rom the rotor and deflects the polymer flow
into a channel that leads to the extruder die Several patents [26 27] were issued on
this design however these patents have long since expired
A very similar extruder (see Fig 216) was developed by Askco Engineering andCosden Oil amp Chemical in a joint venture later this became Permian Research Two
patents have been issued on this design [28 29] even though the concept is very
similar to the Schmid amp Kocher design
One special eature o this design is the capability to adjust the local gap by means
o a choker bar similar to the gap adjustment in a flat sheet die see Section 92 The
choker bar in this drum extruder is activated by adjustable hydraulic oil pressure
Drum extruders have not been able to be a serious competition to the single screw
extruder over the last 50 years
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983091983089
Hopper
DieRotor
Housing
Wiper bar
Hopper
Wiper bar
DieRotor
Housing
Figure 983090983089983094
The drum extruder by AskoCosden
983090983091983089983091Spiral Disk Extruder
The spiral disk extruder is another type o disk extruder that has been known or
many years Several patented designs were described by Schenkel (Chapter 1 [3])
Similar to the stepped disk extruder the development o the spiral disk extruder
is closely connected to spiral groove bearings It has long been known that spiral
groove bearings are capable o supporting substantial loads Ingen Housz [30] has
analyzed the melt conveying in a spiral disk extruder with logarithmic grooves in
the disk based on Newtonian flow behavior o the polymer melt In terms o melt
conveying capability the spiral disk extruder seems comparable to the screw ex-truder however the solids conveying capability is questionable
983090983091983089983092Diskpack Extruder
Another development in disk extruders is the diskpack extruder Tadmor originated
the idea o the diskpack machine which is covered under several patents [31ndash33]
The development o the machine was undertaken by the Farrel Machinery Group o
Emgart Corporation in cooperation with Tadmor [34ndash39] The basic concept o the
machine is shown in Fig 217Material drops in the axial gap between relatively thin disks mounted on a rotating
shaf The material will move with the disks almost a ull turn then it meets a chan-
nel block The channel block closes off the space between the disks and deflects the
polymer flow to either an outlet channel or to a transer channel in the barrel The
shape o the disks can be optimized or specific unctions solids conveying melting
devolatilization melt conveying and mixing A detailed unctional analysis can be
ound in Tadmorrsquos book on polymer processing (Chapter 1 [32])
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983091983090 983090Different Types of Extruders
v
v
Channel blockInlet
Outlet
Barrel
Solid bed
Shaft
Melt pool
Inlet Channel block
Outlet
Melt pool
Solid bed
Barrel
Shaft
v
v Figure 983090983089983095
The diskpack extruder
It is claimed that this machine can perorm all basic polymer-processing operations
with efficiency equaling or surpassing existing machinery Clearly i the claim is
true and can be delivered or a competitive price the diskpack extruder will become
an important machine in the extrusion industry The first diskpack machines were
delivered to the industry in 1982 still under a joint development type o agreement
Now almost 20 years afer the first diskpack machines were delivered it is clear
that the acceptance o these machines in the industry has been very limited In act
Farrel no longer actively markets the diskpack machine In most o the publications
the diskpack machine is reerred to as a polymer processor This term is probably
used to indicate that this machine can do more than just extruding although the
diskpack is o course an extruder
The diskpack machine incorporates some o the eatures o the drum extruder and
the single screw extruder One can think o the diskpack as a single screw extruder
using a screw with zero helix angle and very deep flights Forward axial transportcan only take place by transport channels in the barrel with the material orced into
those channels by a restrictor bar as with the drum extruder The use o restrictor
bars (channel block) and transer channels in the housing make it considerably
more complex than the barrel o a single screw extruder
One o the advantages o the diskpack is that mixing blocks and spreading dams can
be incorporated into the machine as shown in Fig 218(a)
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983091983091
v
v
Channel blockInlet
Outlet
Mixing block
Disk
Inlet Channel block
Outlet
Mixing blockDisk v
v Figure 983090983089983096(a)
Mixing blocks in the diskpack
Mixing blocks o various shapes can be positioned externally into the processing
chamber This is similar to the QSM extruder only that in the QSM extruder the
screw flight has to be interrupted to avoid contact This is not necessary in the disk-
pack because the flights have zero helix angles in other words they run perpen-
dicular to the rotor axis By the number o blocks the geometry o the block and the
clearance between block and disk one can tailor the mixing capability to the par-
ticular application The use o spreading dams allows the generation o a thin film
with a large surace area this results in effective devolatilization capability The
diskpack has inherently higher pressure-generating capability than the single
screw extruder does This is because the diskpack has two dragging suraces while
the single screw extruder has only one see Fig 218(b)
v
v=0
v
v
Conveying mechanismsingle screw extruder
Conveying mechanism
diskpack extruder Figure 983090983089983096(b)
Comparison of conveying mechanism in diskpackand single screw extruder
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983091983092 983090Different Types of Extruders
At the same net flow rate equal viscosity equal plate velocity and optimum plate
separation the theoretical maximum pressure gradient o the diskpack is eight
times higher than the single screw extruder [34] Thus high pressures can be gen-
erated over a short distance which allows a more compact machine design The
energy efficiency o the pressure generation is also better than in the single screwextruder the maximum pumping efficiency approaches 100 see derivation in
Appendix 21 For the single screw extruder the maximum pumping efficiency is
only 33 as discussed in Section 7413 The energy efficiency o pressure genera-
tion is the ratio o the theoretical energy requirement (flow rate times pressure rise)
to the actual energy requirement (wall velocity times shear stress integrated over
wall surace) It should be noted that the two dragging platesrsquo pumping mechanism
exists only in tangential direction The pumping in axial (orward) direction occurs
only in the transer channel in the housing This orward pumping occurs by the one
dragging plate mechanism as in the single screw extruder The maximum efficiency
or orward pumping thereore is only 33 The overall pumping efficiency will be
somewhere between 33 and 100 i the power consumption in the disk and channel
block clearance is neglected
Studies on melting in the diskpack were reported by Valsamis et al [96] It was
ound that two types o melting mechanism could take place in the diskpack the
drag melt removal (DMR) mechanism and the dissipative melt mixing (DMM) mech-
anism The DMR melting mechanism is the predominant mechanism in single screw
extruders this is discussed in detail in Section 73 In the DMR melting mechanismthe solids and melt coexist as two largely continuous and separate phases In the
DMM melting mechanism the solids are dispersed in the melt there is no conti-
nuous solid bed It was ound that the DMM mechanism could be induced by pro-
moting back leakage o the polymer melt past the channel block This can be con-
trolled by varying the clearance between the channel block and the disks The
advantage o the DMM melting mechanism is that the melting rate can be substan-
tially higher than with the DMR mechanism reportedly by as much as a actor o 3
[96]
Among all elementary polymer processing unctions the solids conveying in a disk-
pack extruder has not been discussed to any extent in the open technical literature
Considering that the solids conveying mechanism is a rictional drag mechanism
(as in single screw extruders) and not a positive displacement type o transport (as
in intermeshing counterrotating twin screw extruders see Sections 102 and 104)
it can be expected that the diskpack will have solids conveying limitations similar
to those o single screw extruders see Section 722 This means that powders
blends o powders and pellets slippery materials etc are likely to encounter solids
conveying problems in a diskpack extruder unless special measures are taken toenhance the solids conveying capability (e g crammer eeder grooves in the disks
etc)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983091983093
Because o the more complex machine geometry the cost per unit throughput o the
diskpack is higher than or the conventional single screw extruder Thereore the
diskpack does not compete directly with single screw extruders
Applications or the diskpack are specialty polymer processing operations such as
polymerization post-reactor processing (devolatilization) continuous compound-
ing etc As such the diskpack competes mostly with twin screw extruders Pres-
ently twin screw extruders are usually the first choice when it comes to specialty
polymer processing operations
983090983091983090The Elastic Melt Extruder
The elastic melt extruder was developed in the late 1950s by Maxwell and Scalora[40 41] The extruder makes use o the viscoelastic in particular the elastic pro-
perties o polymer melts When a viscoelastic fluid is exposed to a shearing deor-
mation normal stresses will develop in the fluid that are not equal in all directions
as opposed to a purely viscous fluid In the elastic melt extruder the polymer is
sheared between two plates one stationary and one rotating see Fig 219
Hopper
Heaters
Solid polymer
Die
Extrudate
Polymer melt
Rotor
Solid polymerHopper
Heaters
Die
Extrudate
Polymer melt
Rotor
Figure 983090983089983097
The elastic melt extruder
As the polymer is sheared normal stresses will generate a centripetal pumping
action Thus the polymer can be extruded through the central opening in the sta-
tionary plate in a continuous ashion Because normal stresses generate the pump-
ing action this machine is sometimes reerred to as a normal stress extruderThis extruder is quite interesting rom a rheological point o view since it is prob-
ably the only extruder that utilizes the elasticity o the melt or its conveying Thus
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983091983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
several detailed experimental and theoretical studies have been devoted to the elas-
tic melt extruder [42ndash47]
The detailed study by Fritz [44] concluded that transport by normal stresses only
could be as much as two orders o magnitude lower than a corresponding system
with orced eed In addition substantial temperature gradients developed in the
polymer causing substantial degradation in high molecular weight polyolefins The
scant market acceptance o the elastic melt extruder would tend to confirm Fritzrsquos
conclusions
Several modifications have been proposed to improve the perormance o the elastic
melt extruder Fritz [43] suggested incorporation o spiral grooves to improve the
pressure generating capability essentially combining the elastic melt extruder and
the spiral disk extruder into one machine In Russia [47] several modifications
were made to the design o the elastic melt extruder One o those combined a screwextruder with the elastic melt extruder to eliminate the eeding and plasticating
problem Despite all o these activities the elastic melt extruder has not been able to
acquire a position o importance in the extrusion industry
983090983091983091Overview of Disk Extruders
Many attempts have been made in the past to come up with a continuous plasticat-
ing extruder o simple design that could perorm better than the single screw ex-truder It seems air to say that at this point in time no disk extruder has been able
to meet this goal The simple disk extruders do not perorm nearly as well as the
single screw extruder The more complex disk extruder such as the diskpack can
possibly outperorm the single screw extruder However this is at the expense o
design simplicity thus increasing the cost o the machine Disk extruders there-
ore have not been able to seriously challenge the position o the single screw
extruder This is not to say however that it is not possible or this to happen some
time in the uture But considering the long dominance o the single screw extruder
it is not probable that a new disk extruder will come along that can challenge the
single screw extruder
983090983092Ram Extruders
Ram or plunger extruders are simple in design rugged and discontinuous in their
mode o operation Ram extruders are essentially positive displacement devices and
are able to generate very high pressures Because o the intermittent operation o
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983091983095
ram extruders they are ideally suited or cyclic processes such as injection molding
and blow molding In act the early molding machines were almost exclusively
equipped with ram extruders to supply the polymer melt to the mold Certain limita-
tions o the ram extruder have caused a switch to reciprocating screw extruders or
combinations o the two The two main limitations are
1 Limited melting capacity
2 Poor temperature uniormity o the polymer melt
Presently ram extruders are used in relatively small shot size molding machines
and certain specialty operations where use is made o the positive displacement
characteristics and the outstanding pressure generation capability There are basic-
ally two types o ram extruders single ram extruders and multi ram extruders
983090983092983089Single Ram Extruders
The single ram extruder is used in small general purpose molding machines but
also in some special polymer processing operations One such operation is the ex-
trusion o intractable polymers such as ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene
(UHMWPE) or polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) These polymers are not considered to
be melt processable on conventional melt processing equipment Teledynamik [48]
has built a ram injection-molding machine under a license rom Th Engel who
developed the prototype machine This machine is used to mold UHMWPE under
very high pressures The machine uses a reciprocating plunger that densifies the
cold incoming material with a pressure up to 300 MPa (about 44000 psi) The re-
quency o the ram can be adjusted continuously with a maximum o 250 strokes
minute The densified material is orced through heated channels into the heated
cylinder where final melting takes place The material is then injected into a mold
by a telescoping injection ram Pressures up to 100 MPa (about 14500 psi) occur
during the injection o the polymer into the mold
Another application is the extrusion o PTFE with again the primary ingredient orsuccessul extrusion being very high pressures Granular PTFE can be extruded at
slow rates in a ram extruder [49ndash51] The powder is compacted by the ram orced
into a die where the material is heated above the melting point and shaped into the
desired orm PTFE is ofen processed as a PTFE paste [52 53] This is small particle
size PTFE powder (about 02 mm) mixed with a processing aid such as naphta PTFE
paste can be extruded at room temperature or slightly above room temperature
Afer extrusion the processing aid is removed by heating the extrudate above its
volatilization temperature The extruded PTFE paste product may be sintered i the
application requires a more ully coalesced product
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983091983096 983090Different Types of Extruders
983090983092983089983089Solid State Extrusion
An extrusion technique that has slowly been gaining popularity is solid-state extru-
sion The polymer is orced through a die while it is below its melting point This
causes substantial deormation o the polymer in the die but since the polymer is in
the solid state a very effective molecular orientation takes place This orientation ismuch more effective than the one which occurs in conventional melt processing As
a result extraordinary mechanical properties can be obtained
Solid-state extrusion is a technique borrowed rom the metal industry where solid-
state extrusion has been used commercially since the late 1940s Bridgman [54]
was one o the first to do a systematic study on the effect o pressure on the mechan-
ical properties o metals He also studied polymers and ound that the glass tran-
sition temperature was raised by the application o pressure
There are two methods o solid-state extrusion one is direct solid-state extrusionthe other is hydrostatic extrusion In direct solid-state extrusion a pre-ormed solid
rod o material (a billet) is in direct contact with the plunger and the walls o the
extrusion die see Fig 220 The material is extruded as the ram is pushed towards
the die
Plunger
Billet
Barrel
DieExtrudate Figure 983090983090983088
Direct solid state extrusion
In hydrostatic extrusion the pressure required or extrusion is transmitted rom the
plunger to the billet through a lubricating liquid usually castor oil The billet must
be shaped to fit the die to prevent loss o fluid The hydrostatic fluid reduces the ric-
tion thereby reducing the extrusion pressure see Fig 221
In hydrostatic extrusion the pressure-generating device or the fluid does not neces-
sarily have to be in close proximity to the orming part o the machine The fluid canbe supplied to the extrusion device by high-pressure tubes
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983091983097
Plunger
Billet
Oil
Barrel
DieExtrudate Figure 983090983090983089
Hydrostatic solid state extrusion
Judging rom publications in the open literature most o the work on solid-state
extrusion o polymers is done at universities and research institutes It is possible
o course that some companies are working on solid-state extrusion but are keeping
the inormation proprietary A major research effort in solid-state extrusion has
been made at the University o Amherst Massachusetts [50ndash64] University o
Leeds England [65ndash72] Fyushu University Fukuoka Japan [73ndash76] Research
Institute or Polymers and Textiles Yokohama Japan [77ndash79] Battelle Columbus
Ohio [80ndash83] and Rutgers University New Brunswick New Jersey [84ndash86] As
mentioned earlier publications rom other sources are considerably less plentiul
[87ndash90] Efforts have also been made to achieve the same high degree o orientation
in a more or less conventional extrusion process by special die design and tempera-
ture control in the die region [91]
Table 25 shows a comparison o mechanical properties between steel aluminum
solid state extruded HDPE and HDPE extruded by conventional means
Table 25 clearly indicates that the mechanical properties o solid-state extruded
HDPE are much superior to the melt extruded HDPE In act the tensile strength o
solid-state extruded HDPE is about the same as carbon steel There are some other
interesting benefits associated with solidstate extrusion o polymers There is essen-
tially no die swell at high extrusion ratios (extrusion ratio is the ratio o the area in
the cylinder to the area in the die) Thus the dimensions o the extrudate closely
conorm to those o the die exit The surace o the extrudate produced by hydro-
static extrusion has a lower coefficient o riction than that o the un-oriented poly-
mer Above a certain extrusion ratio (about ten) polyethylene and polypropylene
become transparent Further solid-state extruded polymers maintain their ten-sile properties at elevated temperatures Polyethylene maintains its modulus up to
120degC when it is extruded in the solid state at a high extrusion ratio The thermal
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983092983088 983090Different Types of Extruders
conductivity in the extrusion direction is much higher than that o the un-oriented
polymer as much as 25 times higher The melting point o the solid-state extruded
polymer increases with the amount o orientation The melting point o HDPE can be
shifed to as high as 140degC
Table 25 Comparison of Mechanical Properties
Material Tensile modulus[MPa]
Tensile strength[MPa]
Elongation[]
Density[gcc]
Annealed SAE 1020 210000 410 35 786
W-200 degF SAE 1020 210000 720 6 786
Annealed 304 stainless
steel
200000 590 50 792
Aluminum 1100ndash0 70000 90 45 271
HDPE solid state
extruded
70000 480 3 097
HDPE melt extruded 10000 30 20ndash1000 096
A recent application o solid-state extrusion is the process developed by Synthetic
Hardwood Technologies Inc [107] This company has developed an expanded ori-
ented wood-filled polypropylene (EOW-PP) that is about 300 stronger than regular
PP The process is based on technology developed at Aluminum Company o Canada
Ltd (Alcan) in the early 1990s to solidstate extrude PP It involves ram extrusion
drawing o billets o PP just below the melting point with very high draw ratio and
high haul-off tension (about 3 MPa) to reeze-in the high level o orientation Alcan
did not pursue the technology and Symplastics Ltd licensed the patented process
this company started experimenting with adding small amounts o wood flour to the
PP However Symplastics ound the research and development too costly and sold
the patents and lab extrusion equipment to Frank Maine who set up SHW to com-
mercialize applications or the EOW-PP The key to the SHW process is that it com-
bines extrusion with drawing As the polymer is oriented the density drops about
50 rom about 1 g cc to 05 g cc The die drawing also allowed substantial in-creases in line speed rom about 0050 m min to about 9 m min The properties
achieved with EOW-PP are shown in Table 24 and compared to regular PP wood
and oriented PP
Solid-state extrusion has been practiced with coextrusion o different polymers [93]
Despite the large amount o research on solid-state extrusion and the outstanding
mechanical properties that can be obtained there does not seem to be much interest
in the polymer industry The main drawbacks o course are that solid-state extru-
sion is basically a discontinuous process it cannot be done on conventional polymer
processing equipment and very high pressures are required to achieve solid-stateextrusion Also one should keep in mind that very good mechanical properties can
be obtained by taking a profile (fiber film tube etc) produced by conventional con-
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983092983089
tinuous extrusion and exposing it to controlled deormation at a temperature below
the melting point This is a well-established technique in many extrusion operations
(fiber spinning film extrusion etc) and it can be done at a high rate This method
o producing extrudates with very good mechanical properties is likely to be more
cost-effective than solid-state extrusion It is possible that the die drawing processdeveloped by SHW can make solid-state extrusion more attractive commercially by
allowing large profiles to be processed at reasonable line speeds
Table 26 Mechanical Properties of PP Wood OPP and EOW-PP
Flexural strength [MPa] Flexural modulus [MPa]
Regular PP 50 1850
Wood 100 9000
Oriented PP 275 7600EOW-PP 140 7600
983090983092983090Multi Ram Extruder
As mentioned beore the main disadvantage o ram extruders is their intermittent
operation Several attempts have been made to overcome this problem by designing
multi-ram extruders that work together in such a way as to produce a continuousflow o material
Westover [94] designed a continuous ram extruder that combined our plunger-
cylinders Two plunger-cylinders were used or plasticating and two or pumping
An intricate shuttle valve connecting all the plunger cylinders provides continuous
extrusion
Another attempt to develop a continuous ram extruder was made by Yi and Fenner
[95] They designed a twin ram extruder with the cylinders in a V-configuration see
Fig 222The two rams discharge into a common barrel in which a plasticating shaf is rotat-
ing Thus solids conveying occurs in the two separate cylinders and plasticating
and melt conveying occurs in the annular region between the barrel and plasticat-
ing shaf The machine is able to extrude however the throughput uniormity is
poor The perormance could probably have been improved i the plasticating shaf
had been provided with a helical channel But o course then the machine would
have become a screw extruder with a ram-assisted eed This only goes to demon-
strate that it is ar rom easy to improve upon the simple screw extruder
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983092983090 983090Different Types of Extruders
Die Breaker plate
Plasticating shaft
Main
block
Feed cylinder
Figure 222 Twin ram extruder
983090983092983091 Appendix 983090983089
983090983092983091983089 Pumping Efficiency in Diskpack Extruder
The velocity profile between the moving walls is a parabolic unction when the fluid
is a Newtonian fluid see Section 621 and Fig 223
y
z H
Small pressure gradient
Medium pressure gradient
Large pressure gradient
Figure 983090983090983091
Velocity profiles between moving
walls
The velocity profile or a Newtonian fluid is
L8
PH
H
y41vv(y)
2
2
2
∆micro∆
minusminus= (1)
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983092983091
where v is the velocity o the plates H the distance between the plates and μ the
viscosity o the fluid The flow rate can be ound by integrating v(y) over the width
and depth o the channel this yields
L12
PWHvWHV
3
∆micro∆minus=
bull
(2)
The first term on the right-hand side o the equalation is the drag flow term The
second term is the pressure flow term The ratio o pressure flow to drag flow is
termed the throttle ratio rd (see Section 7413)
r d =Lv12
PH2
∆micro
∆ (3)
The flow rate can now be written as
(4)
The shear stress at the wall is obtained rom
dv H∆Pτ = micro =dy
05H 2∆L
(5)
The power consumption in the channel is
Zch = PvHWLvW2 ∆=∆τ (6)
The energy efficiency or pressure generation is
V∆Pε = =1 minus r
d Zch
(7)
Equation 7 is not valid or rd = 0 because in this case both numerator and denomi-
nator become zero From Eq 7 it can be seen that when the machine is operated atlow rd values the pumping efficiency can become close to 100 This is considerably
better than the single screw extruder where the optimum pumping efficiency is 33
at a throttle ratio value o 033 (rd = 13)
References
1 J LeBras ldquoRubber Fundamentals o its Science and Technologyrdquo Chemical Publ Co
NY (1957)
2 W S Penn ldquoSynthetic Rubber Technology Volume Irdquo MacLaren amp Sons Ltd London(1960)
3 W J S Naunton ldquoThe Applied Science o Rubberrdquo Edward Arnold Ltd London (1961)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3437
983092983092 983090Different Types of Extruders
4 C M Blow ldquoRubber Technology and Manuacturerdquo Butterworth amp Co Ltd London
(1971)
5 F R Eirich (Ed) ldquoScience and Technology o Rubberrdquo Academic Press NY (1978)
6 C W Evans ldquoPowdered and Particulate Rubber Technologyrdquo Applied Science Publ Ltd
London (1978)
7 G Targiel et al 10 IKV-Kolloquium Aachen March 12ndash14 45 (1980)
8 A Kennaway Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 17 378ndash391 (1964)
9 G Menges and J P Lehnen Plastverarbeiter 20 1 31ndash39 (1969)
10 M Parshall and A J Saulino Rubber World 2 5 78ndash83 (1967)
11 S E Perlberg Rubber World 2 6 71ndash76 (1967)
12 H H Gohlisch Gummi Asbest Kunststoffe 25 9 834ndash835 (1972)
13 E Harms ldquoKautschuk-Extruder Aubau und Einsatz aus verahrenstechnischer Sichtrdquo
Krausskop-Verlag Mainz Bd 2 Buchreihe Kunststo983142echnik (1974)
14 G Schwarz Eur Rubber Journal Sept 28ndash32 (1977)
15 G Menges and E G Harms Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 25 10 469ndash475 (1972)
16 G Menges and E G Harms Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 27 5 187ndash193 (1974)
17 E G Harms Elastomerics 109 6 33ndash39 (1977)
18 E G Harms Eur Rubber Journal 6 23 (1978)
19 E G Harms Kunststoffe 69 1 32ndash33 (1979)
20 E G Harms Dissertation RWTH Aachen Germany (1981)21 S H Collins Plastics Compounding Nov Dec 29 (1982)
22 D Anders Kunststoffe 69 194ndash198 (1979)
23 D Gras and K Eise SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 21 386 (1975)
24 R F Westover SPE Journal 18 12 1473 (1962)
25 Lord Raleigh Philosophical Magazine 35 1ndash12 (1918)
26 German Patent DRP 1129681
27 British Patent BP 759354
28 U S Patent 3880564
29 U S Patent 4012477
30 J F Ingen Housz Plastverarbeiter 10 1 (1975)
31 U S Patent 4142805
32 U S Patent 4194841
33 U S Patent 4213709
34 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 25 193 (1979)
35 P Hold Z Tadmor and L Valsamis SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 25 205 (1979)
36 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis Plastics Engineering Nov 20ndash25 (1979)
37 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis Plastics Engineering Dec 30ndash38 (1979)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3537
References 983092983093
38 Z Tadmor et al The Diskpack Plastics Processor Farrel Publication Jan (1982)
39 L Valsamis AIChE Meeting Washington D C Oct (1983)
40 B Maxwell and A J Scalora Modern Plastics 37 107 Oct (1959)
41 U S Patent 3 046603
42 L L Blyler PhD thesis Princeton University NJ (1966)
43 H G Fritz Kunststo983142echnik 6 430 (1968)
44 H G Fritz PhD thesis Stuttgart University Germany (1971)
45 C W Macosko and J M Starita SPE Journal 27 30 (1971)
46 P A Good A J Schwartz and C W Macosko AIChE Journal 20 1 67 (1974)
47 V L Kocherov Y L Lukach E A Sporyagin and G V Vinogradov Polym Eng Sci 13
194 (1973)
48 J Berzen and G Braun Kunststoffe 69 2 62ndash66 (1979)49 R S Porter et al J Polym Sci 17 485ndash488 (1979)
50 C A Sperati Modern Plastics Encyclopedia McGraw-Hill NY (1983)
51 S S Schwartz and S H Goodman see Chapter 1 [36]
52 G R Snelling and J F Lontz J Appl Polym Sci 3 9 257ndash265 (1960)
53 D C F Couzens Plastics and Rubber Processing March 45ndash48 (1976)
54 P W Bridgman ldquoStudies in Large Plastic Flow and Fracturerdquo McGraw-Hill NY (1952)
55 H L D Push ldquoThe Mechanical Behavior o Materials Under Pressurerdquo Elsevier Amster-
dam (1970)56 H L D Push and A H Low J Inst Metals 93 201 (196565)
57 F Slack Mach Design Oct 7 61ndash64 (1982)
58 J H Southern and R S Porter J Appl Polym Sci 14 2305 (1970)
59 J H Southern and R S Porter J Macromol Sci Phys 3ndash4 541 (1970)
60 J H Southern N E Weeks and R S Porter Macromol Chem 162 19 (1972)
61 N J Capiati and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 13 1177 (1975)
62 R S Porter J H Southern and N E Weeks Polym Eng Sci 15 213 (1975)
63 A E Zachariades E S Sherman and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 17 255
(1979)
64 A E Zachariades and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 17 277 (1979)
65 B Parsons D Bretherton and B N Cole in Advances in MTDR 11th Int Con Proc
S A Tobias and F Koeningsberger (Eds) Pergamon Press London Vol B 1049 (1971)
66 G Capaccio and I M Ward Polymer 15 233 (1974)
67 A G Gibson I M Ward B N Cole and B Parsons J Mater Sci 9 1193ndash1196 (1974)
68 A G Gibson and I M Ward J Appl Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 16 2015ndash2030 (1978)
69 P S Hope and B Parsons Polym Eng Sci 20 589ndash600 (1980)
70 P S Hope I M Ward and A G Gibson J Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 18 1242ndash1256
(1980)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3637
983092983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
71 P S Hope A G Gibson B Parsons and I M Ward Polym Eng Sci 20 54ndash55 (1980)
72 B Parsons and I M Ward Plast Rubber Proc Appl 2 3 215ndash224 (1982)
73 K Imada T Yamamoto K Shigematsu and M Takayanagi J Mater Sci 6 537ndash546
(1971)
74 K Nakamura K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 2 71 (1972)
75 K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 2 89 (1973)
76 K Nakamura K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 3 23 (1974)
77 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Mater Sci 10 1105 (1975)
78 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Mater Sci 12 1477 (1977)
79 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Appl Polym Sci 23 2543ndash2554 (1979)
80 D M Bigg Polym Eng Sci 16 725 (1976)
81 D M Bigg M M Epstein R J Fiorentino and E G Smith Polym Eng Sci 18 908(1978)
82 D M Bigg and M M Epstein ldquoScience and Technology o Polymer Processingrdquo N S Suh
and N Sung (Eds) 897 MIT Press (1979)
83 D M Bigg M M Epstein R J Fiorentino and E G Smith J Appl Polym Sci 26 395ndash
409 (1981)
84 K D Pae and D R Mears J Polym Sci B-6 269 (1968)
85 K D Pae D R Mears and J A Sauer J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 6 773 (1968)
86 D R Mears K P Pae and J A Sauer J Appl Phys 40 11 4229ndash4237 (1969)
87 L A Davis and C A Pampillo J Appl Phys 42 12 4659ndash4666 (1971)
88 A Buckley and H A Long Polym Eng Sci 9 2 115ndash120 (1969)
89 L A Davis Polym Eng Sci 14 9 641ndash645 (1974)
90 R K Okine and N P Suh Polym Eng Sci 22 5 269ndash279 (1982)
91 J R Collier T Y T Tam J Newcome and N Dinos Polym Eng Sci 16 204ndash211 (1976)
92 J H Faupel and F E Fisher ldquoEngineering Designrdquo Wiley NY (1981)
93 A E Zachariades R Ball and R S Porter J Mater Sci 13 2671ndash2675 (1978)
94 R R Westover Modern Plastics March (1963) 95 B Yi and R T Fenner Plastics and Polymers Dec 224ndash228 (1975)
96 A Mekkaoui and L N Valsamis Polym Eng Sci 24 1260ndash1269 (1984)
97 H Rust Kunststoffe 73 342ndash346 (1983)
98 J Huszman Kunststoffe 73 3437ndash348 (1983)
99 J M McKelvey U Maire and F Haupt Chem Eng Sept 27 94ndash102 (1976)
100 K Schneider Kunststoffe 68 201ndash206 (1978)
101 W T Rice Plastic Technology 87ndash91 Feb (1980)
102 Harrel Corp ldquoMelt Pump Systems or Extrudersrdquo Product Description TDS-264 (1982)
103 J M McKelvey and W T Rice Chem Eng 90 2 89ndash94 (1983)
104 K Kaper K Eise and H Herrmann SPE ANTEC Chicago 161ndash163 (1983)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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References 983092983095
105 C L Woodworth SPE ANTEC New Orleans 122ndash126 (1984)
106 W A Kramer SPE ANTEC Washington D C 23ndash29 (1985)
107 J Schut ldquoDie Drawing Makes Plastic Steelrdquo Plastics Technology Online Article March
5 (2001)
108 VDI Conerence Extrusiontechnik 2006 ldquoDer Einschnecken-Extruder von Morgenrdquo VDI
Verlag GmbH Duumlsseldor (2006)
109 P Rieg ldquoLatest Developments in High-Speed Extrusionrdquo Plastic Extrusion Asia Con-
erence Bangkok Thailand March 17ndash18 (2008) also presented at Advances in Ex-
trusion Conerence New Orleans December 9ndash10 (2008)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983089 The Single Screw Extruder 983089983095
extruder screw especially designed or devolatilizing extrusion Two-stage extruder
screws have two compression sections separated by a decompression extraction
section It is somewhat like two single-stage extruder screws coupled in series along
one shaf The details o the design o two-stage extruder screws will be covered in
Chapter 8 Vented extruders are used or the removal o monomers and oligomersreaction products moisture solvents etc
The devolatilization capability o single screw extruders o conventional design is
limited compared to twin screw extruders Twin screw extruders can handle solvent
contents o 50 and higher using a multiple-stage extraction system and solvent
content o up to 15 using singlestage extraction Single screw vented extruders
o conventional design usually cannot handle more than 5 volatiles this would
require multiple vent ports With a single vent port a single screw vented extruder
o conventional design can generally reduce the level o volatiles only a raction oone percent depending o course on the polymersolvent system
Because o the limited devolatilization capacity o single screw extruders o con-
ventional design they are sometimes equipped with two or more vent ports A draw-
back o such a design is that the length o the extruder can become a problem
Some o these extruders have a L D ration o 40 to 50 This creates a problem in
handling the screw or instance when the screw is pulled and increases the chance
o mechanical problems in the extruder (deflection buckling etc) I substantial
amounts o volatiles need to be removed a twin screw extruder may be more cost-
effective than a single screw extruder However some vented single screw extruderso more modern design have substantially improved devolatilization capability and
deserve equal consideration see Section 852
983090983089983091Rubber Extruders
Extruders or processing elastomers have been around longer than any other type o
extruder Industrial machines or rubber extrusion were built as early as the second
hal o the nineteenth century Some o the early extruder manuacturers were John
Royle in the U S and Francis Shaw in England One o the major rubber extruder
manuacturers in Germany was Paul Troester in act it still is a producer o extrud-
ers Despite the act that rubber extruders have been around or more than a cen-
tury there is limited literature on the subject o rubber extrusion Some o the hand-
books on rubber [1ndash5] discuss rubber extrusion but in most cases the inormation
is very meager and o limited useulness Harmsrsquo book on rubber extruders [13]
appears to be the only book devoted exclusively to rubber extrusion The ew publi-
cations on rubber extrusion stand in sharp contrast to the abundance o books andarticles on plastic extrusion Considering the commercial significance o rubber
extrusion this is a surprising situation
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983089983096 983090Different Types of Extruders
The first rubber extruders were built or hot eed extrusion These machines are ed
with warm material rom a mill or other mixing device Around 1950 machines
were developed or cold eed extrusion The advantages o cold eed extruders are
thought to be
Less capital equipment cost
Better control o stock temperature
Reduced labor cost
Capable o handling a wider variety o compounds
However there is no general agreement on this issue As a result hot eed rubber
extruders are still in use today
Cold eed rubber extruders nowadays do not differ too much rom thermoplastic
extruders Some o the differences are Reduced length
Heating and cooling
Feed section
Screw design
There are several reasons or the reduced length The viscosity o rubbers is gener-
ally very high compared to most thermoplastics about an order o magnitude higher
[5] Consequently there is a substantial amount o heat generated in the extru-
sion process The reduced length keeps the temperature build-up within limits The
specific energy requirement or rubbers is generally low partly because they are
usually extruded at relatively low temperatures (rom 20 to 120degC) This is another
reason or the short extruder length The length o the rubber extruder will depend
on whether it is a cold or hot eed extruder Hot eed rubber extruders are usually
very short about 5D (D = diameter) Cold eed extruders range rom 15 to 20D
Vented cold eed extruders may be even longer than 20D
Rubber extruders used to be heated quite requently with steam because o the rela-
tively low extrusion temperatures Today many rubber extruders are heated likethermoplastic extruders with electrical heater bands clamped around the barrel Oil
heating is also used on rubber extruders and the circulating oil system can be used
to cool the rubber Many rubber extruders use water cooling because it allows effec-
tive heat transer
The eed section o the rubber extruders has to be designed specifically to the eed
stock characteristics o the material The extruder may be ed with either strips
chunks or pellets I the extruder is ed rom an internal mixer (e g Banbury Shaw
etc) a power-operated ram can be used to orce the rubber compound into the
extruder The eed opening can be undercut to improve the intake capability o the
extruder This can be useul because the rubber eed stock at times comes in rela-
tively large particles o irregular shape When the material is supplied in the orm o
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983090983089 The Single Screw Extruder 983089983097
a strip the eed opening is ofen equipped with a driven roll parallel to the screw to
give a ldquoroller eedrdquo Material can also be supplied in powder orm It has been shown
that satisactory extrusion is possible i the powder is consolidated by ldquopill-makingrdquo
techniques Powdered rubber technology is discussed in detail in [6]
The rubber extrusion technology appears to be considerably behind the plastics
extrusion technology Kennaway in one o the ew articles on rubber extrusion [8]
attributes this situation to two actors The first is the requent tendency o rubber
process personnel to solve extrusion problems by changing the ormulation o the
compound The second is the widespread notion that the extrusion behavior o rub-
bers is substantially different rom plastics because rubbers crosslink and plastics
generally do not This is a misconception however because the extrusion character-
istics o rubber and plastics are actually not substantially different [9]
When the rubber is slippery as in dewatering rubber extruders the eed section othe barrel is grooved to prevent slipping along the barrel surace or the barrel I D
may be fitted with pins This significantly improves the conveying action o the
extruder The same technique has been applied to the thermoplastic extrusion as
discussed in Section 14 and Section 7222
The extruder screw or rubber ofen has constant depth and variable decreasing
pitch (VDP) many rubber screws use a double-flighted design see Fig 23 Screws
or thermoplastics usually have a decreasing depth and constant pitch see Fig 21
Figure 983090983091
Typical screw geometry for rubber
extrusion
Another difference with the rubber extruder screw is that the channel depth is usu-
ally considerably larger than with a plastic extruder screw The larger depth is used
to reduce the shearing o the rubber and the resulting viscous heat generation
There is a large variety o rubber extruder screws as is the case with plastic extruder
screws Figure 24 shows the ldquoPlastiscrewrdquo manuactured by NRM
Figure 983090983092
The NRM Plastiscrew
Figure 25 shows the Pirelli rubber extruder screw This design uses a eed section
o large diameter reducing quickly to the much smaller diameter o the pumping
section The conical eed section uses a large clearance between screw flight and
barrel wall This causes a large amount o leakage over the flight and improves the
batch-mixing capability o the extruder
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983088 983090Different Types of Extruders
Figure 983090983093
The Pirelli rubber extruder screw
Figure 26 shows the EVK screw by Werner amp Pfleiderer [14] This design eatures
cross-channel barriers with preceding undercuts in the flights to provide a change
in flow direction and increased shearing as the material flows over the barrier or the
undercut in the flight A rather unusual design is the Transermix [10ndash13] extrudermixer which has been used or compounding rubber ormulations This machine
eatures helical channels in both the screw and barrel see Fig 27
Figure 983090983094
The EVK screw by Werner amp Pfleiderer
Vent
Feed
Figure 27 The Transfermix extruder
By a varying root diameter o the screw the material is orced in the flow channel
o the barrel A reduction o the depth o the barrel channel orces the material
back into the screw channel This requent reorientation provides good mixing
However the machine is difficult to manuacture and expensive to repair in case o
damageAnother rubber extruder is the QSM extruder [7 15ndash20] QSM stands or the Ger-
man words ldquoQuer Strom Mischrdquo meaning cross-flow mixing This extruder has
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983090983089 The Single Screw Extruder 983090983089
adjustable pins in the extruder barrel that protrude all the way into the screw chan-
nel see Fig 28
Figure 28 The QSM extruder (pin barrel extruder)
The screw flight has slots at the various pin locations The advantages o this ex-
truder in rubber applications are good mixing capability with a low stock tempera-
ture increase and low specific energy consumption This extruder was developed by
Harms in Germany and is manuactured and sold by Troester and other companies
Even though the QSM extruder has become popular in the rubber industry its appli-
cations clearly extend beyond just rubber extrusion In thermoplastic extrusion its
most obvious application would be in high viscosity thermally less stable resins
PVC could possibly be a candidate although dead spots may create problems with
degradation However it can probably be applied wherever good mixing and good
temperature control are requiredAnother typical rubber extrusion piece o hardware is the roller die A schematic
representation is shown in Fig 29
Figure 29 The roller die used in rubber extrusion
The roller die (B F Goodrich 1933) is a combination o a standard sheet die and a
calender It allows high throughput by reducing the diehead pressure it reduces air
entrapment and provides good gauge control
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983090983090 983090Different Types of Extruders
983090983089983092High-Speed Extrusion
One way to achieve high throughputs is to use high-speed extrusion High-speed
extrusion has been used in twin screw compounding or many yearsmdashsince the
1960s However in single screw extrusion high speed extrusion has not been usedon a significant scale until about 1995 Twin screw extruders (TSE) used in com-
pounding typically run at screw speeds ranging rom 200 to 500 rpm in some cases
screw speeds beyond 1000 rpm are possible Single screw extruders (SSE) usually
operate at screw speeds between 50 to 150 rpm
Since approx 1995 several extruder manuacturers have worked on developing
high-speed single screw extruders (HS-SSE) Most o these developments have taken
place at German extruder manuacturers such as Batteneld Reienhaumluser Kuhne
and Esde Currently HS-SSEs are commercially available and have been in use orseveral years [108]
Batteneld supplies a high speed 75-mm SSE that can run at screw speeds up to
1500 rpm [109] This machine can achieve throughputs up to 2200 kg hr It uses a
our-motor CMG torque drive with 390 kW made by K amp A Knoedler
983090983089983092983089Melt Temperature
One o the interesting characteristics o the HS-SSE is that the melt temperature
remains more or less constant over a broad range o screw speed [108 109] see
Fig 210
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0
T h r o u g
h p u t [ k g h r ]
75-mm extruder PS 486
P Rieg Battenfeld HJ Renner BASF
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200
Screw speed [revmin]
250
240
230
220
210
200
M e l t t e m
p e r a t u r e [ o C ]
Figure 983090983089983088
Throughput and melt
temperature versus
screw speed
This graph shows both the throughput in kg hr and the melt temperature in degC The
temperature curve indicates that there is less than a 2degC change in melt tempera-ture rom 200 rpm up to about 1000 rpm At screw speeds rom 110 rpm to 225 rpm
the melt temperature actually drops rom about 223 to about 215degC
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983090983089 The Single Screw Extruder 983090983091
In conventional extruders the melt temperature typically increases with screw
speed This ofen creates problems when we deal with high-viscosity polymers par-
ticularly when they have limited thermal stability In the example shown in Fig 210
the melt temperature is essentially constant as screw speed increases rom 200 to
1000 rpm This is probably the result o two actors the residence time o the poly-mer melt is reduced with increasing screw speed and the volume o the molten poly-
mer likely reduces with increasing screw speed as the melting length becomes
longer with increased screw speed
983090983089983092983090Extruders without Gear Reducer
An important advantage o high-speed SSE is that a conventional gear reducer is no
longer necessary The gear reducer is one o the largest cost actors or a conven-
tional extruder As a result extruders without a gear reducer are significantly lessexpensive compared to conventional extruders that achieve the same rate A urther
advantage o the elimination o the gear reducer is a significant reduction in noise
level Contrary to what one would expect HS-SSE actually run very quiet the noise
level is substantially lower than it is or conventional extruders with gear reducers
983090983089983092983091Energy Consumption
Another benefit o high-speed SSE is the reduction in energy consumption Rieg
[108 109] reports the ollowing mechanical specific energy consumption
The reduction in energy consumption listed in Table 22 is significant between 35
and 45 I the extruder runs PP at 2000 kg hr a reduction in SEC o 010 kWh kg
corresponds to a reduction in power consumption o 200 kW every hour I the power
cost is $010 per kWh (or consistency) the savings per hour will be $20 per hour
$480 per day $3360 per week and $168000 per year at 50 weeks per year Clearly
this can have a significant effect on the profitability o an extrusion operation
Table 22 Specific Energy Consumption for Standard Extruder and High-Speed Extruder
Type of extruder SEC with polystyrene [kWhkg] SEC with polypropylene [kWhkg]
Standard extruder 019minus021 027minus029
High-speed extruder 010minus012 017minus019
983090983089983092983092Change-over Resin Consumption
Another important issue in efficient extrusion is the time and material used when a
change in resin is made With high-speed extruders the change-over time is quite
short because the volume occupied by the plastic is small while the throughput is
very high
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983090983092 983090Different Types of Extruders
Table 23 shows a comparison o the high-speed 75-mm extruder to a conventional
180-mm extruder running at the same throughput The amount o material con-
sumed in the change-over is 150 kg or the 75-mm extruder and 1300 kg or the
180-mm extruder I we assume a resin cost o $100 per kg the savings are
$115000 per change-over I we have three change-overs per week the yearly sav-ings in reduced resin usage comes to $172500 per year Clearly this is not an insig-
nificant amount
Table 23 Comparison of Change-Over Time and Material Consumption
75-mm extruder 180-mm extruder
Volume in the extruder [liter] 4 40
Material consumption for change-over [kg] 150 1300
Change-over time [min] 5 40
983090983089983092983093 Change-over Time and Residence Time
Table 23 also shows that the change-over time or the 75-mm extruder is approx
5 minutes while it is approx 40 minutes in the 180-mm extruder Clearly the
reduced change-over time results rom the act that the volume occupied by the plas-
tic is much smaller (4 liter) in the 75-mm extruder than in the 180-mm extruder
(40 liter) I the change-over time can be reduced rom 40 to 5 minutes this means
that 35 minutes are now available to run production resulting in greater up-time othe extrusion line
The small volume o the HS-SSE also results in short residence times The mean
residence time ranges rom approx 5 to 10 seconds In conventional SSE the resi-
dence times are substantially longer typically between 50 to 100 seconds Since
HS-SSE can run at relatively low melt temperatures the chance o degradation is
actually less in these extruders There is ample evidence in actual high-speed ex-
trusion operations that the plastic is less susceptible to degradation in these opera-
tions
983090983090The Multiscrew Extruder
221The Twin Screw Extruder
A twin screw extruder is a machine with two Archimedean screws Admittedly this
is a very general definition However as soon as the definition is made more spe-
cific it is limited to a specific class o twin screw extruders There is a tremendous
variety o twin screw extruders with vast differences in design principle o opera-
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983090983090 The Multiscrew Extruder 983090983093
tion and field o application It is thereore difficult to make general comments
about twin screw extruders The differences between the various twin screw extrud-
ers are much larger than the differences between single screw extruders This is to
be expected since the twin screw construction substantially increases the number
o design variables such as direction o rotation degree o intermeshing etc A clas-sification o twin screw extruders is shown in Table 24 This classification is pri-
marily based on the geometrical configuration o the twin screw extruder Some
twin screw extruders unction in much the same ashion as single screw extruders
Other twin screw extruders operate quite differently rom single screw extruders
and are used in very different applications The design o the various twin screw
extruders with their operational and unctional aspects will be covered in more
detail in Chapter 10
Table 24 Classification of Twin Screw Extruders
Intermeshing extruders
Co-rotating extrudersLow speed extruders for profile extrusion
High speed extruders for compounding
Counter-rotating extruders
Conical extruders for profile extrusion
Parallel extruders for profile extrusion
High speed extruders for compounding
Non-intermeshing
extruders
Counter-rotating extrudersEqual screw length
Unequal screw length
Co-rotating extruders Not used in practice
Co-axial extruders
Inner melt transport forward
Inner melt transport rearward
Inner solids transport rearward
Inner plasticating with rearward transport
983090983090983090The Multiscrew Extruder With More Than Two Screws
There are several types o extruders which incorporate more than two screws One
relatively well-known example is the planetary roller extruder see Fig 211
Planetary screws
Sun (main) screw Melting and feed section
Discharge
Figure 211 The planetary roller extruder
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983090983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
This extruder looks similar to a single screw extruder The eed section is in act
the same as on a standard single screw extruder However the mixing section o the
extruder looks considerably different In the planetary roller section o the extruder
six or more planetary screws evenly spaced revolve around the circumerence o
the main screw In the planetary screw section the main screw is reerred to as thesun screw The planetary screws intermesh with the sun screw and the barrel The
planetary barrel section thereore must have helical grooves corresponding to the
helical flights on the planetary screws This planetary barrel section is generally a
separate barrel section with a flange-type connection to the eed barrel section
In the first part o the machine beore the planetary screws the material moves
orward as in a regular single screw extruder As the material reaches the planetary
section being largely plasticated at this point it is exposed to intensive mixing by
the rolling action between the planetary screws the sun screw and the barrel Thehelical design o the barrel sun screw and planetary screws result in a large sur-
ace area relative to the barrel length The small clearance between the planetary
screws and the mating suraces about frac14 mm allows thin layers o compound to be
exposed to large surace areas resulting in effective devolatilization heat exchange
and temperature control Thus heat-sensitive compounds can be processed with a
minimum o degradation For this reason the planetary gear extruder is requently
used or extrusion compounding o PVC ormulations both rigid and plasticized
[21 22] Planetary roller sections are also used as add-ons to regular extruders to
improve mixing perormance [97 98] Another multiscrew extruder is the our-screw extruder shown in Fig 212
Figure 983090983089983090
Four-screw extruder
This machine is used primarily or devolatilization o solvents rom 40 to as low as
03 [23] Flash devolatilization occurs in a flash dome attached to the barrel The
polymer solution is delivered under pressure and at temperatures above the boiling
point o the solvent The solution is then expanded through a nozzle into the flash
dome The oamy material resulting rom the flash devolatilization is then trans-
ported away by the our screws In many cases downstream vent sections will beincorporated to urther reduce the solvent level
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983090983090 The Multiscrew Extruder 983090983095
983090983090983091The Gear Pump Extruder
Gear pumps are used in some extrusion operations at the end o a plasticating
extruder either single screw or twin screw [99ndash106] Strictly speaking the gear
pump is a closely intermeshing counterrotating twin screw extruder However sincegear pumps are solely used to generate pressure they are generally not reerred to
as an extruder although the gear pump is an extruder One o the main advantages
o the gear pump is its good pressure-generating capability and its ability to main-
tain a relatively constant outlet pressure even i the inlet pressure fluctuates con-
siderably Some fluctuation in the outlet pressure will result rom the intermeshing
o the gear teeth This fluctuation can be reduced by a helical orientation o the gear
teeth instead o an axial orientation
Gear pumps are sometimes reerred to as positive displacement devices This is notcompletely correct because there must be mechanical clearances between the gears
and the housing which causes leakage Thereore the gear pump output is depend-
ent on pressure although the pressure sensitivity will generally be less than that o
a single screw extruder The actual pressure sensitivity will be determined by the
design clearances the polymer melt viscosity and the rotational speed o the gears
A good method to obtain constant throughput is to maintain a constant pressure di-
erential across the pump This can be done by a relatively simple pressure eedback
control on the extruder eeding into the gear pump [102] The non-zero clearances
in the gear pump will cause a transormation o mechanical energy into heat by vis-cous heat generation see Section 534 Thus the energy efficiency o actual gear
pumps is considerably below 100 the pumping efficiency generally ranges rom
15 to 35 The other 65 to 85 goes into mechanical losses and viscous heat gene-
ration Mechanical losses usually range rom about 20 to 40 and viscous heating
rom about 40 to 50 As a result the polymer melt going through the gear pump
will experience a considerable temperature rise typically 5 to 10degC However in
some cases the temperature rise can be as much as 20 to 30degC Since the gear
pump has limited energy efficiency the combination extruder-gear pump is not nec-
essarily more energy-efficient than the extruder without the gear pump Only i the
extruder eeding into the gear pump is very inefficient in its pressure development
will the addition o a gear pump allow a reduction in energy consumption This
could be the case with co-rotating twin screw extruders or single screw extruders
with inefficient screw design
The mixing capacity o gear pumps is very limited This was clearly demonstrated
by Kramer [106] by comparing melt temperature fluctuation beore and afer the
gear pump which showed no distinguishable improvement in melt temperature uni-
ormity Gear pumps are ofen added to extruders with unacceptable output fluc-tuations In many cases this constitutes treating the symptoms but not curing the
actual problem Most single screw extruders i properly designed can maintain
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983090983096 983090Different Types of Extruders
their output to within plusmn 1 I the output fluctuation is considerably larger than 1
there is probably something wrong with the machine very ofen incorrect screw
design In these cases solving the actual problem will generally be more efficient
than adding a gear pump For an efficient extruder-gear pump system the extruder
screw has to be modified to reduce the pressure-generating capacity o the screw
Gear pumps can be used advantageously
1 On extruders with poor pressure-generating capability (e g co-rotating twin
screws multi-stage vented extruders etc)
2 When output stability is required better than 1 i e in close tolerance extru-
sion (e g fiber spinning cable extrusion medical tubing coextrusion etc)
Gear pumps can cause problems when
1 The polymer contains abrasive components because o the small clearances thegear pump is very susceptible to wear
2 When the polymer is susceptible to degradation gear pumps are not sel-clean-
ing and combined with the exposure to high temperatures this will result in
degraded product
983090983091Disk Extruders
There are a number o extruders which do not utilize an Archimedean screw or
transport o the material but still all in the class o continuous extruders Some-
times these machines are reerred to as screwless extruders These machines
employ some kind o disk or drum to extrude the material One can classiy the disk
extruders according to their conveying mechanism (see Table 21) Most o the disk
extruders are based on viscous drag transport One special disk extruder utilizes
the elasticity o polymer melts to convey the material and to develop the necessary
diehead pressure
Disk extruders have been around or a long time at least since 1950 However at
this point in time the industrial significance o disk extruders is still relatively small
compared to screw extruders
983090983091983089Viscous Drag Disk Extruders
983090983091983089983089Stepped Disk Extruder
One o the first disk extruders was developed by Westover at Bell Telephone Labo-
ratories it is ofen reerred to as a stepped disk extruder or slider pad extruder [24]
A schematic picture o the extruder is shown in Fig 213
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983090983097
In
Out
Figure 983090983089983091
The stepped disk
The heart o the machine is the stepped disk positioned a small distance rom a flat
disk When one o the disks is rotated with a polymer melt in the axial gap a pres-
sure build-up will occur at the transition o one gap size to another smaller gap sizesee Fig 214
v
Distance
P r e s s u r e
Figure 983090983089983092
Pressure generation in the step region
I exit channels are incorporated into the stepped disk the polymer can be extruded
in a continuous ashion The design o this extruder is based on Rayleighrsquos [25]
analysis o hydrodynamic lubrication in various geometries He concluded that the
parallel stepped pad was capable o supporting the greatest load The stepped disk
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983091983088 983090Different Types of Extruders
extruder has also been designed in a different configuration using a gradual change
in gap size This extruder has a wedge-shaped disk with a gradual increase in pres-
sure with radial distance
A practical disadvantage o the stepped disk extruder is the act that the machine is
difficult to clean because o the intricate design o the flow channels in the stepped
disk
983090983091983089983090Drum Extruder
Another rather old concept is the drum extruder A schematic picture o a machine
manuactured by Schmid amp Kocher in Switzerland is shown in Fig 215
In
OutOutIn
Figure 983090983089983093 The drum extruder by Schmid amp Kocher
Material is ed by a eed hopper into an annular space between rotor and barrel By
the rotational motion o the rotor the material is carried along the circumerence o
the barrel Just beore the material reaches the eed hopper it encounters a wiper
bar This wiper bar scrapes the polymer rom the rotor and deflects the polymer flow
into a channel that leads to the extruder die Several patents [26 27] were issued on
this design however these patents have long since expired
A very similar extruder (see Fig 216) was developed by Askco Engineering andCosden Oil amp Chemical in a joint venture later this became Permian Research Two
patents have been issued on this design [28 29] even though the concept is very
similar to the Schmid amp Kocher design
One special eature o this design is the capability to adjust the local gap by means
o a choker bar similar to the gap adjustment in a flat sheet die see Section 92 The
choker bar in this drum extruder is activated by adjustable hydraulic oil pressure
Drum extruders have not been able to be a serious competition to the single screw
extruder over the last 50 years
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983091983089
Hopper
DieRotor
Housing
Wiper bar
Hopper
Wiper bar
DieRotor
Housing
Figure 983090983089983094
The drum extruder by AskoCosden
983090983091983089983091Spiral Disk Extruder
The spiral disk extruder is another type o disk extruder that has been known or
many years Several patented designs were described by Schenkel (Chapter 1 [3])
Similar to the stepped disk extruder the development o the spiral disk extruder
is closely connected to spiral groove bearings It has long been known that spiral
groove bearings are capable o supporting substantial loads Ingen Housz [30] has
analyzed the melt conveying in a spiral disk extruder with logarithmic grooves in
the disk based on Newtonian flow behavior o the polymer melt In terms o melt
conveying capability the spiral disk extruder seems comparable to the screw ex-truder however the solids conveying capability is questionable
983090983091983089983092Diskpack Extruder
Another development in disk extruders is the diskpack extruder Tadmor originated
the idea o the diskpack machine which is covered under several patents [31ndash33]
The development o the machine was undertaken by the Farrel Machinery Group o
Emgart Corporation in cooperation with Tadmor [34ndash39] The basic concept o the
machine is shown in Fig 217Material drops in the axial gap between relatively thin disks mounted on a rotating
shaf The material will move with the disks almost a ull turn then it meets a chan-
nel block The channel block closes off the space between the disks and deflects the
polymer flow to either an outlet channel or to a transer channel in the barrel The
shape o the disks can be optimized or specific unctions solids conveying melting
devolatilization melt conveying and mixing A detailed unctional analysis can be
ound in Tadmorrsquos book on polymer processing (Chapter 1 [32])
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983091983090 983090Different Types of Extruders
v
v
Channel blockInlet
Outlet
Barrel
Solid bed
Shaft
Melt pool
Inlet Channel block
Outlet
Melt pool
Solid bed
Barrel
Shaft
v
v Figure 983090983089983095
The diskpack extruder
It is claimed that this machine can perorm all basic polymer-processing operations
with efficiency equaling or surpassing existing machinery Clearly i the claim is
true and can be delivered or a competitive price the diskpack extruder will become
an important machine in the extrusion industry The first diskpack machines were
delivered to the industry in 1982 still under a joint development type o agreement
Now almost 20 years afer the first diskpack machines were delivered it is clear
that the acceptance o these machines in the industry has been very limited In act
Farrel no longer actively markets the diskpack machine In most o the publications
the diskpack machine is reerred to as a polymer processor This term is probably
used to indicate that this machine can do more than just extruding although the
diskpack is o course an extruder
The diskpack machine incorporates some o the eatures o the drum extruder and
the single screw extruder One can think o the diskpack as a single screw extruder
using a screw with zero helix angle and very deep flights Forward axial transportcan only take place by transport channels in the barrel with the material orced into
those channels by a restrictor bar as with the drum extruder The use o restrictor
bars (channel block) and transer channels in the housing make it considerably
more complex than the barrel o a single screw extruder
One o the advantages o the diskpack is that mixing blocks and spreading dams can
be incorporated into the machine as shown in Fig 218(a)
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983091983091
v
v
Channel blockInlet
Outlet
Mixing block
Disk
Inlet Channel block
Outlet
Mixing blockDisk v
v Figure 983090983089983096(a)
Mixing blocks in the diskpack
Mixing blocks o various shapes can be positioned externally into the processing
chamber This is similar to the QSM extruder only that in the QSM extruder the
screw flight has to be interrupted to avoid contact This is not necessary in the disk-
pack because the flights have zero helix angles in other words they run perpen-
dicular to the rotor axis By the number o blocks the geometry o the block and the
clearance between block and disk one can tailor the mixing capability to the par-
ticular application The use o spreading dams allows the generation o a thin film
with a large surace area this results in effective devolatilization capability The
diskpack has inherently higher pressure-generating capability than the single
screw extruder does This is because the diskpack has two dragging suraces while
the single screw extruder has only one see Fig 218(b)
v
v=0
v
v
Conveying mechanismsingle screw extruder
Conveying mechanism
diskpack extruder Figure 983090983089983096(b)
Comparison of conveying mechanism in diskpackand single screw extruder
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983091983092 983090Different Types of Extruders
At the same net flow rate equal viscosity equal plate velocity and optimum plate
separation the theoretical maximum pressure gradient o the diskpack is eight
times higher than the single screw extruder [34] Thus high pressures can be gen-
erated over a short distance which allows a more compact machine design The
energy efficiency o the pressure generation is also better than in the single screwextruder the maximum pumping efficiency approaches 100 see derivation in
Appendix 21 For the single screw extruder the maximum pumping efficiency is
only 33 as discussed in Section 7413 The energy efficiency o pressure genera-
tion is the ratio o the theoretical energy requirement (flow rate times pressure rise)
to the actual energy requirement (wall velocity times shear stress integrated over
wall surace) It should be noted that the two dragging platesrsquo pumping mechanism
exists only in tangential direction The pumping in axial (orward) direction occurs
only in the transer channel in the housing This orward pumping occurs by the one
dragging plate mechanism as in the single screw extruder The maximum efficiency
or orward pumping thereore is only 33 The overall pumping efficiency will be
somewhere between 33 and 100 i the power consumption in the disk and channel
block clearance is neglected
Studies on melting in the diskpack were reported by Valsamis et al [96] It was
ound that two types o melting mechanism could take place in the diskpack the
drag melt removal (DMR) mechanism and the dissipative melt mixing (DMM) mech-
anism The DMR melting mechanism is the predominant mechanism in single screw
extruders this is discussed in detail in Section 73 In the DMR melting mechanismthe solids and melt coexist as two largely continuous and separate phases In the
DMM melting mechanism the solids are dispersed in the melt there is no conti-
nuous solid bed It was ound that the DMM mechanism could be induced by pro-
moting back leakage o the polymer melt past the channel block This can be con-
trolled by varying the clearance between the channel block and the disks The
advantage o the DMM melting mechanism is that the melting rate can be substan-
tially higher than with the DMR mechanism reportedly by as much as a actor o 3
[96]
Among all elementary polymer processing unctions the solids conveying in a disk-
pack extruder has not been discussed to any extent in the open technical literature
Considering that the solids conveying mechanism is a rictional drag mechanism
(as in single screw extruders) and not a positive displacement type o transport (as
in intermeshing counterrotating twin screw extruders see Sections 102 and 104)
it can be expected that the diskpack will have solids conveying limitations similar
to those o single screw extruders see Section 722 This means that powders
blends o powders and pellets slippery materials etc are likely to encounter solids
conveying problems in a diskpack extruder unless special measures are taken toenhance the solids conveying capability (e g crammer eeder grooves in the disks
etc)
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983091983093
Because o the more complex machine geometry the cost per unit throughput o the
diskpack is higher than or the conventional single screw extruder Thereore the
diskpack does not compete directly with single screw extruders
Applications or the diskpack are specialty polymer processing operations such as
polymerization post-reactor processing (devolatilization) continuous compound-
ing etc As such the diskpack competes mostly with twin screw extruders Pres-
ently twin screw extruders are usually the first choice when it comes to specialty
polymer processing operations
983090983091983090The Elastic Melt Extruder
The elastic melt extruder was developed in the late 1950s by Maxwell and Scalora[40 41] The extruder makes use o the viscoelastic in particular the elastic pro-
perties o polymer melts When a viscoelastic fluid is exposed to a shearing deor-
mation normal stresses will develop in the fluid that are not equal in all directions
as opposed to a purely viscous fluid In the elastic melt extruder the polymer is
sheared between two plates one stationary and one rotating see Fig 219
Hopper
Heaters
Solid polymer
Die
Extrudate
Polymer melt
Rotor
Solid polymerHopper
Heaters
Die
Extrudate
Polymer melt
Rotor
Figure 983090983089983097
The elastic melt extruder
As the polymer is sheared normal stresses will generate a centripetal pumping
action Thus the polymer can be extruded through the central opening in the sta-
tionary plate in a continuous ashion Because normal stresses generate the pump-
ing action this machine is sometimes reerred to as a normal stress extruderThis extruder is quite interesting rom a rheological point o view since it is prob-
ably the only extruder that utilizes the elasticity o the melt or its conveying Thus
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983091983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
several detailed experimental and theoretical studies have been devoted to the elas-
tic melt extruder [42ndash47]
The detailed study by Fritz [44] concluded that transport by normal stresses only
could be as much as two orders o magnitude lower than a corresponding system
with orced eed In addition substantial temperature gradients developed in the
polymer causing substantial degradation in high molecular weight polyolefins The
scant market acceptance o the elastic melt extruder would tend to confirm Fritzrsquos
conclusions
Several modifications have been proposed to improve the perormance o the elastic
melt extruder Fritz [43] suggested incorporation o spiral grooves to improve the
pressure generating capability essentially combining the elastic melt extruder and
the spiral disk extruder into one machine In Russia [47] several modifications
were made to the design o the elastic melt extruder One o those combined a screwextruder with the elastic melt extruder to eliminate the eeding and plasticating
problem Despite all o these activities the elastic melt extruder has not been able to
acquire a position o importance in the extrusion industry
983090983091983091Overview of Disk Extruders
Many attempts have been made in the past to come up with a continuous plasticat-
ing extruder o simple design that could perorm better than the single screw ex-truder It seems air to say that at this point in time no disk extruder has been able
to meet this goal The simple disk extruders do not perorm nearly as well as the
single screw extruder The more complex disk extruder such as the diskpack can
possibly outperorm the single screw extruder However this is at the expense o
design simplicity thus increasing the cost o the machine Disk extruders there-
ore have not been able to seriously challenge the position o the single screw
extruder This is not to say however that it is not possible or this to happen some
time in the uture But considering the long dominance o the single screw extruder
it is not probable that a new disk extruder will come along that can challenge the
single screw extruder
983090983092Ram Extruders
Ram or plunger extruders are simple in design rugged and discontinuous in their
mode o operation Ram extruders are essentially positive displacement devices and
are able to generate very high pressures Because o the intermittent operation o
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983091983095
ram extruders they are ideally suited or cyclic processes such as injection molding
and blow molding In act the early molding machines were almost exclusively
equipped with ram extruders to supply the polymer melt to the mold Certain limita-
tions o the ram extruder have caused a switch to reciprocating screw extruders or
combinations o the two The two main limitations are
1 Limited melting capacity
2 Poor temperature uniormity o the polymer melt
Presently ram extruders are used in relatively small shot size molding machines
and certain specialty operations where use is made o the positive displacement
characteristics and the outstanding pressure generation capability There are basic-
ally two types o ram extruders single ram extruders and multi ram extruders
983090983092983089Single Ram Extruders
The single ram extruder is used in small general purpose molding machines but
also in some special polymer processing operations One such operation is the ex-
trusion o intractable polymers such as ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene
(UHMWPE) or polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) These polymers are not considered to
be melt processable on conventional melt processing equipment Teledynamik [48]
has built a ram injection-molding machine under a license rom Th Engel who
developed the prototype machine This machine is used to mold UHMWPE under
very high pressures The machine uses a reciprocating plunger that densifies the
cold incoming material with a pressure up to 300 MPa (about 44000 psi) The re-
quency o the ram can be adjusted continuously with a maximum o 250 strokes
minute The densified material is orced through heated channels into the heated
cylinder where final melting takes place The material is then injected into a mold
by a telescoping injection ram Pressures up to 100 MPa (about 14500 psi) occur
during the injection o the polymer into the mold
Another application is the extrusion o PTFE with again the primary ingredient orsuccessul extrusion being very high pressures Granular PTFE can be extruded at
slow rates in a ram extruder [49ndash51] The powder is compacted by the ram orced
into a die where the material is heated above the melting point and shaped into the
desired orm PTFE is ofen processed as a PTFE paste [52 53] This is small particle
size PTFE powder (about 02 mm) mixed with a processing aid such as naphta PTFE
paste can be extruded at room temperature or slightly above room temperature
Afer extrusion the processing aid is removed by heating the extrudate above its
volatilization temperature The extruded PTFE paste product may be sintered i the
application requires a more ully coalesced product
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983091983096 983090Different Types of Extruders
983090983092983089983089Solid State Extrusion
An extrusion technique that has slowly been gaining popularity is solid-state extru-
sion The polymer is orced through a die while it is below its melting point This
causes substantial deormation o the polymer in the die but since the polymer is in
the solid state a very effective molecular orientation takes place This orientation ismuch more effective than the one which occurs in conventional melt processing As
a result extraordinary mechanical properties can be obtained
Solid-state extrusion is a technique borrowed rom the metal industry where solid-
state extrusion has been used commercially since the late 1940s Bridgman [54]
was one o the first to do a systematic study on the effect o pressure on the mechan-
ical properties o metals He also studied polymers and ound that the glass tran-
sition temperature was raised by the application o pressure
There are two methods o solid-state extrusion one is direct solid-state extrusionthe other is hydrostatic extrusion In direct solid-state extrusion a pre-ormed solid
rod o material (a billet) is in direct contact with the plunger and the walls o the
extrusion die see Fig 220 The material is extruded as the ram is pushed towards
the die
Plunger
Billet
Barrel
DieExtrudate Figure 983090983090983088
Direct solid state extrusion
In hydrostatic extrusion the pressure required or extrusion is transmitted rom the
plunger to the billet through a lubricating liquid usually castor oil The billet must
be shaped to fit the die to prevent loss o fluid The hydrostatic fluid reduces the ric-
tion thereby reducing the extrusion pressure see Fig 221
In hydrostatic extrusion the pressure-generating device or the fluid does not neces-
sarily have to be in close proximity to the orming part o the machine The fluid canbe supplied to the extrusion device by high-pressure tubes
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983091983097
Plunger
Billet
Oil
Barrel
DieExtrudate Figure 983090983090983089
Hydrostatic solid state extrusion
Judging rom publications in the open literature most o the work on solid-state
extrusion o polymers is done at universities and research institutes It is possible
o course that some companies are working on solid-state extrusion but are keeping
the inormation proprietary A major research effort in solid-state extrusion has
been made at the University o Amherst Massachusetts [50ndash64] University o
Leeds England [65ndash72] Fyushu University Fukuoka Japan [73ndash76] Research
Institute or Polymers and Textiles Yokohama Japan [77ndash79] Battelle Columbus
Ohio [80ndash83] and Rutgers University New Brunswick New Jersey [84ndash86] As
mentioned earlier publications rom other sources are considerably less plentiul
[87ndash90] Efforts have also been made to achieve the same high degree o orientation
in a more or less conventional extrusion process by special die design and tempera-
ture control in the die region [91]
Table 25 shows a comparison o mechanical properties between steel aluminum
solid state extruded HDPE and HDPE extruded by conventional means
Table 25 clearly indicates that the mechanical properties o solid-state extruded
HDPE are much superior to the melt extruded HDPE In act the tensile strength o
solid-state extruded HDPE is about the same as carbon steel There are some other
interesting benefits associated with solidstate extrusion o polymers There is essen-
tially no die swell at high extrusion ratios (extrusion ratio is the ratio o the area in
the cylinder to the area in the die) Thus the dimensions o the extrudate closely
conorm to those o the die exit The surace o the extrudate produced by hydro-
static extrusion has a lower coefficient o riction than that o the un-oriented poly-
mer Above a certain extrusion ratio (about ten) polyethylene and polypropylene
become transparent Further solid-state extruded polymers maintain their ten-sile properties at elevated temperatures Polyethylene maintains its modulus up to
120degC when it is extruded in the solid state at a high extrusion ratio The thermal
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983092983088 983090Different Types of Extruders
conductivity in the extrusion direction is much higher than that o the un-oriented
polymer as much as 25 times higher The melting point o the solid-state extruded
polymer increases with the amount o orientation The melting point o HDPE can be
shifed to as high as 140degC
Table 25 Comparison of Mechanical Properties
Material Tensile modulus[MPa]
Tensile strength[MPa]
Elongation[]
Density[gcc]
Annealed SAE 1020 210000 410 35 786
W-200 degF SAE 1020 210000 720 6 786
Annealed 304 stainless
steel
200000 590 50 792
Aluminum 1100ndash0 70000 90 45 271
HDPE solid state
extruded
70000 480 3 097
HDPE melt extruded 10000 30 20ndash1000 096
A recent application o solid-state extrusion is the process developed by Synthetic
Hardwood Technologies Inc [107] This company has developed an expanded ori-
ented wood-filled polypropylene (EOW-PP) that is about 300 stronger than regular
PP The process is based on technology developed at Aluminum Company o Canada
Ltd (Alcan) in the early 1990s to solidstate extrude PP It involves ram extrusion
drawing o billets o PP just below the melting point with very high draw ratio and
high haul-off tension (about 3 MPa) to reeze-in the high level o orientation Alcan
did not pursue the technology and Symplastics Ltd licensed the patented process
this company started experimenting with adding small amounts o wood flour to the
PP However Symplastics ound the research and development too costly and sold
the patents and lab extrusion equipment to Frank Maine who set up SHW to com-
mercialize applications or the EOW-PP The key to the SHW process is that it com-
bines extrusion with drawing As the polymer is oriented the density drops about
50 rom about 1 g cc to 05 g cc The die drawing also allowed substantial in-creases in line speed rom about 0050 m min to about 9 m min The properties
achieved with EOW-PP are shown in Table 24 and compared to regular PP wood
and oriented PP
Solid-state extrusion has been practiced with coextrusion o different polymers [93]
Despite the large amount o research on solid-state extrusion and the outstanding
mechanical properties that can be obtained there does not seem to be much interest
in the polymer industry The main drawbacks o course are that solid-state extru-
sion is basically a discontinuous process it cannot be done on conventional polymer
processing equipment and very high pressures are required to achieve solid-stateextrusion Also one should keep in mind that very good mechanical properties can
be obtained by taking a profile (fiber film tube etc) produced by conventional con-
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983092983089
tinuous extrusion and exposing it to controlled deormation at a temperature below
the melting point This is a well-established technique in many extrusion operations
(fiber spinning film extrusion etc) and it can be done at a high rate This method
o producing extrudates with very good mechanical properties is likely to be more
cost-effective than solid-state extrusion It is possible that the die drawing processdeveloped by SHW can make solid-state extrusion more attractive commercially by
allowing large profiles to be processed at reasonable line speeds
Table 26 Mechanical Properties of PP Wood OPP and EOW-PP
Flexural strength [MPa] Flexural modulus [MPa]
Regular PP 50 1850
Wood 100 9000
Oriented PP 275 7600EOW-PP 140 7600
983090983092983090Multi Ram Extruder
As mentioned beore the main disadvantage o ram extruders is their intermittent
operation Several attempts have been made to overcome this problem by designing
multi-ram extruders that work together in such a way as to produce a continuousflow o material
Westover [94] designed a continuous ram extruder that combined our plunger-
cylinders Two plunger-cylinders were used or plasticating and two or pumping
An intricate shuttle valve connecting all the plunger cylinders provides continuous
extrusion
Another attempt to develop a continuous ram extruder was made by Yi and Fenner
[95] They designed a twin ram extruder with the cylinders in a V-configuration see
Fig 222The two rams discharge into a common barrel in which a plasticating shaf is rotat-
ing Thus solids conveying occurs in the two separate cylinders and plasticating
and melt conveying occurs in the annular region between the barrel and plasticat-
ing shaf The machine is able to extrude however the throughput uniormity is
poor The perormance could probably have been improved i the plasticating shaf
had been provided with a helical channel But o course then the machine would
have become a screw extruder with a ram-assisted eed This only goes to demon-
strate that it is ar rom easy to improve upon the simple screw extruder
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983092983090 983090Different Types of Extruders
Die Breaker plate
Plasticating shaft
Main
block
Feed cylinder
Figure 222 Twin ram extruder
983090983092983091 Appendix 983090983089
983090983092983091983089 Pumping Efficiency in Diskpack Extruder
The velocity profile between the moving walls is a parabolic unction when the fluid
is a Newtonian fluid see Section 621 and Fig 223
y
z H
Small pressure gradient
Medium pressure gradient
Large pressure gradient
Figure 983090983090983091
Velocity profiles between moving
walls
The velocity profile or a Newtonian fluid is
L8
PH
H
y41vv(y)
2
2
2
∆micro∆
minusminus= (1)
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983092983091
where v is the velocity o the plates H the distance between the plates and μ the
viscosity o the fluid The flow rate can be ound by integrating v(y) over the width
and depth o the channel this yields
L12
PWHvWHV
3
∆micro∆minus=
bull
(2)
The first term on the right-hand side o the equalation is the drag flow term The
second term is the pressure flow term The ratio o pressure flow to drag flow is
termed the throttle ratio rd (see Section 7413)
r d =Lv12
PH2
∆micro
∆ (3)
The flow rate can now be written as
(4)
The shear stress at the wall is obtained rom
dv H∆Pτ = micro =dy
05H 2∆L
(5)
The power consumption in the channel is
Zch = PvHWLvW2 ∆=∆τ (6)
The energy efficiency or pressure generation is
V∆Pε = =1 minus r
d Zch
(7)
Equation 7 is not valid or rd = 0 because in this case both numerator and denomi-
nator become zero From Eq 7 it can be seen that when the machine is operated atlow rd values the pumping efficiency can become close to 100 This is considerably
better than the single screw extruder where the optimum pumping efficiency is 33
at a throttle ratio value o 033 (rd = 13)
References
1 J LeBras ldquoRubber Fundamentals o its Science and Technologyrdquo Chemical Publ Co
NY (1957)
2 W S Penn ldquoSynthetic Rubber Technology Volume Irdquo MacLaren amp Sons Ltd London(1960)
3 W J S Naunton ldquoThe Applied Science o Rubberrdquo Edward Arnold Ltd London (1961)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3437
983092983092 983090Different Types of Extruders
4 C M Blow ldquoRubber Technology and Manuacturerdquo Butterworth amp Co Ltd London
(1971)
5 F R Eirich (Ed) ldquoScience and Technology o Rubberrdquo Academic Press NY (1978)
6 C W Evans ldquoPowdered and Particulate Rubber Technologyrdquo Applied Science Publ Ltd
London (1978)
7 G Targiel et al 10 IKV-Kolloquium Aachen March 12ndash14 45 (1980)
8 A Kennaway Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 17 378ndash391 (1964)
9 G Menges and J P Lehnen Plastverarbeiter 20 1 31ndash39 (1969)
10 M Parshall and A J Saulino Rubber World 2 5 78ndash83 (1967)
11 S E Perlberg Rubber World 2 6 71ndash76 (1967)
12 H H Gohlisch Gummi Asbest Kunststoffe 25 9 834ndash835 (1972)
13 E Harms ldquoKautschuk-Extruder Aubau und Einsatz aus verahrenstechnischer Sichtrdquo
Krausskop-Verlag Mainz Bd 2 Buchreihe Kunststo983142echnik (1974)
14 G Schwarz Eur Rubber Journal Sept 28ndash32 (1977)
15 G Menges and E G Harms Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 25 10 469ndash475 (1972)
16 G Menges and E G Harms Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 27 5 187ndash193 (1974)
17 E G Harms Elastomerics 109 6 33ndash39 (1977)
18 E G Harms Eur Rubber Journal 6 23 (1978)
19 E G Harms Kunststoffe 69 1 32ndash33 (1979)
20 E G Harms Dissertation RWTH Aachen Germany (1981)21 S H Collins Plastics Compounding Nov Dec 29 (1982)
22 D Anders Kunststoffe 69 194ndash198 (1979)
23 D Gras and K Eise SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 21 386 (1975)
24 R F Westover SPE Journal 18 12 1473 (1962)
25 Lord Raleigh Philosophical Magazine 35 1ndash12 (1918)
26 German Patent DRP 1129681
27 British Patent BP 759354
28 U S Patent 3880564
29 U S Patent 4012477
30 J F Ingen Housz Plastverarbeiter 10 1 (1975)
31 U S Patent 4142805
32 U S Patent 4194841
33 U S Patent 4213709
34 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 25 193 (1979)
35 P Hold Z Tadmor and L Valsamis SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 25 205 (1979)
36 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis Plastics Engineering Nov 20ndash25 (1979)
37 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis Plastics Engineering Dec 30ndash38 (1979)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3537
References 983092983093
38 Z Tadmor et al The Diskpack Plastics Processor Farrel Publication Jan (1982)
39 L Valsamis AIChE Meeting Washington D C Oct (1983)
40 B Maxwell and A J Scalora Modern Plastics 37 107 Oct (1959)
41 U S Patent 3 046603
42 L L Blyler PhD thesis Princeton University NJ (1966)
43 H G Fritz Kunststo983142echnik 6 430 (1968)
44 H G Fritz PhD thesis Stuttgart University Germany (1971)
45 C W Macosko and J M Starita SPE Journal 27 30 (1971)
46 P A Good A J Schwartz and C W Macosko AIChE Journal 20 1 67 (1974)
47 V L Kocherov Y L Lukach E A Sporyagin and G V Vinogradov Polym Eng Sci 13
194 (1973)
48 J Berzen and G Braun Kunststoffe 69 2 62ndash66 (1979)49 R S Porter et al J Polym Sci 17 485ndash488 (1979)
50 C A Sperati Modern Plastics Encyclopedia McGraw-Hill NY (1983)
51 S S Schwartz and S H Goodman see Chapter 1 [36]
52 G R Snelling and J F Lontz J Appl Polym Sci 3 9 257ndash265 (1960)
53 D C F Couzens Plastics and Rubber Processing March 45ndash48 (1976)
54 P W Bridgman ldquoStudies in Large Plastic Flow and Fracturerdquo McGraw-Hill NY (1952)
55 H L D Push ldquoThe Mechanical Behavior o Materials Under Pressurerdquo Elsevier Amster-
dam (1970)56 H L D Push and A H Low J Inst Metals 93 201 (196565)
57 F Slack Mach Design Oct 7 61ndash64 (1982)
58 J H Southern and R S Porter J Appl Polym Sci 14 2305 (1970)
59 J H Southern and R S Porter J Macromol Sci Phys 3ndash4 541 (1970)
60 J H Southern N E Weeks and R S Porter Macromol Chem 162 19 (1972)
61 N J Capiati and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 13 1177 (1975)
62 R S Porter J H Southern and N E Weeks Polym Eng Sci 15 213 (1975)
63 A E Zachariades E S Sherman and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 17 255
(1979)
64 A E Zachariades and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 17 277 (1979)
65 B Parsons D Bretherton and B N Cole in Advances in MTDR 11th Int Con Proc
S A Tobias and F Koeningsberger (Eds) Pergamon Press London Vol B 1049 (1971)
66 G Capaccio and I M Ward Polymer 15 233 (1974)
67 A G Gibson I M Ward B N Cole and B Parsons J Mater Sci 9 1193ndash1196 (1974)
68 A G Gibson and I M Ward J Appl Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 16 2015ndash2030 (1978)
69 P S Hope and B Parsons Polym Eng Sci 20 589ndash600 (1980)
70 P S Hope I M Ward and A G Gibson J Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 18 1242ndash1256
(1980)
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983092983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
71 P S Hope A G Gibson B Parsons and I M Ward Polym Eng Sci 20 54ndash55 (1980)
72 B Parsons and I M Ward Plast Rubber Proc Appl 2 3 215ndash224 (1982)
73 K Imada T Yamamoto K Shigematsu and M Takayanagi J Mater Sci 6 537ndash546
(1971)
74 K Nakamura K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 2 71 (1972)
75 K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 2 89 (1973)
76 K Nakamura K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 3 23 (1974)
77 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Mater Sci 10 1105 (1975)
78 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Mater Sci 12 1477 (1977)
79 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Appl Polym Sci 23 2543ndash2554 (1979)
80 D M Bigg Polym Eng Sci 16 725 (1976)
81 D M Bigg M M Epstein R J Fiorentino and E G Smith Polym Eng Sci 18 908(1978)
82 D M Bigg and M M Epstein ldquoScience and Technology o Polymer Processingrdquo N S Suh
and N Sung (Eds) 897 MIT Press (1979)
83 D M Bigg M M Epstein R J Fiorentino and E G Smith J Appl Polym Sci 26 395ndash
409 (1981)
84 K D Pae and D R Mears J Polym Sci B-6 269 (1968)
85 K D Pae D R Mears and J A Sauer J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 6 773 (1968)
86 D R Mears K P Pae and J A Sauer J Appl Phys 40 11 4229ndash4237 (1969)
87 L A Davis and C A Pampillo J Appl Phys 42 12 4659ndash4666 (1971)
88 A Buckley and H A Long Polym Eng Sci 9 2 115ndash120 (1969)
89 L A Davis Polym Eng Sci 14 9 641ndash645 (1974)
90 R K Okine and N P Suh Polym Eng Sci 22 5 269ndash279 (1982)
91 J R Collier T Y T Tam J Newcome and N Dinos Polym Eng Sci 16 204ndash211 (1976)
92 J H Faupel and F E Fisher ldquoEngineering Designrdquo Wiley NY (1981)
93 A E Zachariades R Ball and R S Porter J Mater Sci 13 2671ndash2675 (1978)
94 R R Westover Modern Plastics March (1963) 95 B Yi and R T Fenner Plastics and Polymers Dec 224ndash228 (1975)
96 A Mekkaoui and L N Valsamis Polym Eng Sci 24 1260ndash1269 (1984)
97 H Rust Kunststoffe 73 342ndash346 (1983)
98 J Huszman Kunststoffe 73 3437ndash348 (1983)
99 J M McKelvey U Maire and F Haupt Chem Eng Sept 27 94ndash102 (1976)
100 K Schneider Kunststoffe 68 201ndash206 (1978)
101 W T Rice Plastic Technology 87ndash91 Feb (1980)
102 Harrel Corp ldquoMelt Pump Systems or Extrudersrdquo Product Description TDS-264 (1982)
103 J M McKelvey and W T Rice Chem Eng 90 2 89ndash94 (1983)
104 K Kaper K Eise and H Herrmann SPE ANTEC Chicago 161ndash163 (1983)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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References 983092983095
105 C L Woodworth SPE ANTEC New Orleans 122ndash126 (1984)
106 W A Kramer SPE ANTEC Washington D C 23ndash29 (1985)
107 J Schut ldquoDie Drawing Makes Plastic Steelrdquo Plastics Technology Online Article March
5 (2001)
108 VDI Conerence Extrusiontechnik 2006 ldquoDer Einschnecken-Extruder von Morgenrdquo VDI
Verlag GmbH Duumlsseldor (2006)
109 P Rieg ldquoLatest Developments in High-Speed Extrusionrdquo Plastic Extrusion Asia Con-
erence Bangkok Thailand March 17ndash18 (2008) also presented at Advances in Ex-
trusion Conerence New Orleans December 9ndash10 (2008)
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983089983096 983090Different Types of Extruders
The first rubber extruders were built or hot eed extrusion These machines are ed
with warm material rom a mill or other mixing device Around 1950 machines
were developed or cold eed extrusion The advantages o cold eed extruders are
thought to be
Less capital equipment cost
Better control o stock temperature
Reduced labor cost
Capable o handling a wider variety o compounds
However there is no general agreement on this issue As a result hot eed rubber
extruders are still in use today
Cold eed rubber extruders nowadays do not differ too much rom thermoplastic
extruders Some o the differences are Reduced length
Heating and cooling
Feed section
Screw design
There are several reasons or the reduced length The viscosity o rubbers is gener-
ally very high compared to most thermoplastics about an order o magnitude higher
[5] Consequently there is a substantial amount o heat generated in the extru-
sion process The reduced length keeps the temperature build-up within limits The
specific energy requirement or rubbers is generally low partly because they are
usually extruded at relatively low temperatures (rom 20 to 120degC) This is another
reason or the short extruder length The length o the rubber extruder will depend
on whether it is a cold or hot eed extruder Hot eed rubber extruders are usually
very short about 5D (D = diameter) Cold eed extruders range rom 15 to 20D
Vented cold eed extruders may be even longer than 20D
Rubber extruders used to be heated quite requently with steam because o the rela-
tively low extrusion temperatures Today many rubber extruders are heated likethermoplastic extruders with electrical heater bands clamped around the barrel Oil
heating is also used on rubber extruders and the circulating oil system can be used
to cool the rubber Many rubber extruders use water cooling because it allows effec-
tive heat transer
The eed section o the rubber extruders has to be designed specifically to the eed
stock characteristics o the material The extruder may be ed with either strips
chunks or pellets I the extruder is ed rom an internal mixer (e g Banbury Shaw
etc) a power-operated ram can be used to orce the rubber compound into the
extruder The eed opening can be undercut to improve the intake capability o the
extruder This can be useul because the rubber eed stock at times comes in rela-
tively large particles o irregular shape When the material is supplied in the orm o
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983090983089 The Single Screw Extruder 983089983097
a strip the eed opening is ofen equipped with a driven roll parallel to the screw to
give a ldquoroller eedrdquo Material can also be supplied in powder orm It has been shown
that satisactory extrusion is possible i the powder is consolidated by ldquopill-makingrdquo
techniques Powdered rubber technology is discussed in detail in [6]
The rubber extrusion technology appears to be considerably behind the plastics
extrusion technology Kennaway in one o the ew articles on rubber extrusion [8]
attributes this situation to two actors The first is the requent tendency o rubber
process personnel to solve extrusion problems by changing the ormulation o the
compound The second is the widespread notion that the extrusion behavior o rub-
bers is substantially different rom plastics because rubbers crosslink and plastics
generally do not This is a misconception however because the extrusion character-
istics o rubber and plastics are actually not substantially different [9]
When the rubber is slippery as in dewatering rubber extruders the eed section othe barrel is grooved to prevent slipping along the barrel surace or the barrel I D
may be fitted with pins This significantly improves the conveying action o the
extruder The same technique has been applied to the thermoplastic extrusion as
discussed in Section 14 and Section 7222
The extruder screw or rubber ofen has constant depth and variable decreasing
pitch (VDP) many rubber screws use a double-flighted design see Fig 23 Screws
or thermoplastics usually have a decreasing depth and constant pitch see Fig 21
Figure 983090983091
Typical screw geometry for rubber
extrusion
Another difference with the rubber extruder screw is that the channel depth is usu-
ally considerably larger than with a plastic extruder screw The larger depth is used
to reduce the shearing o the rubber and the resulting viscous heat generation
There is a large variety o rubber extruder screws as is the case with plastic extruder
screws Figure 24 shows the ldquoPlastiscrewrdquo manuactured by NRM
Figure 983090983092
The NRM Plastiscrew
Figure 25 shows the Pirelli rubber extruder screw This design uses a eed section
o large diameter reducing quickly to the much smaller diameter o the pumping
section The conical eed section uses a large clearance between screw flight and
barrel wall This causes a large amount o leakage over the flight and improves the
batch-mixing capability o the extruder
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983088 983090Different Types of Extruders
Figure 983090983093
The Pirelli rubber extruder screw
Figure 26 shows the EVK screw by Werner amp Pfleiderer [14] This design eatures
cross-channel barriers with preceding undercuts in the flights to provide a change
in flow direction and increased shearing as the material flows over the barrier or the
undercut in the flight A rather unusual design is the Transermix [10ndash13] extrudermixer which has been used or compounding rubber ormulations This machine
eatures helical channels in both the screw and barrel see Fig 27
Figure 983090983094
The EVK screw by Werner amp Pfleiderer
Vent
Feed
Figure 27 The Transfermix extruder
By a varying root diameter o the screw the material is orced in the flow channel
o the barrel A reduction o the depth o the barrel channel orces the material
back into the screw channel This requent reorientation provides good mixing
However the machine is difficult to manuacture and expensive to repair in case o
damageAnother rubber extruder is the QSM extruder [7 15ndash20] QSM stands or the Ger-
man words ldquoQuer Strom Mischrdquo meaning cross-flow mixing This extruder has
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983090983089 The Single Screw Extruder 983090983089
adjustable pins in the extruder barrel that protrude all the way into the screw chan-
nel see Fig 28
Figure 28 The QSM extruder (pin barrel extruder)
The screw flight has slots at the various pin locations The advantages o this ex-
truder in rubber applications are good mixing capability with a low stock tempera-
ture increase and low specific energy consumption This extruder was developed by
Harms in Germany and is manuactured and sold by Troester and other companies
Even though the QSM extruder has become popular in the rubber industry its appli-
cations clearly extend beyond just rubber extrusion In thermoplastic extrusion its
most obvious application would be in high viscosity thermally less stable resins
PVC could possibly be a candidate although dead spots may create problems with
degradation However it can probably be applied wherever good mixing and good
temperature control are requiredAnother typical rubber extrusion piece o hardware is the roller die A schematic
representation is shown in Fig 29
Figure 29 The roller die used in rubber extrusion
The roller die (B F Goodrich 1933) is a combination o a standard sheet die and a
calender It allows high throughput by reducing the diehead pressure it reduces air
entrapment and provides good gauge control
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983090983090 983090Different Types of Extruders
983090983089983092High-Speed Extrusion
One way to achieve high throughputs is to use high-speed extrusion High-speed
extrusion has been used in twin screw compounding or many yearsmdashsince the
1960s However in single screw extrusion high speed extrusion has not been usedon a significant scale until about 1995 Twin screw extruders (TSE) used in com-
pounding typically run at screw speeds ranging rom 200 to 500 rpm in some cases
screw speeds beyond 1000 rpm are possible Single screw extruders (SSE) usually
operate at screw speeds between 50 to 150 rpm
Since approx 1995 several extruder manuacturers have worked on developing
high-speed single screw extruders (HS-SSE) Most o these developments have taken
place at German extruder manuacturers such as Batteneld Reienhaumluser Kuhne
and Esde Currently HS-SSEs are commercially available and have been in use orseveral years [108]
Batteneld supplies a high speed 75-mm SSE that can run at screw speeds up to
1500 rpm [109] This machine can achieve throughputs up to 2200 kg hr It uses a
our-motor CMG torque drive with 390 kW made by K amp A Knoedler
983090983089983092983089Melt Temperature
One o the interesting characteristics o the HS-SSE is that the melt temperature
remains more or less constant over a broad range o screw speed [108 109] see
Fig 210
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0
T h r o u g
h p u t [ k g h r ]
75-mm extruder PS 486
P Rieg Battenfeld HJ Renner BASF
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200
Screw speed [revmin]
250
240
230
220
210
200
M e l t t e m
p e r a t u r e [ o C ]
Figure 983090983089983088
Throughput and melt
temperature versus
screw speed
This graph shows both the throughput in kg hr and the melt temperature in degC The
temperature curve indicates that there is less than a 2degC change in melt tempera-ture rom 200 rpm up to about 1000 rpm At screw speeds rom 110 rpm to 225 rpm
the melt temperature actually drops rom about 223 to about 215degC
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983090983089 The Single Screw Extruder 983090983091
In conventional extruders the melt temperature typically increases with screw
speed This ofen creates problems when we deal with high-viscosity polymers par-
ticularly when they have limited thermal stability In the example shown in Fig 210
the melt temperature is essentially constant as screw speed increases rom 200 to
1000 rpm This is probably the result o two actors the residence time o the poly-mer melt is reduced with increasing screw speed and the volume o the molten poly-
mer likely reduces with increasing screw speed as the melting length becomes
longer with increased screw speed
983090983089983092983090Extruders without Gear Reducer
An important advantage o high-speed SSE is that a conventional gear reducer is no
longer necessary The gear reducer is one o the largest cost actors or a conven-
tional extruder As a result extruders without a gear reducer are significantly lessexpensive compared to conventional extruders that achieve the same rate A urther
advantage o the elimination o the gear reducer is a significant reduction in noise
level Contrary to what one would expect HS-SSE actually run very quiet the noise
level is substantially lower than it is or conventional extruders with gear reducers
983090983089983092983091Energy Consumption
Another benefit o high-speed SSE is the reduction in energy consumption Rieg
[108 109] reports the ollowing mechanical specific energy consumption
The reduction in energy consumption listed in Table 22 is significant between 35
and 45 I the extruder runs PP at 2000 kg hr a reduction in SEC o 010 kWh kg
corresponds to a reduction in power consumption o 200 kW every hour I the power
cost is $010 per kWh (or consistency) the savings per hour will be $20 per hour
$480 per day $3360 per week and $168000 per year at 50 weeks per year Clearly
this can have a significant effect on the profitability o an extrusion operation
Table 22 Specific Energy Consumption for Standard Extruder and High-Speed Extruder
Type of extruder SEC with polystyrene [kWhkg] SEC with polypropylene [kWhkg]
Standard extruder 019minus021 027minus029
High-speed extruder 010minus012 017minus019
983090983089983092983092Change-over Resin Consumption
Another important issue in efficient extrusion is the time and material used when a
change in resin is made With high-speed extruders the change-over time is quite
short because the volume occupied by the plastic is small while the throughput is
very high
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983090983092 983090Different Types of Extruders
Table 23 shows a comparison o the high-speed 75-mm extruder to a conventional
180-mm extruder running at the same throughput The amount o material con-
sumed in the change-over is 150 kg or the 75-mm extruder and 1300 kg or the
180-mm extruder I we assume a resin cost o $100 per kg the savings are
$115000 per change-over I we have three change-overs per week the yearly sav-ings in reduced resin usage comes to $172500 per year Clearly this is not an insig-
nificant amount
Table 23 Comparison of Change-Over Time and Material Consumption
75-mm extruder 180-mm extruder
Volume in the extruder [liter] 4 40
Material consumption for change-over [kg] 150 1300
Change-over time [min] 5 40
983090983089983092983093 Change-over Time and Residence Time
Table 23 also shows that the change-over time or the 75-mm extruder is approx
5 minutes while it is approx 40 minutes in the 180-mm extruder Clearly the
reduced change-over time results rom the act that the volume occupied by the plas-
tic is much smaller (4 liter) in the 75-mm extruder than in the 180-mm extruder
(40 liter) I the change-over time can be reduced rom 40 to 5 minutes this means
that 35 minutes are now available to run production resulting in greater up-time othe extrusion line
The small volume o the HS-SSE also results in short residence times The mean
residence time ranges rom approx 5 to 10 seconds In conventional SSE the resi-
dence times are substantially longer typically between 50 to 100 seconds Since
HS-SSE can run at relatively low melt temperatures the chance o degradation is
actually less in these extruders There is ample evidence in actual high-speed ex-
trusion operations that the plastic is less susceptible to degradation in these opera-
tions
983090983090The Multiscrew Extruder
221The Twin Screw Extruder
A twin screw extruder is a machine with two Archimedean screws Admittedly this
is a very general definition However as soon as the definition is made more spe-
cific it is limited to a specific class o twin screw extruders There is a tremendous
variety o twin screw extruders with vast differences in design principle o opera-
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983090 The Multiscrew Extruder 983090983093
tion and field o application It is thereore difficult to make general comments
about twin screw extruders The differences between the various twin screw extrud-
ers are much larger than the differences between single screw extruders This is to
be expected since the twin screw construction substantially increases the number
o design variables such as direction o rotation degree o intermeshing etc A clas-sification o twin screw extruders is shown in Table 24 This classification is pri-
marily based on the geometrical configuration o the twin screw extruder Some
twin screw extruders unction in much the same ashion as single screw extruders
Other twin screw extruders operate quite differently rom single screw extruders
and are used in very different applications The design o the various twin screw
extruders with their operational and unctional aspects will be covered in more
detail in Chapter 10
Table 24 Classification of Twin Screw Extruders
Intermeshing extruders
Co-rotating extrudersLow speed extruders for profile extrusion
High speed extruders for compounding
Counter-rotating extruders
Conical extruders for profile extrusion
Parallel extruders for profile extrusion
High speed extruders for compounding
Non-intermeshing
extruders
Counter-rotating extrudersEqual screw length
Unequal screw length
Co-rotating extruders Not used in practice
Co-axial extruders
Inner melt transport forward
Inner melt transport rearward
Inner solids transport rearward
Inner plasticating with rearward transport
983090983090983090The Multiscrew Extruder With More Than Two Screws
There are several types o extruders which incorporate more than two screws One
relatively well-known example is the planetary roller extruder see Fig 211
Planetary screws
Sun (main) screw Melting and feed section
Discharge
Figure 211 The planetary roller extruder
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983090983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
This extruder looks similar to a single screw extruder The eed section is in act
the same as on a standard single screw extruder However the mixing section o the
extruder looks considerably different In the planetary roller section o the extruder
six or more planetary screws evenly spaced revolve around the circumerence o
the main screw In the planetary screw section the main screw is reerred to as thesun screw The planetary screws intermesh with the sun screw and the barrel The
planetary barrel section thereore must have helical grooves corresponding to the
helical flights on the planetary screws This planetary barrel section is generally a
separate barrel section with a flange-type connection to the eed barrel section
In the first part o the machine beore the planetary screws the material moves
orward as in a regular single screw extruder As the material reaches the planetary
section being largely plasticated at this point it is exposed to intensive mixing by
the rolling action between the planetary screws the sun screw and the barrel Thehelical design o the barrel sun screw and planetary screws result in a large sur-
ace area relative to the barrel length The small clearance between the planetary
screws and the mating suraces about frac14 mm allows thin layers o compound to be
exposed to large surace areas resulting in effective devolatilization heat exchange
and temperature control Thus heat-sensitive compounds can be processed with a
minimum o degradation For this reason the planetary gear extruder is requently
used or extrusion compounding o PVC ormulations both rigid and plasticized
[21 22] Planetary roller sections are also used as add-ons to regular extruders to
improve mixing perormance [97 98] Another multiscrew extruder is the our-screw extruder shown in Fig 212
Figure 983090983089983090
Four-screw extruder
This machine is used primarily or devolatilization o solvents rom 40 to as low as
03 [23] Flash devolatilization occurs in a flash dome attached to the barrel The
polymer solution is delivered under pressure and at temperatures above the boiling
point o the solvent The solution is then expanded through a nozzle into the flash
dome The oamy material resulting rom the flash devolatilization is then trans-
ported away by the our screws In many cases downstream vent sections will beincorporated to urther reduce the solvent level
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983090983090 The Multiscrew Extruder 983090983095
983090983090983091The Gear Pump Extruder
Gear pumps are used in some extrusion operations at the end o a plasticating
extruder either single screw or twin screw [99ndash106] Strictly speaking the gear
pump is a closely intermeshing counterrotating twin screw extruder However sincegear pumps are solely used to generate pressure they are generally not reerred to
as an extruder although the gear pump is an extruder One o the main advantages
o the gear pump is its good pressure-generating capability and its ability to main-
tain a relatively constant outlet pressure even i the inlet pressure fluctuates con-
siderably Some fluctuation in the outlet pressure will result rom the intermeshing
o the gear teeth This fluctuation can be reduced by a helical orientation o the gear
teeth instead o an axial orientation
Gear pumps are sometimes reerred to as positive displacement devices This is notcompletely correct because there must be mechanical clearances between the gears
and the housing which causes leakage Thereore the gear pump output is depend-
ent on pressure although the pressure sensitivity will generally be less than that o
a single screw extruder The actual pressure sensitivity will be determined by the
design clearances the polymer melt viscosity and the rotational speed o the gears
A good method to obtain constant throughput is to maintain a constant pressure di-
erential across the pump This can be done by a relatively simple pressure eedback
control on the extruder eeding into the gear pump [102] The non-zero clearances
in the gear pump will cause a transormation o mechanical energy into heat by vis-cous heat generation see Section 534 Thus the energy efficiency o actual gear
pumps is considerably below 100 the pumping efficiency generally ranges rom
15 to 35 The other 65 to 85 goes into mechanical losses and viscous heat gene-
ration Mechanical losses usually range rom about 20 to 40 and viscous heating
rom about 40 to 50 As a result the polymer melt going through the gear pump
will experience a considerable temperature rise typically 5 to 10degC However in
some cases the temperature rise can be as much as 20 to 30degC Since the gear
pump has limited energy efficiency the combination extruder-gear pump is not nec-
essarily more energy-efficient than the extruder without the gear pump Only i the
extruder eeding into the gear pump is very inefficient in its pressure development
will the addition o a gear pump allow a reduction in energy consumption This
could be the case with co-rotating twin screw extruders or single screw extruders
with inefficient screw design
The mixing capacity o gear pumps is very limited This was clearly demonstrated
by Kramer [106] by comparing melt temperature fluctuation beore and afer the
gear pump which showed no distinguishable improvement in melt temperature uni-
ormity Gear pumps are ofen added to extruders with unacceptable output fluc-tuations In many cases this constitutes treating the symptoms but not curing the
actual problem Most single screw extruders i properly designed can maintain
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983090983096 983090Different Types of Extruders
their output to within plusmn 1 I the output fluctuation is considerably larger than 1
there is probably something wrong with the machine very ofen incorrect screw
design In these cases solving the actual problem will generally be more efficient
than adding a gear pump For an efficient extruder-gear pump system the extruder
screw has to be modified to reduce the pressure-generating capacity o the screw
Gear pumps can be used advantageously
1 On extruders with poor pressure-generating capability (e g co-rotating twin
screws multi-stage vented extruders etc)
2 When output stability is required better than 1 i e in close tolerance extru-
sion (e g fiber spinning cable extrusion medical tubing coextrusion etc)
Gear pumps can cause problems when
1 The polymer contains abrasive components because o the small clearances thegear pump is very susceptible to wear
2 When the polymer is susceptible to degradation gear pumps are not sel-clean-
ing and combined with the exposure to high temperatures this will result in
degraded product
983090983091Disk Extruders
There are a number o extruders which do not utilize an Archimedean screw or
transport o the material but still all in the class o continuous extruders Some-
times these machines are reerred to as screwless extruders These machines
employ some kind o disk or drum to extrude the material One can classiy the disk
extruders according to their conveying mechanism (see Table 21) Most o the disk
extruders are based on viscous drag transport One special disk extruder utilizes
the elasticity o polymer melts to convey the material and to develop the necessary
diehead pressure
Disk extruders have been around or a long time at least since 1950 However at
this point in time the industrial significance o disk extruders is still relatively small
compared to screw extruders
983090983091983089Viscous Drag Disk Extruders
983090983091983089983089Stepped Disk Extruder
One o the first disk extruders was developed by Westover at Bell Telephone Labo-
ratories it is ofen reerred to as a stepped disk extruder or slider pad extruder [24]
A schematic picture o the extruder is shown in Fig 213
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983090983097
In
Out
Figure 983090983089983091
The stepped disk
The heart o the machine is the stepped disk positioned a small distance rom a flat
disk When one o the disks is rotated with a polymer melt in the axial gap a pres-
sure build-up will occur at the transition o one gap size to another smaller gap sizesee Fig 214
v
Distance
P r e s s u r e
Figure 983090983089983092
Pressure generation in the step region
I exit channels are incorporated into the stepped disk the polymer can be extruded
in a continuous ashion The design o this extruder is based on Rayleighrsquos [25]
analysis o hydrodynamic lubrication in various geometries He concluded that the
parallel stepped pad was capable o supporting the greatest load The stepped disk
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983091983088 983090Different Types of Extruders
extruder has also been designed in a different configuration using a gradual change
in gap size This extruder has a wedge-shaped disk with a gradual increase in pres-
sure with radial distance
A practical disadvantage o the stepped disk extruder is the act that the machine is
difficult to clean because o the intricate design o the flow channels in the stepped
disk
983090983091983089983090Drum Extruder
Another rather old concept is the drum extruder A schematic picture o a machine
manuactured by Schmid amp Kocher in Switzerland is shown in Fig 215
In
OutOutIn
Figure 983090983089983093 The drum extruder by Schmid amp Kocher
Material is ed by a eed hopper into an annular space between rotor and barrel By
the rotational motion o the rotor the material is carried along the circumerence o
the barrel Just beore the material reaches the eed hopper it encounters a wiper
bar This wiper bar scrapes the polymer rom the rotor and deflects the polymer flow
into a channel that leads to the extruder die Several patents [26 27] were issued on
this design however these patents have long since expired
A very similar extruder (see Fig 216) was developed by Askco Engineering andCosden Oil amp Chemical in a joint venture later this became Permian Research Two
patents have been issued on this design [28 29] even though the concept is very
similar to the Schmid amp Kocher design
One special eature o this design is the capability to adjust the local gap by means
o a choker bar similar to the gap adjustment in a flat sheet die see Section 92 The
choker bar in this drum extruder is activated by adjustable hydraulic oil pressure
Drum extruders have not been able to be a serious competition to the single screw
extruder over the last 50 years
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983091983089
Hopper
DieRotor
Housing
Wiper bar
Hopper
Wiper bar
DieRotor
Housing
Figure 983090983089983094
The drum extruder by AskoCosden
983090983091983089983091Spiral Disk Extruder
The spiral disk extruder is another type o disk extruder that has been known or
many years Several patented designs were described by Schenkel (Chapter 1 [3])
Similar to the stepped disk extruder the development o the spiral disk extruder
is closely connected to spiral groove bearings It has long been known that spiral
groove bearings are capable o supporting substantial loads Ingen Housz [30] has
analyzed the melt conveying in a spiral disk extruder with logarithmic grooves in
the disk based on Newtonian flow behavior o the polymer melt In terms o melt
conveying capability the spiral disk extruder seems comparable to the screw ex-truder however the solids conveying capability is questionable
983090983091983089983092Diskpack Extruder
Another development in disk extruders is the diskpack extruder Tadmor originated
the idea o the diskpack machine which is covered under several patents [31ndash33]
The development o the machine was undertaken by the Farrel Machinery Group o
Emgart Corporation in cooperation with Tadmor [34ndash39] The basic concept o the
machine is shown in Fig 217Material drops in the axial gap between relatively thin disks mounted on a rotating
shaf The material will move with the disks almost a ull turn then it meets a chan-
nel block The channel block closes off the space between the disks and deflects the
polymer flow to either an outlet channel or to a transer channel in the barrel The
shape o the disks can be optimized or specific unctions solids conveying melting
devolatilization melt conveying and mixing A detailed unctional analysis can be
ound in Tadmorrsquos book on polymer processing (Chapter 1 [32])
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983091983090 983090Different Types of Extruders
v
v
Channel blockInlet
Outlet
Barrel
Solid bed
Shaft
Melt pool
Inlet Channel block
Outlet
Melt pool
Solid bed
Barrel
Shaft
v
v Figure 983090983089983095
The diskpack extruder
It is claimed that this machine can perorm all basic polymer-processing operations
with efficiency equaling or surpassing existing machinery Clearly i the claim is
true and can be delivered or a competitive price the diskpack extruder will become
an important machine in the extrusion industry The first diskpack machines were
delivered to the industry in 1982 still under a joint development type o agreement
Now almost 20 years afer the first diskpack machines were delivered it is clear
that the acceptance o these machines in the industry has been very limited In act
Farrel no longer actively markets the diskpack machine In most o the publications
the diskpack machine is reerred to as a polymer processor This term is probably
used to indicate that this machine can do more than just extruding although the
diskpack is o course an extruder
The diskpack machine incorporates some o the eatures o the drum extruder and
the single screw extruder One can think o the diskpack as a single screw extruder
using a screw with zero helix angle and very deep flights Forward axial transportcan only take place by transport channels in the barrel with the material orced into
those channels by a restrictor bar as with the drum extruder The use o restrictor
bars (channel block) and transer channels in the housing make it considerably
more complex than the barrel o a single screw extruder
One o the advantages o the diskpack is that mixing blocks and spreading dams can
be incorporated into the machine as shown in Fig 218(a)
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983091983091
v
v
Channel blockInlet
Outlet
Mixing block
Disk
Inlet Channel block
Outlet
Mixing blockDisk v
v Figure 983090983089983096(a)
Mixing blocks in the diskpack
Mixing blocks o various shapes can be positioned externally into the processing
chamber This is similar to the QSM extruder only that in the QSM extruder the
screw flight has to be interrupted to avoid contact This is not necessary in the disk-
pack because the flights have zero helix angles in other words they run perpen-
dicular to the rotor axis By the number o blocks the geometry o the block and the
clearance between block and disk one can tailor the mixing capability to the par-
ticular application The use o spreading dams allows the generation o a thin film
with a large surace area this results in effective devolatilization capability The
diskpack has inherently higher pressure-generating capability than the single
screw extruder does This is because the diskpack has two dragging suraces while
the single screw extruder has only one see Fig 218(b)
v
v=0
v
v
Conveying mechanismsingle screw extruder
Conveying mechanism
diskpack extruder Figure 983090983089983096(b)
Comparison of conveying mechanism in diskpackand single screw extruder
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983091983092 983090Different Types of Extruders
At the same net flow rate equal viscosity equal plate velocity and optimum plate
separation the theoretical maximum pressure gradient o the diskpack is eight
times higher than the single screw extruder [34] Thus high pressures can be gen-
erated over a short distance which allows a more compact machine design The
energy efficiency o the pressure generation is also better than in the single screwextruder the maximum pumping efficiency approaches 100 see derivation in
Appendix 21 For the single screw extruder the maximum pumping efficiency is
only 33 as discussed in Section 7413 The energy efficiency o pressure genera-
tion is the ratio o the theoretical energy requirement (flow rate times pressure rise)
to the actual energy requirement (wall velocity times shear stress integrated over
wall surace) It should be noted that the two dragging platesrsquo pumping mechanism
exists only in tangential direction The pumping in axial (orward) direction occurs
only in the transer channel in the housing This orward pumping occurs by the one
dragging plate mechanism as in the single screw extruder The maximum efficiency
or orward pumping thereore is only 33 The overall pumping efficiency will be
somewhere between 33 and 100 i the power consumption in the disk and channel
block clearance is neglected
Studies on melting in the diskpack were reported by Valsamis et al [96] It was
ound that two types o melting mechanism could take place in the diskpack the
drag melt removal (DMR) mechanism and the dissipative melt mixing (DMM) mech-
anism The DMR melting mechanism is the predominant mechanism in single screw
extruders this is discussed in detail in Section 73 In the DMR melting mechanismthe solids and melt coexist as two largely continuous and separate phases In the
DMM melting mechanism the solids are dispersed in the melt there is no conti-
nuous solid bed It was ound that the DMM mechanism could be induced by pro-
moting back leakage o the polymer melt past the channel block This can be con-
trolled by varying the clearance between the channel block and the disks The
advantage o the DMM melting mechanism is that the melting rate can be substan-
tially higher than with the DMR mechanism reportedly by as much as a actor o 3
[96]
Among all elementary polymer processing unctions the solids conveying in a disk-
pack extruder has not been discussed to any extent in the open technical literature
Considering that the solids conveying mechanism is a rictional drag mechanism
(as in single screw extruders) and not a positive displacement type o transport (as
in intermeshing counterrotating twin screw extruders see Sections 102 and 104)
it can be expected that the diskpack will have solids conveying limitations similar
to those o single screw extruders see Section 722 This means that powders
blends o powders and pellets slippery materials etc are likely to encounter solids
conveying problems in a diskpack extruder unless special measures are taken toenhance the solids conveying capability (e g crammer eeder grooves in the disks
etc)
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983091983093
Because o the more complex machine geometry the cost per unit throughput o the
diskpack is higher than or the conventional single screw extruder Thereore the
diskpack does not compete directly with single screw extruders
Applications or the diskpack are specialty polymer processing operations such as
polymerization post-reactor processing (devolatilization) continuous compound-
ing etc As such the diskpack competes mostly with twin screw extruders Pres-
ently twin screw extruders are usually the first choice when it comes to specialty
polymer processing operations
983090983091983090The Elastic Melt Extruder
The elastic melt extruder was developed in the late 1950s by Maxwell and Scalora[40 41] The extruder makes use o the viscoelastic in particular the elastic pro-
perties o polymer melts When a viscoelastic fluid is exposed to a shearing deor-
mation normal stresses will develop in the fluid that are not equal in all directions
as opposed to a purely viscous fluid In the elastic melt extruder the polymer is
sheared between two plates one stationary and one rotating see Fig 219
Hopper
Heaters
Solid polymer
Die
Extrudate
Polymer melt
Rotor
Solid polymerHopper
Heaters
Die
Extrudate
Polymer melt
Rotor
Figure 983090983089983097
The elastic melt extruder
As the polymer is sheared normal stresses will generate a centripetal pumping
action Thus the polymer can be extruded through the central opening in the sta-
tionary plate in a continuous ashion Because normal stresses generate the pump-
ing action this machine is sometimes reerred to as a normal stress extruderThis extruder is quite interesting rom a rheological point o view since it is prob-
ably the only extruder that utilizes the elasticity o the melt or its conveying Thus
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983091983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
several detailed experimental and theoretical studies have been devoted to the elas-
tic melt extruder [42ndash47]
The detailed study by Fritz [44] concluded that transport by normal stresses only
could be as much as two orders o magnitude lower than a corresponding system
with orced eed In addition substantial temperature gradients developed in the
polymer causing substantial degradation in high molecular weight polyolefins The
scant market acceptance o the elastic melt extruder would tend to confirm Fritzrsquos
conclusions
Several modifications have been proposed to improve the perormance o the elastic
melt extruder Fritz [43] suggested incorporation o spiral grooves to improve the
pressure generating capability essentially combining the elastic melt extruder and
the spiral disk extruder into one machine In Russia [47] several modifications
were made to the design o the elastic melt extruder One o those combined a screwextruder with the elastic melt extruder to eliminate the eeding and plasticating
problem Despite all o these activities the elastic melt extruder has not been able to
acquire a position o importance in the extrusion industry
983090983091983091Overview of Disk Extruders
Many attempts have been made in the past to come up with a continuous plasticat-
ing extruder o simple design that could perorm better than the single screw ex-truder It seems air to say that at this point in time no disk extruder has been able
to meet this goal The simple disk extruders do not perorm nearly as well as the
single screw extruder The more complex disk extruder such as the diskpack can
possibly outperorm the single screw extruder However this is at the expense o
design simplicity thus increasing the cost o the machine Disk extruders there-
ore have not been able to seriously challenge the position o the single screw
extruder This is not to say however that it is not possible or this to happen some
time in the uture But considering the long dominance o the single screw extruder
it is not probable that a new disk extruder will come along that can challenge the
single screw extruder
983090983092Ram Extruders
Ram or plunger extruders are simple in design rugged and discontinuous in their
mode o operation Ram extruders are essentially positive displacement devices and
are able to generate very high pressures Because o the intermittent operation o
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983091983095
ram extruders they are ideally suited or cyclic processes such as injection molding
and blow molding In act the early molding machines were almost exclusively
equipped with ram extruders to supply the polymer melt to the mold Certain limita-
tions o the ram extruder have caused a switch to reciprocating screw extruders or
combinations o the two The two main limitations are
1 Limited melting capacity
2 Poor temperature uniormity o the polymer melt
Presently ram extruders are used in relatively small shot size molding machines
and certain specialty operations where use is made o the positive displacement
characteristics and the outstanding pressure generation capability There are basic-
ally two types o ram extruders single ram extruders and multi ram extruders
983090983092983089Single Ram Extruders
The single ram extruder is used in small general purpose molding machines but
also in some special polymer processing operations One such operation is the ex-
trusion o intractable polymers such as ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene
(UHMWPE) or polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) These polymers are not considered to
be melt processable on conventional melt processing equipment Teledynamik [48]
has built a ram injection-molding machine under a license rom Th Engel who
developed the prototype machine This machine is used to mold UHMWPE under
very high pressures The machine uses a reciprocating plunger that densifies the
cold incoming material with a pressure up to 300 MPa (about 44000 psi) The re-
quency o the ram can be adjusted continuously with a maximum o 250 strokes
minute The densified material is orced through heated channels into the heated
cylinder where final melting takes place The material is then injected into a mold
by a telescoping injection ram Pressures up to 100 MPa (about 14500 psi) occur
during the injection o the polymer into the mold
Another application is the extrusion o PTFE with again the primary ingredient orsuccessul extrusion being very high pressures Granular PTFE can be extruded at
slow rates in a ram extruder [49ndash51] The powder is compacted by the ram orced
into a die where the material is heated above the melting point and shaped into the
desired orm PTFE is ofen processed as a PTFE paste [52 53] This is small particle
size PTFE powder (about 02 mm) mixed with a processing aid such as naphta PTFE
paste can be extruded at room temperature or slightly above room temperature
Afer extrusion the processing aid is removed by heating the extrudate above its
volatilization temperature The extruded PTFE paste product may be sintered i the
application requires a more ully coalesced product
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983091983096 983090Different Types of Extruders
983090983092983089983089Solid State Extrusion
An extrusion technique that has slowly been gaining popularity is solid-state extru-
sion The polymer is orced through a die while it is below its melting point This
causes substantial deormation o the polymer in the die but since the polymer is in
the solid state a very effective molecular orientation takes place This orientation ismuch more effective than the one which occurs in conventional melt processing As
a result extraordinary mechanical properties can be obtained
Solid-state extrusion is a technique borrowed rom the metal industry where solid-
state extrusion has been used commercially since the late 1940s Bridgman [54]
was one o the first to do a systematic study on the effect o pressure on the mechan-
ical properties o metals He also studied polymers and ound that the glass tran-
sition temperature was raised by the application o pressure
There are two methods o solid-state extrusion one is direct solid-state extrusionthe other is hydrostatic extrusion In direct solid-state extrusion a pre-ormed solid
rod o material (a billet) is in direct contact with the plunger and the walls o the
extrusion die see Fig 220 The material is extruded as the ram is pushed towards
the die
Plunger
Billet
Barrel
DieExtrudate Figure 983090983090983088
Direct solid state extrusion
In hydrostatic extrusion the pressure required or extrusion is transmitted rom the
plunger to the billet through a lubricating liquid usually castor oil The billet must
be shaped to fit the die to prevent loss o fluid The hydrostatic fluid reduces the ric-
tion thereby reducing the extrusion pressure see Fig 221
In hydrostatic extrusion the pressure-generating device or the fluid does not neces-
sarily have to be in close proximity to the orming part o the machine The fluid canbe supplied to the extrusion device by high-pressure tubes
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983091983097
Plunger
Billet
Oil
Barrel
DieExtrudate Figure 983090983090983089
Hydrostatic solid state extrusion
Judging rom publications in the open literature most o the work on solid-state
extrusion o polymers is done at universities and research institutes It is possible
o course that some companies are working on solid-state extrusion but are keeping
the inormation proprietary A major research effort in solid-state extrusion has
been made at the University o Amherst Massachusetts [50ndash64] University o
Leeds England [65ndash72] Fyushu University Fukuoka Japan [73ndash76] Research
Institute or Polymers and Textiles Yokohama Japan [77ndash79] Battelle Columbus
Ohio [80ndash83] and Rutgers University New Brunswick New Jersey [84ndash86] As
mentioned earlier publications rom other sources are considerably less plentiul
[87ndash90] Efforts have also been made to achieve the same high degree o orientation
in a more or less conventional extrusion process by special die design and tempera-
ture control in the die region [91]
Table 25 shows a comparison o mechanical properties between steel aluminum
solid state extruded HDPE and HDPE extruded by conventional means
Table 25 clearly indicates that the mechanical properties o solid-state extruded
HDPE are much superior to the melt extruded HDPE In act the tensile strength o
solid-state extruded HDPE is about the same as carbon steel There are some other
interesting benefits associated with solidstate extrusion o polymers There is essen-
tially no die swell at high extrusion ratios (extrusion ratio is the ratio o the area in
the cylinder to the area in the die) Thus the dimensions o the extrudate closely
conorm to those o the die exit The surace o the extrudate produced by hydro-
static extrusion has a lower coefficient o riction than that o the un-oriented poly-
mer Above a certain extrusion ratio (about ten) polyethylene and polypropylene
become transparent Further solid-state extruded polymers maintain their ten-sile properties at elevated temperatures Polyethylene maintains its modulus up to
120degC when it is extruded in the solid state at a high extrusion ratio The thermal
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983092983088 983090Different Types of Extruders
conductivity in the extrusion direction is much higher than that o the un-oriented
polymer as much as 25 times higher The melting point o the solid-state extruded
polymer increases with the amount o orientation The melting point o HDPE can be
shifed to as high as 140degC
Table 25 Comparison of Mechanical Properties
Material Tensile modulus[MPa]
Tensile strength[MPa]
Elongation[]
Density[gcc]
Annealed SAE 1020 210000 410 35 786
W-200 degF SAE 1020 210000 720 6 786
Annealed 304 stainless
steel
200000 590 50 792
Aluminum 1100ndash0 70000 90 45 271
HDPE solid state
extruded
70000 480 3 097
HDPE melt extruded 10000 30 20ndash1000 096
A recent application o solid-state extrusion is the process developed by Synthetic
Hardwood Technologies Inc [107] This company has developed an expanded ori-
ented wood-filled polypropylene (EOW-PP) that is about 300 stronger than regular
PP The process is based on technology developed at Aluminum Company o Canada
Ltd (Alcan) in the early 1990s to solidstate extrude PP It involves ram extrusion
drawing o billets o PP just below the melting point with very high draw ratio and
high haul-off tension (about 3 MPa) to reeze-in the high level o orientation Alcan
did not pursue the technology and Symplastics Ltd licensed the patented process
this company started experimenting with adding small amounts o wood flour to the
PP However Symplastics ound the research and development too costly and sold
the patents and lab extrusion equipment to Frank Maine who set up SHW to com-
mercialize applications or the EOW-PP The key to the SHW process is that it com-
bines extrusion with drawing As the polymer is oriented the density drops about
50 rom about 1 g cc to 05 g cc The die drawing also allowed substantial in-creases in line speed rom about 0050 m min to about 9 m min The properties
achieved with EOW-PP are shown in Table 24 and compared to regular PP wood
and oriented PP
Solid-state extrusion has been practiced with coextrusion o different polymers [93]
Despite the large amount o research on solid-state extrusion and the outstanding
mechanical properties that can be obtained there does not seem to be much interest
in the polymer industry The main drawbacks o course are that solid-state extru-
sion is basically a discontinuous process it cannot be done on conventional polymer
processing equipment and very high pressures are required to achieve solid-stateextrusion Also one should keep in mind that very good mechanical properties can
be obtained by taking a profile (fiber film tube etc) produced by conventional con-
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983092983089
tinuous extrusion and exposing it to controlled deormation at a temperature below
the melting point This is a well-established technique in many extrusion operations
(fiber spinning film extrusion etc) and it can be done at a high rate This method
o producing extrudates with very good mechanical properties is likely to be more
cost-effective than solid-state extrusion It is possible that the die drawing processdeveloped by SHW can make solid-state extrusion more attractive commercially by
allowing large profiles to be processed at reasonable line speeds
Table 26 Mechanical Properties of PP Wood OPP and EOW-PP
Flexural strength [MPa] Flexural modulus [MPa]
Regular PP 50 1850
Wood 100 9000
Oriented PP 275 7600EOW-PP 140 7600
983090983092983090Multi Ram Extruder
As mentioned beore the main disadvantage o ram extruders is their intermittent
operation Several attempts have been made to overcome this problem by designing
multi-ram extruders that work together in such a way as to produce a continuousflow o material
Westover [94] designed a continuous ram extruder that combined our plunger-
cylinders Two plunger-cylinders were used or plasticating and two or pumping
An intricate shuttle valve connecting all the plunger cylinders provides continuous
extrusion
Another attempt to develop a continuous ram extruder was made by Yi and Fenner
[95] They designed a twin ram extruder with the cylinders in a V-configuration see
Fig 222The two rams discharge into a common barrel in which a plasticating shaf is rotat-
ing Thus solids conveying occurs in the two separate cylinders and plasticating
and melt conveying occurs in the annular region between the barrel and plasticat-
ing shaf The machine is able to extrude however the throughput uniormity is
poor The perormance could probably have been improved i the plasticating shaf
had been provided with a helical channel But o course then the machine would
have become a screw extruder with a ram-assisted eed This only goes to demon-
strate that it is ar rom easy to improve upon the simple screw extruder
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983092983090 983090Different Types of Extruders
Die Breaker plate
Plasticating shaft
Main
block
Feed cylinder
Figure 222 Twin ram extruder
983090983092983091 Appendix 983090983089
983090983092983091983089 Pumping Efficiency in Diskpack Extruder
The velocity profile between the moving walls is a parabolic unction when the fluid
is a Newtonian fluid see Section 621 and Fig 223
y
z H
Small pressure gradient
Medium pressure gradient
Large pressure gradient
Figure 983090983090983091
Velocity profiles between moving
walls
The velocity profile or a Newtonian fluid is
L8
PH
H
y41vv(y)
2
2
2
∆micro∆
minusminus= (1)
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983092983091
where v is the velocity o the plates H the distance between the plates and μ the
viscosity o the fluid The flow rate can be ound by integrating v(y) over the width
and depth o the channel this yields
L12
PWHvWHV
3
∆micro∆minus=
bull
(2)
The first term on the right-hand side o the equalation is the drag flow term The
second term is the pressure flow term The ratio o pressure flow to drag flow is
termed the throttle ratio rd (see Section 7413)
r d =Lv12
PH2
∆micro
∆ (3)
The flow rate can now be written as
(4)
The shear stress at the wall is obtained rom
dv H∆Pτ = micro =dy
05H 2∆L
(5)
The power consumption in the channel is
Zch = PvHWLvW2 ∆=∆τ (6)
The energy efficiency or pressure generation is
V∆Pε = =1 minus r
d Zch
(7)
Equation 7 is not valid or rd = 0 because in this case both numerator and denomi-
nator become zero From Eq 7 it can be seen that when the machine is operated atlow rd values the pumping efficiency can become close to 100 This is considerably
better than the single screw extruder where the optimum pumping efficiency is 33
at a throttle ratio value o 033 (rd = 13)
References
1 J LeBras ldquoRubber Fundamentals o its Science and Technologyrdquo Chemical Publ Co
NY (1957)
2 W S Penn ldquoSynthetic Rubber Technology Volume Irdquo MacLaren amp Sons Ltd London(1960)
3 W J S Naunton ldquoThe Applied Science o Rubberrdquo Edward Arnold Ltd London (1961)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3437
983092983092 983090Different Types of Extruders
4 C M Blow ldquoRubber Technology and Manuacturerdquo Butterworth amp Co Ltd London
(1971)
5 F R Eirich (Ed) ldquoScience and Technology o Rubberrdquo Academic Press NY (1978)
6 C W Evans ldquoPowdered and Particulate Rubber Technologyrdquo Applied Science Publ Ltd
London (1978)
7 G Targiel et al 10 IKV-Kolloquium Aachen March 12ndash14 45 (1980)
8 A Kennaway Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 17 378ndash391 (1964)
9 G Menges and J P Lehnen Plastverarbeiter 20 1 31ndash39 (1969)
10 M Parshall and A J Saulino Rubber World 2 5 78ndash83 (1967)
11 S E Perlberg Rubber World 2 6 71ndash76 (1967)
12 H H Gohlisch Gummi Asbest Kunststoffe 25 9 834ndash835 (1972)
13 E Harms ldquoKautschuk-Extruder Aubau und Einsatz aus verahrenstechnischer Sichtrdquo
Krausskop-Verlag Mainz Bd 2 Buchreihe Kunststo983142echnik (1974)
14 G Schwarz Eur Rubber Journal Sept 28ndash32 (1977)
15 G Menges and E G Harms Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 25 10 469ndash475 (1972)
16 G Menges and E G Harms Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 27 5 187ndash193 (1974)
17 E G Harms Elastomerics 109 6 33ndash39 (1977)
18 E G Harms Eur Rubber Journal 6 23 (1978)
19 E G Harms Kunststoffe 69 1 32ndash33 (1979)
20 E G Harms Dissertation RWTH Aachen Germany (1981)21 S H Collins Plastics Compounding Nov Dec 29 (1982)
22 D Anders Kunststoffe 69 194ndash198 (1979)
23 D Gras and K Eise SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 21 386 (1975)
24 R F Westover SPE Journal 18 12 1473 (1962)
25 Lord Raleigh Philosophical Magazine 35 1ndash12 (1918)
26 German Patent DRP 1129681
27 British Patent BP 759354
28 U S Patent 3880564
29 U S Patent 4012477
30 J F Ingen Housz Plastverarbeiter 10 1 (1975)
31 U S Patent 4142805
32 U S Patent 4194841
33 U S Patent 4213709
34 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 25 193 (1979)
35 P Hold Z Tadmor and L Valsamis SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 25 205 (1979)
36 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis Plastics Engineering Nov 20ndash25 (1979)
37 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis Plastics Engineering Dec 30ndash38 (1979)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3537
References 983092983093
38 Z Tadmor et al The Diskpack Plastics Processor Farrel Publication Jan (1982)
39 L Valsamis AIChE Meeting Washington D C Oct (1983)
40 B Maxwell and A J Scalora Modern Plastics 37 107 Oct (1959)
41 U S Patent 3 046603
42 L L Blyler PhD thesis Princeton University NJ (1966)
43 H G Fritz Kunststo983142echnik 6 430 (1968)
44 H G Fritz PhD thesis Stuttgart University Germany (1971)
45 C W Macosko and J M Starita SPE Journal 27 30 (1971)
46 P A Good A J Schwartz and C W Macosko AIChE Journal 20 1 67 (1974)
47 V L Kocherov Y L Lukach E A Sporyagin and G V Vinogradov Polym Eng Sci 13
194 (1973)
48 J Berzen and G Braun Kunststoffe 69 2 62ndash66 (1979)49 R S Porter et al J Polym Sci 17 485ndash488 (1979)
50 C A Sperati Modern Plastics Encyclopedia McGraw-Hill NY (1983)
51 S S Schwartz and S H Goodman see Chapter 1 [36]
52 G R Snelling and J F Lontz J Appl Polym Sci 3 9 257ndash265 (1960)
53 D C F Couzens Plastics and Rubber Processing March 45ndash48 (1976)
54 P W Bridgman ldquoStudies in Large Plastic Flow and Fracturerdquo McGraw-Hill NY (1952)
55 H L D Push ldquoThe Mechanical Behavior o Materials Under Pressurerdquo Elsevier Amster-
dam (1970)56 H L D Push and A H Low J Inst Metals 93 201 (196565)
57 F Slack Mach Design Oct 7 61ndash64 (1982)
58 J H Southern and R S Porter J Appl Polym Sci 14 2305 (1970)
59 J H Southern and R S Porter J Macromol Sci Phys 3ndash4 541 (1970)
60 J H Southern N E Weeks and R S Porter Macromol Chem 162 19 (1972)
61 N J Capiati and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 13 1177 (1975)
62 R S Porter J H Southern and N E Weeks Polym Eng Sci 15 213 (1975)
63 A E Zachariades E S Sherman and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 17 255
(1979)
64 A E Zachariades and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 17 277 (1979)
65 B Parsons D Bretherton and B N Cole in Advances in MTDR 11th Int Con Proc
S A Tobias and F Koeningsberger (Eds) Pergamon Press London Vol B 1049 (1971)
66 G Capaccio and I M Ward Polymer 15 233 (1974)
67 A G Gibson I M Ward B N Cole and B Parsons J Mater Sci 9 1193ndash1196 (1974)
68 A G Gibson and I M Ward J Appl Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 16 2015ndash2030 (1978)
69 P S Hope and B Parsons Polym Eng Sci 20 589ndash600 (1980)
70 P S Hope I M Ward and A G Gibson J Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 18 1242ndash1256
(1980)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983092983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
71 P S Hope A G Gibson B Parsons and I M Ward Polym Eng Sci 20 54ndash55 (1980)
72 B Parsons and I M Ward Plast Rubber Proc Appl 2 3 215ndash224 (1982)
73 K Imada T Yamamoto K Shigematsu and M Takayanagi J Mater Sci 6 537ndash546
(1971)
74 K Nakamura K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 2 71 (1972)
75 K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 2 89 (1973)
76 K Nakamura K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 3 23 (1974)
77 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Mater Sci 10 1105 (1975)
78 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Mater Sci 12 1477 (1977)
79 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Appl Polym Sci 23 2543ndash2554 (1979)
80 D M Bigg Polym Eng Sci 16 725 (1976)
81 D M Bigg M M Epstein R J Fiorentino and E G Smith Polym Eng Sci 18 908(1978)
82 D M Bigg and M M Epstein ldquoScience and Technology o Polymer Processingrdquo N S Suh
and N Sung (Eds) 897 MIT Press (1979)
83 D M Bigg M M Epstein R J Fiorentino and E G Smith J Appl Polym Sci 26 395ndash
409 (1981)
84 K D Pae and D R Mears J Polym Sci B-6 269 (1968)
85 K D Pae D R Mears and J A Sauer J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 6 773 (1968)
86 D R Mears K P Pae and J A Sauer J Appl Phys 40 11 4229ndash4237 (1969)
87 L A Davis and C A Pampillo J Appl Phys 42 12 4659ndash4666 (1971)
88 A Buckley and H A Long Polym Eng Sci 9 2 115ndash120 (1969)
89 L A Davis Polym Eng Sci 14 9 641ndash645 (1974)
90 R K Okine and N P Suh Polym Eng Sci 22 5 269ndash279 (1982)
91 J R Collier T Y T Tam J Newcome and N Dinos Polym Eng Sci 16 204ndash211 (1976)
92 J H Faupel and F E Fisher ldquoEngineering Designrdquo Wiley NY (1981)
93 A E Zachariades R Ball and R S Porter J Mater Sci 13 2671ndash2675 (1978)
94 R R Westover Modern Plastics March (1963) 95 B Yi and R T Fenner Plastics and Polymers Dec 224ndash228 (1975)
96 A Mekkaoui and L N Valsamis Polym Eng Sci 24 1260ndash1269 (1984)
97 H Rust Kunststoffe 73 342ndash346 (1983)
98 J Huszman Kunststoffe 73 3437ndash348 (1983)
99 J M McKelvey U Maire and F Haupt Chem Eng Sept 27 94ndash102 (1976)
100 K Schneider Kunststoffe 68 201ndash206 (1978)
101 W T Rice Plastic Technology 87ndash91 Feb (1980)
102 Harrel Corp ldquoMelt Pump Systems or Extrudersrdquo Product Description TDS-264 (1982)
103 J M McKelvey and W T Rice Chem Eng 90 2 89ndash94 (1983)
104 K Kaper K Eise and H Herrmann SPE ANTEC Chicago 161ndash163 (1983)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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References 983092983095
105 C L Woodworth SPE ANTEC New Orleans 122ndash126 (1984)
106 W A Kramer SPE ANTEC Washington D C 23ndash29 (1985)
107 J Schut ldquoDie Drawing Makes Plastic Steelrdquo Plastics Technology Online Article March
5 (2001)
108 VDI Conerence Extrusiontechnik 2006 ldquoDer Einschnecken-Extruder von Morgenrdquo VDI
Verlag GmbH Duumlsseldor (2006)
109 P Rieg ldquoLatest Developments in High-Speed Extrusionrdquo Plastic Extrusion Asia Con-
erence Bangkok Thailand March 17ndash18 (2008) also presented at Advances in Ex-
trusion Conerence New Orleans December 9ndash10 (2008)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983089 The Single Screw Extruder 983089983097
a strip the eed opening is ofen equipped with a driven roll parallel to the screw to
give a ldquoroller eedrdquo Material can also be supplied in powder orm It has been shown
that satisactory extrusion is possible i the powder is consolidated by ldquopill-makingrdquo
techniques Powdered rubber technology is discussed in detail in [6]
The rubber extrusion technology appears to be considerably behind the plastics
extrusion technology Kennaway in one o the ew articles on rubber extrusion [8]
attributes this situation to two actors The first is the requent tendency o rubber
process personnel to solve extrusion problems by changing the ormulation o the
compound The second is the widespread notion that the extrusion behavior o rub-
bers is substantially different rom plastics because rubbers crosslink and plastics
generally do not This is a misconception however because the extrusion character-
istics o rubber and plastics are actually not substantially different [9]
When the rubber is slippery as in dewatering rubber extruders the eed section othe barrel is grooved to prevent slipping along the barrel surace or the barrel I D
may be fitted with pins This significantly improves the conveying action o the
extruder The same technique has been applied to the thermoplastic extrusion as
discussed in Section 14 and Section 7222
The extruder screw or rubber ofen has constant depth and variable decreasing
pitch (VDP) many rubber screws use a double-flighted design see Fig 23 Screws
or thermoplastics usually have a decreasing depth and constant pitch see Fig 21
Figure 983090983091
Typical screw geometry for rubber
extrusion
Another difference with the rubber extruder screw is that the channel depth is usu-
ally considerably larger than with a plastic extruder screw The larger depth is used
to reduce the shearing o the rubber and the resulting viscous heat generation
There is a large variety o rubber extruder screws as is the case with plastic extruder
screws Figure 24 shows the ldquoPlastiscrewrdquo manuactured by NRM
Figure 983090983092
The NRM Plastiscrew
Figure 25 shows the Pirelli rubber extruder screw This design uses a eed section
o large diameter reducing quickly to the much smaller diameter o the pumping
section The conical eed section uses a large clearance between screw flight and
barrel wall This causes a large amount o leakage over the flight and improves the
batch-mixing capability o the extruder
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983088 983090Different Types of Extruders
Figure 983090983093
The Pirelli rubber extruder screw
Figure 26 shows the EVK screw by Werner amp Pfleiderer [14] This design eatures
cross-channel barriers with preceding undercuts in the flights to provide a change
in flow direction and increased shearing as the material flows over the barrier or the
undercut in the flight A rather unusual design is the Transermix [10ndash13] extrudermixer which has been used or compounding rubber ormulations This machine
eatures helical channels in both the screw and barrel see Fig 27
Figure 983090983094
The EVK screw by Werner amp Pfleiderer
Vent
Feed
Figure 27 The Transfermix extruder
By a varying root diameter o the screw the material is orced in the flow channel
o the barrel A reduction o the depth o the barrel channel orces the material
back into the screw channel This requent reorientation provides good mixing
However the machine is difficult to manuacture and expensive to repair in case o
damageAnother rubber extruder is the QSM extruder [7 15ndash20] QSM stands or the Ger-
man words ldquoQuer Strom Mischrdquo meaning cross-flow mixing This extruder has
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983089 The Single Screw Extruder 983090983089
adjustable pins in the extruder barrel that protrude all the way into the screw chan-
nel see Fig 28
Figure 28 The QSM extruder (pin barrel extruder)
The screw flight has slots at the various pin locations The advantages o this ex-
truder in rubber applications are good mixing capability with a low stock tempera-
ture increase and low specific energy consumption This extruder was developed by
Harms in Germany and is manuactured and sold by Troester and other companies
Even though the QSM extruder has become popular in the rubber industry its appli-
cations clearly extend beyond just rubber extrusion In thermoplastic extrusion its
most obvious application would be in high viscosity thermally less stable resins
PVC could possibly be a candidate although dead spots may create problems with
degradation However it can probably be applied wherever good mixing and good
temperature control are requiredAnother typical rubber extrusion piece o hardware is the roller die A schematic
representation is shown in Fig 29
Figure 29 The roller die used in rubber extrusion
The roller die (B F Goodrich 1933) is a combination o a standard sheet die and a
calender It allows high throughput by reducing the diehead pressure it reduces air
entrapment and provides good gauge control
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983090 983090Different Types of Extruders
983090983089983092High-Speed Extrusion
One way to achieve high throughputs is to use high-speed extrusion High-speed
extrusion has been used in twin screw compounding or many yearsmdashsince the
1960s However in single screw extrusion high speed extrusion has not been usedon a significant scale until about 1995 Twin screw extruders (TSE) used in com-
pounding typically run at screw speeds ranging rom 200 to 500 rpm in some cases
screw speeds beyond 1000 rpm are possible Single screw extruders (SSE) usually
operate at screw speeds between 50 to 150 rpm
Since approx 1995 several extruder manuacturers have worked on developing
high-speed single screw extruders (HS-SSE) Most o these developments have taken
place at German extruder manuacturers such as Batteneld Reienhaumluser Kuhne
and Esde Currently HS-SSEs are commercially available and have been in use orseveral years [108]
Batteneld supplies a high speed 75-mm SSE that can run at screw speeds up to
1500 rpm [109] This machine can achieve throughputs up to 2200 kg hr It uses a
our-motor CMG torque drive with 390 kW made by K amp A Knoedler
983090983089983092983089Melt Temperature
One o the interesting characteristics o the HS-SSE is that the melt temperature
remains more or less constant over a broad range o screw speed [108 109] see
Fig 210
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0
T h r o u g
h p u t [ k g h r ]
75-mm extruder PS 486
P Rieg Battenfeld HJ Renner BASF
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200
Screw speed [revmin]
250
240
230
220
210
200
M e l t t e m
p e r a t u r e [ o C ]
Figure 983090983089983088
Throughput and melt
temperature versus
screw speed
This graph shows both the throughput in kg hr and the melt temperature in degC The
temperature curve indicates that there is less than a 2degC change in melt tempera-ture rom 200 rpm up to about 1000 rpm At screw speeds rom 110 rpm to 225 rpm
the melt temperature actually drops rom about 223 to about 215degC
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983089 The Single Screw Extruder 983090983091
In conventional extruders the melt temperature typically increases with screw
speed This ofen creates problems when we deal with high-viscosity polymers par-
ticularly when they have limited thermal stability In the example shown in Fig 210
the melt temperature is essentially constant as screw speed increases rom 200 to
1000 rpm This is probably the result o two actors the residence time o the poly-mer melt is reduced with increasing screw speed and the volume o the molten poly-
mer likely reduces with increasing screw speed as the melting length becomes
longer with increased screw speed
983090983089983092983090Extruders without Gear Reducer
An important advantage o high-speed SSE is that a conventional gear reducer is no
longer necessary The gear reducer is one o the largest cost actors or a conven-
tional extruder As a result extruders without a gear reducer are significantly lessexpensive compared to conventional extruders that achieve the same rate A urther
advantage o the elimination o the gear reducer is a significant reduction in noise
level Contrary to what one would expect HS-SSE actually run very quiet the noise
level is substantially lower than it is or conventional extruders with gear reducers
983090983089983092983091Energy Consumption
Another benefit o high-speed SSE is the reduction in energy consumption Rieg
[108 109] reports the ollowing mechanical specific energy consumption
The reduction in energy consumption listed in Table 22 is significant between 35
and 45 I the extruder runs PP at 2000 kg hr a reduction in SEC o 010 kWh kg
corresponds to a reduction in power consumption o 200 kW every hour I the power
cost is $010 per kWh (or consistency) the savings per hour will be $20 per hour
$480 per day $3360 per week and $168000 per year at 50 weeks per year Clearly
this can have a significant effect on the profitability o an extrusion operation
Table 22 Specific Energy Consumption for Standard Extruder and High-Speed Extruder
Type of extruder SEC with polystyrene [kWhkg] SEC with polypropylene [kWhkg]
Standard extruder 019minus021 027minus029
High-speed extruder 010minus012 017minus019
983090983089983092983092Change-over Resin Consumption
Another important issue in efficient extrusion is the time and material used when a
change in resin is made With high-speed extruders the change-over time is quite
short because the volume occupied by the plastic is small while the throughput is
very high
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983090983092 983090Different Types of Extruders
Table 23 shows a comparison o the high-speed 75-mm extruder to a conventional
180-mm extruder running at the same throughput The amount o material con-
sumed in the change-over is 150 kg or the 75-mm extruder and 1300 kg or the
180-mm extruder I we assume a resin cost o $100 per kg the savings are
$115000 per change-over I we have three change-overs per week the yearly sav-ings in reduced resin usage comes to $172500 per year Clearly this is not an insig-
nificant amount
Table 23 Comparison of Change-Over Time and Material Consumption
75-mm extruder 180-mm extruder
Volume in the extruder [liter] 4 40
Material consumption for change-over [kg] 150 1300
Change-over time [min] 5 40
983090983089983092983093 Change-over Time and Residence Time
Table 23 also shows that the change-over time or the 75-mm extruder is approx
5 minutes while it is approx 40 minutes in the 180-mm extruder Clearly the
reduced change-over time results rom the act that the volume occupied by the plas-
tic is much smaller (4 liter) in the 75-mm extruder than in the 180-mm extruder
(40 liter) I the change-over time can be reduced rom 40 to 5 minutes this means
that 35 minutes are now available to run production resulting in greater up-time othe extrusion line
The small volume o the HS-SSE also results in short residence times The mean
residence time ranges rom approx 5 to 10 seconds In conventional SSE the resi-
dence times are substantially longer typically between 50 to 100 seconds Since
HS-SSE can run at relatively low melt temperatures the chance o degradation is
actually less in these extruders There is ample evidence in actual high-speed ex-
trusion operations that the plastic is less susceptible to degradation in these opera-
tions
983090983090The Multiscrew Extruder
221The Twin Screw Extruder
A twin screw extruder is a machine with two Archimedean screws Admittedly this
is a very general definition However as soon as the definition is made more spe-
cific it is limited to a specific class o twin screw extruders There is a tremendous
variety o twin screw extruders with vast differences in design principle o opera-
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983090 The Multiscrew Extruder 983090983093
tion and field o application It is thereore difficult to make general comments
about twin screw extruders The differences between the various twin screw extrud-
ers are much larger than the differences between single screw extruders This is to
be expected since the twin screw construction substantially increases the number
o design variables such as direction o rotation degree o intermeshing etc A clas-sification o twin screw extruders is shown in Table 24 This classification is pri-
marily based on the geometrical configuration o the twin screw extruder Some
twin screw extruders unction in much the same ashion as single screw extruders
Other twin screw extruders operate quite differently rom single screw extruders
and are used in very different applications The design o the various twin screw
extruders with their operational and unctional aspects will be covered in more
detail in Chapter 10
Table 24 Classification of Twin Screw Extruders
Intermeshing extruders
Co-rotating extrudersLow speed extruders for profile extrusion
High speed extruders for compounding
Counter-rotating extruders
Conical extruders for profile extrusion
Parallel extruders for profile extrusion
High speed extruders for compounding
Non-intermeshing
extruders
Counter-rotating extrudersEqual screw length
Unequal screw length
Co-rotating extruders Not used in practice
Co-axial extruders
Inner melt transport forward
Inner melt transport rearward
Inner solids transport rearward
Inner plasticating with rearward transport
983090983090983090The Multiscrew Extruder With More Than Two Screws
There are several types o extruders which incorporate more than two screws One
relatively well-known example is the planetary roller extruder see Fig 211
Planetary screws
Sun (main) screw Melting and feed section
Discharge
Figure 211 The planetary roller extruder
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
This extruder looks similar to a single screw extruder The eed section is in act
the same as on a standard single screw extruder However the mixing section o the
extruder looks considerably different In the planetary roller section o the extruder
six or more planetary screws evenly spaced revolve around the circumerence o
the main screw In the planetary screw section the main screw is reerred to as thesun screw The planetary screws intermesh with the sun screw and the barrel The
planetary barrel section thereore must have helical grooves corresponding to the
helical flights on the planetary screws This planetary barrel section is generally a
separate barrel section with a flange-type connection to the eed barrel section
In the first part o the machine beore the planetary screws the material moves
orward as in a regular single screw extruder As the material reaches the planetary
section being largely plasticated at this point it is exposed to intensive mixing by
the rolling action between the planetary screws the sun screw and the barrel Thehelical design o the barrel sun screw and planetary screws result in a large sur-
ace area relative to the barrel length The small clearance between the planetary
screws and the mating suraces about frac14 mm allows thin layers o compound to be
exposed to large surace areas resulting in effective devolatilization heat exchange
and temperature control Thus heat-sensitive compounds can be processed with a
minimum o degradation For this reason the planetary gear extruder is requently
used or extrusion compounding o PVC ormulations both rigid and plasticized
[21 22] Planetary roller sections are also used as add-ons to regular extruders to
improve mixing perormance [97 98] Another multiscrew extruder is the our-screw extruder shown in Fig 212
Figure 983090983089983090
Four-screw extruder
This machine is used primarily or devolatilization o solvents rom 40 to as low as
03 [23] Flash devolatilization occurs in a flash dome attached to the barrel The
polymer solution is delivered under pressure and at temperatures above the boiling
point o the solvent The solution is then expanded through a nozzle into the flash
dome The oamy material resulting rom the flash devolatilization is then trans-
ported away by the our screws In many cases downstream vent sections will beincorporated to urther reduce the solvent level
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983090 The Multiscrew Extruder 983090983095
983090983090983091The Gear Pump Extruder
Gear pumps are used in some extrusion operations at the end o a plasticating
extruder either single screw or twin screw [99ndash106] Strictly speaking the gear
pump is a closely intermeshing counterrotating twin screw extruder However sincegear pumps are solely used to generate pressure they are generally not reerred to
as an extruder although the gear pump is an extruder One o the main advantages
o the gear pump is its good pressure-generating capability and its ability to main-
tain a relatively constant outlet pressure even i the inlet pressure fluctuates con-
siderably Some fluctuation in the outlet pressure will result rom the intermeshing
o the gear teeth This fluctuation can be reduced by a helical orientation o the gear
teeth instead o an axial orientation
Gear pumps are sometimes reerred to as positive displacement devices This is notcompletely correct because there must be mechanical clearances between the gears
and the housing which causes leakage Thereore the gear pump output is depend-
ent on pressure although the pressure sensitivity will generally be less than that o
a single screw extruder The actual pressure sensitivity will be determined by the
design clearances the polymer melt viscosity and the rotational speed o the gears
A good method to obtain constant throughput is to maintain a constant pressure di-
erential across the pump This can be done by a relatively simple pressure eedback
control on the extruder eeding into the gear pump [102] The non-zero clearances
in the gear pump will cause a transormation o mechanical energy into heat by vis-cous heat generation see Section 534 Thus the energy efficiency o actual gear
pumps is considerably below 100 the pumping efficiency generally ranges rom
15 to 35 The other 65 to 85 goes into mechanical losses and viscous heat gene-
ration Mechanical losses usually range rom about 20 to 40 and viscous heating
rom about 40 to 50 As a result the polymer melt going through the gear pump
will experience a considerable temperature rise typically 5 to 10degC However in
some cases the temperature rise can be as much as 20 to 30degC Since the gear
pump has limited energy efficiency the combination extruder-gear pump is not nec-
essarily more energy-efficient than the extruder without the gear pump Only i the
extruder eeding into the gear pump is very inefficient in its pressure development
will the addition o a gear pump allow a reduction in energy consumption This
could be the case with co-rotating twin screw extruders or single screw extruders
with inefficient screw design
The mixing capacity o gear pumps is very limited This was clearly demonstrated
by Kramer [106] by comparing melt temperature fluctuation beore and afer the
gear pump which showed no distinguishable improvement in melt temperature uni-
ormity Gear pumps are ofen added to extruders with unacceptable output fluc-tuations In many cases this constitutes treating the symptoms but not curing the
actual problem Most single screw extruders i properly designed can maintain
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983096 983090Different Types of Extruders
their output to within plusmn 1 I the output fluctuation is considerably larger than 1
there is probably something wrong with the machine very ofen incorrect screw
design In these cases solving the actual problem will generally be more efficient
than adding a gear pump For an efficient extruder-gear pump system the extruder
screw has to be modified to reduce the pressure-generating capacity o the screw
Gear pumps can be used advantageously
1 On extruders with poor pressure-generating capability (e g co-rotating twin
screws multi-stage vented extruders etc)
2 When output stability is required better than 1 i e in close tolerance extru-
sion (e g fiber spinning cable extrusion medical tubing coextrusion etc)
Gear pumps can cause problems when
1 The polymer contains abrasive components because o the small clearances thegear pump is very susceptible to wear
2 When the polymer is susceptible to degradation gear pumps are not sel-clean-
ing and combined with the exposure to high temperatures this will result in
degraded product
983090983091Disk Extruders
There are a number o extruders which do not utilize an Archimedean screw or
transport o the material but still all in the class o continuous extruders Some-
times these machines are reerred to as screwless extruders These machines
employ some kind o disk or drum to extrude the material One can classiy the disk
extruders according to their conveying mechanism (see Table 21) Most o the disk
extruders are based on viscous drag transport One special disk extruder utilizes
the elasticity o polymer melts to convey the material and to develop the necessary
diehead pressure
Disk extruders have been around or a long time at least since 1950 However at
this point in time the industrial significance o disk extruders is still relatively small
compared to screw extruders
983090983091983089Viscous Drag Disk Extruders
983090983091983089983089Stepped Disk Extruder
One o the first disk extruders was developed by Westover at Bell Telephone Labo-
ratories it is ofen reerred to as a stepped disk extruder or slider pad extruder [24]
A schematic picture o the extruder is shown in Fig 213
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983090983097
In
Out
Figure 983090983089983091
The stepped disk
The heart o the machine is the stepped disk positioned a small distance rom a flat
disk When one o the disks is rotated with a polymer melt in the axial gap a pres-
sure build-up will occur at the transition o one gap size to another smaller gap sizesee Fig 214
v
Distance
P r e s s u r e
Figure 983090983089983092
Pressure generation in the step region
I exit channels are incorporated into the stepped disk the polymer can be extruded
in a continuous ashion The design o this extruder is based on Rayleighrsquos [25]
analysis o hydrodynamic lubrication in various geometries He concluded that the
parallel stepped pad was capable o supporting the greatest load The stepped disk
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983091983088 983090Different Types of Extruders
extruder has also been designed in a different configuration using a gradual change
in gap size This extruder has a wedge-shaped disk with a gradual increase in pres-
sure with radial distance
A practical disadvantage o the stepped disk extruder is the act that the machine is
difficult to clean because o the intricate design o the flow channels in the stepped
disk
983090983091983089983090Drum Extruder
Another rather old concept is the drum extruder A schematic picture o a machine
manuactured by Schmid amp Kocher in Switzerland is shown in Fig 215
In
OutOutIn
Figure 983090983089983093 The drum extruder by Schmid amp Kocher
Material is ed by a eed hopper into an annular space between rotor and barrel By
the rotational motion o the rotor the material is carried along the circumerence o
the barrel Just beore the material reaches the eed hopper it encounters a wiper
bar This wiper bar scrapes the polymer rom the rotor and deflects the polymer flow
into a channel that leads to the extruder die Several patents [26 27] were issued on
this design however these patents have long since expired
A very similar extruder (see Fig 216) was developed by Askco Engineering andCosden Oil amp Chemical in a joint venture later this became Permian Research Two
patents have been issued on this design [28 29] even though the concept is very
similar to the Schmid amp Kocher design
One special eature o this design is the capability to adjust the local gap by means
o a choker bar similar to the gap adjustment in a flat sheet die see Section 92 The
choker bar in this drum extruder is activated by adjustable hydraulic oil pressure
Drum extruders have not been able to be a serious competition to the single screw
extruder over the last 50 years
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983091983089
Hopper
DieRotor
Housing
Wiper bar
Hopper
Wiper bar
DieRotor
Housing
Figure 983090983089983094
The drum extruder by AskoCosden
983090983091983089983091Spiral Disk Extruder
The spiral disk extruder is another type o disk extruder that has been known or
many years Several patented designs were described by Schenkel (Chapter 1 [3])
Similar to the stepped disk extruder the development o the spiral disk extruder
is closely connected to spiral groove bearings It has long been known that spiral
groove bearings are capable o supporting substantial loads Ingen Housz [30] has
analyzed the melt conveying in a spiral disk extruder with logarithmic grooves in
the disk based on Newtonian flow behavior o the polymer melt In terms o melt
conveying capability the spiral disk extruder seems comparable to the screw ex-truder however the solids conveying capability is questionable
983090983091983089983092Diskpack Extruder
Another development in disk extruders is the diskpack extruder Tadmor originated
the idea o the diskpack machine which is covered under several patents [31ndash33]
The development o the machine was undertaken by the Farrel Machinery Group o
Emgart Corporation in cooperation with Tadmor [34ndash39] The basic concept o the
machine is shown in Fig 217Material drops in the axial gap between relatively thin disks mounted on a rotating
shaf The material will move with the disks almost a ull turn then it meets a chan-
nel block The channel block closes off the space between the disks and deflects the
polymer flow to either an outlet channel or to a transer channel in the barrel The
shape o the disks can be optimized or specific unctions solids conveying melting
devolatilization melt conveying and mixing A detailed unctional analysis can be
ound in Tadmorrsquos book on polymer processing (Chapter 1 [32])
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983091983090 983090Different Types of Extruders
v
v
Channel blockInlet
Outlet
Barrel
Solid bed
Shaft
Melt pool
Inlet Channel block
Outlet
Melt pool
Solid bed
Barrel
Shaft
v
v Figure 983090983089983095
The diskpack extruder
It is claimed that this machine can perorm all basic polymer-processing operations
with efficiency equaling or surpassing existing machinery Clearly i the claim is
true and can be delivered or a competitive price the diskpack extruder will become
an important machine in the extrusion industry The first diskpack machines were
delivered to the industry in 1982 still under a joint development type o agreement
Now almost 20 years afer the first diskpack machines were delivered it is clear
that the acceptance o these machines in the industry has been very limited In act
Farrel no longer actively markets the diskpack machine In most o the publications
the diskpack machine is reerred to as a polymer processor This term is probably
used to indicate that this machine can do more than just extruding although the
diskpack is o course an extruder
The diskpack machine incorporates some o the eatures o the drum extruder and
the single screw extruder One can think o the diskpack as a single screw extruder
using a screw with zero helix angle and very deep flights Forward axial transportcan only take place by transport channels in the barrel with the material orced into
those channels by a restrictor bar as with the drum extruder The use o restrictor
bars (channel block) and transer channels in the housing make it considerably
more complex than the barrel o a single screw extruder
One o the advantages o the diskpack is that mixing blocks and spreading dams can
be incorporated into the machine as shown in Fig 218(a)
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983091983091
v
v
Channel blockInlet
Outlet
Mixing block
Disk
Inlet Channel block
Outlet
Mixing blockDisk v
v Figure 983090983089983096(a)
Mixing blocks in the diskpack
Mixing blocks o various shapes can be positioned externally into the processing
chamber This is similar to the QSM extruder only that in the QSM extruder the
screw flight has to be interrupted to avoid contact This is not necessary in the disk-
pack because the flights have zero helix angles in other words they run perpen-
dicular to the rotor axis By the number o blocks the geometry o the block and the
clearance between block and disk one can tailor the mixing capability to the par-
ticular application The use o spreading dams allows the generation o a thin film
with a large surace area this results in effective devolatilization capability The
diskpack has inherently higher pressure-generating capability than the single
screw extruder does This is because the diskpack has two dragging suraces while
the single screw extruder has only one see Fig 218(b)
v
v=0
v
v
Conveying mechanismsingle screw extruder
Conveying mechanism
diskpack extruder Figure 983090983089983096(b)
Comparison of conveying mechanism in diskpackand single screw extruder
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983091983092 983090Different Types of Extruders
At the same net flow rate equal viscosity equal plate velocity and optimum plate
separation the theoretical maximum pressure gradient o the diskpack is eight
times higher than the single screw extruder [34] Thus high pressures can be gen-
erated over a short distance which allows a more compact machine design The
energy efficiency o the pressure generation is also better than in the single screwextruder the maximum pumping efficiency approaches 100 see derivation in
Appendix 21 For the single screw extruder the maximum pumping efficiency is
only 33 as discussed in Section 7413 The energy efficiency o pressure genera-
tion is the ratio o the theoretical energy requirement (flow rate times pressure rise)
to the actual energy requirement (wall velocity times shear stress integrated over
wall surace) It should be noted that the two dragging platesrsquo pumping mechanism
exists only in tangential direction The pumping in axial (orward) direction occurs
only in the transer channel in the housing This orward pumping occurs by the one
dragging plate mechanism as in the single screw extruder The maximum efficiency
or orward pumping thereore is only 33 The overall pumping efficiency will be
somewhere between 33 and 100 i the power consumption in the disk and channel
block clearance is neglected
Studies on melting in the diskpack were reported by Valsamis et al [96] It was
ound that two types o melting mechanism could take place in the diskpack the
drag melt removal (DMR) mechanism and the dissipative melt mixing (DMM) mech-
anism The DMR melting mechanism is the predominant mechanism in single screw
extruders this is discussed in detail in Section 73 In the DMR melting mechanismthe solids and melt coexist as two largely continuous and separate phases In the
DMM melting mechanism the solids are dispersed in the melt there is no conti-
nuous solid bed It was ound that the DMM mechanism could be induced by pro-
moting back leakage o the polymer melt past the channel block This can be con-
trolled by varying the clearance between the channel block and the disks The
advantage o the DMM melting mechanism is that the melting rate can be substan-
tially higher than with the DMR mechanism reportedly by as much as a actor o 3
[96]
Among all elementary polymer processing unctions the solids conveying in a disk-
pack extruder has not been discussed to any extent in the open technical literature
Considering that the solids conveying mechanism is a rictional drag mechanism
(as in single screw extruders) and not a positive displacement type o transport (as
in intermeshing counterrotating twin screw extruders see Sections 102 and 104)
it can be expected that the diskpack will have solids conveying limitations similar
to those o single screw extruders see Section 722 This means that powders
blends o powders and pellets slippery materials etc are likely to encounter solids
conveying problems in a diskpack extruder unless special measures are taken toenhance the solids conveying capability (e g crammer eeder grooves in the disks
etc)
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983091983093
Because o the more complex machine geometry the cost per unit throughput o the
diskpack is higher than or the conventional single screw extruder Thereore the
diskpack does not compete directly with single screw extruders
Applications or the diskpack are specialty polymer processing operations such as
polymerization post-reactor processing (devolatilization) continuous compound-
ing etc As such the diskpack competes mostly with twin screw extruders Pres-
ently twin screw extruders are usually the first choice when it comes to specialty
polymer processing operations
983090983091983090The Elastic Melt Extruder
The elastic melt extruder was developed in the late 1950s by Maxwell and Scalora[40 41] The extruder makes use o the viscoelastic in particular the elastic pro-
perties o polymer melts When a viscoelastic fluid is exposed to a shearing deor-
mation normal stresses will develop in the fluid that are not equal in all directions
as opposed to a purely viscous fluid In the elastic melt extruder the polymer is
sheared between two plates one stationary and one rotating see Fig 219
Hopper
Heaters
Solid polymer
Die
Extrudate
Polymer melt
Rotor
Solid polymerHopper
Heaters
Die
Extrudate
Polymer melt
Rotor
Figure 983090983089983097
The elastic melt extruder
As the polymer is sheared normal stresses will generate a centripetal pumping
action Thus the polymer can be extruded through the central opening in the sta-
tionary plate in a continuous ashion Because normal stresses generate the pump-
ing action this machine is sometimes reerred to as a normal stress extruderThis extruder is quite interesting rom a rheological point o view since it is prob-
ably the only extruder that utilizes the elasticity o the melt or its conveying Thus
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983091983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
several detailed experimental and theoretical studies have been devoted to the elas-
tic melt extruder [42ndash47]
The detailed study by Fritz [44] concluded that transport by normal stresses only
could be as much as two orders o magnitude lower than a corresponding system
with orced eed In addition substantial temperature gradients developed in the
polymer causing substantial degradation in high molecular weight polyolefins The
scant market acceptance o the elastic melt extruder would tend to confirm Fritzrsquos
conclusions
Several modifications have been proposed to improve the perormance o the elastic
melt extruder Fritz [43] suggested incorporation o spiral grooves to improve the
pressure generating capability essentially combining the elastic melt extruder and
the spiral disk extruder into one machine In Russia [47] several modifications
were made to the design o the elastic melt extruder One o those combined a screwextruder with the elastic melt extruder to eliminate the eeding and plasticating
problem Despite all o these activities the elastic melt extruder has not been able to
acquire a position o importance in the extrusion industry
983090983091983091Overview of Disk Extruders
Many attempts have been made in the past to come up with a continuous plasticat-
ing extruder o simple design that could perorm better than the single screw ex-truder It seems air to say that at this point in time no disk extruder has been able
to meet this goal The simple disk extruders do not perorm nearly as well as the
single screw extruder The more complex disk extruder such as the diskpack can
possibly outperorm the single screw extruder However this is at the expense o
design simplicity thus increasing the cost o the machine Disk extruders there-
ore have not been able to seriously challenge the position o the single screw
extruder This is not to say however that it is not possible or this to happen some
time in the uture But considering the long dominance o the single screw extruder
it is not probable that a new disk extruder will come along that can challenge the
single screw extruder
983090983092Ram Extruders
Ram or plunger extruders are simple in design rugged and discontinuous in their
mode o operation Ram extruders are essentially positive displacement devices and
are able to generate very high pressures Because o the intermittent operation o
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983091983095
ram extruders they are ideally suited or cyclic processes such as injection molding
and blow molding In act the early molding machines were almost exclusively
equipped with ram extruders to supply the polymer melt to the mold Certain limita-
tions o the ram extruder have caused a switch to reciprocating screw extruders or
combinations o the two The two main limitations are
1 Limited melting capacity
2 Poor temperature uniormity o the polymer melt
Presently ram extruders are used in relatively small shot size molding machines
and certain specialty operations where use is made o the positive displacement
characteristics and the outstanding pressure generation capability There are basic-
ally two types o ram extruders single ram extruders and multi ram extruders
983090983092983089Single Ram Extruders
The single ram extruder is used in small general purpose molding machines but
also in some special polymer processing operations One such operation is the ex-
trusion o intractable polymers such as ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene
(UHMWPE) or polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) These polymers are not considered to
be melt processable on conventional melt processing equipment Teledynamik [48]
has built a ram injection-molding machine under a license rom Th Engel who
developed the prototype machine This machine is used to mold UHMWPE under
very high pressures The machine uses a reciprocating plunger that densifies the
cold incoming material with a pressure up to 300 MPa (about 44000 psi) The re-
quency o the ram can be adjusted continuously with a maximum o 250 strokes
minute The densified material is orced through heated channels into the heated
cylinder where final melting takes place The material is then injected into a mold
by a telescoping injection ram Pressures up to 100 MPa (about 14500 psi) occur
during the injection o the polymer into the mold
Another application is the extrusion o PTFE with again the primary ingredient orsuccessul extrusion being very high pressures Granular PTFE can be extruded at
slow rates in a ram extruder [49ndash51] The powder is compacted by the ram orced
into a die where the material is heated above the melting point and shaped into the
desired orm PTFE is ofen processed as a PTFE paste [52 53] This is small particle
size PTFE powder (about 02 mm) mixed with a processing aid such as naphta PTFE
paste can be extruded at room temperature or slightly above room temperature
Afer extrusion the processing aid is removed by heating the extrudate above its
volatilization temperature The extruded PTFE paste product may be sintered i the
application requires a more ully coalesced product
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983091983096 983090Different Types of Extruders
983090983092983089983089Solid State Extrusion
An extrusion technique that has slowly been gaining popularity is solid-state extru-
sion The polymer is orced through a die while it is below its melting point This
causes substantial deormation o the polymer in the die but since the polymer is in
the solid state a very effective molecular orientation takes place This orientation ismuch more effective than the one which occurs in conventional melt processing As
a result extraordinary mechanical properties can be obtained
Solid-state extrusion is a technique borrowed rom the metal industry where solid-
state extrusion has been used commercially since the late 1940s Bridgman [54]
was one o the first to do a systematic study on the effect o pressure on the mechan-
ical properties o metals He also studied polymers and ound that the glass tran-
sition temperature was raised by the application o pressure
There are two methods o solid-state extrusion one is direct solid-state extrusionthe other is hydrostatic extrusion In direct solid-state extrusion a pre-ormed solid
rod o material (a billet) is in direct contact with the plunger and the walls o the
extrusion die see Fig 220 The material is extruded as the ram is pushed towards
the die
Plunger
Billet
Barrel
DieExtrudate Figure 983090983090983088
Direct solid state extrusion
In hydrostatic extrusion the pressure required or extrusion is transmitted rom the
plunger to the billet through a lubricating liquid usually castor oil The billet must
be shaped to fit the die to prevent loss o fluid The hydrostatic fluid reduces the ric-
tion thereby reducing the extrusion pressure see Fig 221
In hydrostatic extrusion the pressure-generating device or the fluid does not neces-
sarily have to be in close proximity to the orming part o the machine The fluid canbe supplied to the extrusion device by high-pressure tubes
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983091983097
Plunger
Billet
Oil
Barrel
DieExtrudate Figure 983090983090983089
Hydrostatic solid state extrusion
Judging rom publications in the open literature most o the work on solid-state
extrusion o polymers is done at universities and research institutes It is possible
o course that some companies are working on solid-state extrusion but are keeping
the inormation proprietary A major research effort in solid-state extrusion has
been made at the University o Amherst Massachusetts [50ndash64] University o
Leeds England [65ndash72] Fyushu University Fukuoka Japan [73ndash76] Research
Institute or Polymers and Textiles Yokohama Japan [77ndash79] Battelle Columbus
Ohio [80ndash83] and Rutgers University New Brunswick New Jersey [84ndash86] As
mentioned earlier publications rom other sources are considerably less plentiul
[87ndash90] Efforts have also been made to achieve the same high degree o orientation
in a more or less conventional extrusion process by special die design and tempera-
ture control in the die region [91]
Table 25 shows a comparison o mechanical properties between steel aluminum
solid state extruded HDPE and HDPE extruded by conventional means
Table 25 clearly indicates that the mechanical properties o solid-state extruded
HDPE are much superior to the melt extruded HDPE In act the tensile strength o
solid-state extruded HDPE is about the same as carbon steel There are some other
interesting benefits associated with solidstate extrusion o polymers There is essen-
tially no die swell at high extrusion ratios (extrusion ratio is the ratio o the area in
the cylinder to the area in the die) Thus the dimensions o the extrudate closely
conorm to those o the die exit The surace o the extrudate produced by hydro-
static extrusion has a lower coefficient o riction than that o the un-oriented poly-
mer Above a certain extrusion ratio (about ten) polyethylene and polypropylene
become transparent Further solid-state extruded polymers maintain their ten-sile properties at elevated temperatures Polyethylene maintains its modulus up to
120degC when it is extruded in the solid state at a high extrusion ratio The thermal
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983092983088 983090Different Types of Extruders
conductivity in the extrusion direction is much higher than that o the un-oriented
polymer as much as 25 times higher The melting point o the solid-state extruded
polymer increases with the amount o orientation The melting point o HDPE can be
shifed to as high as 140degC
Table 25 Comparison of Mechanical Properties
Material Tensile modulus[MPa]
Tensile strength[MPa]
Elongation[]
Density[gcc]
Annealed SAE 1020 210000 410 35 786
W-200 degF SAE 1020 210000 720 6 786
Annealed 304 stainless
steel
200000 590 50 792
Aluminum 1100ndash0 70000 90 45 271
HDPE solid state
extruded
70000 480 3 097
HDPE melt extruded 10000 30 20ndash1000 096
A recent application o solid-state extrusion is the process developed by Synthetic
Hardwood Technologies Inc [107] This company has developed an expanded ori-
ented wood-filled polypropylene (EOW-PP) that is about 300 stronger than regular
PP The process is based on technology developed at Aluminum Company o Canada
Ltd (Alcan) in the early 1990s to solidstate extrude PP It involves ram extrusion
drawing o billets o PP just below the melting point with very high draw ratio and
high haul-off tension (about 3 MPa) to reeze-in the high level o orientation Alcan
did not pursue the technology and Symplastics Ltd licensed the patented process
this company started experimenting with adding small amounts o wood flour to the
PP However Symplastics ound the research and development too costly and sold
the patents and lab extrusion equipment to Frank Maine who set up SHW to com-
mercialize applications or the EOW-PP The key to the SHW process is that it com-
bines extrusion with drawing As the polymer is oriented the density drops about
50 rom about 1 g cc to 05 g cc The die drawing also allowed substantial in-creases in line speed rom about 0050 m min to about 9 m min The properties
achieved with EOW-PP are shown in Table 24 and compared to regular PP wood
and oriented PP
Solid-state extrusion has been practiced with coextrusion o different polymers [93]
Despite the large amount o research on solid-state extrusion and the outstanding
mechanical properties that can be obtained there does not seem to be much interest
in the polymer industry The main drawbacks o course are that solid-state extru-
sion is basically a discontinuous process it cannot be done on conventional polymer
processing equipment and very high pressures are required to achieve solid-stateextrusion Also one should keep in mind that very good mechanical properties can
be obtained by taking a profile (fiber film tube etc) produced by conventional con-
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983092983089
tinuous extrusion and exposing it to controlled deormation at a temperature below
the melting point This is a well-established technique in many extrusion operations
(fiber spinning film extrusion etc) and it can be done at a high rate This method
o producing extrudates with very good mechanical properties is likely to be more
cost-effective than solid-state extrusion It is possible that the die drawing processdeveloped by SHW can make solid-state extrusion more attractive commercially by
allowing large profiles to be processed at reasonable line speeds
Table 26 Mechanical Properties of PP Wood OPP and EOW-PP
Flexural strength [MPa] Flexural modulus [MPa]
Regular PP 50 1850
Wood 100 9000
Oriented PP 275 7600EOW-PP 140 7600
983090983092983090Multi Ram Extruder
As mentioned beore the main disadvantage o ram extruders is their intermittent
operation Several attempts have been made to overcome this problem by designing
multi-ram extruders that work together in such a way as to produce a continuousflow o material
Westover [94] designed a continuous ram extruder that combined our plunger-
cylinders Two plunger-cylinders were used or plasticating and two or pumping
An intricate shuttle valve connecting all the plunger cylinders provides continuous
extrusion
Another attempt to develop a continuous ram extruder was made by Yi and Fenner
[95] They designed a twin ram extruder with the cylinders in a V-configuration see
Fig 222The two rams discharge into a common barrel in which a plasticating shaf is rotat-
ing Thus solids conveying occurs in the two separate cylinders and plasticating
and melt conveying occurs in the annular region between the barrel and plasticat-
ing shaf The machine is able to extrude however the throughput uniormity is
poor The perormance could probably have been improved i the plasticating shaf
had been provided with a helical channel But o course then the machine would
have become a screw extruder with a ram-assisted eed This only goes to demon-
strate that it is ar rom easy to improve upon the simple screw extruder
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983092983090 983090Different Types of Extruders
Die Breaker plate
Plasticating shaft
Main
block
Feed cylinder
Figure 222 Twin ram extruder
983090983092983091 Appendix 983090983089
983090983092983091983089 Pumping Efficiency in Diskpack Extruder
The velocity profile between the moving walls is a parabolic unction when the fluid
is a Newtonian fluid see Section 621 and Fig 223
y
z H
Small pressure gradient
Medium pressure gradient
Large pressure gradient
Figure 983090983090983091
Velocity profiles between moving
walls
The velocity profile or a Newtonian fluid is
L8
PH
H
y41vv(y)
2
2
2
∆micro∆
minusminus= (1)
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983092983091
where v is the velocity o the plates H the distance between the plates and μ the
viscosity o the fluid The flow rate can be ound by integrating v(y) over the width
and depth o the channel this yields
L12
PWHvWHV
3
∆micro∆minus=
bull
(2)
The first term on the right-hand side o the equalation is the drag flow term The
second term is the pressure flow term The ratio o pressure flow to drag flow is
termed the throttle ratio rd (see Section 7413)
r d =Lv12
PH2
∆micro
∆ (3)
The flow rate can now be written as
(4)
The shear stress at the wall is obtained rom
dv H∆Pτ = micro =dy
05H 2∆L
(5)
The power consumption in the channel is
Zch = PvHWLvW2 ∆=∆τ (6)
The energy efficiency or pressure generation is
V∆Pε = =1 minus r
d Zch
(7)
Equation 7 is not valid or rd = 0 because in this case both numerator and denomi-
nator become zero From Eq 7 it can be seen that when the machine is operated atlow rd values the pumping efficiency can become close to 100 This is considerably
better than the single screw extruder where the optimum pumping efficiency is 33
at a throttle ratio value o 033 (rd = 13)
References
1 J LeBras ldquoRubber Fundamentals o its Science and Technologyrdquo Chemical Publ Co
NY (1957)
2 W S Penn ldquoSynthetic Rubber Technology Volume Irdquo MacLaren amp Sons Ltd London(1960)
3 W J S Naunton ldquoThe Applied Science o Rubberrdquo Edward Arnold Ltd London (1961)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3437
983092983092 983090Different Types of Extruders
4 C M Blow ldquoRubber Technology and Manuacturerdquo Butterworth amp Co Ltd London
(1971)
5 F R Eirich (Ed) ldquoScience and Technology o Rubberrdquo Academic Press NY (1978)
6 C W Evans ldquoPowdered and Particulate Rubber Technologyrdquo Applied Science Publ Ltd
London (1978)
7 G Targiel et al 10 IKV-Kolloquium Aachen March 12ndash14 45 (1980)
8 A Kennaway Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 17 378ndash391 (1964)
9 G Menges and J P Lehnen Plastverarbeiter 20 1 31ndash39 (1969)
10 M Parshall and A J Saulino Rubber World 2 5 78ndash83 (1967)
11 S E Perlberg Rubber World 2 6 71ndash76 (1967)
12 H H Gohlisch Gummi Asbest Kunststoffe 25 9 834ndash835 (1972)
13 E Harms ldquoKautschuk-Extruder Aubau und Einsatz aus verahrenstechnischer Sichtrdquo
Krausskop-Verlag Mainz Bd 2 Buchreihe Kunststo983142echnik (1974)
14 G Schwarz Eur Rubber Journal Sept 28ndash32 (1977)
15 G Menges and E G Harms Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 25 10 469ndash475 (1972)
16 G Menges and E G Harms Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 27 5 187ndash193 (1974)
17 E G Harms Elastomerics 109 6 33ndash39 (1977)
18 E G Harms Eur Rubber Journal 6 23 (1978)
19 E G Harms Kunststoffe 69 1 32ndash33 (1979)
20 E G Harms Dissertation RWTH Aachen Germany (1981)21 S H Collins Plastics Compounding Nov Dec 29 (1982)
22 D Anders Kunststoffe 69 194ndash198 (1979)
23 D Gras and K Eise SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 21 386 (1975)
24 R F Westover SPE Journal 18 12 1473 (1962)
25 Lord Raleigh Philosophical Magazine 35 1ndash12 (1918)
26 German Patent DRP 1129681
27 British Patent BP 759354
28 U S Patent 3880564
29 U S Patent 4012477
30 J F Ingen Housz Plastverarbeiter 10 1 (1975)
31 U S Patent 4142805
32 U S Patent 4194841
33 U S Patent 4213709
34 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 25 193 (1979)
35 P Hold Z Tadmor and L Valsamis SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 25 205 (1979)
36 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis Plastics Engineering Nov 20ndash25 (1979)
37 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis Plastics Engineering Dec 30ndash38 (1979)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3537
References 983092983093
38 Z Tadmor et al The Diskpack Plastics Processor Farrel Publication Jan (1982)
39 L Valsamis AIChE Meeting Washington D C Oct (1983)
40 B Maxwell and A J Scalora Modern Plastics 37 107 Oct (1959)
41 U S Patent 3 046603
42 L L Blyler PhD thesis Princeton University NJ (1966)
43 H G Fritz Kunststo983142echnik 6 430 (1968)
44 H G Fritz PhD thesis Stuttgart University Germany (1971)
45 C W Macosko and J M Starita SPE Journal 27 30 (1971)
46 P A Good A J Schwartz and C W Macosko AIChE Journal 20 1 67 (1974)
47 V L Kocherov Y L Lukach E A Sporyagin and G V Vinogradov Polym Eng Sci 13
194 (1973)
48 J Berzen and G Braun Kunststoffe 69 2 62ndash66 (1979)49 R S Porter et al J Polym Sci 17 485ndash488 (1979)
50 C A Sperati Modern Plastics Encyclopedia McGraw-Hill NY (1983)
51 S S Schwartz and S H Goodman see Chapter 1 [36]
52 G R Snelling and J F Lontz J Appl Polym Sci 3 9 257ndash265 (1960)
53 D C F Couzens Plastics and Rubber Processing March 45ndash48 (1976)
54 P W Bridgman ldquoStudies in Large Plastic Flow and Fracturerdquo McGraw-Hill NY (1952)
55 H L D Push ldquoThe Mechanical Behavior o Materials Under Pressurerdquo Elsevier Amster-
dam (1970)56 H L D Push and A H Low J Inst Metals 93 201 (196565)
57 F Slack Mach Design Oct 7 61ndash64 (1982)
58 J H Southern and R S Porter J Appl Polym Sci 14 2305 (1970)
59 J H Southern and R S Porter J Macromol Sci Phys 3ndash4 541 (1970)
60 J H Southern N E Weeks and R S Porter Macromol Chem 162 19 (1972)
61 N J Capiati and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 13 1177 (1975)
62 R S Porter J H Southern and N E Weeks Polym Eng Sci 15 213 (1975)
63 A E Zachariades E S Sherman and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 17 255
(1979)
64 A E Zachariades and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 17 277 (1979)
65 B Parsons D Bretherton and B N Cole in Advances in MTDR 11th Int Con Proc
S A Tobias and F Koeningsberger (Eds) Pergamon Press London Vol B 1049 (1971)
66 G Capaccio and I M Ward Polymer 15 233 (1974)
67 A G Gibson I M Ward B N Cole and B Parsons J Mater Sci 9 1193ndash1196 (1974)
68 A G Gibson and I M Ward J Appl Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 16 2015ndash2030 (1978)
69 P S Hope and B Parsons Polym Eng Sci 20 589ndash600 (1980)
70 P S Hope I M Ward and A G Gibson J Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 18 1242ndash1256
(1980)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983092983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
71 P S Hope A G Gibson B Parsons and I M Ward Polym Eng Sci 20 54ndash55 (1980)
72 B Parsons and I M Ward Plast Rubber Proc Appl 2 3 215ndash224 (1982)
73 K Imada T Yamamoto K Shigematsu and M Takayanagi J Mater Sci 6 537ndash546
(1971)
74 K Nakamura K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 2 71 (1972)
75 K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 2 89 (1973)
76 K Nakamura K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 3 23 (1974)
77 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Mater Sci 10 1105 (1975)
78 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Mater Sci 12 1477 (1977)
79 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Appl Polym Sci 23 2543ndash2554 (1979)
80 D M Bigg Polym Eng Sci 16 725 (1976)
81 D M Bigg M M Epstein R J Fiorentino and E G Smith Polym Eng Sci 18 908(1978)
82 D M Bigg and M M Epstein ldquoScience and Technology o Polymer Processingrdquo N S Suh
and N Sung (Eds) 897 MIT Press (1979)
83 D M Bigg M M Epstein R J Fiorentino and E G Smith J Appl Polym Sci 26 395ndash
409 (1981)
84 K D Pae and D R Mears J Polym Sci B-6 269 (1968)
85 K D Pae D R Mears and J A Sauer J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 6 773 (1968)
86 D R Mears K P Pae and J A Sauer J Appl Phys 40 11 4229ndash4237 (1969)
87 L A Davis and C A Pampillo J Appl Phys 42 12 4659ndash4666 (1971)
88 A Buckley and H A Long Polym Eng Sci 9 2 115ndash120 (1969)
89 L A Davis Polym Eng Sci 14 9 641ndash645 (1974)
90 R K Okine and N P Suh Polym Eng Sci 22 5 269ndash279 (1982)
91 J R Collier T Y T Tam J Newcome and N Dinos Polym Eng Sci 16 204ndash211 (1976)
92 J H Faupel and F E Fisher ldquoEngineering Designrdquo Wiley NY (1981)
93 A E Zachariades R Ball and R S Porter J Mater Sci 13 2671ndash2675 (1978)
94 R R Westover Modern Plastics March (1963) 95 B Yi and R T Fenner Plastics and Polymers Dec 224ndash228 (1975)
96 A Mekkaoui and L N Valsamis Polym Eng Sci 24 1260ndash1269 (1984)
97 H Rust Kunststoffe 73 342ndash346 (1983)
98 J Huszman Kunststoffe 73 3437ndash348 (1983)
99 J M McKelvey U Maire and F Haupt Chem Eng Sept 27 94ndash102 (1976)
100 K Schneider Kunststoffe 68 201ndash206 (1978)
101 W T Rice Plastic Technology 87ndash91 Feb (1980)
102 Harrel Corp ldquoMelt Pump Systems or Extrudersrdquo Product Description TDS-264 (1982)
103 J M McKelvey and W T Rice Chem Eng 90 2 89ndash94 (1983)
104 K Kaper K Eise and H Herrmann SPE ANTEC Chicago 161ndash163 (1983)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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References 983092983095
105 C L Woodworth SPE ANTEC New Orleans 122ndash126 (1984)
106 W A Kramer SPE ANTEC Washington D C 23ndash29 (1985)
107 J Schut ldquoDie Drawing Makes Plastic Steelrdquo Plastics Technology Online Article March
5 (2001)
108 VDI Conerence Extrusiontechnik 2006 ldquoDer Einschnecken-Extruder von Morgenrdquo VDI
Verlag GmbH Duumlsseldor (2006)
109 P Rieg ldquoLatest Developments in High-Speed Extrusionrdquo Plastic Extrusion Asia Con-
erence Bangkok Thailand March 17ndash18 (2008) also presented at Advances in Ex-
trusion Conerence New Orleans December 9ndash10 (2008)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983088 983090Different Types of Extruders
Figure 983090983093
The Pirelli rubber extruder screw
Figure 26 shows the EVK screw by Werner amp Pfleiderer [14] This design eatures
cross-channel barriers with preceding undercuts in the flights to provide a change
in flow direction and increased shearing as the material flows over the barrier or the
undercut in the flight A rather unusual design is the Transermix [10ndash13] extrudermixer which has been used or compounding rubber ormulations This machine
eatures helical channels in both the screw and barrel see Fig 27
Figure 983090983094
The EVK screw by Werner amp Pfleiderer
Vent
Feed
Figure 27 The Transfermix extruder
By a varying root diameter o the screw the material is orced in the flow channel
o the barrel A reduction o the depth o the barrel channel orces the material
back into the screw channel This requent reorientation provides good mixing
However the machine is difficult to manuacture and expensive to repair in case o
damageAnother rubber extruder is the QSM extruder [7 15ndash20] QSM stands or the Ger-
man words ldquoQuer Strom Mischrdquo meaning cross-flow mixing This extruder has
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983089 The Single Screw Extruder 983090983089
adjustable pins in the extruder barrel that protrude all the way into the screw chan-
nel see Fig 28
Figure 28 The QSM extruder (pin barrel extruder)
The screw flight has slots at the various pin locations The advantages o this ex-
truder in rubber applications are good mixing capability with a low stock tempera-
ture increase and low specific energy consumption This extruder was developed by
Harms in Germany and is manuactured and sold by Troester and other companies
Even though the QSM extruder has become popular in the rubber industry its appli-
cations clearly extend beyond just rubber extrusion In thermoplastic extrusion its
most obvious application would be in high viscosity thermally less stable resins
PVC could possibly be a candidate although dead spots may create problems with
degradation However it can probably be applied wherever good mixing and good
temperature control are requiredAnother typical rubber extrusion piece o hardware is the roller die A schematic
representation is shown in Fig 29
Figure 29 The roller die used in rubber extrusion
The roller die (B F Goodrich 1933) is a combination o a standard sheet die and a
calender It allows high throughput by reducing the diehead pressure it reduces air
entrapment and provides good gauge control
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983090983090 983090Different Types of Extruders
983090983089983092High-Speed Extrusion
One way to achieve high throughputs is to use high-speed extrusion High-speed
extrusion has been used in twin screw compounding or many yearsmdashsince the
1960s However in single screw extrusion high speed extrusion has not been usedon a significant scale until about 1995 Twin screw extruders (TSE) used in com-
pounding typically run at screw speeds ranging rom 200 to 500 rpm in some cases
screw speeds beyond 1000 rpm are possible Single screw extruders (SSE) usually
operate at screw speeds between 50 to 150 rpm
Since approx 1995 several extruder manuacturers have worked on developing
high-speed single screw extruders (HS-SSE) Most o these developments have taken
place at German extruder manuacturers such as Batteneld Reienhaumluser Kuhne
and Esde Currently HS-SSEs are commercially available and have been in use orseveral years [108]
Batteneld supplies a high speed 75-mm SSE that can run at screw speeds up to
1500 rpm [109] This machine can achieve throughputs up to 2200 kg hr It uses a
our-motor CMG torque drive with 390 kW made by K amp A Knoedler
983090983089983092983089Melt Temperature
One o the interesting characteristics o the HS-SSE is that the melt temperature
remains more or less constant over a broad range o screw speed [108 109] see
Fig 210
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0
T h r o u g
h p u t [ k g h r ]
75-mm extruder PS 486
P Rieg Battenfeld HJ Renner BASF
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200
Screw speed [revmin]
250
240
230
220
210
200
M e l t t e m
p e r a t u r e [ o C ]
Figure 983090983089983088
Throughput and melt
temperature versus
screw speed
This graph shows both the throughput in kg hr and the melt temperature in degC The
temperature curve indicates that there is less than a 2degC change in melt tempera-ture rom 200 rpm up to about 1000 rpm At screw speeds rom 110 rpm to 225 rpm
the melt temperature actually drops rom about 223 to about 215degC
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983089 The Single Screw Extruder 983090983091
In conventional extruders the melt temperature typically increases with screw
speed This ofen creates problems when we deal with high-viscosity polymers par-
ticularly when they have limited thermal stability In the example shown in Fig 210
the melt temperature is essentially constant as screw speed increases rom 200 to
1000 rpm This is probably the result o two actors the residence time o the poly-mer melt is reduced with increasing screw speed and the volume o the molten poly-
mer likely reduces with increasing screw speed as the melting length becomes
longer with increased screw speed
983090983089983092983090Extruders without Gear Reducer
An important advantage o high-speed SSE is that a conventional gear reducer is no
longer necessary The gear reducer is one o the largest cost actors or a conven-
tional extruder As a result extruders without a gear reducer are significantly lessexpensive compared to conventional extruders that achieve the same rate A urther
advantage o the elimination o the gear reducer is a significant reduction in noise
level Contrary to what one would expect HS-SSE actually run very quiet the noise
level is substantially lower than it is or conventional extruders with gear reducers
983090983089983092983091Energy Consumption
Another benefit o high-speed SSE is the reduction in energy consumption Rieg
[108 109] reports the ollowing mechanical specific energy consumption
The reduction in energy consumption listed in Table 22 is significant between 35
and 45 I the extruder runs PP at 2000 kg hr a reduction in SEC o 010 kWh kg
corresponds to a reduction in power consumption o 200 kW every hour I the power
cost is $010 per kWh (or consistency) the savings per hour will be $20 per hour
$480 per day $3360 per week and $168000 per year at 50 weeks per year Clearly
this can have a significant effect on the profitability o an extrusion operation
Table 22 Specific Energy Consumption for Standard Extruder and High-Speed Extruder
Type of extruder SEC with polystyrene [kWhkg] SEC with polypropylene [kWhkg]
Standard extruder 019minus021 027minus029
High-speed extruder 010minus012 017minus019
983090983089983092983092Change-over Resin Consumption
Another important issue in efficient extrusion is the time and material used when a
change in resin is made With high-speed extruders the change-over time is quite
short because the volume occupied by the plastic is small while the throughput is
very high
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983090983092 983090Different Types of Extruders
Table 23 shows a comparison o the high-speed 75-mm extruder to a conventional
180-mm extruder running at the same throughput The amount o material con-
sumed in the change-over is 150 kg or the 75-mm extruder and 1300 kg or the
180-mm extruder I we assume a resin cost o $100 per kg the savings are
$115000 per change-over I we have three change-overs per week the yearly sav-ings in reduced resin usage comes to $172500 per year Clearly this is not an insig-
nificant amount
Table 23 Comparison of Change-Over Time and Material Consumption
75-mm extruder 180-mm extruder
Volume in the extruder [liter] 4 40
Material consumption for change-over [kg] 150 1300
Change-over time [min] 5 40
983090983089983092983093 Change-over Time and Residence Time
Table 23 also shows that the change-over time or the 75-mm extruder is approx
5 minutes while it is approx 40 minutes in the 180-mm extruder Clearly the
reduced change-over time results rom the act that the volume occupied by the plas-
tic is much smaller (4 liter) in the 75-mm extruder than in the 180-mm extruder
(40 liter) I the change-over time can be reduced rom 40 to 5 minutes this means
that 35 minutes are now available to run production resulting in greater up-time othe extrusion line
The small volume o the HS-SSE also results in short residence times The mean
residence time ranges rom approx 5 to 10 seconds In conventional SSE the resi-
dence times are substantially longer typically between 50 to 100 seconds Since
HS-SSE can run at relatively low melt temperatures the chance o degradation is
actually less in these extruders There is ample evidence in actual high-speed ex-
trusion operations that the plastic is less susceptible to degradation in these opera-
tions
983090983090The Multiscrew Extruder
221The Twin Screw Extruder
A twin screw extruder is a machine with two Archimedean screws Admittedly this
is a very general definition However as soon as the definition is made more spe-
cific it is limited to a specific class o twin screw extruders There is a tremendous
variety o twin screw extruders with vast differences in design principle o opera-
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983090983090 The Multiscrew Extruder 983090983093
tion and field o application It is thereore difficult to make general comments
about twin screw extruders The differences between the various twin screw extrud-
ers are much larger than the differences between single screw extruders This is to
be expected since the twin screw construction substantially increases the number
o design variables such as direction o rotation degree o intermeshing etc A clas-sification o twin screw extruders is shown in Table 24 This classification is pri-
marily based on the geometrical configuration o the twin screw extruder Some
twin screw extruders unction in much the same ashion as single screw extruders
Other twin screw extruders operate quite differently rom single screw extruders
and are used in very different applications The design o the various twin screw
extruders with their operational and unctional aspects will be covered in more
detail in Chapter 10
Table 24 Classification of Twin Screw Extruders
Intermeshing extruders
Co-rotating extrudersLow speed extruders for profile extrusion
High speed extruders for compounding
Counter-rotating extruders
Conical extruders for profile extrusion
Parallel extruders for profile extrusion
High speed extruders for compounding
Non-intermeshing
extruders
Counter-rotating extrudersEqual screw length
Unequal screw length
Co-rotating extruders Not used in practice
Co-axial extruders
Inner melt transport forward
Inner melt transport rearward
Inner solids transport rearward
Inner plasticating with rearward transport
983090983090983090The Multiscrew Extruder With More Than Two Screws
There are several types o extruders which incorporate more than two screws One
relatively well-known example is the planetary roller extruder see Fig 211
Planetary screws
Sun (main) screw Melting and feed section
Discharge
Figure 211 The planetary roller extruder
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983090983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
This extruder looks similar to a single screw extruder The eed section is in act
the same as on a standard single screw extruder However the mixing section o the
extruder looks considerably different In the planetary roller section o the extruder
six or more planetary screws evenly spaced revolve around the circumerence o
the main screw In the planetary screw section the main screw is reerred to as thesun screw The planetary screws intermesh with the sun screw and the barrel The
planetary barrel section thereore must have helical grooves corresponding to the
helical flights on the planetary screws This planetary barrel section is generally a
separate barrel section with a flange-type connection to the eed barrel section
In the first part o the machine beore the planetary screws the material moves
orward as in a regular single screw extruder As the material reaches the planetary
section being largely plasticated at this point it is exposed to intensive mixing by
the rolling action between the planetary screws the sun screw and the barrel Thehelical design o the barrel sun screw and planetary screws result in a large sur-
ace area relative to the barrel length The small clearance between the planetary
screws and the mating suraces about frac14 mm allows thin layers o compound to be
exposed to large surace areas resulting in effective devolatilization heat exchange
and temperature control Thus heat-sensitive compounds can be processed with a
minimum o degradation For this reason the planetary gear extruder is requently
used or extrusion compounding o PVC ormulations both rigid and plasticized
[21 22] Planetary roller sections are also used as add-ons to regular extruders to
improve mixing perormance [97 98] Another multiscrew extruder is the our-screw extruder shown in Fig 212
Figure 983090983089983090
Four-screw extruder
This machine is used primarily or devolatilization o solvents rom 40 to as low as
03 [23] Flash devolatilization occurs in a flash dome attached to the barrel The
polymer solution is delivered under pressure and at temperatures above the boiling
point o the solvent The solution is then expanded through a nozzle into the flash
dome The oamy material resulting rom the flash devolatilization is then trans-
ported away by the our screws In many cases downstream vent sections will beincorporated to urther reduce the solvent level
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983090983090 The Multiscrew Extruder 983090983095
983090983090983091The Gear Pump Extruder
Gear pumps are used in some extrusion operations at the end o a plasticating
extruder either single screw or twin screw [99ndash106] Strictly speaking the gear
pump is a closely intermeshing counterrotating twin screw extruder However sincegear pumps are solely used to generate pressure they are generally not reerred to
as an extruder although the gear pump is an extruder One o the main advantages
o the gear pump is its good pressure-generating capability and its ability to main-
tain a relatively constant outlet pressure even i the inlet pressure fluctuates con-
siderably Some fluctuation in the outlet pressure will result rom the intermeshing
o the gear teeth This fluctuation can be reduced by a helical orientation o the gear
teeth instead o an axial orientation
Gear pumps are sometimes reerred to as positive displacement devices This is notcompletely correct because there must be mechanical clearances between the gears
and the housing which causes leakage Thereore the gear pump output is depend-
ent on pressure although the pressure sensitivity will generally be less than that o
a single screw extruder The actual pressure sensitivity will be determined by the
design clearances the polymer melt viscosity and the rotational speed o the gears
A good method to obtain constant throughput is to maintain a constant pressure di-
erential across the pump This can be done by a relatively simple pressure eedback
control on the extruder eeding into the gear pump [102] The non-zero clearances
in the gear pump will cause a transormation o mechanical energy into heat by vis-cous heat generation see Section 534 Thus the energy efficiency o actual gear
pumps is considerably below 100 the pumping efficiency generally ranges rom
15 to 35 The other 65 to 85 goes into mechanical losses and viscous heat gene-
ration Mechanical losses usually range rom about 20 to 40 and viscous heating
rom about 40 to 50 As a result the polymer melt going through the gear pump
will experience a considerable temperature rise typically 5 to 10degC However in
some cases the temperature rise can be as much as 20 to 30degC Since the gear
pump has limited energy efficiency the combination extruder-gear pump is not nec-
essarily more energy-efficient than the extruder without the gear pump Only i the
extruder eeding into the gear pump is very inefficient in its pressure development
will the addition o a gear pump allow a reduction in energy consumption This
could be the case with co-rotating twin screw extruders or single screw extruders
with inefficient screw design
The mixing capacity o gear pumps is very limited This was clearly demonstrated
by Kramer [106] by comparing melt temperature fluctuation beore and afer the
gear pump which showed no distinguishable improvement in melt temperature uni-
ormity Gear pumps are ofen added to extruders with unacceptable output fluc-tuations In many cases this constitutes treating the symptoms but not curing the
actual problem Most single screw extruders i properly designed can maintain
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983090983096 983090Different Types of Extruders
their output to within plusmn 1 I the output fluctuation is considerably larger than 1
there is probably something wrong with the machine very ofen incorrect screw
design In these cases solving the actual problem will generally be more efficient
than adding a gear pump For an efficient extruder-gear pump system the extruder
screw has to be modified to reduce the pressure-generating capacity o the screw
Gear pumps can be used advantageously
1 On extruders with poor pressure-generating capability (e g co-rotating twin
screws multi-stage vented extruders etc)
2 When output stability is required better than 1 i e in close tolerance extru-
sion (e g fiber spinning cable extrusion medical tubing coextrusion etc)
Gear pumps can cause problems when
1 The polymer contains abrasive components because o the small clearances thegear pump is very susceptible to wear
2 When the polymer is susceptible to degradation gear pumps are not sel-clean-
ing and combined with the exposure to high temperatures this will result in
degraded product
983090983091Disk Extruders
There are a number o extruders which do not utilize an Archimedean screw or
transport o the material but still all in the class o continuous extruders Some-
times these machines are reerred to as screwless extruders These machines
employ some kind o disk or drum to extrude the material One can classiy the disk
extruders according to their conveying mechanism (see Table 21) Most o the disk
extruders are based on viscous drag transport One special disk extruder utilizes
the elasticity o polymer melts to convey the material and to develop the necessary
diehead pressure
Disk extruders have been around or a long time at least since 1950 However at
this point in time the industrial significance o disk extruders is still relatively small
compared to screw extruders
983090983091983089Viscous Drag Disk Extruders
983090983091983089983089Stepped Disk Extruder
One o the first disk extruders was developed by Westover at Bell Telephone Labo-
ratories it is ofen reerred to as a stepped disk extruder or slider pad extruder [24]
A schematic picture o the extruder is shown in Fig 213
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983090983097
In
Out
Figure 983090983089983091
The stepped disk
The heart o the machine is the stepped disk positioned a small distance rom a flat
disk When one o the disks is rotated with a polymer melt in the axial gap a pres-
sure build-up will occur at the transition o one gap size to another smaller gap sizesee Fig 214
v
Distance
P r e s s u r e
Figure 983090983089983092
Pressure generation in the step region
I exit channels are incorporated into the stepped disk the polymer can be extruded
in a continuous ashion The design o this extruder is based on Rayleighrsquos [25]
analysis o hydrodynamic lubrication in various geometries He concluded that the
parallel stepped pad was capable o supporting the greatest load The stepped disk
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983091983088 983090Different Types of Extruders
extruder has also been designed in a different configuration using a gradual change
in gap size This extruder has a wedge-shaped disk with a gradual increase in pres-
sure with radial distance
A practical disadvantage o the stepped disk extruder is the act that the machine is
difficult to clean because o the intricate design o the flow channels in the stepped
disk
983090983091983089983090Drum Extruder
Another rather old concept is the drum extruder A schematic picture o a machine
manuactured by Schmid amp Kocher in Switzerland is shown in Fig 215
In
OutOutIn
Figure 983090983089983093 The drum extruder by Schmid amp Kocher
Material is ed by a eed hopper into an annular space between rotor and barrel By
the rotational motion o the rotor the material is carried along the circumerence o
the barrel Just beore the material reaches the eed hopper it encounters a wiper
bar This wiper bar scrapes the polymer rom the rotor and deflects the polymer flow
into a channel that leads to the extruder die Several patents [26 27] were issued on
this design however these patents have long since expired
A very similar extruder (see Fig 216) was developed by Askco Engineering andCosden Oil amp Chemical in a joint venture later this became Permian Research Two
patents have been issued on this design [28 29] even though the concept is very
similar to the Schmid amp Kocher design
One special eature o this design is the capability to adjust the local gap by means
o a choker bar similar to the gap adjustment in a flat sheet die see Section 92 The
choker bar in this drum extruder is activated by adjustable hydraulic oil pressure
Drum extruders have not been able to be a serious competition to the single screw
extruder over the last 50 years
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983091983089
Hopper
DieRotor
Housing
Wiper bar
Hopper
Wiper bar
DieRotor
Housing
Figure 983090983089983094
The drum extruder by AskoCosden
983090983091983089983091Spiral Disk Extruder
The spiral disk extruder is another type o disk extruder that has been known or
many years Several patented designs were described by Schenkel (Chapter 1 [3])
Similar to the stepped disk extruder the development o the spiral disk extruder
is closely connected to spiral groove bearings It has long been known that spiral
groove bearings are capable o supporting substantial loads Ingen Housz [30] has
analyzed the melt conveying in a spiral disk extruder with logarithmic grooves in
the disk based on Newtonian flow behavior o the polymer melt In terms o melt
conveying capability the spiral disk extruder seems comparable to the screw ex-truder however the solids conveying capability is questionable
983090983091983089983092Diskpack Extruder
Another development in disk extruders is the diskpack extruder Tadmor originated
the idea o the diskpack machine which is covered under several patents [31ndash33]
The development o the machine was undertaken by the Farrel Machinery Group o
Emgart Corporation in cooperation with Tadmor [34ndash39] The basic concept o the
machine is shown in Fig 217Material drops in the axial gap between relatively thin disks mounted on a rotating
shaf The material will move with the disks almost a ull turn then it meets a chan-
nel block The channel block closes off the space between the disks and deflects the
polymer flow to either an outlet channel or to a transer channel in the barrel The
shape o the disks can be optimized or specific unctions solids conveying melting
devolatilization melt conveying and mixing A detailed unctional analysis can be
ound in Tadmorrsquos book on polymer processing (Chapter 1 [32])
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983091983090 983090Different Types of Extruders
v
v
Channel blockInlet
Outlet
Barrel
Solid bed
Shaft
Melt pool
Inlet Channel block
Outlet
Melt pool
Solid bed
Barrel
Shaft
v
v Figure 983090983089983095
The diskpack extruder
It is claimed that this machine can perorm all basic polymer-processing operations
with efficiency equaling or surpassing existing machinery Clearly i the claim is
true and can be delivered or a competitive price the diskpack extruder will become
an important machine in the extrusion industry The first diskpack machines were
delivered to the industry in 1982 still under a joint development type o agreement
Now almost 20 years afer the first diskpack machines were delivered it is clear
that the acceptance o these machines in the industry has been very limited In act
Farrel no longer actively markets the diskpack machine In most o the publications
the diskpack machine is reerred to as a polymer processor This term is probably
used to indicate that this machine can do more than just extruding although the
diskpack is o course an extruder
The diskpack machine incorporates some o the eatures o the drum extruder and
the single screw extruder One can think o the diskpack as a single screw extruder
using a screw with zero helix angle and very deep flights Forward axial transportcan only take place by transport channels in the barrel with the material orced into
those channels by a restrictor bar as with the drum extruder The use o restrictor
bars (channel block) and transer channels in the housing make it considerably
more complex than the barrel o a single screw extruder
One o the advantages o the diskpack is that mixing blocks and spreading dams can
be incorporated into the machine as shown in Fig 218(a)
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983091983091
v
v
Channel blockInlet
Outlet
Mixing block
Disk
Inlet Channel block
Outlet
Mixing blockDisk v
v Figure 983090983089983096(a)
Mixing blocks in the diskpack
Mixing blocks o various shapes can be positioned externally into the processing
chamber This is similar to the QSM extruder only that in the QSM extruder the
screw flight has to be interrupted to avoid contact This is not necessary in the disk-
pack because the flights have zero helix angles in other words they run perpen-
dicular to the rotor axis By the number o blocks the geometry o the block and the
clearance between block and disk one can tailor the mixing capability to the par-
ticular application The use o spreading dams allows the generation o a thin film
with a large surace area this results in effective devolatilization capability The
diskpack has inherently higher pressure-generating capability than the single
screw extruder does This is because the diskpack has two dragging suraces while
the single screw extruder has only one see Fig 218(b)
v
v=0
v
v
Conveying mechanismsingle screw extruder
Conveying mechanism
diskpack extruder Figure 983090983089983096(b)
Comparison of conveying mechanism in diskpackand single screw extruder
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983091983092 983090Different Types of Extruders
At the same net flow rate equal viscosity equal plate velocity and optimum plate
separation the theoretical maximum pressure gradient o the diskpack is eight
times higher than the single screw extruder [34] Thus high pressures can be gen-
erated over a short distance which allows a more compact machine design The
energy efficiency o the pressure generation is also better than in the single screwextruder the maximum pumping efficiency approaches 100 see derivation in
Appendix 21 For the single screw extruder the maximum pumping efficiency is
only 33 as discussed in Section 7413 The energy efficiency o pressure genera-
tion is the ratio o the theoretical energy requirement (flow rate times pressure rise)
to the actual energy requirement (wall velocity times shear stress integrated over
wall surace) It should be noted that the two dragging platesrsquo pumping mechanism
exists only in tangential direction The pumping in axial (orward) direction occurs
only in the transer channel in the housing This orward pumping occurs by the one
dragging plate mechanism as in the single screw extruder The maximum efficiency
or orward pumping thereore is only 33 The overall pumping efficiency will be
somewhere between 33 and 100 i the power consumption in the disk and channel
block clearance is neglected
Studies on melting in the diskpack were reported by Valsamis et al [96] It was
ound that two types o melting mechanism could take place in the diskpack the
drag melt removal (DMR) mechanism and the dissipative melt mixing (DMM) mech-
anism The DMR melting mechanism is the predominant mechanism in single screw
extruders this is discussed in detail in Section 73 In the DMR melting mechanismthe solids and melt coexist as two largely continuous and separate phases In the
DMM melting mechanism the solids are dispersed in the melt there is no conti-
nuous solid bed It was ound that the DMM mechanism could be induced by pro-
moting back leakage o the polymer melt past the channel block This can be con-
trolled by varying the clearance between the channel block and the disks The
advantage o the DMM melting mechanism is that the melting rate can be substan-
tially higher than with the DMR mechanism reportedly by as much as a actor o 3
[96]
Among all elementary polymer processing unctions the solids conveying in a disk-
pack extruder has not been discussed to any extent in the open technical literature
Considering that the solids conveying mechanism is a rictional drag mechanism
(as in single screw extruders) and not a positive displacement type o transport (as
in intermeshing counterrotating twin screw extruders see Sections 102 and 104)
it can be expected that the diskpack will have solids conveying limitations similar
to those o single screw extruders see Section 722 This means that powders
blends o powders and pellets slippery materials etc are likely to encounter solids
conveying problems in a diskpack extruder unless special measures are taken toenhance the solids conveying capability (e g crammer eeder grooves in the disks
etc)
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983091983093
Because o the more complex machine geometry the cost per unit throughput o the
diskpack is higher than or the conventional single screw extruder Thereore the
diskpack does not compete directly with single screw extruders
Applications or the diskpack are specialty polymer processing operations such as
polymerization post-reactor processing (devolatilization) continuous compound-
ing etc As such the diskpack competes mostly with twin screw extruders Pres-
ently twin screw extruders are usually the first choice when it comes to specialty
polymer processing operations
983090983091983090The Elastic Melt Extruder
The elastic melt extruder was developed in the late 1950s by Maxwell and Scalora[40 41] The extruder makes use o the viscoelastic in particular the elastic pro-
perties o polymer melts When a viscoelastic fluid is exposed to a shearing deor-
mation normal stresses will develop in the fluid that are not equal in all directions
as opposed to a purely viscous fluid In the elastic melt extruder the polymer is
sheared between two plates one stationary and one rotating see Fig 219
Hopper
Heaters
Solid polymer
Die
Extrudate
Polymer melt
Rotor
Solid polymerHopper
Heaters
Die
Extrudate
Polymer melt
Rotor
Figure 983090983089983097
The elastic melt extruder
As the polymer is sheared normal stresses will generate a centripetal pumping
action Thus the polymer can be extruded through the central opening in the sta-
tionary plate in a continuous ashion Because normal stresses generate the pump-
ing action this machine is sometimes reerred to as a normal stress extruderThis extruder is quite interesting rom a rheological point o view since it is prob-
ably the only extruder that utilizes the elasticity o the melt or its conveying Thus
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983091983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
several detailed experimental and theoretical studies have been devoted to the elas-
tic melt extruder [42ndash47]
The detailed study by Fritz [44] concluded that transport by normal stresses only
could be as much as two orders o magnitude lower than a corresponding system
with orced eed In addition substantial temperature gradients developed in the
polymer causing substantial degradation in high molecular weight polyolefins The
scant market acceptance o the elastic melt extruder would tend to confirm Fritzrsquos
conclusions
Several modifications have been proposed to improve the perormance o the elastic
melt extruder Fritz [43] suggested incorporation o spiral grooves to improve the
pressure generating capability essentially combining the elastic melt extruder and
the spiral disk extruder into one machine In Russia [47] several modifications
were made to the design o the elastic melt extruder One o those combined a screwextruder with the elastic melt extruder to eliminate the eeding and plasticating
problem Despite all o these activities the elastic melt extruder has not been able to
acquire a position o importance in the extrusion industry
983090983091983091Overview of Disk Extruders
Many attempts have been made in the past to come up with a continuous plasticat-
ing extruder o simple design that could perorm better than the single screw ex-truder It seems air to say that at this point in time no disk extruder has been able
to meet this goal The simple disk extruders do not perorm nearly as well as the
single screw extruder The more complex disk extruder such as the diskpack can
possibly outperorm the single screw extruder However this is at the expense o
design simplicity thus increasing the cost o the machine Disk extruders there-
ore have not been able to seriously challenge the position o the single screw
extruder This is not to say however that it is not possible or this to happen some
time in the uture But considering the long dominance o the single screw extruder
it is not probable that a new disk extruder will come along that can challenge the
single screw extruder
983090983092Ram Extruders
Ram or plunger extruders are simple in design rugged and discontinuous in their
mode o operation Ram extruders are essentially positive displacement devices and
are able to generate very high pressures Because o the intermittent operation o
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983091983095
ram extruders they are ideally suited or cyclic processes such as injection molding
and blow molding In act the early molding machines were almost exclusively
equipped with ram extruders to supply the polymer melt to the mold Certain limita-
tions o the ram extruder have caused a switch to reciprocating screw extruders or
combinations o the two The two main limitations are
1 Limited melting capacity
2 Poor temperature uniormity o the polymer melt
Presently ram extruders are used in relatively small shot size molding machines
and certain specialty operations where use is made o the positive displacement
characteristics and the outstanding pressure generation capability There are basic-
ally two types o ram extruders single ram extruders and multi ram extruders
983090983092983089Single Ram Extruders
The single ram extruder is used in small general purpose molding machines but
also in some special polymer processing operations One such operation is the ex-
trusion o intractable polymers such as ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene
(UHMWPE) or polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) These polymers are not considered to
be melt processable on conventional melt processing equipment Teledynamik [48]
has built a ram injection-molding machine under a license rom Th Engel who
developed the prototype machine This machine is used to mold UHMWPE under
very high pressures The machine uses a reciprocating plunger that densifies the
cold incoming material with a pressure up to 300 MPa (about 44000 psi) The re-
quency o the ram can be adjusted continuously with a maximum o 250 strokes
minute The densified material is orced through heated channels into the heated
cylinder where final melting takes place The material is then injected into a mold
by a telescoping injection ram Pressures up to 100 MPa (about 14500 psi) occur
during the injection o the polymer into the mold
Another application is the extrusion o PTFE with again the primary ingredient orsuccessul extrusion being very high pressures Granular PTFE can be extruded at
slow rates in a ram extruder [49ndash51] The powder is compacted by the ram orced
into a die where the material is heated above the melting point and shaped into the
desired orm PTFE is ofen processed as a PTFE paste [52 53] This is small particle
size PTFE powder (about 02 mm) mixed with a processing aid such as naphta PTFE
paste can be extruded at room temperature or slightly above room temperature
Afer extrusion the processing aid is removed by heating the extrudate above its
volatilization temperature The extruded PTFE paste product may be sintered i the
application requires a more ully coalesced product
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983091983096 983090Different Types of Extruders
983090983092983089983089Solid State Extrusion
An extrusion technique that has slowly been gaining popularity is solid-state extru-
sion The polymer is orced through a die while it is below its melting point This
causes substantial deormation o the polymer in the die but since the polymer is in
the solid state a very effective molecular orientation takes place This orientation ismuch more effective than the one which occurs in conventional melt processing As
a result extraordinary mechanical properties can be obtained
Solid-state extrusion is a technique borrowed rom the metal industry where solid-
state extrusion has been used commercially since the late 1940s Bridgman [54]
was one o the first to do a systematic study on the effect o pressure on the mechan-
ical properties o metals He also studied polymers and ound that the glass tran-
sition temperature was raised by the application o pressure
There are two methods o solid-state extrusion one is direct solid-state extrusionthe other is hydrostatic extrusion In direct solid-state extrusion a pre-ormed solid
rod o material (a billet) is in direct contact with the plunger and the walls o the
extrusion die see Fig 220 The material is extruded as the ram is pushed towards
the die
Plunger
Billet
Barrel
DieExtrudate Figure 983090983090983088
Direct solid state extrusion
In hydrostatic extrusion the pressure required or extrusion is transmitted rom the
plunger to the billet through a lubricating liquid usually castor oil The billet must
be shaped to fit the die to prevent loss o fluid The hydrostatic fluid reduces the ric-
tion thereby reducing the extrusion pressure see Fig 221
In hydrostatic extrusion the pressure-generating device or the fluid does not neces-
sarily have to be in close proximity to the orming part o the machine The fluid canbe supplied to the extrusion device by high-pressure tubes
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983091983097
Plunger
Billet
Oil
Barrel
DieExtrudate Figure 983090983090983089
Hydrostatic solid state extrusion
Judging rom publications in the open literature most o the work on solid-state
extrusion o polymers is done at universities and research institutes It is possible
o course that some companies are working on solid-state extrusion but are keeping
the inormation proprietary A major research effort in solid-state extrusion has
been made at the University o Amherst Massachusetts [50ndash64] University o
Leeds England [65ndash72] Fyushu University Fukuoka Japan [73ndash76] Research
Institute or Polymers and Textiles Yokohama Japan [77ndash79] Battelle Columbus
Ohio [80ndash83] and Rutgers University New Brunswick New Jersey [84ndash86] As
mentioned earlier publications rom other sources are considerably less plentiul
[87ndash90] Efforts have also been made to achieve the same high degree o orientation
in a more or less conventional extrusion process by special die design and tempera-
ture control in the die region [91]
Table 25 shows a comparison o mechanical properties between steel aluminum
solid state extruded HDPE and HDPE extruded by conventional means
Table 25 clearly indicates that the mechanical properties o solid-state extruded
HDPE are much superior to the melt extruded HDPE In act the tensile strength o
solid-state extruded HDPE is about the same as carbon steel There are some other
interesting benefits associated with solidstate extrusion o polymers There is essen-
tially no die swell at high extrusion ratios (extrusion ratio is the ratio o the area in
the cylinder to the area in the die) Thus the dimensions o the extrudate closely
conorm to those o the die exit The surace o the extrudate produced by hydro-
static extrusion has a lower coefficient o riction than that o the un-oriented poly-
mer Above a certain extrusion ratio (about ten) polyethylene and polypropylene
become transparent Further solid-state extruded polymers maintain their ten-sile properties at elevated temperatures Polyethylene maintains its modulus up to
120degC when it is extruded in the solid state at a high extrusion ratio The thermal
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983092983088 983090Different Types of Extruders
conductivity in the extrusion direction is much higher than that o the un-oriented
polymer as much as 25 times higher The melting point o the solid-state extruded
polymer increases with the amount o orientation The melting point o HDPE can be
shifed to as high as 140degC
Table 25 Comparison of Mechanical Properties
Material Tensile modulus[MPa]
Tensile strength[MPa]
Elongation[]
Density[gcc]
Annealed SAE 1020 210000 410 35 786
W-200 degF SAE 1020 210000 720 6 786
Annealed 304 stainless
steel
200000 590 50 792
Aluminum 1100ndash0 70000 90 45 271
HDPE solid state
extruded
70000 480 3 097
HDPE melt extruded 10000 30 20ndash1000 096
A recent application o solid-state extrusion is the process developed by Synthetic
Hardwood Technologies Inc [107] This company has developed an expanded ori-
ented wood-filled polypropylene (EOW-PP) that is about 300 stronger than regular
PP The process is based on technology developed at Aluminum Company o Canada
Ltd (Alcan) in the early 1990s to solidstate extrude PP It involves ram extrusion
drawing o billets o PP just below the melting point with very high draw ratio and
high haul-off tension (about 3 MPa) to reeze-in the high level o orientation Alcan
did not pursue the technology and Symplastics Ltd licensed the patented process
this company started experimenting with adding small amounts o wood flour to the
PP However Symplastics ound the research and development too costly and sold
the patents and lab extrusion equipment to Frank Maine who set up SHW to com-
mercialize applications or the EOW-PP The key to the SHW process is that it com-
bines extrusion with drawing As the polymer is oriented the density drops about
50 rom about 1 g cc to 05 g cc The die drawing also allowed substantial in-creases in line speed rom about 0050 m min to about 9 m min The properties
achieved with EOW-PP are shown in Table 24 and compared to regular PP wood
and oriented PP
Solid-state extrusion has been practiced with coextrusion o different polymers [93]
Despite the large amount o research on solid-state extrusion and the outstanding
mechanical properties that can be obtained there does not seem to be much interest
in the polymer industry The main drawbacks o course are that solid-state extru-
sion is basically a discontinuous process it cannot be done on conventional polymer
processing equipment and very high pressures are required to achieve solid-stateextrusion Also one should keep in mind that very good mechanical properties can
be obtained by taking a profile (fiber film tube etc) produced by conventional con-
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983092983089
tinuous extrusion and exposing it to controlled deormation at a temperature below
the melting point This is a well-established technique in many extrusion operations
(fiber spinning film extrusion etc) and it can be done at a high rate This method
o producing extrudates with very good mechanical properties is likely to be more
cost-effective than solid-state extrusion It is possible that the die drawing processdeveloped by SHW can make solid-state extrusion more attractive commercially by
allowing large profiles to be processed at reasonable line speeds
Table 26 Mechanical Properties of PP Wood OPP and EOW-PP
Flexural strength [MPa] Flexural modulus [MPa]
Regular PP 50 1850
Wood 100 9000
Oriented PP 275 7600EOW-PP 140 7600
983090983092983090Multi Ram Extruder
As mentioned beore the main disadvantage o ram extruders is their intermittent
operation Several attempts have been made to overcome this problem by designing
multi-ram extruders that work together in such a way as to produce a continuousflow o material
Westover [94] designed a continuous ram extruder that combined our plunger-
cylinders Two plunger-cylinders were used or plasticating and two or pumping
An intricate shuttle valve connecting all the plunger cylinders provides continuous
extrusion
Another attempt to develop a continuous ram extruder was made by Yi and Fenner
[95] They designed a twin ram extruder with the cylinders in a V-configuration see
Fig 222The two rams discharge into a common barrel in which a plasticating shaf is rotat-
ing Thus solids conveying occurs in the two separate cylinders and plasticating
and melt conveying occurs in the annular region between the barrel and plasticat-
ing shaf The machine is able to extrude however the throughput uniormity is
poor The perormance could probably have been improved i the plasticating shaf
had been provided with a helical channel But o course then the machine would
have become a screw extruder with a ram-assisted eed This only goes to demon-
strate that it is ar rom easy to improve upon the simple screw extruder
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983092983090 983090Different Types of Extruders
Die Breaker plate
Plasticating shaft
Main
block
Feed cylinder
Figure 222 Twin ram extruder
983090983092983091 Appendix 983090983089
983090983092983091983089 Pumping Efficiency in Diskpack Extruder
The velocity profile between the moving walls is a parabolic unction when the fluid
is a Newtonian fluid see Section 621 and Fig 223
y
z H
Small pressure gradient
Medium pressure gradient
Large pressure gradient
Figure 983090983090983091
Velocity profiles between moving
walls
The velocity profile or a Newtonian fluid is
L8
PH
H
y41vv(y)
2
2
2
∆micro∆
minusminus= (1)
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983092983091
where v is the velocity o the plates H the distance between the plates and μ the
viscosity o the fluid The flow rate can be ound by integrating v(y) over the width
and depth o the channel this yields
L12
PWHvWHV
3
∆micro∆minus=
bull
(2)
The first term on the right-hand side o the equalation is the drag flow term The
second term is the pressure flow term The ratio o pressure flow to drag flow is
termed the throttle ratio rd (see Section 7413)
r d =Lv12
PH2
∆micro
∆ (3)
The flow rate can now be written as
(4)
The shear stress at the wall is obtained rom
dv H∆Pτ = micro =dy
05H 2∆L
(5)
The power consumption in the channel is
Zch = PvHWLvW2 ∆=∆τ (6)
The energy efficiency or pressure generation is
V∆Pε = =1 minus r
d Zch
(7)
Equation 7 is not valid or rd = 0 because in this case both numerator and denomi-
nator become zero From Eq 7 it can be seen that when the machine is operated atlow rd values the pumping efficiency can become close to 100 This is considerably
better than the single screw extruder where the optimum pumping efficiency is 33
at a throttle ratio value o 033 (rd = 13)
References
1 J LeBras ldquoRubber Fundamentals o its Science and Technologyrdquo Chemical Publ Co
NY (1957)
2 W S Penn ldquoSynthetic Rubber Technology Volume Irdquo MacLaren amp Sons Ltd London(1960)
3 W J S Naunton ldquoThe Applied Science o Rubberrdquo Edward Arnold Ltd London (1961)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3437
983092983092 983090Different Types of Extruders
4 C M Blow ldquoRubber Technology and Manuacturerdquo Butterworth amp Co Ltd London
(1971)
5 F R Eirich (Ed) ldquoScience and Technology o Rubberrdquo Academic Press NY (1978)
6 C W Evans ldquoPowdered and Particulate Rubber Technologyrdquo Applied Science Publ Ltd
London (1978)
7 G Targiel et al 10 IKV-Kolloquium Aachen March 12ndash14 45 (1980)
8 A Kennaway Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 17 378ndash391 (1964)
9 G Menges and J P Lehnen Plastverarbeiter 20 1 31ndash39 (1969)
10 M Parshall and A J Saulino Rubber World 2 5 78ndash83 (1967)
11 S E Perlberg Rubber World 2 6 71ndash76 (1967)
12 H H Gohlisch Gummi Asbest Kunststoffe 25 9 834ndash835 (1972)
13 E Harms ldquoKautschuk-Extruder Aubau und Einsatz aus verahrenstechnischer Sichtrdquo
Krausskop-Verlag Mainz Bd 2 Buchreihe Kunststo983142echnik (1974)
14 G Schwarz Eur Rubber Journal Sept 28ndash32 (1977)
15 G Menges and E G Harms Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 25 10 469ndash475 (1972)
16 G Menges and E G Harms Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 27 5 187ndash193 (1974)
17 E G Harms Elastomerics 109 6 33ndash39 (1977)
18 E G Harms Eur Rubber Journal 6 23 (1978)
19 E G Harms Kunststoffe 69 1 32ndash33 (1979)
20 E G Harms Dissertation RWTH Aachen Germany (1981)21 S H Collins Plastics Compounding Nov Dec 29 (1982)
22 D Anders Kunststoffe 69 194ndash198 (1979)
23 D Gras and K Eise SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 21 386 (1975)
24 R F Westover SPE Journal 18 12 1473 (1962)
25 Lord Raleigh Philosophical Magazine 35 1ndash12 (1918)
26 German Patent DRP 1129681
27 British Patent BP 759354
28 U S Patent 3880564
29 U S Patent 4012477
30 J F Ingen Housz Plastverarbeiter 10 1 (1975)
31 U S Patent 4142805
32 U S Patent 4194841
33 U S Patent 4213709
34 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 25 193 (1979)
35 P Hold Z Tadmor and L Valsamis SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 25 205 (1979)
36 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis Plastics Engineering Nov 20ndash25 (1979)
37 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis Plastics Engineering Dec 30ndash38 (1979)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3537
References 983092983093
38 Z Tadmor et al The Diskpack Plastics Processor Farrel Publication Jan (1982)
39 L Valsamis AIChE Meeting Washington D C Oct (1983)
40 B Maxwell and A J Scalora Modern Plastics 37 107 Oct (1959)
41 U S Patent 3 046603
42 L L Blyler PhD thesis Princeton University NJ (1966)
43 H G Fritz Kunststo983142echnik 6 430 (1968)
44 H G Fritz PhD thesis Stuttgart University Germany (1971)
45 C W Macosko and J M Starita SPE Journal 27 30 (1971)
46 P A Good A J Schwartz and C W Macosko AIChE Journal 20 1 67 (1974)
47 V L Kocherov Y L Lukach E A Sporyagin and G V Vinogradov Polym Eng Sci 13
194 (1973)
48 J Berzen and G Braun Kunststoffe 69 2 62ndash66 (1979)49 R S Porter et al J Polym Sci 17 485ndash488 (1979)
50 C A Sperati Modern Plastics Encyclopedia McGraw-Hill NY (1983)
51 S S Schwartz and S H Goodman see Chapter 1 [36]
52 G R Snelling and J F Lontz J Appl Polym Sci 3 9 257ndash265 (1960)
53 D C F Couzens Plastics and Rubber Processing March 45ndash48 (1976)
54 P W Bridgman ldquoStudies in Large Plastic Flow and Fracturerdquo McGraw-Hill NY (1952)
55 H L D Push ldquoThe Mechanical Behavior o Materials Under Pressurerdquo Elsevier Amster-
dam (1970)56 H L D Push and A H Low J Inst Metals 93 201 (196565)
57 F Slack Mach Design Oct 7 61ndash64 (1982)
58 J H Southern and R S Porter J Appl Polym Sci 14 2305 (1970)
59 J H Southern and R S Porter J Macromol Sci Phys 3ndash4 541 (1970)
60 J H Southern N E Weeks and R S Porter Macromol Chem 162 19 (1972)
61 N J Capiati and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 13 1177 (1975)
62 R S Porter J H Southern and N E Weeks Polym Eng Sci 15 213 (1975)
63 A E Zachariades E S Sherman and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 17 255
(1979)
64 A E Zachariades and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 17 277 (1979)
65 B Parsons D Bretherton and B N Cole in Advances in MTDR 11th Int Con Proc
S A Tobias and F Koeningsberger (Eds) Pergamon Press London Vol B 1049 (1971)
66 G Capaccio and I M Ward Polymer 15 233 (1974)
67 A G Gibson I M Ward B N Cole and B Parsons J Mater Sci 9 1193ndash1196 (1974)
68 A G Gibson and I M Ward J Appl Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 16 2015ndash2030 (1978)
69 P S Hope and B Parsons Polym Eng Sci 20 589ndash600 (1980)
70 P S Hope I M Ward and A G Gibson J Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 18 1242ndash1256
(1980)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3637
983092983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
71 P S Hope A G Gibson B Parsons and I M Ward Polym Eng Sci 20 54ndash55 (1980)
72 B Parsons and I M Ward Plast Rubber Proc Appl 2 3 215ndash224 (1982)
73 K Imada T Yamamoto K Shigematsu and M Takayanagi J Mater Sci 6 537ndash546
(1971)
74 K Nakamura K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 2 71 (1972)
75 K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 2 89 (1973)
76 K Nakamura K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 3 23 (1974)
77 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Mater Sci 10 1105 (1975)
78 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Mater Sci 12 1477 (1977)
79 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Appl Polym Sci 23 2543ndash2554 (1979)
80 D M Bigg Polym Eng Sci 16 725 (1976)
81 D M Bigg M M Epstein R J Fiorentino and E G Smith Polym Eng Sci 18 908(1978)
82 D M Bigg and M M Epstein ldquoScience and Technology o Polymer Processingrdquo N S Suh
and N Sung (Eds) 897 MIT Press (1979)
83 D M Bigg M M Epstein R J Fiorentino and E G Smith J Appl Polym Sci 26 395ndash
409 (1981)
84 K D Pae and D R Mears J Polym Sci B-6 269 (1968)
85 K D Pae D R Mears and J A Sauer J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 6 773 (1968)
86 D R Mears K P Pae and J A Sauer J Appl Phys 40 11 4229ndash4237 (1969)
87 L A Davis and C A Pampillo J Appl Phys 42 12 4659ndash4666 (1971)
88 A Buckley and H A Long Polym Eng Sci 9 2 115ndash120 (1969)
89 L A Davis Polym Eng Sci 14 9 641ndash645 (1974)
90 R K Okine and N P Suh Polym Eng Sci 22 5 269ndash279 (1982)
91 J R Collier T Y T Tam J Newcome and N Dinos Polym Eng Sci 16 204ndash211 (1976)
92 J H Faupel and F E Fisher ldquoEngineering Designrdquo Wiley NY (1981)
93 A E Zachariades R Ball and R S Porter J Mater Sci 13 2671ndash2675 (1978)
94 R R Westover Modern Plastics March (1963) 95 B Yi and R T Fenner Plastics and Polymers Dec 224ndash228 (1975)
96 A Mekkaoui and L N Valsamis Polym Eng Sci 24 1260ndash1269 (1984)
97 H Rust Kunststoffe 73 342ndash346 (1983)
98 J Huszman Kunststoffe 73 3437ndash348 (1983)
99 J M McKelvey U Maire and F Haupt Chem Eng Sept 27 94ndash102 (1976)
100 K Schneider Kunststoffe 68 201ndash206 (1978)
101 W T Rice Plastic Technology 87ndash91 Feb (1980)
102 Harrel Corp ldquoMelt Pump Systems or Extrudersrdquo Product Description TDS-264 (1982)
103 J M McKelvey and W T Rice Chem Eng 90 2 89ndash94 (1983)
104 K Kaper K Eise and H Herrmann SPE ANTEC Chicago 161ndash163 (1983)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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References 983092983095
105 C L Woodworth SPE ANTEC New Orleans 122ndash126 (1984)
106 W A Kramer SPE ANTEC Washington D C 23ndash29 (1985)
107 J Schut ldquoDie Drawing Makes Plastic Steelrdquo Plastics Technology Online Article March
5 (2001)
108 VDI Conerence Extrusiontechnik 2006 ldquoDer Einschnecken-Extruder von Morgenrdquo VDI
Verlag GmbH Duumlsseldor (2006)
109 P Rieg ldquoLatest Developments in High-Speed Extrusionrdquo Plastic Extrusion Asia Con-
erence Bangkok Thailand March 17ndash18 (2008) also presented at Advances in Ex-
trusion Conerence New Orleans December 9ndash10 (2008)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983089 The Single Screw Extruder 983090983089
adjustable pins in the extruder barrel that protrude all the way into the screw chan-
nel see Fig 28
Figure 28 The QSM extruder (pin barrel extruder)
The screw flight has slots at the various pin locations The advantages o this ex-
truder in rubber applications are good mixing capability with a low stock tempera-
ture increase and low specific energy consumption This extruder was developed by
Harms in Germany and is manuactured and sold by Troester and other companies
Even though the QSM extruder has become popular in the rubber industry its appli-
cations clearly extend beyond just rubber extrusion In thermoplastic extrusion its
most obvious application would be in high viscosity thermally less stable resins
PVC could possibly be a candidate although dead spots may create problems with
degradation However it can probably be applied wherever good mixing and good
temperature control are requiredAnother typical rubber extrusion piece o hardware is the roller die A schematic
representation is shown in Fig 29
Figure 29 The roller die used in rubber extrusion
The roller die (B F Goodrich 1933) is a combination o a standard sheet die and a
calender It allows high throughput by reducing the diehead pressure it reduces air
entrapment and provides good gauge control
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983090983090 983090Different Types of Extruders
983090983089983092High-Speed Extrusion
One way to achieve high throughputs is to use high-speed extrusion High-speed
extrusion has been used in twin screw compounding or many yearsmdashsince the
1960s However in single screw extrusion high speed extrusion has not been usedon a significant scale until about 1995 Twin screw extruders (TSE) used in com-
pounding typically run at screw speeds ranging rom 200 to 500 rpm in some cases
screw speeds beyond 1000 rpm are possible Single screw extruders (SSE) usually
operate at screw speeds between 50 to 150 rpm
Since approx 1995 several extruder manuacturers have worked on developing
high-speed single screw extruders (HS-SSE) Most o these developments have taken
place at German extruder manuacturers such as Batteneld Reienhaumluser Kuhne
and Esde Currently HS-SSEs are commercially available and have been in use orseveral years [108]
Batteneld supplies a high speed 75-mm SSE that can run at screw speeds up to
1500 rpm [109] This machine can achieve throughputs up to 2200 kg hr It uses a
our-motor CMG torque drive with 390 kW made by K amp A Knoedler
983090983089983092983089Melt Temperature
One o the interesting characteristics o the HS-SSE is that the melt temperature
remains more or less constant over a broad range o screw speed [108 109] see
Fig 210
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0
T h r o u g
h p u t [ k g h r ]
75-mm extruder PS 486
P Rieg Battenfeld HJ Renner BASF
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200
Screw speed [revmin]
250
240
230
220
210
200
M e l t t e m
p e r a t u r e [ o C ]
Figure 983090983089983088
Throughput and melt
temperature versus
screw speed
This graph shows both the throughput in kg hr and the melt temperature in degC The
temperature curve indicates that there is less than a 2degC change in melt tempera-ture rom 200 rpm up to about 1000 rpm At screw speeds rom 110 rpm to 225 rpm
the melt temperature actually drops rom about 223 to about 215degC
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983089 The Single Screw Extruder 983090983091
In conventional extruders the melt temperature typically increases with screw
speed This ofen creates problems when we deal with high-viscosity polymers par-
ticularly when they have limited thermal stability In the example shown in Fig 210
the melt temperature is essentially constant as screw speed increases rom 200 to
1000 rpm This is probably the result o two actors the residence time o the poly-mer melt is reduced with increasing screw speed and the volume o the molten poly-
mer likely reduces with increasing screw speed as the melting length becomes
longer with increased screw speed
983090983089983092983090Extruders without Gear Reducer
An important advantage o high-speed SSE is that a conventional gear reducer is no
longer necessary The gear reducer is one o the largest cost actors or a conven-
tional extruder As a result extruders without a gear reducer are significantly lessexpensive compared to conventional extruders that achieve the same rate A urther
advantage o the elimination o the gear reducer is a significant reduction in noise
level Contrary to what one would expect HS-SSE actually run very quiet the noise
level is substantially lower than it is or conventional extruders with gear reducers
983090983089983092983091Energy Consumption
Another benefit o high-speed SSE is the reduction in energy consumption Rieg
[108 109] reports the ollowing mechanical specific energy consumption
The reduction in energy consumption listed in Table 22 is significant between 35
and 45 I the extruder runs PP at 2000 kg hr a reduction in SEC o 010 kWh kg
corresponds to a reduction in power consumption o 200 kW every hour I the power
cost is $010 per kWh (or consistency) the savings per hour will be $20 per hour
$480 per day $3360 per week and $168000 per year at 50 weeks per year Clearly
this can have a significant effect on the profitability o an extrusion operation
Table 22 Specific Energy Consumption for Standard Extruder and High-Speed Extruder
Type of extruder SEC with polystyrene [kWhkg] SEC with polypropylene [kWhkg]
Standard extruder 019minus021 027minus029
High-speed extruder 010minus012 017minus019
983090983089983092983092Change-over Resin Consumption
Another important issue in efficient extrusion is the time and material used when a
change in resin is made With high-speed extruders the change-over time is quite
short because the volume occupied by the plastic is small while the throughput is
very high
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983090983092 983090Different Types of Extruders
Table 23 shows a comparison o the high-speed 75-mm extruder to a conventional
180-mm extruder running at the same throughput The amount o material con-
sumed in the change-over is 150 kg or the 75-mm extruder and 1300 kg or the
180-mm extruder I we assume a resin cost o $100 per kg the savings are
$115000 per change-over I we have three change-overs per week the yearly sav-ings in reduced resin usage comes to $172500 per year Clearly this is not an insig-
nificant amount
Table 23 Comparison of Change-Over Time and Material Consumption
75-mm extruder 180-mm extruder
Volume in the extruder [liter] 4 40
Material consumption for change-over [kg] 150 1300
Change-over time [min] 5 40
983090983089983092983093 Change-over Time and Residence Time
Table 23 also shows that the change-over time or the 75-mm extruder is approx
5 minutes while it is approx 40 minutes in the 180-mm extruder Clearly the
reduced change-over time results rom the act that the volume occupied by the plas-
tic is much smaller (4 liter) in the 75-mm extruder than in the 180-mm extruder
(40 liter) I the change-over time can be reduced rom 40 to 5 minutes this means
that 35 minutes are now available to run production resulting in greater up-time othe extrusion line
The small volume o the HS-SSE also results in short residence times The mean
residence time ranges rom approx 5 to 10 seconds In conventional SSE the resi-
dence times are substantially longer typically between 50 to 100 seconds Since
HS-SSE can run at relatively low melt temperatures the chance o degradation is
actually less in these extruders There is ample evidence in actual high-speed ex-
trusion operations that the plastic is less susceptible to degradation in these opera-
tions
983090983090The Multiscrew Extruder
221The Twin Screw Extruder
A twin screw extruder is a machine with two Archimedean screws Admittedly this
is a very general definition However as soon as the definition is made more spe-
cific it is limited to a specific class o twin screw extruders There is a tremendous
variety o twin screw extruders with vast differences in design principle o opera-
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983090 The Multiscrew Extruder 983090983093
tion and field o application It is thereore difficult to make general comments
about twin screw extruders The differences between the various twin screw extrud-
ers are much larger than the differences between single screw extruders This is to
be expected since the twin screw construction substantially increases the number
o design variables such as direction o rotation degree o intermeshing etc A clas-sification o twin screw extruders is shown in Table 24 This classification is pri-
marily based on the geometrical configuration o the twin screw extruder Some
twin screw extruders unction in much the same ashion as single screw extruders
Other twin screw extruders operate quite differently rom single screw extruders
and are used in very different applications The design o the various twin screw
extruders with their operational and unctional aspects will be covered in more
detail in Chapter 10
Table 24 Classification of Twin Screw Extruders
Intermeshing extruders
Co-rotating extrudersLow speed extruders for profile extrusion
High speed extruders for compounding
Counter-rotating extruders
Conical extruders for profile extrusion
Parallel extruders for profile extrusion
High speed extruders for compounding
Non-intermeshing
extruders
Counter-rotating extrudersEqual screw length
Unequal screw length
Co-rotating extruders Not used in practice
Co-axial extruders
Inner melt transport forward
Inner melt transport rearward
Inner solids transport rearward
Inner plasticating with rearward transport
983090983090983090The Multiscrew Extruder With More Than Two Screws
There are several types o extruders which incorporate more than two screws One
relatively well-known example is the planetary roller extruder see Fig 211
Planetary screws
Sun (main) screw Melting and feed section
Discharge
Figure 211 The planetary roller extruder
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983090983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
This extruder looks similar to a single screw extruder The eed section is in act
the same as on a standard single screw extruder However the mixing section o the
extruder looks considerably different In the planetary roller section o the extruder
six or more planetary screws evenly spaced revolve around the circumerence o
the main screw In the planetary screw section the main screw is reerred to as thesun screw The planetary screws intermesh with the sun screw and the barrel The
planetary barrel section thereore must have helical grooves corresponding to the
helical flights on the planetary screws This planetary barrel section is generally a
separate barrel section with a flange-type connection to the eed barrel section
In the first part o the machine beore the planetary screws the material moves
orward as in a regular single screw extruder As the material reaches the planetary
section being largely plasticated at this point it is exposed to intensive mixing by
the rolling action between the planetary screws the sun screw and the barrel Thehelical design o the barrel sun screw and planetary screws result in a large sur-
ace area relative to the barrel length The small clearance between the planetary
screws and the mating suraces about frac14 mm allows thin layers o compound to be
exposed to large surace areas resulting in effective devolatilization heat exchange
and temperature control Thus heat-sensitive compounds can be processed with a
minimum o degradation For this reason the planetary gear extruder is requently
used or extrusion compounding o PVC ormulations both rigid and plasticized
[21 22] Planetary roller sections are also used as add-ons to regular extruders to
improve mixing perormance [97 98] Another multiscrew extruder is the our-screw extruder shown in Fig 212
Figure 983090983089983090
Four-screw extruder
This machine is used primarily or devolatilization o solvents rom 40 to as low as
03 [23] Flash devolatilization occurs in a flash dome attached to the barrel The
polymer solution is delivered under pressure and at temperatures above the boiling
point o the solvent The solution is then expanded through a nozzle into the flash
dome The oamy material resulting rom the flash devolatilization is then trans-
ported away by the our screws In many cases downstream vent sections will beincorporated to urther reduce the solvent level
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983090983090 The Multiscrew Extruder 983090983095
983090983090983091The Gear Pump Extruder
Gear pumps are used in some extrusion operations at the end o a plasticating
extruder either single screw or twin screw [99ndash106] Strictly speaking the gear
pump is a closely intermeshing counterrotating twin screw extruder However sincegear pumps are solely used to generate pressure they are generally not reerred to
as an extruder although the gear pump is an extruder One o the main advantages
o the gear pump is its good pressure-generating capability and its ability to main-
tain a relatively constant outlet pressure even i the inlet pressure fluctuates con-
siderably Some fluctuation in the outlet pressure will result rom the intermeshing
o the gear teeth This fluctuation can be reduced by a helical orientation o the gear
teeth instead o an axial orientation
Gear pumps are sometimes reerred to as positive displacement devices This is notcompletely correct because there must be mechanical clearances between the gears
and the housing which causes leakage Thereore the gear pump output is depend-
ent on pressure although the pressure sensitivity will generally be less than that o
a single screw extruder The actual pressure sensitivity will be determined by the
design clearances the polymer melt viscosity and the rotational speed o the gears
A good method to obtain constant throughput is to maintain a constant pressure di-
erential across the pump This can be done by a relatively simple pressure eedback
control on the extruder eeding into the gear pump [102] The non-zero clearances
in the gear pump will cause a transormation o mechanical energy into heat by vis-cous heat generation see Section 534 Thus the energy efficiency o actual gear
pumps is considerably below 100 the pumping efficiency generally ranges rom
15 to 35 The other 65 to 85 goes into mechanical losses and viscous heat gene-
ration Mechanical losses usually range rom about 20 to 40 and viscous heating
rom about 40 to 50 As a result the polymer melt going through the gear pump
will experience a considerable temperature rise typically 5 to 10degC However in
some cases the temperature rise can be as much as 20 to 30degC Since the gear
pump has limited energy efficiency the combination extruder-gear pump is not nec-
essarily more energy-efficient than the extruder without the gear pump Only i the
extruder eeding into the gear pump is very inefficient in its pressure development
will the addition o a gear pump allow a reduction in energy consumption This
could be the case with co-rotating twin screw extruders or single screw extruders
with inefficient screw design
The mixing capacity o gear pumps is very limited This was clearly demonstrated
by Kramer [106] by comparing melt temperature fluctuation beore and afer the
gear pump which showed no distinguishable improvement in melt temperature uni-
ormity Gear pumps are ofen added to extruders with unacceptable output fluc-tuations In many cases this constitutes treating the symptoms but not curing the
actual problem Most single screw extruders i properly designed can maintain
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983090983096 983090Different Types of Extruders
their output to within plusmn 1 I the output fluctuation is considerably larger than 1
there is probably something wrong with the machine very ofen incorrect screw
design In these cases solving the actual problem will generally be more efficient
than adding a gear pump For an efficient extruder-gear pump system the extruder
screw has to be modified to reduce the pressure-generating capacity o the screw
Gear pumps can be used advantageously
1 On extruders with poor pressure-generating capability (e g co-rotating twin
screws multi-stage vented extruders etc)
2 When output stability is required better than 1 i e in close tolerance extru-
sion (e g fiber spinning cable extrusion medical tubing coextrusion etc)
Gear pumps can cause problems when
1 The polymer contains abrasive components because o the small clearances thegear pump is very susceptible to wear
2 When the polymer is susceptible to degradation gear pumps are not sel-clean-
ing and combined with the exposure to high temperatures this will result in
degraded product
983090983091Disk Extruders
There are a number o extruders which do not utilize an Archimedean screw or
transport o the material but still all in the class o continuous extruders Some-
times these machines are reerred to as screwless extruders These machines
employ some kind o disk or drum to extrude the material One can classiy the disk
extruders according to their conveying mechanism (see Table 21) Most o the disk
extruders are based on viscous drag transport One special disk extruder utilizes
the elasticity o polymer melts to convey the material and to develop the necessary
diehead pressure
Disk extruders have been around or a long time at least since 1950 However at
this point in time the industrial significance o disk extruders is still relatively small
compared to screw extruders
983090983091983089Viscous Drag Disk Extruders
983090983091983089983089Stepped Disk Extruder
One o the first disk extruders was developed by Westover at Bell Telephone Labo-
ratories it is ofen reerred to as a stepped disk extruder or slider pad extruder [24]
A schematic picture o the extruder is shown in Fig 213
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983090983097
In
Out
Figure 983090983089983091
The stepped disk
The heart o the machine is the stepped disk positioned a small distance rom a flat
disk When one o the disks is rotated with a polymer melt in the axial gap a pres-
sure build-up will occur at the transition o one gap size to another smaller gap sizesee Fig 214
v
Distance
P r e s s u r e
Figure 983090983089983092
Pressure generation in the step region
I exit channels are incorporated into the stepped disk the polymer can be extruded
in a continuous ashion The design o this extruder is based on Rayleighrsquos [25]
analysis o hydrodynamic lubrication in various geometries He concluded that the
parallel stepped pad was capable o supporting the greatest load The stepped disk
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983091983088 983090Different Types of Extruders
extruder has also been designed in a different configuration using a gradual change
in gap size This extruder has a wedge-shaped disk with a gradual increase in pres-
sure with radial distance
A practical disadvantage o the stepped disk extruder is the act that the machine is
difficult to clean because o the intricate design o the flow channels in the stepped
disk
983090983091983089983090Drum Extruder
Another rather old concept is the drum extruder A schematic picture o a machine
manuactured by Schmid amp Kocher in Switzerland is shown in Fig 215
In
OutOutIn
Figure 983090983089983093 The drum extruder by Schmid amp Kocher
Material is ed by a eed hopper into an annular space between rotor and barrel By
the rotational motion o the rotor the material is carried along the circumerence o
the barrel Just beore the material reaches the eed hopper it encounters a wiper
bar This wiper bar scrapes the polymer rom the rotor and deflects the polymer flow
into a channel that leads to the extruder die Several patents [26 27] were issued on
this design however these patents have long since expired
A very similar extruder (see Fig 216) was developed by Askco Engineering andCosden Oil amp Chemical in a joint venture later this became Permian Research Two
patents have been issued on this design [28 29] even though the concept is very
similar to the Schmid amp Kocher design
One special eature o this design is the capability to adjust the local gap by means
o a choker bar similar to the gap adjustment in a flat sheet die see Section 92 The
choker bar in this drum extruder is activated by adjustable hydraulic oil pressure
Drum extruders have not been able to be a serious competition to the single screw
extruder over the last 50 years
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983091983089
Hopper
DieRotor
Housing
Wiper bar
Hopper
Wiper bar
DieRotor
Housing
Figure 983090983089983094
The drum extruder by AskoCosden
983090983091983089983091Spiral Disk Extruder
The spiral disk extruder is another type o disk extruder that has been known or
many years Several patented designs were described by Schenkel (Chapter 1 [3])
Similar to the stepped disk extruder the development o the spiral disk extruder
is closely connected to spiral groove bearings It has long been known that spiral
groove bearings are capable o supporting substantial loads Ingen Housz [30] has
analyzed the melt conveying in a spiral disk extruder with logarithmic grooves in
the disk based on Newtonian flow behavior o the polymer melt In terms o melt
conveying capability the spiral disk extruder seems comparable to the screw ex-truder however the solids conveying capability is questionable
983090983091983089983092Diskpack Extruder
Another development in disk extruders is the diskpack extruder Tadmor originated
the idea o the diskpack machine which is covered under several patents [31ndash33]
The development o the machine was undertaken by the Farrel Machinery Group o
Emgart Corporation in cooperation with Tadmor [34ndash39] The basic concept o the
machine is shown in Fig 217Material drops in the axial gap between relatively thin disks mounted on a rotating
shaf The material will move with the disks almost a ull turn then it meets a chan-
nel block The channel block closes off the space between the disks and deflects the
polymer flow to either an outlet channel or to a transer channel in the barrel The
shape o the disks can be optimized or specific unctions solids conveying melting
devolatilization melt conveying and mixing A detailed unctional analysis can be
ound in Tadmorrsquos book on polymer processing (Chapter 1 [32])
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983091983090 983090Different Types of Extruders
v
v
Channel blockInlet
Outlet
Barrel
Solid bed
Shaft
Melt pool
Inlet Channel block
Outlet
Melt pool
Solid bed
Barrel
Shaft
v
v Figure 983090983089983095
The diskpack extruder
It is claimed that this machine can perorm all basic polymer-processing operations
with efficiency equaling or surpassing existing machinery Clearly i the claim is
true and can be delivered or a competitive price the diskpack extruder will become
an important machine in the extrusion industry The first diskpack machines were
delivered to the industry in 1982 still under a joint development type o agreement
Now almost 20 years afer the first diskpack machines were delivered it is clear
that the acceptance o these machines in the industry has been very limited In act
Farrel no longer actively markets the diskpack machine In most o the publications
the diskpack machine is reerred to as a polymer processor This term is probably
used to indicate that this machine can do more than just extruding although the
diskpack is o course an extruder
The diskpack machine incorporates some o the eatures o the drum extruder and
the single screw extruder One can think o the diskpack as a single screw extruder
using a screw with zero helix angle and very deep flights Forward axial transportcan only take place by transport channels in the barrel with the material orced into
those channels by a restrictor bar as with the drum extruder The use o restrictor
bars (channel block) and transer channels in the housing make it considerably
more complex than the barrel o a single screw extruder
One o the advantages o the diskpack is that mixing blocks and spreading dams can
be incorporated into the machine as shown in Fig 218(a)
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983091983091
v
v
Channel blockInlet
Outlet
Mixing block
Disk
Inlet Channel block
Outlet
Mixing blockDisk v
v Figure 983090983089983096(a)
Mixing blocks in the diskpack
Mixing blocks o various shapes can be positioned externally into the processing
chamber This is similar to the QSM extruder only that in the QSM extruder the
screw flight has to be interrupted to avoid contact This is not necessary in the disk-
pack because the flights have zero helix angles in other words they run perpen-
dicular to the rotor axis By the number o blocks the geometry o the block and the
clearance between block and disk one can tailor the mixing capability to the par-
ticular application The use o spreading dams allows the generation o a thin film
with a large surace area this results in effective devolatilization capability The
diskpack has inherently higher pressure-generating capability than the single
screw extruder does This is because the diskpack has two dragging suraces while
the single screw extruder has only one see Fig 218(b)
v
v=0
v
v
Conveying mechanismsingle screw extruder
Conveying mechanism
diskpack extruder Figure 983090983089983096(b)
Comparison of conveying mechanism in diskpackand single screw extruder
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983091983092 983090Different Types of Extruders
At the same net flow rate equal viscosity equal plate velocity and optimum plate
separation the theoretical maximum pressure gradient o the diskpack is eight
times higher than the single screw extruder [34] Thus high pressures can be gen-
erated over a short distance which allows a more compact machine design The
energy efficiency o the pressure generation is also better than in the single screwextruder the maximum pumping efficiency approaches 100 see derivation in
Appendix 21 For the single screw extruder the maximum pumping efficiency is
only 33 as discussed in Section 7413 The energy efficiency o pressure genera-
tion is the ratio o the theoretical energy requirement (flow rate times pressure rise)
to the actual energy requirement (wall velocity times shear stress integrated over
wall surace) It should be noted that the two dragging platesrsquo pumping mechanism
exists only in tangential direction The pumping in axial (orward) direction occurs
only in the transer channel in the housing This orward pumping occurs by the one
dragging plate mechanism as in the single screw extruder The maximum efficiency
or orward pumping thereore is only 33 The overall pumping efficiency will be
somewhere between 33 and 100 i the power consumption in the disk and channel
block clearance is neglected
Studies on melting in the diskpack were reported by Valsamis et al [96] It was
ound that two types o melting mechanism could take place in the diskpack the
drag melt removal (DMR) mechanism and the dissipative melt mixing (DMM) mech-
anism The DMR melting mechanism is the predominant mechanism in single screw
extruders this is discussed in detail in Section 73 In the DMR melting mechanismthe solids and melt coexist as two largely continuous and separate phases In the
DMM melting mechanism the solids are dispersed in the melt there is no conti-
nuous solid bed It was ound that the DMM mechanism could be induced by pro-
moting back leakage o the polymer melt past the channel block This can be con-
trolled by varying the clearance between the channel block and the disks The
advantage o the DMM melting mechanism is that the melting rate can be substan-
tially higher than with the DMR mechanism reportedly by as much as a actor o 3
[96]
Among all elementary polymer processing unctions the solids conveying in a disk-
pack extruder has not been discussed to any extent in the open technical literature
Considering that the solids conveying mechanism is a rictional drag mechanism
(as in single screw extruders) and not a positive displacement type o transport (as
in intermeshing counterrotating twin screw extruders see Sections 102 and 104)
it can be expected that the diskpack will have solids conveying limitations similar
to those o single screw extruders see Section 722 This means that powders
blends o powders and pellets slippery materials etc are likely to encounter solids
conveying problems in a diskpack extruder unless special measures are taken toenhance the solids conveying capability (e g crammer eeder grooves in the disks
etc)
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983091983093
Because o the more complex machine geometry the cost per unit throughput o the
diskpack is higher than or the conventional single screw extruder Thereore the
diskpack does not compete directly with single screw extruders
Applications or the diskpack are specialty polymer processing operations such as
polymerization post-reactor processing (devolatilization) continuous compound-
ing etc As such the diskpack competes mostly with twin screw extruders Pres-
ently twin screw extruders are usually the first choice when it comes to specialty
polymer processing operations
983090983091983090The Elastic Melt Extruder
The elastic melt extruder was developed in the late 1950s by Maxwell and Scalora[40 41] The extruder makes use o the viscoelastic in particular the elastic pro-
perties o polymer melts When a viscoelastic fluid is exposed to a shearing deor-
mation normal stresses will develop in the fluid that are not equal in all directions
as opposed to a purely viscous fluid In the elastic melt extruder the polymer is
sheared between two plates one stationary and one rotating see Fig 219
Hopper
Heaters
Solid polymer
Die
Extrudate
Polymer melt
Rotor
Solid polymerHopper
Heaters
Die
Extrudate
Polymer melt
Rotor
Figure 983090983089983097
The elastic melt extruder
As the polymer is sheared normal stresses will generate a centripetal pumping
action Thus the polymer can be extruded through the central opening in the sta-
tionary plate in a continuous ashion Because normal stresses generate the pump-
ing action this machine is sometimes reerred to as a normal stress extruderThis extruder is quite interesting rom a rheological point o view since it is prob-
ably the only extruder that utilizes the elasticity o the melt or its conveying Thus
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983091983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
several detailed experimental and theoretical studies have been devoted to the elas-
tic melt extruder [42ndash47]
The detailed study by Fritz [44] concluded that transport by normal stresses only
could be as much as two orders o magnitude lower than a corresponding system
with orced eed In addition substantial temperature gradients developed in the
polymer causing substantial degradation in high molecular weight polyolefins The
scant market acceptance o the elastic melt extruder would tend to confirm Fritzrsquos
conclusions
Several modifications have been proposed to improve the perormance o the elastic
melt extruder Fritz [43] suggested incorporation o spiral grooves to improve the
pressure generating capability essentially combining the elastic melt extruder and
the spiral disk extruder into one machine In Russia [47] several modifications
were made to the design o the elastic melt extruder One o those combined a screwextruder with the elastic melt extruder to eliminate the eeding and plasticating
problem Despite all o these activities the elastic melt extruder has not been able to
acquire a position o importance in the extrusion industry
983090983091983091Overview of Disk Extruders
Many attempts have been made in the past to come up with a continuous plasticat-
ing extruder o simple design that could perorm better than the single screw ex-truder It seems air to say that at this point in time no disk extruder has been able
to meet this goal The simple disk extruders do not perorm nearly as well as the
single screw extruder The more complex disk extruder such as the diskpack can
possibly outperorm the single screw extruder However this is at the expense o
design simplicity thus increasing the cost o the machine Disk extruders there-
ore have not been able to seriously challenge the position o the single screw
extruder This is not to say however that it is not possible or this to happen some
time in the uture But considering the long dominance o the single screw extruder
it is not probable that a new disk extruder will come along that can challenge the
single screw extruder
983090983092Ram Extruders
Ram or plunger extruders are simple in design rugged and discontinuous in their
mode o operation Ram extruders are essentially positive displacement devices and
are able to generate very high pressures Because o the intermittent operation o
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983091983095
ram extruders they are ideally suited or cyclic processes such as injection molding
and blow molding In act the early molding machines were almost exclusively
equipped with ram extruders to supply the polymer melt to the mold Certain limita-
tions o the ram extruder have caused a switch to reciprocating screw extruders or
combinations o the two The two main limitations are
1 Limited melting capacity
2 Poor temperature uniormity o the polymer melt
Presently ram extruders are used in relatively small shot size molding machines
and certain specialty operations where use is made o the positive displacement
characteristics and the outstanding pressure generation capability There are basic-
ally two types o ram extruders single ram extruders and multi ram extruders
983090983092983089Single Ram Extruders
The single ram extruder is used in small general purpose molding machines but
also in some special polymer processing operations One such operation is the ex-
trusion o intractable polymers such as ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene
(UHMWPE) or polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) These polymers are not considered to
be melt processable on conventional melt processing equipment Teledynamik [48]
has built a ram injection-molding machine under a license rom Th Engel who
developed the prototype machine This machine is used to mold UHMWPE under
very high pressures The machine uses a reciprocating plunger that densifies the
cold incoming material with a pressure up to 300 MPa (about 44000 psi) The re-
quency o the ram can be adjusted continuously with a maximum o 250 strokes
minute The densified material is orced through heated channels into the heated
cylinder where final melting takes place The material is then injected into a mold
by a telescoping injection ram Pressures up to 100 MPa (about 14500 psi) occur
during the injection o the polymer into the mold
Another application is the extrusion o PTFE with again the primary ingredient orsuccessul extrusion being very high pressures Granular PTFE can be extruded at
slow rates in a ram extruder [49ndash51] The powder is compacted by the ram orced
into a die where the material is heated above the melting point and shaped into the
desired orm PTFE is ofen processed as a PTFE paste [52 53] This is small particle
size PTFE powder (about 02 mm) mixed with a processing aid such as naphta PTFE
paste can be extruded at room temperature or slightly above room temperature
Afer extrusion the processing aid is removed by heating the extrudate above its
volatilization temperature The extruded PTFE paste product may be sintered i the
application requires a more ully coalesced product
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983091983096 983090Different Types of Extruders
983090983092983089983089Solid State Extrusion
An extrusion technique that has slowly been gaining popularity is solid-state extru-
sion The polymer is orced through a die while it is below its melting point This
causes substantial deormation o the polymer in the die but since the polymer is in
the solid state a very effective molecular orientation takes place This orientation ismuch more effective than the one which occurs in conventional melt processing As
a result extraordinary mechanical properties can be obtained
Solid-state extrusion is a technique borrowed rom the metal industry where solid-
state extrusion has been used commercially since the late 1940s Bridgman [54]
was one o the first to do a systematic study on the effect o pressure on the mechan-
ical properties o metals He also studied polymers and ound that the glass tran-
sition temperature was raised by the application o pressure
There are two methods o solid-state extrusion one is direct solid-state extrusionthe other is hydrostatic extrusion In direct solid-state extrusion a pre-ormed solid
rod o material (a billet) is in direct contact with the plunger and the walls o the
extrusion die see Fig 220 The material is extruded as the ram is pushed towards
the die
Plunger
Billet
Barrel
DieExtrudate Figure 983090983090983088
Direct solid state extrusion
In hydrostatic extrusion the pressure required or extrusion is transmitted rom the
plunger to the billet through a lubricating liquid usually castor oil The billet must
be shaped to fit the die to prevent loss o fluid The hydrostatic fluid reduces the ric-
tion thereby reducing the extrusion pressure see Fig 221
In hydrostatic extrusion the pressure-generating device or the fluid does not neces-
sarily have to be in close proximity to the orming part o the machine The fluid canbe supplied to the extrusion device by high-pressure tubes
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983091983097
Plunger
Billet
Oil
Barrel
DieExtrudate Figure 983090983090983089
Hydrostatic solid state extrusion
Judging rom publications in the open literature most o the work on solid-state
extrusion o polymers is done at universities and research institutes It is possible
o course that some companies are working on solid-state extrusion but are keeping
the inormation proprietary A major research effort in solid-state extrusion has
been made at the University o Amherst Massachusetts [50ndash64] University o
Leeds England [65ndash72] Fyushu University Fukuoka Japan [73ndash76] Research
Institute or Polymers and Textiles Yokohama Japan [77ndash79] Battelle Columbus
Ohio [80ndash83] and Rutgers University New Brunswick New Jersey [84ndash86] As
mentioned earlier publications rom other sources are considerably less plentiul
[87ndash90] Efforts have also been made to achieve the same high degree o orientation
in a more or less conventional extrusion process by special die design and tempera-
ture control in the die region [91]
Table 25 shows a comparison o mechanical properties between steel aluminum
solid state extruded HDPE and HDPE extruded by conventional means
Table 25 clearly indicates that the mechanical properties o solid-state extruded
HDPE are much superior to the melt extruded HDPE In act the tensile strength o
solid-state extruded HDPE is about the same as carbon steel There are some other
interesting benefits associated with solidstate extrusion o polymers There is essen-
tially no die swell at high extrusion ratios (extrusion ratio is the ratio o the area in
the cylinder to the area in the die) Thus the dimensions o the extrudate closely
conorm to those o the die exit The surace o the extrudate produced by hydro-
static extrusion has a lower coefficient o riction than that o the un-oriented poly-
mer Above a certain extrusion ratio (about ten) polyethylene and polypropylene
become transparent Further solid-state extruded polymers maintain their ten-sile properties at elevated temperatures Polyethylene maintains its modulus up to
120degC when it is extruded in the solid state at a high extrusion ratio The thermal
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983092983088 983090Different Types of Extruders
conductivity in the extrusion direction is much higher than that o the un-oriented
polymer as much as 25 times higher The melting point o the solid-state extruded
polymer increases with the amount o orientation The melting point o HDPE can be
shifed to as high as 140degC
Table 25 Comparison of Mechanical Properties
Material Tensile modulus[MPa]
Tensile strength[MPa]
Elongation[]
Density[gcc]
Annealed SAE 1020 210000 410 35 786
W-200 degF SAE 1020 210000 720 6 786
Annealed 304 stainless
steel
200000 590 50 792
Aluminum 1100ndash0 70000 90 45 271
HDPE solid state
extruded
70000 480 3 097
HDPE melt extruded 10000 30 20ndash1000 096
A recent application o solid-state extrusion is the process developed by Synthetic
Hardwood Technologies Inc [107] This company has developed an expanded ori-
ented wood-filled polypropylene (EOW-PP) that is about 300 stronger than regular
PP The process is based on technology developed at Aluminum Company o Canada
Ltd (Alcan) in the early 1990s to solidstate extrude PP It involves ram extrusion
drawing o billets o PP just below the melting point with very high draw ratio and
high haul-off tension (about 3 MPa) to reeze-in the high level o orientation Alcan
did not pursue the technology and Symplastics Ltd licensed the patented process
this company started experimenting with adding small amounts o wood flour to the
PP However Symplastics ound the research and development too costly and sold
the patents and lab extrusion equipment to Frank Maine who set up SHW to com-
mercialize applications or the EOW-PP The key to the SHW process is that it com-
bines extrusion with drawing As the polymer is oriented the density drops about
50 rom about 1 g cc to 05 g cc The die drawing also allowed substantial in-creases in line speed rom about 0050 m min to about 9 m min The properties
achieved with EOW-PP are shown in Table 24 and compared to regular PP wood
and oriented PP
Solid-state extrusion has been practiced with coextrusion o different polymers [93]
Despite the large amount o research on solid-state extrusion and the outstanding
mechanical properties that can be obtained there does not seem to be much interest
in the polymer industry The main drawbacks o course are that solid-state extru-
sion is basically a discontinuous process it cannot be done on conventional polymer
processing equipment and very high pressures are required to achieve solid-stateextrusion Also one should keep in mind that very good mechanical properties can
be obtained by taking a profile (fiber film tube etc) produced by conventional con-
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983092983089
tinuous extrusion and exposing it to controlled deormation at a temperature below
the melting point This is a well-established technique in many extrusion operations
(fiber spinning film extrusion etc) and it can be done at a high rate This method
o producing extrudates with very good mechanical properties is likely to be more
cost-effective than solid-state extrusion It is possible that the die drawing processdeveloped by SHW can make solid-state extrusion more attractive commercially by
allowing large profiles to be processed at reasonable line speeds
Table 26 Mechanical Properties of PP Wood OPP and EOW-PP
Flexural strength [MPa] Flexural modulus [MPa]
Regular PP 50 1850
Wood 100 9000
Oriented PP 275 7600EOW-PP 140 7600
983090983092983090Multi Ram Extruder
As mentioned beore the main disadvantage o ram extruders is their intermittent
operation Several attempts have been made to overcome this problem by designing
multi-ram extruders that work together in such a way as to produce a continuousflow o material
Westover [94] designed a continuous ram extruder that combined our plunger-
cylinders Two plunger-cylinders were used or plasticating and two or pumping
An intricate shuttle valve connecting all the plunger cylinders provides continuous
extrusion
Another attempt to develop a continuous ram extruder was made by Yi and Fenner
[95] They designed a twin ram extruder with the cylinders in a V-configuration see
Fig 222The two rams discharge into a common barrel in which a plasticating shaf is rotat-
ing Thus solids conveying occurs in the two separate cylinders and plasticating
and melt conveying occurs in the annular region between the barrel and plasticat-
ing shaf The machine is able to extrude however the throughput uniormity is
poor The perormance could probably have been improved i the plasticating shaf
had been provided with a helical channel But o course then the machine would
have become a screw extruder with a ram-assisted eed This only goes to demon-
strate that it is ar rom easy to improve upon the simple screw extruder
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983092983090 983090Different Types of Extruders
Die Breaker plate
Plasticating shaft
Main
block
Feed cylinder
Figure 222 Twin ram extruder
983090983092983091 Appendix 983090983089
983090983092983091983089 Pumping Efficiency in Diskpack Extruder
The velocity profile between the moving walls is a parabolic unction when the fluid
is a Newtonian fluid see Section 621 and Fig 223
y
z H
Small pressure gradient
Medium pressure gradient
Large pressure gradient
Figure 983090983090983091
Velocity profiles between moving
walls
The velocity profile or a Newtonian fluid is
L8
PH
H
y41vv(y)
2
2
2
∆micro∆
minusminus= (1)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983092983091
where v is the velocity o the plates H the distance between the plates and μ the
viscosity o the fluid The flow rate can be ound by integrating v(y) over the width
and depth o the channel this yields
L12
PWHvWHV
3
∆micro∆minus=
bull
(2)
The first term on the right-hand side o the equalation is the drag flow term The
second term is the pressure flow term The ratio o pressure flow to drag flow is
termed the throttle ratio rd (see Section 7413)
r d =Lv12
PH2
∆micro
∆ (3)
The flow rate can now be written as
(4)
The shear stress at the wall is obtained rom
dv H∆Pτ = micro =dy
05H 2∆L
(5)
The power consumption in the channel is
Zch = PvHWLvW2 ∆=∆τ (6)
The energy efficiency or pressure generation is
V∆Pε = =1 minus r
d Zch
(7)
Equation 7 is not valid or rd = 0 because in this case both numerator and denomi-
nator become zero From Eq 7 it can be seen that when the machine is operated atlow rd values the pumping efficiency can become close to 100 This is considerably
better than the single screw extruder where the optimum pumping efficiency is 33
at a throttle ratio value o 033 (rd = 13)
References
1 J LeBras ldquoRubber Fundamentals o its Science and Technologyrdquo Chemical Publ Co
NY (1957)
2 W S Penn ldquoSynthetic Rubber Technology Volume Irdquo MacLaren amp Sons Ltd London(1960)
3 W J S Naunton ldquoThe Applied Science o Rubberrdquo Edward Arnold Ltd London (1961)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3437
983092983092 983090Different Types of Extruders
4 C M Blow ldquoRubber Technology and Manuacturerdquo Butterworth amp Co Ltd London
(1971)
5 F R Eirich (Ed) ldquoScience and Technology o Rubberrdquo Academic Press NY (1978)
6 C W Evans ldquoPowdered and Particulate Rubber Technologyrdquo Applied Science Publ Ltd
London (1978)
7 G Targiel et al 10 IKV-Kolloquium Aachen March 12ndash14 45 (1980)
8 A Kennaway Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 17 378ndash391 (1964)
9 G Menges and J P Lehnen Plastverarbeiter 20 1 31ndash39 (1969)
10 M Parshall and A J Saulino Rubber World 2 5 78ndash83 (1967)
11 S E Perlberg Rubber World 2 6 71ndash76 (1967)
12 H H Gohlisch Gummi Asbest Kunststoffe 25 9 834ndash835 (1972)
13 E Harms ldquoKautschuk-Extruder Aubau und Einsatz aus verahrenstechnischer Sichtrdquo
Krausskop-Verlag Mainz Bd 2 Buchreihe Kunststo983142echnik (1974)
14 G Schwarz Eur Rubber Journal Sept 28ndash32 (1977)
15 G Menges and E G Harms Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 25 10 469ndash475 (1972)
16 G Menges and E G Harms Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 27 5 187ndash193 (1974)
17 E G Harms Elastomerics 109 6 33ndash39 (1977)
18 E G Harms Eur Rubber Journal 6 23 (1978)
19 E G Harms Kunststoffe 69 1 32ndash33 (1979)
20 E G Harms Dissertation RWTH Aachen Germany (1981)21 S H Collins Plastics Compounding Nov Dec 29 (1982)
22 D Anders Kunststoffe 69 194ndash198 (1979)
23 D Gras and K Eise SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 21 386 (1975)
24 R F Westover SPE Journal 18 12 1473 (1962)
25 Lord Raleigh Philosophical Magazine 35 1ndash12 (1918)
26 German Patent DRP 1129681
27 British Patent BP 759354
28 U S Patent 3880564
29 U S Patent 4012477
30 J F Ingen Housz Plastverarbeiter 10 1 (1975)
31 U S Patent 4142805
32 U S Patent 4194841
33 U S Patent 4213709
34 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 25 193 (1979)
35 P Hold Z Tadmor and L Valsamis SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 25 205 (1979)
36 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis Plastics Engineering Nov 20ndash25 (1979)
37 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis Plastics Engineering Dec 30ndash38 (1979)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3537
References 983092983093
38 Z Tadmor et al The Diskpack Plastics Processor Farrel Publication Jan (1982)
39 L Valsamis AIChE Meeting Washington D C Oct (1983)
40 B Maxwell and A J Scalora Modern Plastics 37 107 Oct (1959)
41 U S Patent 3 046603
42 L L Blyler PhD thesis Princeton University NJ (1966)
43 H G Fritz Kunststo983142echnik 6 430 (1968)
44 H G Fritz PhD thesis Stuttgart University Germany (1971)
45 C W Macosko and J M Starita SPE Journal 27 30 (1971)
46 P A Good A J Schwartz and C W Macosko AIChE Journal 20 1 67 (1974)
47 V L Kocherov Y L Lukach E A Sporyagin and G V Vinogradov Polym Eng Sci 13
194 (1973)
48 J Berzen and G Braun Kunststoffe 69 2 62ndash66 (1979)49 R S Porter et al J Polym Sci 17 485ndash488 (1979)
50 C A Sperati Modern Plastics Encyclopedia McGraw-Hill NY (1983)
51 S S Schwartz and S H Goodman see Chapter 1 [36]
52 G R Snelling and J F Lontz J Appl Polym Sci 3 9 257ndash265 (1960)
53 D C F Couzens Plastics and Rubber Processing March 45ndash48 (1976)
54 P W Bridgman ldquoStudies in Large Plastic Flow and Fracturerdquo McGraw-Hill NY (1952)
55 H L D Push ldquoThe Mechanical Behavior o Materials Under Pressurerdquo Elsevier Amster-
dam (1970)56 H L D Push and A H Low J Inst Metals 93 201 (196565)
57 F Slack Mach Design Oct 7 61ndash64 (1982)
58 J H Southern and R S Porter J Appl Polym Sci 14 2305 (1970)
59 J H Southern and R S Porter J Macromol Sci Phys 3ndash4 541 (1970)
60 J H Southern N E Weeks and R S Porter Macromol Chem 162 19 (1972)
61 N J Capiati and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 13 1177 (1975)
62 R S Porter J H Southern and N E Weeks Polym Eng Sci 15 213 (1975)
63 A E Zachariades E S Sherman and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 17 255
(1979)
64 A E Zachariades and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 17 277 (1979)
65 B Parsons D Bretherton and B N Cole in Advances in MTDR 11th Int Con Proc
S A Tobias and F Koeningsberger (Eds) Pergamon Press London Vol B 1049 (1971)
66 G Capaccio and I M Ward Polymer 15 233 (1974)
67 A G Gibson I M Ward B N Cole and B Parsons J Mater Sci 9 1193ndash1196 (1974)
68 A G Gibson and I M Ward J Appl Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 16 2015ndash2030 (1978)
69 P S Hope and B Parsons Polym Eng Sci 20 589ndash600 (1980)
70 P S Hope I M Ward and A G Gibson J Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 18 1242ndash1256
(1980)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3637
983092983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
71 P S Hope A G Gibson B Parsons and I M Ward Polym Eng Sci 20 54ndash55 (1980)
72 B Parsons and I M Ward Plast Rubber Proc Appl 2 3 215ndash224 (1982)
73 K Imada T Yamamoto K Shigematsu and M Takayanagi J Mater Sci 6 537ndash546
(1971)
74 K Nakamura K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 2 71 (1972)
75 K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 2 89 (1973)
76 K Nakamura K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 3 23 (1974)
77 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Mater Sci 10 1105 (1975)
78 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Mater Sci 12 1477 (1977)
79 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Appl Polym Sci 23 2543ndash2554 (1979)
80 D M Bigg Polym Eng Sci 16 725 (1976)
81 D M Bigg M M Epstein R J Fiorentino and E G Smith Polym Eng Sci 18 908(1978)
82 D M Bigg and M M Epstein ldquoScience and Technology o Polymer Processingrdquo N S Suh
and N Sung (Eds) 897 MIT Press (1979)
83 D M Bigg M M Epstein R J Fiorentino and E G Smith J Appl Polym Sci 26 395ndash
409 (1981)
84 K D Pae and D R Mears J Polym Sci B-6 269 (1968)
85 K D Pae D R Mears and J A Sauer J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 6 773 (1968)
86 D R Mears K P Pae and J A Sauer J Appl Phys 40 11 4229ndash4237 (1969)
87 L A Davis and C A Pampillo J Appl Phys 42 12 4659ndash4666 (1971)
88 A Buckley and H A Long Polym Eng Sci 9 2 115ndash120 (1969)
89 L A Davis Polym Eng Sci 14 9 641ndash645 (1974)
90 R K Okine and N P Suh Polym Eng Sci 22 5 269ndash279 (1982)
91 J R Collier T Y T Tam J Newcome and N Dinos Polym Eng Sci 16 204ndash211 (1976)
92 J H Faupel and F E Fisher ldquoEngineering Designrdquo Wiley NY (1981)
93 A E Zachariades R Ball and R S Porter J Mater Sci 13 2671ndash2675 (1978)
94 R R Westover Modern Plastics March (1963) 95 B Yi and R T Fenner Plastics and Polymers Dec 224ndash228 (1975)
96 A Mekkaoui and L N Valsamis Polym Eng Sci 24 1260ndash1269 (1984)
97 H Rust Kunststoffe 73 342ndash346 (1983)
98 J Huszman Kunststoffe 73 3437ndash348 (1983)
99 J M McKelvey U Maire and F Haupt Chem Eng Sept 27 94ndash102 (1976)
100 K Schneider Kunststoffe 68 201ndash206 (1978)
101 W T Rice Plastic Technology 87ndash91 Feb (1980)
102 Harrel Corp ldquoMelt Pump Systems or Extrudersrdquo Product Description TDS-264 (1982)
103 J M McKelvey and W T Rice Chem Eng 90 2 89ndash94 (1983)
104 K Kaper K Eise and H Herrmann SPE ANTEC Chicago 161ndash163 (1983)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3737
References 983092983095
105 C L Woodworth SPE ANTEC New Orleans 122ndash126 (1984)
106 W A Kramer SPE ANTEC Washington D C 23ndash29 (1985)
107 J Schut ldquoDie Drawing Makes Plastic Steelrdquo Plastics Technology Online Article March
5 (2001)
108 VDI Conerence Extrusiontechnik 2006 ldquoDer Einschnecken-Extruder von Morgenrdquo VDI
Verlag GmbH Duumlsseldor (2006)
109 P Rieg ldquoLatest Developments in High-Speed Extrusionrdquo Plastic Extrusion Asia Con-
erence Bangkok Thailand March 17ndash18 (2008) also presented at Advances in Ex-
trusion Conerence New Orleans December 9ndash10 (2008)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983090 983090Different Types of Extruders
983090983089983092High-Speed Extrusion
One way to achieve high throughputs is to use high-speed extrusion High-speed
extrusion has been used in twin screw compounding or many yearsmdashsince the
1960s However in single screw extrusion high speed extrusion has not been usedon a significant scale until about 1995 Twin screw extruders (TSE) used in com-
pounding typically run at screw speeds ranging rom 200 to 500 rpm in some cases
screw speeds beyond 1000 rpm are possible Single screw extruders (SSE) usually
operate at screw speeds between 50 to 150 rpm
Since approx 1995 several extruder manuacturers have worked on developing
high-speed single screw extruders (HS-SSE) Most o these developments have taken
place at German extruder manuacturers such as Batteneld Reienhaumluser Kuhne
and Esde Currently HS-SSEs are commercially available and have been in use orseveral years [108]
Batteneld supplies a high speed 75-mm SSE that can run at screw speeds up to
1500 rpm [109] This machine can achieve throughputs up to 2200 kg hr It uses a
our-motor CMG torque drive with 390 kW made by K amp A Knoedler
983090983089983092983089Melt Temperature
One o the interesting characteristics o the HS-SSE is that the melt temperature
remains more or less constant over a broad range o screw speed [108 109] see
Fig 210
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0
T h r o u g
h p u t [ k g h r ]
75-mm extruder PS 486
P Rieg Battenfeld HJ Renner BASF
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200
Screw speed [revmin]
250
240
230
220
210
200
M e l t t e m
p e r a t u r e [ o C ]
Figure 983090983089983088
Throughput and melt
temperature versus
screw speed
This graph shows both the throughput in kg hr and the melt temperature in degC The
temperature curve indicates that there is less than a 2degC change in melt tempera-ture rom 200 rpm up to about 1000 rpm At screw speeds rom 110 rpm to 225 rpm
the melt temperature actually drops rom about 223 to about 215degC
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983089 The Single Screw Extruder 983090983091
In conventional extruders the melt temperature typically increases with screw
speed This ofen creates problems when we deal with high-viscosity polymers par-
ticularly when they have limited thermal stability In the example shown in Fig 210
the melt temperature is essentially constant as screw speed increases rom 200 to
1000 rpm This is probably the result o two actors the residence time o the poly-mer melt is reduced with increasing screw speed and the volume o the molten poly-
mer likely reduces with increasing screw speed as the melting length becomes
longer with increased screw speed
983090983089983092983090Extruders without Gear Reducer
An important advantage o high-speed SSE is that a conventional gear reducer is no
longer necessary The gear reducer is one o the largest cost actors or a conven-
tional extruder As a result extruders without a gear reducer are significantly lessexpensive compared to conventional extruders that achieve the same rate A urther
advantage o the elimination o the gear reducer is a significant reduction in noise
level Contrary to what one would expect HS-SSE actually run very quiet the noise
level is substantially lower than it is or conventional extruders with gear reducers
983090983089983092983091Energy Consumption
Another benefit o high-speed SSE is the reduction in energy consumption Rieg
[108 109] reports the ollowing mechanical specific energy consumption
The reduction in energy consumption listed in Table 22 is significant between 35
and 45 I the extruder runs PP at 2000 kg hr a reduction in SEC o 010 kWh kg
corresponds to a reduction in power consumption o 200 kW every hour I the power
cost is $010 per kWh (or consistency) the savings per hour will be $20 per hour
$480 per day $3360 per week and $168000 per year at 50 weeks per year Clearly
this can have a significant effect on the profitability o an extrusion operation
Table 22 Specific Energy Consumption for Standard Extruder and High-Speed Extruder
Type of extruder SEC with polystyrene [kWhkg] SEC with polypropylene [kWhkg]
Standard extruder 019minus021 027minus029
High-speed extruder 010minus012 017minus019
983090983089983092983092Change-over Resin Consumption
Another important issue in efficient extrusion is the time and material used when a
change in resin is made With high-speed extruders the change-over time is quite
short because the volume occupied by the plastic is small while the throughput is
very high
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983090983092 983090Different Types of Extruders
Table 23 shows a comparison o the high-speed 75-mm extruder to a conventional
180-mm extruder running at the same throughput The amount o material con-
sumed in the change-over is 150 kg or the 75-mm extruder and 1300 kg or the
180-mm extruder I we assume a resin cost o $100 per kg the savings are
$115000 per change-over I we have three change-overs per week the yearly sav-ings in reduced resin usage comes to $172500 per year Clearly this is not an insig-
nificant amount
Table 23 Comparison of Change-Over Time and Material Consumption
75-mm extruder 180-mm extruder
Volume in the extruder [liter] 4 40
Material consumption for change-over [kg] 150 1300
Change-over time [min] 5 40
983090983089983092983093 Change-over Time and Residence Time
Table 23 also shows that the change-over time or the 75-mm extruder is approx
5 minutes while it is approx 40 minutes in the 180-mm extruder Clearly the
reduced change-over time results rom the act that the volume occupied by the plas-
tic is much smaller (4 liter) in the 75-mm extruder than in the 180-mm extruder
(40 liter) I the change-over time can be reduced rom 40 to 5 minutes this means
that 35 minutes are now available to run production resulting in greater up-time othe extrusion line
The small volume o the HS-SSE also results in short residence times The mean
residence time ranges rom approx 5 to 10 seconds In conventional SSE the resi-
dence times are substantially longer typically between 50 to 100 seconds Since
HS-SSE can run at relatively low melt temperatures the chance o degradation is
actually less in these extruders There is ample evidence in actual high-speed ex-
trusion operations that the plastic is less susceptible to degradation in these opera-
tions
983090983090The Multiscrew Extruder
221The Twin Screw Extruder
A twin screw extruder is a machine with two Archimedean screws Admittedly this
is a very general definition However as soon as the definition is made more spe-
cific it is limited to a specific class o twin screw extruders There is a tremendous
variety o twin screw extruders with vast differences in design principle o opera-
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983090983090 The Multiscrew Extruder 983090983093
tion and field o application It is thereore difficult to make general comments
about twin screw extruders The differences between the various twin screw extrud-
ers are much larger than the differences between single screw extruders This is to
be expected since the twin screw construction substantially increases the number
o design variables such as direction o rotation degree o intermeshing etc A clas-sification o twin screw extruders is shown in Table 24 This classification is pri-
marily based on the geometrical configuration o the twin screw extruder Some
twin screw extruders unction in much the same ashion as single screw extruders
Other twin screw extruders operate quite differently rom single screw extruders
and are used in very different applications The design o the various twin screw
extruders with their operational and unctional aspects will be covered in more
detail in Chapter 10
Table 24 Classification of Twin Screw Extruders
Intermeshing extruders
Co-rotating extrudersLow speed extruders for profile extrusion
High speed extruders for compounding
Counter-rotating extruders
Conical extruders for profile extrusion
Parallel extruders for profile extrusion
High speed extruders for compounding
Non-intermeshing
extruders
Counter-rotating extrudersEqual screw length
Unequal screw length
Co-rotating extruders Not used in practice
Co-axial extruders
Inner melt transport forward
Inner melt transport rearward
Inner solids transport rearward
Inner plasticating with rearward transport
983090983090983090The Multiscrew Extruder With More Than Two Screws
There are several types o extruders which incorporate more than two screws One
relatively well-known example is the planetary roller extruder see Fig 211
Planetary screws
Sun (main) screw Melting and feed section
Discharge
Figure 211 The planetary roller extruder
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983090983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
This extruder looks similar to a single screw extruder The eed section is in act
the same as on a standard single screw extruder However the mixing section o the
extruder looks considerably different In the planetary roller section o the extruder
six or more planetary screws evenly spaced revolve around the circumerence o
the main screw In the planetary screw section the main screw is reerred to as thesun screw The planetary screws intermesh with the sun screw and the barrel The
planetary barrel section thereore must have helical grooves corresponding to the
helical flights on the planetary screws This planetary barrel section is generally a
separate barrel section with a flange-type connection to the eed barrel section
In the first part o the machine beore the planetary screws the material moves
orward as in a regular single screw extruder As the material reaches the planetary
section being largely plasticated at this point it is exposed to intensive mixing by
the rolling action between the planetary screws the sun screw and the barrel Thehelical design o the barrel sun screw and planetary screws result in a large sur-
ace area relative to the barrel length The small clearance between the planetary
screws and the mating suraces about frac14 mm allows thin layers o compound to be
exposed to large surace areas resulting in effective devolatilization heat exchange
and temperature control Thus heat-sensitive compounds can be processed with a
minimum o degradation For this reason the planetary gear extruder is requently
used or extrusion compounding o PVC ormulations both rigid and plasticized
[21 22] Planetary roller sections are also used as add-ons to regular extruders to
improve mixing perormance [97 98] Another multiscrew extruder is the our-screw extruder shown in Fig 212
Figure 983090983089983090
Four-screw extruder
This machine is used primarily or devolatilization o solvents rom 40 to as low as
03 [23] Flash devolatilization occurs in a flash dome attached to the barrel The
polymer solution is delivered under pressure and at temperatures above the boiling
point o the solvent The solution is then expanded through a nozzle into the flash
dome The oamy material resulting rom the flash devolatilization is then trans-
ported away by the our screws In many cases downstream vent sections will beincorporated to urther reduce the solvent level
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983090983090 The Multiscrew Extruder 983090983095
983090983090983091The Gear Pump Extruder
Gear pumps are used in some extrusion operations at the end o a plasticating
extruder either single screw or twin screw [99ndash106] Strictly speaking the gear
pump is a closely intermeshing counterrotating twin screw extruder However sincegear pumps are solely used to generate pressure they are generally not reerred to
as an extruder although the gear pump is an extruder One o the main advantages
o the gear pump is its good pressure-generating capability and its ability to main-
tain a relatively constant outlet pressure even i the inlet pressure fluctuates con-
siderably Some fluctuation in the outlet pressure will result rom the intermeshing
o the gear teeth This fluctuation can be reduced by a helical orientation o the gear
teeth instead o an axial orientation
Gear pumps are sometimes reerred to as positive displacement devices This is notcompletely correct because there must be mechanical clearances between the gears
and the housing which causes leakage Thereore the gear pump output is depend-
ent on pressure although the pressure sensitivity will generally be less than that o
a single screw extruder The actual pressure sensitivity will be determined by the
design clearances the polymer melt viscosity and the rotational speed o the gears
A good method to obtain constant throughput is to maintain a constant pressure di-
erential across the pump This can be done by a relatively simple pressure eedback
control on the extruder eeding into the gear pump [102] The non-zero clearances
in the gear pump will cause a transormation o mechanical energy into heat by vis-cous heat generation see Section 534 Thus the energy efficiency o actual gear
pumps is considerably below 100 the pumping efficiency generally ranges rom
15 to 35 The other 65 to 85 goes into mechanical losses and viscous heat gene-
ration Mechanical losses usually range rom about 20 to 40 and viscous heating
rom about 40 to 50 As a result the polymer melt going through the gear pump
will experience a considerable temperature rise typically 5 to 10degC However in
some cases the temperature rise can be as much as 20 to 30degC Since the gear
pump has limited energy efficiency the combination extruder-gear pump is not nec-
essarily more energy-efficient than the extruder without the gear pump Only i the
extruder eeding into the gear pump is very inefficient in its pressure development
will the addition o a gear pump allow a reduction in energy consumption This
could be the case with co-rotating twin screw extruders or single screw extruders
with inefficient screw design
The mixing capacity o gear pumps is very limited This was clearly demonstrated
by Kramer [106] by comparing melt temperature fluctuation beore and afer the
gear pump which showed no distinguishable improvement in melt temperature uni-
ormity Gear pumps are ofen added to extruders with unacceptable output fluc-tuations In many cases this constitutes treating the symptoms but not curing the
actual problem Most single screw extruders i properly designed can maintain
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983090983096 983090Different Types of Extruders
their output to within plusmn 1 I the output fluctuation is considerably larger than 1
there is probably something wrong with the machine very ofen incorrect screw
design In these cases solving the actual problem will generally be more efficient
than adding a gear pump For an efficient extruder-gear pump system the extruder
screw has to be modified to reduce the pressure-generating capacity o the screw
Gear pumps can be used advantageously
1 On extruders with poor pressure-generating capability (e g co-rotating twin
screws multi-stage vented extruders etc)
2 When output stability is required better than 1 i e in close tolerance extru-
sion (e g fiber spinning cable extrusion medical tubing coextrusion etc)
Gear pumps can cause problems when
1 The polymer contains abrasive components because o the small clearances thegear pump is very susceptible to wear
2 When the polymer is susceptible to degradation gear pumps are not sel-clean-
ing and combined with the exposure to high temperatures this will result in
degraded product
983090983091Disk Extruders
There are a number o extruders which do not utilize an Archimedean screw or
transport o the material but still all in the class o continuous extruders Some-
times these machines are reerred to as screwless extruders These machines
employ some kind o disk or drum to extrude the material One can classiy the disk
extruders according to their conveying mechanism (see Table 21) Most o the disk
extruders are based on viscous drag transport One special disk extruder utilizes
the elasticity o polymer melts to convey the material and to develop the necessary
diehead pressure
Disk extruders have been around or a long time at least since 1950 However at
this point in time the industrial significance o disk extruders is still relatively small
compared to screw extruders
983090983091983089Viscous Drag Disk Extruders
983090983091983089983089Stepped Disk Extruder
One o the first disk extruders was developed by Westover at Bell Telephone Labo-
ratories it is ofen reerred to as a stepped disk extruder or slider pad extruder [24]
A schematic picture o the extruder is shown in Fig 213
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983090983097
In
Out
Figure 983090983089983091
The stepped disk
The heart o the machine is the stepped disk positioned a small distance rom a flat
disk When one o the disks is rotated with a polymer melt in the axial gap a pres-
sure build-up will occur at the transition o one gap size to another smaller gap sizesee Fig 214
v
Distance
P r e s s u r e
Figure 983090983089983092
Pressure generation in the step region
I exit channels are incorporated into the stepped disk the polymer can be extruded
in a continuous ashion The design o this extruder is based on Rayleighrsquos [25]
analysis o hydrodynamic lubrication in various geometries He concluded that the
parallel stepped pad was capable o supporting the greatest load The stepped disk
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983091983088 983090Different Types of Extruders
extruder has also been designed in a different configuration using a gradual change
in gap size This extruder has a wedge-shaped disk with a gradual increase in pres-
sure with radial distance
A practical disadvantage o the stepped disk extruder is the act that the machine is
difficult to clean because o the intricate design o the flow channels in the stepped
disk
983090983091983089983090Drum Extruder
Another rather old concept is the drum extruder A schematic picture o a machine
manuactured by Schmid amp Kocher in Switzerland is shown in Fig 215
In
OutOutIn
Figure 983090983089983093 The drum extruder by Schmid amp Kocher
Material is ed by a eed hopper into an annular space between rotor and barrel By
the rotational motion o the rotor the material is carried along the circumerence o
the barrel Just beore the material reaches the eed hopper it encounters a wiper
bar This wiper bar scrapes the polymer rom the rotor and deflects the polymer flow
into a channel that leads to the extruder die Several patents [26 27] were issued on
this design however these patents have long since expired
A very similar extruder (see Fig 216) was developed by Askco Engineering andCosden Oil amp Chemical in a joint venture later this became Permian Research Two
patents have been issued on this design [28 29] even though the concept is very
similar to the Schmid amp Kocher design
One special eature o this design is the capability to adjust the local gap by means
o a choker bar similar to the gap adjustment in a flat sheet die see Section 92 The
choker bar in this drum extruder is activated by adjustable hydraulic oil pressure
Drum extruders have not been able to be a serious competition to the single screw
extruder over the last 50 years
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983091983089
Hopper
DieRotor
Housing
Wiper bar
Hopper
Wiper bar
DieRotor
Housing
Figure 983090983089983094
The drum extruder by AskoCosden
983090983091983089983091Spiral Disk Extruder
The spiral disk extruder is another type o disk extruder that has been known or
many years Several patented designs were described by Schenkel (Chapter 1 [3])
Similar to the stepped disk extruder the development o the spiral disk extruder
is closely connected to spiral groove bearings It has long been known that spiral
groove bearings are capable o supporting substantial loads Ingen Housz [30] has
analyzed the melt conveying in a spiral disk extruder with logarithmic grooves in
the disk based on Newtonian flow behavior o the polymer melt In terms o melt
conveying capability the spiral disk extruder seems comparable to the screw ex-truder however the solids conveying capability is questionable
983090983091983089983092Diskpack Extruder
Another development in disk extruders is the diskpack extruder Tadmor originated
the idea o the diskpack machine which is covered under several patents [31ndash33]
The development o the machine was undertaken by the Farrel Machinery Group o
Emgart Corporation in cooperation with Tadmor [34ndash39] The basic concept o the
machine is shown in Fig 217Material drops in the axial gap between relatively thin disks mounted on a rotating
shaf The material will move with the disks almost a ull turn then it meets a chan-
nel block The channel block closes off the space between the disks and deflects the
polymer flow to either an outlet channel or to a transer channel in the barrel The
shape o the disks can be optimized or specific unctions solids conveying melting
devolatilization melt conveying and mixing A detailed unctional analysis can be
ound in Tadmorrsquos book on polymer processing (Chapter 1 [32])
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983091983090 983090Different Types of Extruders
v
v
Channel blockInlet
Outlet
Barrel
Solid bed
Shaft
Melt pool
Inlet Channel block
Outlet
Melt pool
Solid bed
Barrel
Shaft
v
v Figure 983090983089983095
The diskpack extruder
It is claimed that this machine can perorm all basic polymer-processing operations
with efficiency equaling or surpassing existing machinery Clearly i the claim is
true and can be delivered or a competitive price the diskpack extruder will become
an important machine in the extrusion industry The first diskpack machines were
delivered to the industry in 1982 still under a joint development type o agreement
Now almost 20 years afer the first diskpack machines were delivered it is clear
that the acceptance o these machines in the industry has been very limited In act
Farrel no longer actively markets the diskpack machine In most o the publications
the diskpack machine is reerred to as a polymer processor This term is probably
used to indicate that this machine can do more than just extruding although the
diskpack is o course an extruder
The diskpack machine incorporates some o the eatures o the drum extruder and
the single screw extruder One can think o the diskpack as a single screw extruder
using a screw with zero helix angle and very deep flights Forward axial transportcan only take place by transport channels in the barrel with the material orced into
those channels by a restrictor bar as with the drum extruder The use o restrictor
bars (channel block) and transer channels in the housing make it considerably
more complex than the barrel o a single screw extruder
One o the advantages o the diskpack is that mixing blocks and spreading dams can
be incorporated into the machine as shown in Fig 218(a)
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983091983091
v
v
Channel blockInlet
Outlet
Mixing block
Disk
Inlet Channel block
Outlet
Mixing blockDisk v
v Figure 983090983089983096(a)
Mixing blocks in the diskpack
Mixing blocks o various shapes can be positioned externally into the processing
chamber This is similar to the QSM extruder only that in the QSM extruder the
screw flight has to be interrupted to avoid contact This is not necessary in the disk-
pack because the flights have zero helix angles in other words they run perpen-
dicular to the rotor axis By the number o blocks the geometry o the block and the
clearance between block and disk one can tailor the mixing capability to the par-
ticular application The use o spreading dams allows the generation o a thin film
with a large surace area this results in effective devolatilization capability The
diskpack has inherently higher pressure-generating capability than the single
screw extruder does This is because the diskpack has two dragging suraces while
the single screw extruder has only one see Fig 218(b)
v
v=0
v
v
Conveying mechanismsingle screw extruder
Conveying mechanism
diskpack extruder Figure 983090983089983096(b)
Comparison of conveying mechanism in diskpackand single screw extruder
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983091983092 983090Different Types of Extruders
At the same net flow rate equal viscosity equal plate velocity and optimum plate
separation the theoretical maximum pressure gradient o the diskpack is eight
times higher than the single screw extruder [34] Thus high pressures can be gen-
erated over a short distance which allows a more compact machine design The
energy efficiency o the pressure generation is also better than in the single screwextruder the maximum pumping efficiency approaches 100 see derivation in
Appendix 21 For the single screw extruder the maximum pumping efficiency is
only 33 as discussed in Section 7413 The energy efficiency o pressure genera-
tion is the ratio o the theoretical energy requirement (flow rate times pressure rise)
to the actual energy requirement (wall velocity times shear stress integrated over
wall surace) It should be noted that the two dragging platesrsquo pumping mechanism
exists only in tangential direction The pumping in axial (orward) direction occurs
only in the transer channel in the housing This orward pumping occurs by the one
dragging plate mechanism as in the single screw extruder The maximum efficiency
or orward pumping thereore is only 33 The overall pumping efficiency will be
somewhere between 33 and 100 i the power consumption in the disk and channel
block clearance is neglected
Studies on melting in the diskpack were reported by Valsamis et al [96] It was
ound that two types o melting mechanism could take place in the diskpack the
drag melt removal (DMR) mechanism and the dissipative melt mixing (DMM) mech-
anism The DMR melting mechanism is the predominant mechanism in single screw
extruders this is discussed in detail in Section 73 In the DMR melting mechanismthe solids and melt coexist as two largely continuous and separate phases In the
DMM melting mechanism the solids are dispersed in the melt there is no conti-
nuous solid bed It was ound that the DMM mechanism could be induced by pro-
moting back leakage o the polymer melt past the channel block This can be con-
trolled by varying the clearance between the channel block and the disks The
advantage o the DMM melting mechanism is that the melting rate can be substan-
tially higher than with the DMR mechanism reportedly by as much as a actor o 3
[96]
Among all elementary polymer processing unctions the solids conveying in a disk-
pack extruder has not been discussed to any extent in the open technical literature
Considering that the solids conveying mechanism is a rictional drag mechanism
(as in single screw extruders) and not a positive displacement type o transport (as
in intermeshing counterrotating twin screw extruders see Sections 102 and 104)
it can be expected that the diskpack will have solids conveying limitations similar
to those o single screw extruders see Section 722 This means that powders
blends o powders and pellets slippery materials etc are likely to encounter solids
conveying problems in a diskpack extruder unless special measures are taken toenhance the solids conveying capability (e g crammer eeder grooves in the disks
etc)
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983091983093
Because o the more complex machine geometry the cost per unit throughput o the
diskpack is higher than or the conventional single screw extruder Thereore the
diskpack does not compete directly with single screw extruders
Applications or the diskpack are specialty polymer processing operations such as
polymerization post-reactor processing (devolatilization) continuous compound-
ing etc As such the diskpack competes mostly with twin screw extruders Pres-
ently twin screw extruders are usually the first choice when it comes to specialty
polymer processing operations
983090983091983090The Elastic Melt Extruder
The elastic melt extruder was developed in the late 1950s by Maxwell and Scalora[40 41] The extruder makes use o the viscoelastic in particular the elastic pro-
perties o polymer melts When a viscoelastic fluid is exposed to a shearing deor-
mation normal stresses will develop in the fluid that are not equal in all directions
as opposed to a purely viscous fluid In the elastic melt extruder the polymer is
sheared between two plates one stationary and one rotating see Fig 219
Hopper
Heaters
Solid polymer
Die
Extrudate
Polymer melt
Rotor
Solid polymerHopper
Heaters
Die
Extrudate
Polymer melt
Rotor
Figure 983090983089983097
The elastic melt extruder
As the polymer is sheared normal stresses will generate a centripetal pumping
action Thus the polymer can be extruded through the central opening in the sta-
tionary plate in a continuous ashion Because normal stresses generate the pump-
ing action this machine is sometimes reerred to as a normal stress extruderThis extruder is quite interesting rom a rheological point o view since it is prob-
ably the only extruder that utilizes the elasticity o the melt or its conveying Thus
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983091983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
several detailed experimental and theoretical studies have been devoted to the elas-
tic melt extruder [42ndash47]
The detailed study by Fritz [44] concluded that transport by normal stresses only
could be as much as two orders o magnitude lower than a corresponding system
with orced eed In addition substantial temperature gradients developed in the
polymer causing substantial degradation in high molecular weight polyolefins The
scant market acceptance o the elastic melt extruder would tend to confirm Fritzrsquos
conclusions
Several modifications have been proposed to improve the perormance o the elastic
melt extruder Fritz [43] suggested incorporation o spiral grooves to improve the
pressure generating capability essentially combining the elastic melt extruder and
the spiral disk extruder into one machine In Russia [47] several modifications
were made to the design o the elastic melt extruder One o those combined a screwextruder with the elastic melt extruder to eliminate the eeding and plasticating
problem Despite all o these activities the elastic melt extruder has not been able to
acquire a position o importance in the extrusion industry
983090983091983091Overview of Disk Extruders
Many attempts have been made in the past to come up with a continuous plasticat-
ing extruder o simple design that could perorm better than the single screw ex-truder It seems air to say that at this point in time no disk extruder has been able
to meet this goal The simple disk extruders do not perorm nearly as well as the
single screw extruder The more complex disk extruder such as the diskpack can
possibly outperorm the single screw extruder However this is at the expense o
design simplicity thus increasing the cost o the machine Disk extruders there-
ore have not been able to seriously challenge the position o the single screw
extruder This is not to say however that it is not possible or this to happen some
time in the uture But considering the long dominance o the single screw extruder
it is not probable that a new disk extruder will come along that can challenge the
single screw extruder
983090983092Ram Extruders
Ram or plunger extruders are simple in design rugged and discontinuous in their
mode o operation Ram extruders are essentially positive displacement devices and
are able to generate very high pressures Because o the intermittent operation o
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983091983095
ram extruders they are ideally suited or cyclic processes such as injection molding
and blow molding In act the early molding machines were almost exclusively
equipped with ram extruders to supply the polymer melt to the mold Certain limita-
tions o the ram extruder have caused a switch to reciprocating screw extruders or
combinations o the two The two main limitations are
1 Limited melting capacity
2 Poor temperature uniormity o the polymer melt
Presently ram extruders are used in relatively small shot size molding machines
and certain specialty operations where use is made o the positive displacement
characteristics and the outstanding pressure generation capability There are basic-
ally two types o ram extruders single ram extruders and multi ram extruders
983090983092983089Single Ram Extruders
The single ram extruder is used in small general purpose molding machines but
also in some special polymer processing operations One such operation is the ex-
trusion o intractable polymers such as ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene
(UHMWPE) or polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) These polymers are not considered to
be melt processable on conventional melt processing equipment Teledynamik [48]
has built a ram injection-molding machine under a license rom Th Engel who
developed the prototype machine This machine is used to mold UHMWPE under
very high pressures The machine uses a reciprocating plunger that densifies the
cold incoming material with a pressure up to 300 MPa (about 44000 psi) The re-
quency o the ram can be adjusted continuously with a maximum o 250 strokes
minute The densified material is orced through heated channels into the heated
cylinder where final melting takes place The material is then injected into a mold
by a telescoping injection ram Pressures up to 100 MPa (about 14500 psi) occur
during the injection o the polymer into the mold
Another application is the extrusion o PTFE with again the primary ingredient orsuccessul extrusion being very high pressures Granular PTFE can be extruded at
slow rates in a ram extruder [49ndash51] The powder is compacted by the ram orced
into a die where the material is heated above the melting point and shaped into the
desired orm PTFE is ofen processed as a PTFE paste [52 53] This is small particle
size PTFE powder (about 02 mm) mixed with a processing aid such as naphta PTFE
paste can be extruded at room temperature or slightly above room temperature
Afer extrusion the processing aid is removed by heating the extrudate above its
volatilization temperature The extruded PTFE paste product may be sintered i the
application requires a more ully coalesced product
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983091983096 983090Different Types of Extruders
983090983092983089983089Solid State Extrusion
An extrusion technique that has slowly been gaining popularity is solid-state extru-
sion The polymer is orced through a die while it is below its melting point This
causes substantial deormation o the polymer in the die but since the polymer is in
the solid state a very effective molecular orientation takes place This orientation ismuch more effective than the one which occurs in conventional melt processing As
a result extraordinary mechanical properties can be obtained
Solid-state extrusion is a technique borrowed rom the metal industry where solid-
state extrusion has been used commercially since the late 1940s Bridgman [54]
was one o the first to do a systematic study on the effect o pressure on the mechan-
ical properties o metals He also studied polymers and ound that the glass tran-
sition temperature was raised by the application o pressure
There are two methods o solid-state extrusion one is direct solid-state extrusionthe other is hydrostatic extrusion In direct solid-state extrusion a pre-ormed solid
rod o material (a billet) is in direct contact with the plunger and the walls o the
extrusion die see Fig 220 The material is extruded as the ram is pushed towards
the die
Plunger
Billet
Barrel
DieExtrudate Figure 983090983090983088
Direct solid state extrusion
In hydrostatic extrusion the pressure required or extrusion is transmitted rom the
plunger to the billet through a lubricating liquid usually castor oil The billet must
be shaped to fit the die to prevent loss o fluid The hydrostatic fluid reduces the ric-
tion thereby reducing the extrusion pressure see Fig 221
In hydrostatic extrusion the pressure-generating device or the fluid does not neces-
sarily have to be in close proximity to the orming part o the machine The fluid canbe supplied to the extrusion device by high-pressure tubes
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983091983097
Plunger
Billet
Oil
Barrel
DieExtrudate Figure 983090983090983089
Hydrostatic solid state extrusion
Judging rom publications in the open literature most o the work on solid-state
extrusion o polymers is done at universities and research institutes It is possible
o course that some companies are working on solid-state extrusion but are keeping
the inormation proprietary A major research effort in solid-state extrusion has
been made at the University o Amherst Massachusetts [50ndash64] University o
Leeds England [65ndash72] Fyushu University Fukuoka Japan [73ndash76] Research
Institute or Polymers and Textiles Yokohama Japan [77ndash79] Battelle Columbus
Ohio [80ndash83] and Rutgers University New Brunswick New Jersey [84ndash86] As
mentioned earlier publications rom other sources are considerably less plentiul
[87ndash90] Efforts have also been made to achieve the same high degree o orientation
in a more or less conventional extrusion process by special die design and tempera-
ture control in the die region [91]
Table 25 shows a comparison o mechanical properties between steel aluminum
solid state extruded HDPE and HDPE extruded by conventional means
Table 25 clearly indicates that the mechanical properties o solid-state extruded
HDPE are much superior to the melt extruded HDPE In act the tensile strength o
solid-state extruded HDPE is about the same as carbon steel There are some other
interesting benefits associated with solidstate extrusion o polymers There is essen-
tially no die swell at high extrusion ratios (extrusion ratio is the ratio o the area in
the cylinder to the area in the die) Thus the dimensions o the extrudate closely
conorm to those o the die exit The surace o the extrudate produced by hydro-
static extrusion has a lower coefficient o riction than that o the un-oriented poly-
mer Above a certain extrusion ratio (about ten) polyethylene and polypropylene
become transparent Further solid-state extruded polymers maintain their ten-sile properties at elevated temperatures Polyethylene maintains its modulus up to
120degC when it is extruded in the solid state at a high extrusion ratio The thermal
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983092983088 983090Different Types of Extruders
conductivity in the extrusion direction is much higher than that o the un-oriented
polymer as much as 25 times higher The melting point o the solid-state extruded
polymer increases with the amount o orientation The melting point o HDPE can be
shifed to as high as 140degC
Table 25 Comparison of Mechanical Properties
Material Tensile modulus[MPa]
Tensile strength[MPa]
Elongation[]
Density[gcc]
Annealed SAE 1020 210000 410 35 786
W-200 degF SAE 1020 210000 720 6 786
Annealed 304 stainless
steel
200000 590 50 792
Aluminum 1100ndash0 70000 90 45 271
HDPE solid state
extruded
70000 480 3 097
HDPE melt extruded 10000 30 20ndash1000 096
A recent application o solid-state extrusion is the process developed by Synthetic
Hardwood Technologies Inc [107] This company has developed an expanded ori-
ented wood-filled polypropylene (EOW-PP) that is about 300 stronger than regular
PP The process is based on technology developed at Aluminum Company o Canada
Ltd (Alcan) in the early 1990s to solidstate extrude PP It involves ram extrusion
drawing o billets o PP just below the melting point with very high draw ratio and
high haul-off tension (about 3 MPa) to reeze-in the high level o orientation Alcan
did not pursue the technology and Symplastics Ltd licensed the patented process
this company started experimenting with adding small amounts o wood flour to the
PP However Symplastics ound the research and development too costly and sold
the patents and lab extrusion equipment to Frank Maine who set up SHW to com-
mercialize applications or the EOW-PP The key to the SHW process is that it com-
bines extrusion with drawing As the polymer is oriented the density drops about
50 rom about 1 g cc to 05 g cc The die drawing also allowed substantial in-creases in line speed rom about 0050 m min to about 9 m min The properties
achieved with EOW-PP are shown in Table 24 and compared to regular PP wood
and oriented PP
Solid-state extrusion has been practiced with coextrusion o different polymers [93]
Despite the large amount o research on solid-state extrusion and the outstanding
mechanical properties that can be obtained there does not seem to be much interest
in the polymer industry The main drawbacks o course are that solid-state extru-
sion is basically a discontinuous process it cannot be done on conventional polymer
processing equipment and very high pressures are required to achieve solid-stateextrusion Also one should keep in mind that very good mechanical properties can
be obtained by taking a profile (fiber film tube etc) produced by conventional con-
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983092983089
tinuous extrusion and exposing it to controlled deormation at a temperature below
the melting point This is a well-established technique in many extrusion operations
(fiber spinning film extrusion etc) and it can be done at a high rate This method
o producing extrudates with very good mechanical properties is likely to be more
cost-effective than solid-state extrusion It is possible that the die drawing processdeveloped by SHW can make solid-state extrusion more attractive commercially by
allowing large profiles to be processed at reasonable line speeds
Table 26 Mechanical Properties of PP Wood OPP and EOW-PP
Flexural strength [MPa] Flexural modulus [MPa]
Regular PP 50 1850
Wood 100 9000
Oriented PP 275 7600EOW-PP 140 7600
983090983092983090Multi Ram Extruder
As mentioned beore the main disadvantage o ram extruders is their intermittent
operation Several attempts have been made to overcome this problem by designing
multi-ram extruders that work together in such a way as to produce a continuousflow o material
Westover [94] designed a continuous ram extruder that combined our plunger-
cylinders Two plunger-cylinders were used or plasticating and two or pumping
An intricate shuttle valve connecting all the plunger cylinders provides continuous
extrusion
Another attempt to develop a continuous ram extruder was made by Yi and Fenner
[95] They designed a twin ram extruder with the cylinders in a V-configuration see
Fig 222The two rams discharge into a common barrel in which a plasticating shaf is rotat-
ing Thus solids conveying occurs in the two separate cylinders and plasticating
and melt conveying occurs in the annular region between the barrel and plasticat-
ing shaf The machine is able to extrude however the throughput uniormity is
poor The perormance could probably have been improved i the plasticating shaf
had been provided with a helical channel But o course then the machine would
have become a screw extruder with a ram-assisted eed This only goes to demon-
strate that it is ar rom easy to improve upon the simple screw extruder
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983092983090 983090Different Types of Extruders
Die Breaker plate
Plasticating shaft
Main
block
Feed cylinder
Figure 222 Twin ram extruder
983090983092983091 Appendix 983090983089
983090983092983091983089 Pumping Efficiency in Diskpack Extruder
The velocity profile between the moving walls is a parabolic unction when the fluid
is a Newtonian fluid see Section 621 and Fig 223
y
z H
Small pressure gradient
Medium pressure gradient
Large pressure gradient
Figure 983090983090983091
Velocity profiles between moving
walls
The velocity profile or a Newtonian fluid is
L8
PH
H
y41vv(y)
2
2
2
∆micro∆
minusminus= (1)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983092983091
where v is the velocity o the plates H the distance between the plates and μ the
viscosity o the fluid The flow rate can be ound by integrating v(y) over the width
and depth o the channel this yields
L12
PWHvWHV
3
∆micro∆minus=
bull
(2)
The first term on the right-hand side o the equalation is the drag flow term The
second term is the pressure flow term The ratio o pressure flow to drag flow is
termed the throttle ratio rd (see Section 7413)
r d =Lv12
PH2
∆micro
∆ (3)
The flow rate can now be written as
(4)
The shear stress at the wall is obtained rom
dv H∆Pτ = micro =dy
05H 2∆L
(5)
The power consumption in the channel is
Zch = PvHWLvW2 ∆=∆τ (6)
The energy efficiency or pressure generation is
V∆Pε = =1 minus r
d Zch
(7)
Equation 7 is not valid or rd = 0 because in this case both numerator and denomi-
nator become zero From Eq 7 it can be seen that when the machine is operated atlow rd values the pumping efficiency can become close to 100 This is considerably
better than the single screw extruder where the optimum pumping efficiency is 33
at a throttle ratio value o 033 (rd = 13)
References
1 J LeBras ldquoRubber Fundamentals o its Science and Technologyrdquo Chemical Publ Co
NY (1957)
2 W S Penn ldquoSynthetic Rubber Technology Volume Irdquo MacLaren amp Sons Ltd London(1960)
3 W J S Naunton ldquoThe Applied Science o Rubberrdquo Edward Arnold Ltd London (1961)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3437
983092983092 983090Different Types of Extruders
4 C M Blow ldquoRubber Technology and Manuacturerdquo Butterworth amp Co Ltd London
(1971)
5 F R Eirich (Ed) ldquoScience and Technology o Rubberrdquo Academic Press NY (1978)
6 C W Evans ldquoPowdered and Particulate Rubber Technologyrdquo Applied Science Publ Ltd
London (1978)
7 G Targiel et al 10 IKV-Kolloquium Aachen March 12ndash14 45 (1980)
8 A Kennaway Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 17 378ndash391 (1964)
9 G Menges and J P Lehnen Plastverarbeiter 20 1 31ndash39 (1969)
10 M Parshall and A J Saulino Rubber World 2 5 78ndash83 (1967)
11 S E Perlberg Rubber World 2 6 71ndash76 (1967)
12 H H Gohlisch Gummi Asbest Kunststoffe 25 9 834ndash835 (1972)
13 E Harms ldquoKautschuk-Extruder Aubau und Einsatz aus verahrenstechnischer Sichtrdquo
Krausskop-Verlag Mainz Bd 2 Buchreihe Kunststo983142echnik (1974)
14 G Schwarz Eur Rubber Journal Sept 28ndash32 (1977)
15 G Menges and E G Harms Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 25 10 469ndash475 (1972)
16 G Menges and E G Harms Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 27 5 187ndash193 (1974)
17 E G Harms Elastomerics 109 6 33ndash39 (1977)
18 E G Harms Eur Rubber Journal 6 23 (1978)
19 E G Harms Kunststoffe 69 1 32ndash33 (1979)
20 E G Harms Dissertation RWTH Aachen Germany (1981)21 S H Collins Plastics Compounding Nov Dec 29 (1982)
22 D Anders Kunststoffe 69 194ndash198 (1979)
23 D Gras and K Eise SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 21 386 (1975)
24 R F Westover SPE Journal 18 12 1473 (1962)
25 Lord Raleigh Philosophical Magazine 35 1ndash12 (1918)
26 German Patent DRP 1129681
27 British Patent BP 759354
28 U S Patent 3880564
29 U S Patent 4012477
30 J F Ingen Housz Plastverarbeiter 10 1 (1975)
31 U S Patent 4142805
32 U S Patent 4194841
33 U S Patent 4213709
34 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 25 193 (1979)
35 P Hold Z Tadmor and L Valsamis SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 25 205 (1979)
36 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis Plastics Engineering Nov 20ndash25 (1979)
37 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis Plastics Engineering Dec 30ndash38 (1979)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3537
References 983092983093
38 Z Tadmor et al The Diskpack Plastics Processor Farrel Publication Jan (1982)
39 L Valsamis AIChE Meeting Washington D C Oct (1983)
40 B Maxwell and A J Scalora Modern Plastics 37 107 Oct (1959)
41 U S Patent 3 046603
42 L L Blyler PhD thesis Princeton University NJ (1966)
43 H G Fritz Kunststo983142echnik 6 430 (1968)
44 H G Fritz PhD thesis Stuttgart University Germany (1971)
45 C W Macosko and J M Starita SPE Journal 27 30 (1971)
46 P A Good A J Schwartz and C W Macosko AIChE Journal 20 1 67 (1974)
47 V L Kocherov Y L Lukach E A Sporyagin and G V Vinogradov Polym Eng Sci 13
194 (1973)
48 J Berzen and G Braun Kunststoffe 69 2 62ndash66 (1979)49 R S Porter et al J Polym Sci 17 485ndash488 (1979)
50 C A Sperati Modern Plastics Encyclopedia McGraw-Hill NY (1983)
51 S S Schwartz and S H Goodman see Chapter 1 [36]
52 G R Snelling and J F Lontz J Appl Polym Sci 3 9 257ndash265 (1960)
53 D C F Couzens Plastics and Rubber Processing March 45ndash48 (1976)
54 P W Bridgman ldquoStudies in Large Plastic Flow and Fracturerdquo McGraw-Hill NY (1952)
55 H L D Push ldquoThe Mechanical Behavior o Materials Under Pressurerdquo Elsevier Amster-
dam (1970)56 H L D Push and A H Low J Inst Metals 93 201 (196565)
57 F Slack Mach Design Oct 7 61ndash64 (1982)
58 J H Southern and R S Porter J Appl Polym Sci 14 2305 (1970)
59 J H Southern and R S Porter J Macromol Sci Phys 3ndash4 541 (1970)
60 J H Southern N E Weeks and R S Porter Macromol Chem 162 19 (1972)
61 N J Capiati and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 13 1177 (1975)
62 R S Porter J H Southern and N E Weeks Polym Eng Sci 15 213 (1975)
63 A E Zachariades E S Sherman and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 17 255
(1979)
64 A E Zachariades and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 17 277 (1979)
65 B Parsons D Bretherton and B N Cole in Advances in MTDR 11th Int Con Proc
S A Tobias and F Koeningsberger (Eds) Pergamon Press London Vol B 1049 (1971)
66 G Capaccio and I M Ward Polymer 15 233 (1974)
67 A G Gibson I M Ward B N Cole and B Parsons J Mater Sci 9 1193ndash1196 (1974)
68 A G Gibson and I M Ward J Appl Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 16 2015ndash2030 (1978)
69 P S Hope and B Parsons Polym Eng Sci 20 589ndash600 (1980)
70 P S Hope I M Ward and A G Gibson J Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 18 1242ndash1256
(1980)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3637
983092983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
71 P S Hope A G Gibson B Parsons and I M Ward Polym Eng Sci 20 54ndash55 (1980)
72 B Parsons and I M Ward Plast Rubber Proc Appl 2 3 215ndash224 (1982)
73 K Imada T Yamamoto K Shigematsu and M Takayanagi J Mater Sci 6 537ndash546
(1971)
74 K Nakamura K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 2 71 (1972)
75 K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 2 89 (1973)
76 K Nakamura K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 3 23 (1974)
77 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Mater Sci 10 1105 (1975)
78 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Mater Sci 12 1477 (1977)
79 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Appl Polym Sci 23 2543ndash2554 (1979)
80 D M Bigg Polym Eng Sci 16 725 (1976)
81 D M Bigg M M Epstein R J Fiorentino and E G Smith Polym Eng Sci 18 908(1978)
82 D M Bigg and M M Epstein ldquoScience and Technology o Polymer Processingrdquo N S Suh
and N Sung (Eds) 897 MIT Press (1979)
83 D M Bigg M M Epstein R J Fiorentino and E G Smith J Appl Polym Sci 26 395ndash
409 (1981)
84 K D Pae and D R Mears J Polym Sci B-6 269 (1968)
85 K D Pae D R Mears and J A Sauer J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 6 773 (1968)
86 D R Mears K P Pae and J A Sauer J Appl Phys 40 11 4229ndash4237 (1969)
87 L A Davis and C A Pampillo J Appl Phys 42 12 4659ndash4666 (1971)
88 A Buckley and H A Long Polym Eng Sci 9 2 115ndash120 (1969)
89 L A Davis Polym Eng Sci 14 9 641ndash645 (1974)
90 R K Okine and N P Suh Polym Eng Sci 22 5 269ndash279 (1982)
91 J R Collier T Y T Tam J Newcome and N Dinos Polym Eng Sci 16 204ndash211 (1976)
92 J H Faupel and F E Fisher ldquoEngineering Designrdquo Wiley NY (1981)
93 A E Zachariades R Ball and R S Porter J Mater Sci 13 2671ndash2675 (1978)
94 R R Westover Modern Plastics March (1963) 95 B Yi and R T Fenner Plastics and Polymers Dec 224ndash228 (1975)
96 A Mekkaoui and L N Valsamis Polym Eng Sci 24 1260ndash1269 (1984)
97 H Rust Kunststoffe 73 342ndash346 (1983)
98 J Huszman Kunststoffe 73 3437ndash348 (1983)
99 J M McKelvey U Maire and F Haupt Chem Eng Sept 27 94ndash102 (1976)
100 K Schneider Kunststoffe 68 201ndash206 (1978)
101 W T Rice Plastic Technology 87ndash91 Feb (1980)
102 Harrel Corp ldquoMelt Pump Systems or Extrudersrdquo Product Description TDS-264 (1982)
103 J M McKelvey and W T Rice Chem Eng 90 2 89ndash94 (1983)
104 K Kaper K Eise and H Herrmann SPE ANTEC Chicago 161ndash163 (1983)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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References 983092983095
105 C L Woodworth SPE ANTEC New Orleans 122ndash126 (1984)
106 W A Kramer SPE ANTEC Washington D C 23ndash29 (1985)
107 J Schut ldquoDie Drawing Makes Plastic Steelrdquo Plastics Technology Online Article March
5 (2001)
108 VDI Conerence Extrusiontechnik 2006 ldquoDer Einschnecken-Extruder von Morgenrdquo VDI
Verlag GmbH Duumlsseldor (2006)
109 P Rieg ldquoLatest Developments in High-Speed Extrusionrdquo Plastic Extrusion Asia Con-
erence Bangkok Thailand March 17ndash18 (2008) also presented at Advances in Ex-
trusion Conerence New Orleans December 9ndash10 (2008)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983089 The Single Screw Extruder 983090983091
In conventional extruders the melt temperature typically increases with screw
speed This ofen creates problems when we deal with high-viscosity polymers par-
ticularly when they have limited thermal stability In the example shown in Fig 210
the melt temperature is essentially constant as screw speed increases rom 200 to
1000 rpm This is probably the result o two actors the residence time o the poly-mer melt is reduced with increasing screw speed and the volume o the molten poly-
mer likely reduces with increasing screw speed as the melting length becomes
longer with increased screw speed
983090983089983092983090Extruders without Gear Reducer
An important advantage o high-speed SSE is that a conventional gear reducer is no
longer necessary The gear reducer is one o the largest cost actors or a conven-
tional extruder As a result extruders without a gear reducer are significantly lessexpensive compared to conventional extruders that achieve the same rate A urther
advantage o the elimination o the gear reducer is a significant reduction in noise
level Contrary to what one would expect HS-SSE actually run very quiet the noise
level is substantially lower than it is or conventional extruders with gear reducers
983090983089983092983091Energy Consumption
Another benefit o high-speed SSE is the reduction in energy consumption Rieg
[108 109] reports the ollowing mechanical specific energy consumption
The reduction in energy consumption listed in Table 22 is significant between 35
and 45 I the extruder runs PP at 2000 kg hr a reduction in SEC o 010 kWh kg
corresponds to a reduction in power consumption o 200 kW every hour I the power
cost is $010 per kWh (or consistency) the savings per hour will be $20 per hour
$480 per day $3360 per week and $168000 per year at 50 weeks per year Clearly
this can have a significant effect on the profitability o an extrusion operation
Table 22 Specific Energy Consumption for Standard Extruder and High-Speed Extruder
Type of extruder SEC with polystyrene [kWhkg] SEC with polypropylene [kWhkg]
Standard extruder 019minus021 027minus029
High-speed extruder 010minus012 017minus019
983090983089983092983092Change-over Resin Consumption
Another important issue in efficient extrusion is the time and material used when a
change in resin is made With high-speed extruders the change-over time is quite
short because the volume occupied by the plastic is small while the throughput is
very high
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983090983092 983090Different Types of Extruders
Table 23 shows a comparison o the high-speed 75-mm extruder to a conventional
180-mm extruder running at the same throughput The amount o material con-
sumed in the change-over is 150 kg or the 75-mm extruder and 1300 kg or the
180-mm extruder I we assume a resin cost o $100 per kg the savings are
$115000 per change-over I we have three change-overs per week the yearly sav-ings in reduced resin usage comes to $172500 per year Clearly this is not an insig-
nificant amount
Table 23 Comparison of Change-Over Time and Material Consumption
75-mm extruder 180-mm extruder
Volume in the extruder [liter] 4 40
Material consumption for change-over [kg] 150 1300
Change-over time [min] 5 40
983090983089983092983093 Change-over Time and Residence Time
Table 23 also shows that the change-over time or the 75-mm extruder is approx
5 minutes while it is approx 40 minutes in the 180-mm extruder Clearly the
reduced change-over time results rom the act that the volume occupied by the plas-
tic is much smaller (4 liter) in the 75-mm extruder than in the 180-mm extruder
(40 liter) I the change-over time can be reduced rom 40 to 5 minutes this means
that 35 minutes are now available to run production resulting in greater up-time othe extrusion line
The small volume o the HS-SSE also results in short residence times The mean
residence time ranges rom approx 5 to 10 seconds In conventional SSE the resi-
dence times are substantially longer typically between 50 to 100 seconds Since
HS-SSE can run at relatively low melt temperatures the chance o degradation is
actually less in these extruders There is ample evidence in actual high-speed ex-
trusion operations that the plastic is less susceptible to degradation in these opera-
tions
983090983090The Multiscrew Extruder
221The Twin Screw Extruder
A twin screw extruder is a machine with two Archimedean screws Admittedly this
is a very general definition However as soon as the definition is made more spe-
cific it is limited to a specific class o twin screw extruders There is a tremendous
variety o twin screw extruders with vast differences in design principle o opera-
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983090 The Multiscrew Extruder 983090983093
tion and field o application It is thereore difficult to make general comments
about twin screw extruders The differences between the various twin screw extrud-
ers are much larger than the differences between single screw extruders This is to
be expected since the twin screw construction substantially increases the number
o design variables such as direction o rotation degree o intermeshing etc A clas-sification o twin screw extruders is shown in Table 24 This classification is pri-
marily based on the geometrical configuration o the twin screw extruder Some
twin screw extruders unction in much the same ashion as single screw extruders
Other twin screw extruders operate quite differently rom single screw extruders
and are used in very different applications The design o the various twin screw
extruders with their operational and unctional aspects will be covered in more
detail in Chapter 10
Table 24 Classification of Twin Screw Extruders
Intermeshing extruders
Co-rotating extrudersLow speed extruders for profile extrusion
High speed extruders for compounding
Counter-rotating extruders
Conical extruders for profile extrusion
Parallel extruders for profile extrusion
High speed extruders for compounding
Non-intermeshing
extruders
Counter-rotating extrudersEqual screw length
Unequal screw length
Co-rotating extruders Not used in practice
Co-axial extruders
Inner melt transport forward
Inner melt transport rearward
Inner solids transport rearward
Inner plasticating with rearward transport
983090983090983090The Multiscrew Extruder With More Than Two Screws
There are several types o extruders which incorporate more than two screws One
relatively well-known example is the planetary roller extruder see Fig 211
Planetary screws
Sun (main) screw Melting and feed section
Discharge
Figure 211 The planetary roller extruder
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
This extruder looks similar to a single screw extruder The eed section is in act
the same as on a standard single screw extruder However the mixing section o the
extruder looks considerably different In the planetary roller section o the extruder
six or more planetary screws evenly spaced revolve around the circumerence o
the main screw In the planetary screw section the main screw is reerred to as thesun screw The planetary screws intermesh with the sun screw and the barrel The
planetary barrel section thereore must have helical grooves corresponding to the
helical flights on the planetary screws This planetary barrel section is generally a
separate barrel section with a flange-type connection to the eed barrel section
In the first part o the machine beore the planetary screws the material moves
orward as in a regular single screw extruder As the material reaches the planetary
section being largely plasticated at this point it is exposed to intensive mixing by
the rolling action between the planetary screws the sun screw and the barrel Thehelical design o the barrel sun screw and planetary screws result in a large sur-
ace area relative to the barrel length The small clearance between the planetary
screws and the mating suraces about frac14 mm allows thin layers o compound to be
exposed to large surace areas resulting in effective devolatilization heat exchange
and temperature control Thus heat-sensitive compounds can be processed with a
minimum o degradation For this reason the planetary gear extruder is requently
used or extrusion compounding o PVC ormulations both rigid and plasticized
[21 22] Planetary roller sections are also used as add-ons to regular extruders to
improve mixing perormance [97 98] Another multiscrew extruder is the our-screw extruder shown in Fig 212
Figure 983090983089983090
Four-screw extruder
This machine is used primarily or devolatilization o solvents rom 40 to as low as
03 [23] Flash devolatilization occurs in a flash dome attached to the barrel The
polymer solution is delivered under pressure and at temperatures above the boiling
point o the solvent The solution is then expanded through a nozzle into the flash
dome The oamy material resulting rom the flash devolatilization is then trans-
ported away by the our screws In many cases downstream vent sections will beincorporated to urther reduce the solvent level
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983090 The Multiscrew Extruder 983090983095
983090983090983091The Gear Pump Extruder
Gear pumps are used in some extrusion operations at the end o a plasticating
extruder either single screw or twin screw [99ndash106] Strictly speaking the gear
pump is a closely intermeshing counterrotating twin screw extruder However sincegear pumps are solely used to generate pressure they are generally not reerred to
as an extruder although the gear pump is an extruder One o the main advantages
o the gear pump is its good pressure-generating capability and its ability to main-
tain a relatively constant outlet pressure even i the inlet pressure fluctuates con-
siderably Some fluctuation in the outlet pressure will result rom the intermeshing
o the gear teeth This fluctuation can be reduced by a helical orientation o the gear
teeth instead o an axial orientation
Gear pumps are sometimes reerred to as positive displacement devices This is notcompletely correct because there must be mechanical clearances between the gears
and the housing which causes leakage Thereore the gear pump output is depend-
ent on pressure although the pressure sensitivity will generally be less than that o
a single screw extruder The actual pressure sensitivity will be determined by the
design clearances the polymer melt viscosity and the rotational speed o the gears
A good method to obtain constant throughput is to maintain a constant pressure di-
erential across the pump This can be done by a relatively simple pressure eedback
control on the extruder eeding into the gear pump [102] The non-zero clearances
in the gear pump will cause a transormation o mechanical energy into heat by vis-cous heat generation see Section 534 Thus the energy efficiency o actual gear
pumps is considerably below 100 the pumping efficiency generally ranges rom
15 to 35 The other 65 to 85 goes into mechanical losses and viscous heat gene-
ration Mechanical losses usually range rom about 20 to 40 and viscous heating
rom about 40 to 50 As a result the polymer melt going through the gear pump
will experience a considerable temperature rise typically 5 to 10degC However in
some cases the temperature rise can be as much as 20 to 30degC Since the gear
pump has limited energy efficiency the combination extruder-gear pump is not nec-
essarily more energy-efficient than the extruder without the gear pump Only i the
extruder eeding into the gear pump is very inefficient in its pressure development
will the addition o a gear pump allow a reduction in energy consumption This
could be the case with co-rotating twin screw extruders or single screw extruders
with inefficient screw design
The mixing capacity o gear pumps is very limited This was clearly demonstrated
by Kramer [106] by comparing melt temperature fluctuation beore and afer the
gear pump which showed no distinguishable improvement in melt temperature uni-
ormity Gear pumps are ofen added to extruders with unacceptable output fluc-tuations In many cases this constitutes treating the symptoms but not curing the
actual problem Most single screw extruders i properly designed can maintain
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983090983096 983090Different Types of Extruders
their output to within plusmn 1 I the output fluctuation is considerably larger than 1
there is probably something wrong with the machine very ofen incorrect screw
design In these cases solving the actual problem will generally be more efficient
than adding a gear pump For an efficient extruder-gear pump system the extruder
screw has to be modified to reduce the pressure-generating capacity o the screw
Gear pumps can be used advantageously
1 On extruders with poor pressure-generating capability (e g co-rotating twin
screws multi-stage vented extruders etc)
2 When output stability is required better than 1 i e in close tolerance extru-
sion (e g fiber spinning cable extrusion medical tubing coextrusion etc)
Gear pumps can cause problems when
1 The polymer contains abrasive components because o the small clearances thegear pump is very susceptible to wear
2 When the polymer is susceptible to degradation gear pumps are not sel-clean-
ing and combined with the exposure to high temperatures this will result in
degraded product
983090983091Disk Extruders
There are a number o extruders which do not utilize an Archimedean screw or
transport o the material but still all in the class o continuous extruders Some-
times these machines are reerred to as screwless extruders These machines
employ some kind o disk or drum to extrude the material One can classiy the disk
extruders according to their conveying mechanism (see Table 21) Most o the disk
extruders are based on viscous drag transport One special disk extruder utilizes
the elasticity o polymer melts to convey the material and to develop the necessary
diehead pressure
Disk extruders have been around or a long time at least since 1950 However at
this point in time the industrial significance o disk extruders is still relatively small
compared to screw extruders
983090983091983089Viscous Drag Disk Extruders
983090983091983089983089Stepped Disk Extruder
One o the first disk extruders was developed by Westover at Bell Telephone Labo-
ratories it is ofen reerred to as a stepped disk extruder or slider pad extruder [24]
A schematic picture o the extruder is shown in Fig 213
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983090983097
In
Out
Figure 983090983089983091
The stepped disk
The heart o the machine is the stepped disk positioned a small distance rom a flat
disk When one o the disks is rotated with a polymer melt in the axial gap a pres-
sure build-up will occur at the transition o one gap size to another smaller gap sizesee Fig 214
v
Distance
P r e s s u r e
Figure 983090983089983092
Pressure generation in the step region
I exit channels are incorporated into the stepped disk the polymer can be extruded
in a continuous ashion The design o this extruder is based on Rayleighrsquos [25]
analysis o hydrodynamic lubrication in various geometries He concluded that the
parallel stepped pad was capable o supporting the greatest load The stepped disk
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983091983088 983090Different Types of Extruders
extruder has also been designed in a different configuration using a gradual change
in gap size This extruder has a wedge-shaped disk with a gradual increase in pres-
sure with radial distance
A practical disadvantage o the stepped disk extruder is the act that the machine is
difficult to clean because o the intricate design o the flow channels in the stepped
disk
983090983091983089983090Drum Extruder
Another rather old concept is the drum extruder A schematic picture o a machine
manuactured by Schmid amp Kocher in Switzerland is shown in Fig 215
In
OutOutIn
Figure 983090983089983093 The drum extruder by Schmid amp Kocher
Material is ed by a eed hopper into an annular space between rotor and barrel By
the rotational motion o the rotor the material is carried along the circumerence o
the barrel Just beore the material reaches the eed hopper it encounters a wiper
bar This wiper bar scrapes the polymer rom the rotor and deflects the polymer flow
into a channel that leads to the extruder die Several patents [26 27] were issued on
this design however these patents have long since expired
A very similar extruder (see Fig 216) was developed by Askco Engineering andCosden Oil amp Chemical in a joint venture later this became Permian Research Two
patents have been issued on this design [28 29] even though the concept is very
similar to the Schmid amp Kocher design
One special eature o this design is the capability to adjust the local gap by means
o a choker bar similar to the gap adjustment in a flat sheet die see Section 92 The
choker bar in this drum extruder is activated by adjustable hydraulic oil pressure
Drum extruders have not been able to be a serious competition to the single screw
extruder over the last 50 years
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983091983089
Hopper
DieRotor
Housing
Wiper bar
Hopper
Wiper bar
DieRotor
Housing
Figure 983090983089983094
The drum extruder by AskoCosden
983090983091983089983091Spiral Disk Extruder
The spiral disk extruder is another type o disk extruder that has been known or
many years Several patented designs were described by Schenkel (Chapter 1 [3])
Similar to the stepped disk extruder the development o the spiral disk extruder
is closely connected to spiral groove bearings It has long been known that spiral
groove bearings are capable o supporting substantial loads Ingen Housz [30] has
analyzed the melt conveying in a spiral disk extruder with logarithmic grooves in
the disk based on Newtonian flow behavior o the polymer melt In terms o melt
conveying capability the spiral disk extruder seems comparable to the screw ex-truder however the solids conveying capability is questionable
983090983091983089983092Diskpack Extruder
Another development in disk extruders is the diskpack extruder Tadmor originated
the idea o the diskpack machine which is covered under several patents [31ndash33]
The development o the machine was undertaken by the Farrel Machinery Group o
Emgart Corporation in cooperation with Tadmor [34ndash39] The basic concept o the
machine is shown in Fig 217Material drops in the axial gap between relatively thin disks mounted on a rotating
shaf The material will move with the disks almost a ull turn then it meets a chan-
nel block The channel block closes off the space between the disks and deflects the
polymer flow to either an outlet channel or to a transer channel in the barrel The
shape o the disks can be optimized or specific unctions solids conveying melting
devolatilization melt conveying and mixing A detailed unctional analysis can be
ound in Tadmorrsquos book on polymer processing (Chapter 1 [32])
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983091983090 983090Different Types of Extruders
v
v
Channel blockInlet
Outlet
Barrel
Solid bed
Shaft
Melt pool
Inlet Channel block
Outlet
Melt pool
Solid bed
Barrel
Shaft
v
v Figure 983090983089983095
The diskpack extruder
It is claimed that this machine can perorm all basic polymer-processing operations
with efficiency equaling or surpassing existing machinery Clearly i the claim is
true and can be delivered or a competitive price the diskpack extruder will become
an important machine in the extrusion industry The first diskpack machines were
delivered to the industry in 1982 still under a joint development type o agreement
Now almost 20 years afer the first diskpack machines were delivered it is clear
that the acceptance o these machines in the industry has been very limited In act
Farrel no longer actively markets the diskpack machine In most o the publications
the diskpack machine is reerred to as a polymer processor This term is probably
used to indicate that this machine can do more than just extruding although the
diskpack is o course an extruder
The diskpack machine incorporates some o the eatures o the drum extruder and
the single screw extruder One can think o the diskpack as a single screw extruder
using a screw with zero helix angle and very deep flights Forward axial transportcan only take place by transport channels in the barrel with the material orced into
those channels by a restrictor bar as with the drum extruder The use o restrictor
bars (channel block) and transer channels in the housing make it considerably
more complex than the barrel o a single screw extruder
One o the advantages o the diskpack is that mixing blocks and spreading dams can
be incorporated into the machine as shown in Fig 218(a)
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983091983091
v
v
Channel blockInlet
Outlet
Mixing block
Disk
Inlet Channel block
Outlet
Mixing blockDisk v
v Figure 983090983089983096(a)
Mixing blocks in the diskpack
Mixing blocks o various shapes can be positioned externally into the processing
chamber This is similar to the QSM extruder only that in the QSM extruder the
screw flight has to be interrupted to avoid contact This is not necessary in the disk-
pack because the flights have zero helix angles in other words they run perpen-
dicular to the rotor axis By the number o blocks the geometry o the block and the
clearance between block and disk one can tailor the mixing capability to the par-
ticular application The use o spreading dams allows the generation o a thin film
with a large surace area this results in effective devolatilization capability The
diskpack has inherently higher pressure-generating capability than the single
screw extruder does This is because the diskpack has two dragging suraces while
the single screw extruder has only one see Fig 218(b)
v
v=0
v
v
Conveying mechanismsingle screw extruder
Conveying mechanism
diskpack extruder Figure 983090983089983096(b)
Comparison of conveying mechanism in diskpackand single screw extruder
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983091983092 983090Different Types of Extruders
At the same net flow rate equal viscosity equal plate velocity and optimum plate
separation the theoretical maximum pressure gradient o the diskpack is eight
times higher than the single screw extruder [34] Thus high pressures can be gen-
erated over a short distance which allows a more compact machine design The
energy efficiency o the pressure generation is also better than in the single screwextruder the maximum pumping efficiency approaches 100 see derivation in
Appendix 21 For the single screw extruder the maximum pumping efficiency is
only 33 as discussed in Section 7413 The energy efficiency o pressure genera-
tion is the ratio o the theoretical energy requirement (flow rate times pressure rise)
to the actual energy requirement (wall velocity times shear stress integrated over
wall surace) It should be noted that the two dragging platesrsquo pumping mechanism
exists only in tangential direction The pumping in axial (orward) direction occurs
only in the transer channel in the housing This orward pumping occurs by the one
dragging plate mechanism as in the single screw extruder The maximum efficiency
or orward pumping thereore is only 33 The overall pumping efficiency will be
somewhere between 33 and 100 i the power consumption in the disk and channel
block clearance is neglected
Studies on melting in the diskpack were reported by Valsamis et al [96] It was
ound that two types o melting mechanism could take place in the diskpack the
drag melt removal (DMR) mechanism and the dissipative melt mixing (DMM) mech-
anism The DMR melting mechanism is the predominant mechanism in single screw
extruders this is discussed in detail in Section 73 In the DMR melting mechanismthe solids and melt coexist as two largely continuous and separate phases In the
DMM melting mechanism the solids are dispersed in the melt there is no conti-
nuous solid bed It was ound that the DMM mechanism could be induced by pro-
moting back leakage o the polymer melt past the channel block This can be con-
trolled by varying the clearance between the channel block and the disks The
advantage o the DMM melting mechanism is that the melting rate can be substan-
tially higher than with the DMR mechanism reportedly by as much as a actor o 3
[96]
Among all elementary polymer processing unctions the solids conveying in a disk-
pack extruder has not been discussed to any extent in the open technical literature
Considering that the solids conveying mechanism is a rictional drag mechanism
(as in single screw extruders) and not a positive displacement type o transport (as
in intermeshing counterrotating twin screw extruders see Sections 102 and 104)
it can be expected that the diskpack will have solids conveying limitations similar
to those o single screw extruders see Section 722 This means that powders
blends o powders and pellets slippery materials etc are likely to encounter solids
conveying problems in a diskpack extruder unless special measures are taken toenhance the solids conveying capability (e g crammer eeder grooves in the disks
etc)
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983091983093
Because o the more complex machine geometry the cost per unit throughput o the
diskpack is higher than or the conventional single screw extruder Thereore the
diskpack does not compete directly with single screw extruders
Applications or the diskpack are specialty polymer processing operations such as
polymerization post-reactor processing (devolatilization) continuous compound-
ing etc As such the diskpack competes mostly with twin screw extruders Pres-
ently twin screw extruders are usually the first choice when it comes to specialty
polymer processing operations
983090983091983090The Elastic Melt Extruder
The elastic melt extruder was developed in the late 1950s by Maxwell and Scalora[40 41] The extruder makes use o the viscoelastic in particular the elastic pro-
perties o polymer melts When a viscoelastic fluid is exposed to a shearing deor-
mation normal stresses will develop in the fluid that are not equal in all directions
as opposed to a purely viscous fluid In the elastic melt extruder the polymer is
sheared between two plates one stationary and one rotating see Fig 219
Hopper
Heaters
Solid polymer
Die
Extrudate
Polymer melt
Rotor
Solid polymerHopper
Heaters
Die
Extrudate
Polymer melt
Rotor
Figure 983090983089983097
The elastic melt extruder
As the polymer is sheared normal stresses will generate a centripetal pumping
action Thus the polymer can be extruded through the central opening in the sta-
tionary plate in a continuous ashion Because normal stresses generate the pump-
ing action this machine is sometimes reerred to as a normal stress extruderThis extruder is quite interesting rom a rheological point o view since it is prob-
ably the only extruder that utilizes the elasticity o the melt or its conveying Thus
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983091983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
several detailed experimental and theoretical studies have been devoted to the elas-
tic melt extruder [42ndash47]
The detailed study by Fritz [44] concluded that transport by normal stresses only
could be as much as two orders o magnitude lower than a corresponding system
with orced eed In addition substantial temperature gradients developed in the
polymer causing substantial degradation in high molecular weight polyolefins The
scant market acceptance o the elastic melt extruder would tend to confirm Fritzrsquos
conclusions
Several modifications have been proposed to improve the perormance o the elastic
melt extruder Fritz [43] suggested incorporation o spiral grooves to improve the
pressure generating capability essentially combining the elastic melt extruder and
the spiral disk extruder into one machine In Russia [47] several modifications
were made to the design o the elastic melt extruder One o those combined a screwextruder with the elastic melt extruder to eliminate the eeding and plasticating
problem Despite all o these activities the elastic melt extruder has not been able to
acquire a position o importance in the extrusion industry
983090983091983091Overview of Disk Extruders
Many attempts have been made in the past to come up with a continuous plasticat-
ing extruder o simple design that could perorm better than the single screw ex-truder It seems air to say that at this point in time no disk extruder has been able
to meet this goal The simple disk extruders do not perorm nearly as well as the
single screw extruder The more complex disk extruder such as the diskpack can
possibly outperorm the single screw extruder However this is at the expense o
design simplicity thus increasing the cost o the machine Disk extruders there-
ore have not been able to seriously challenge the position o the single screw
extruder This is not to say however that it is not possible or this to happen some
time in the uture But considering the long dominance o the single screw extruder
it is not probable that a new disk extruder will come along that can challenge the
single screw extruder
983090983092Ram Extruders
Ram or plunger extruders are simple in design rugged and discontinuous in their
mode o operation Ram extruders are essentially positive displacement devices and
are able to generate very high pressures Because o the intermittent operation o
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983091983095
ram extruders they are ideally suited or cyclic processes such as injection molding
and blow molding In act the early molding machines were almost exclusively
equipped with ram extruders to supply the polymer melt to the mold Certain limita-
tions o the ram extruder have caused a switch to reciprocating screw extruders or
combinations o the two The two main limitations are
1 Limited melting capacity
2 Poor temperature uniormity o the polymer melt
Presently ram extruders are used in relatively small shot size molding machines
and certain specialty operations where use is made o the positive displacement
characteristics and the outstanding pressure generation capability There are basic-
ally two types o ram extruders single ram extruders and multi ram extruders
983090983092983089Single Ram Extruders
The single ram extruder is used in small general purpose molding machines but
also in some special polymer processing operations One such operation is the ex-
trusion o intractable polymers such as ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene
(UHMWPE) or polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) These polymers are not considered to
be melt processable on conventional melt processing equipment Teledynamik [48]
has built a ram injection-molding machine under a license rom Th Engel who
developed the prototype machine This machine is used to mold UHMWPE under
very high pressures The machine uses a reciprocating plunger that densifies the
cold incoming material with a pressure up to 300 MPa (about 44000 psi) The re-
quency o the ram can be adjusted continuously with a maximum o 250 strokes
minute The densified material is orced through heated channels into the heated
cylinder where final melting takes place The material is then injected into a mold
by a telescoping injection ram Pressures up to 100 MPa (about 14500 psi) occur
during the injection o the polymer into the mold
Another application is the extrusion o PTFE with again the primary ingredient orsuccessul extrusion being very high pressures Granular PTFE can be extruded at
slow rates in a ram extruder [49ndash51] The powder is compacted by the ram orced
into a die where the material is heated above the melting point and shaped into the
desired orm PTFE is ofen processed as a PTFE paste [52 53] This is small particle
size PTFE powder (about 02 mm) mixed with a processing aid such as naphta PTFE
paste can be extruded at room temperature or slightly above room temperature
Afer extrusion the processing aid is removed by heating the extrudate above its
volatilization temperature The extruded PTFE paste product may be sintered i the
application requires a more ully coalesced product
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983091983096 983090Different Types of Extruders
983090983092983089983089Solid State Extrusion
An extrusion technique that has slowly been gaining popularity is solid-state extru-
sion The polymer is orced through a die while it is below its melting point This
causes substantial deormation o the polymer in the die but since the polymer is in
the solid state a very effective molecular orientation takes place This orientation ismuch more effective than the one which occurs in conventional melt processing As
a result extraordinary mechanical properties can be obtained
Solid-state extrusion is a technique borrowed rom the metal industry where solid-
state extrusion has been used commercially since the late 1940s Bridgman [54]
was one o the first to do a systematic study on the effect o pressure on the mechan-
ical properties o metals He also studied polymers and ound that the glass tran-
sition temperature was raised by the application o pressure
There are two methods o solid-state extrusion one is direct solid-state extrusionthe other is hydrostatic extrusion In direct solid-state extrusion a pre-ormed solid
rod o material (a billet) is in direct contact with the plunger and the walls o the
extrusion die see Fig 220 The material is extruded as the ram is pushed towards
the die
Plunger
Billet
Barrel
DieExtrudate Figure 983090983090983088
Direct solid state extrusion
In hydrostatic extrusion the pressure required or extrusion is transmitted rom the
plunger to the billet through a lubricating liquid usually castor oil The billet must
be shaped to fit the die to prevent loss o fluid The hydrostatic fluid reduces the ric-
tion thereby reducing the extrusion pressure see Fig 221
In hydrostatic extrusion the pressure-generating device or the fluid does not neces-
sarily have to be in close proximity to the orming part o the machine The fluid canbe supplied to the extrusion device by high-pressure tubes
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983091983097
Plunger
Billet
Oil
Barrel
DieExtrudate Figure 983090983090983089
Hydrostatic solid state extrusion
Judging rom publications in the open literature most o the work on solid-state
extrusion o polymers is done at universities and research institutes It is possible
o course that some companies are working on solid-state extrusion but are keeping
the inormation proprietary A major research effort in solid-state extrusion has
been made at the University o Amherst Massachusetts [50ndash64] University o
Leeds England [65ndash72] Fyushu University Fukuoka Japan [73ndash76] Research
Institute or Polymers and Textiles Yokohama Japan [77ndash79] Battelle Columbus
Ohio [80ndash83] and Rutgers University New Brunswick New Jersey [84ndash86] As
mentioned earlier publications rom other sources are considerably less plentiul
[87ndash90] Efforts have also been made to achieve the same high degree o orientation
in a more or less conventional extrusion process by special die design and tempera-
ture control in the die region [91]
Table 25 shows a comparison o mechanical properties between steel aluminum
solid state extruded HDPE and HDPE extruded by conventional means
Table 25 clearly indicates that the mechanical properties o solid-state extruded
HDPE are much superior to the melt extruded HDPE In act the tensile strength o
solid-state extruded HDPE is about the same as carbon steel There are some other
interesting benefits associated with solidstate extrusion o polymers There is essen-
tially no die swell at high extrusion ratios (extrusion ratio is the ratio o the area in
the cylinder to the area in the die) Thus the dimensions o the extrudate closely
conorm to those o the die exit The surace o the extrudate produced by hydro-
static extrusion has a lower coefficient o riction than that o the un-oriented poly-
mer Above a certain extrusion ratio (about ten) polyethylene and polypropylene
become transparent Further solid-state extruded polymers maintain their ten-sile properties at elevated temperatures Polyethylene maintains its modulus up to
120degC when it is extruded in the solid state at a high extrusion ratio The thermal
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983092983088 983090Different Types of Extruders
conductivity in the extrusion direction is much higher than that o the un-oriented
polymer as much as 25 times higher The melting point o the solid-state extruded
polymer increases with the amount o orientation The melting point o HDPE can be
shifed to as high as 140degC
Table 25 Comparison of Mechanical Properties
Material Tensile modulus[MPa]
Tensile strength[MPa]
Elongation[]
Density[gcc]
Annealed SAE 1020 210000 410 35 786
W-200 degF SAE 1020 210000 720 6 786
Annealed 304 stainless
steel
200000 590 50 792
Aluminum 1100ndash0 70000 90 45 271
HDPE solid state
extruded
70000 480 3 097
HDPE melt extruded 10000 30 20ndash1000 096
A recent application o solid-state extrusion is the process developed by Synthetic
Hardwood Technologies Inc [107] This company has developed an expanded ori-
ented wood-filled polypropylene (EOW-PP) that is about 300 stronger than regular
PP The process is based on technology developed at Aluminum Company o Canada
Ltd (Alcan) in the early 1990s to solidstate extrude PP It involves ram extrusion
drawing o billets o PP just below the melting point with very high draw ratio and
high haul-off tension (about 3 MPa) to reeze-in the high level o orientation Alcan
did not pursue the technology and Symplastics Ltd licensed the patented process
this company started experimenting with adding small amounts o wood flour to the
PP However Symplastics ound the research and development too costly and sold
the patents and lab extrusion equipment to Frank Maine who set up SHW to com-
mercialize applications or the EOW-PP The key to the SHW process is that it com-
bines extrusion with drawing As the polymer is oriented the density drops about
50 rom about 1 g cc to 05 g cc The die drawing also allowed substantial in-creases in line speed rom about 0050 m min to about 9 m min The properties
achieved with EOW-PP are shown in Table 24 and compared to regular PP wood
and oriented PP
Solid-state extrusion has been practiced with coextrusion o different polymers [93]
Despite the large amount o research on solid-state extrusion and the outstanding
mechanical properties that can be obtained there does not seem to be much interest
in the polymer industry The main drawbacks o course are that solid-state extru-
sion is basically a discontinuous process it cannot be done on conventional polymer
processing equipment and very high pressures are required to achieve solid-stateextrusion Also one should keep in mind that very good mechanical properties can
be obtained by taking a profile (fiber film tube etc) produced by conventional con-
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983092983089
tinuous extrusion and exposing it to controlled deormation at a temperature below
the melting point This is a well-established technique in many extrusion operations
(fiber spinning film extrusion etc) and it can be done at a high rate This method
o producing extrudates with very good mechanical properties is likely to be more
cost-effective than solid-state extrusion It is possible that the die drawing processdeveloped by SHW can make solid-state extrusion more attractive commercially by
allowing large profiles to be processed at reasonable line speeds
Table 26 Mechanical Properties of PP Wood OPP and EOW-PP
Flexural strength [MPa] Flexural modulus [MPa]
Regular PP 50 1850
Wood 100 9000
Oriented PP 275 7600EOW-PP 140 7600
983090983092983090Multi Ram Extruder
As mentioned beore the main disadvantage o ram extruders is their intermittent
operation Several attempts have been made to overcome this problem by designing
multi-ram extruders that work together in such a way as to produce a continuousflow o material
Westover [94] designed a continuous ram extruder that combined our plunger-
cylinders Two plunger-cylinders were used or plasticating and two or pumping
An intricate shuttle valve connecting all the plunger cylinders provides continuous
extrusion
Another attempt to develop a continuous ram extruder was made by Yi and Fenner
[95] They designed a twin ram extruder with the cylinders in a V-configuration see
Fig 222The two rams discharge into a common barrel in which a plasticating shaf is rotat-
ing Thus solids conveying occurs in the two separate cylinders and plasticating
and melt conveying occurs in the annular region between the barrel and plasticat-
ing shaf The machine is able to extrude however the throughput uniormity is
poor The perormance could probably have been improved i the plasticating shaf
had been provided with a helical channel But o course then the machine would
have become a screw extruder with a ram-assisted eed This only goes to demon-
strate that it is ar rom easy to improve upon the simple screw extruder
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983092983090 983090Different Types of Extruders
Die Breaker plate
Plasticating shaft
Main
block
Feed cylinder
Figure 222 Twin ram extruder
983090983092983091 Appendix 983090983089
983090983092983091983089 Pumping Efficiency in Diskpack Extruder
The velocity profile between the moving walls is a parabolic unction when the fluid
is a Newtonian fluid see Section 621 and Fig 223
y
z H
Small pressure gradient
Medium pressure gradient
Large pressure gradient
Figure 983090983090983091
Velocity profiles between moving
walls
The velocity profile or a Newtonian fluid is
L8
PH
H
y41vv(y)
2
2
2
∆micro∆
minusminus= (1)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983092983091
where v is the velocity o the plates H the distance between the plates and μ the
viscosity o the fluid The flow rate can be ound by integrating v(y) over the width
and depth o the channel this yields
L12
PWHvWHV
3
∆micro∆minus=
bull
(2)
The first term on the right-hand side o the equalation is the drag flow term The
second term is the pressure flow term The ratio o pressure flow to drag flow is
termed the throttle ratio rd (see Section 7413)
r d =Lv12
PH2
∆micro
∆ (3)
The flow rate can now be written as
(4)
The shear stress at the wall is obtained rom
dv H∆Pτ = micro =dy
05H 2∆L
(5)
The power consumption in the channel is
Zch = PvHWLvW2 ∆=∆τ (6)
The energy efficiency or pressure generation is
V∆Pε = =1 minus r
d Zch
(7)
Equation 7 is not valid or rd = 0 because in this case both numerator and denomi-
nator become zero From Eq 7 it can be seen that when the machine is operated atlow rd values the pumping efficiency can become close to 100 This is considerably
better than the single screw extruder where the optimum pumping efficiency is 33
at a throttle ratio value o 033 (rd = 13)
References
1 J LeBras ldquoRubber Fundamentals o its Science and Technologyrdquo Chemical Publ Co
NY (1957)
2 W S Penn ldquoSynthetic Rubber Technology Volume Irdquo MacLaren amp Sons Ltd London(1960)
3 W J S Naunton ldquoThe Applied Science o Rubberrdquo Edward Arnold Ltd London (1961)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3437
983092983092 983090Different Types of Extruders
4 C M Blow ldquoRubber Technology and Manuacturerdquo Butterworth amp Co Ltd London
(1971)
5 F R Eirich (Ed) ldquoScience and Technology o Rubberrdquo Academic Press NY (1978)
6 C W Evans ldquoPowdered and Particulate Rubber Technologyrdquo Applied Science Publ Ltd
London (1978)
7 G Targiel et al 10 IKV-Kolloquium Aachen March 12ndash14 45 (1980)
8 A Kennaway Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 17 378ndash391 (1964)
9 G Menges and J P Lehnen Plastverarbeiter 20 1 31ndash39 (1969)
10 M Parshall and A J Saulino Rubber World 2 5 78ndash83 (1967)
11 S E Perlberg Rubber World 2 6 71ndash76 (1967)
12 H H Gohlisch Gummi Asbest Kunststoffe 25 9 834ndash835 (1972)
13 E Harms ldquoKautschuk-Extruder Aubau und Einsatz aus verahrenstechnischer Sichtrdquo
Krausskop-Verlag Mainz Bd 2 Buchreihe Kunststo983142echnik (1974)
14 G Schwarz Eur Rubber Journal Sept 28ndash32 (1977)
15 G Menges and E G Harms Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 25 10 469ndash475 (1972)
16 G Menges and E G Harms Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 27 5 187ndash193 (1974)
17 E G Harms Elastomerics 109 6 33ndash39 (1977)
18 E G Harms Eur Rubber Journal 6 23 (1978)
19 E G Harms Kunststoffe 69 1 32ndash33 (1979)
20 E G Harms Dissertation RWTH Aachen Germany (1981)21 S H Collins Plastics Compounding Nov Dec 29 (1982)
22 D Anders Kunststoffe 69 194ndash198 (1979)
23 D Gras and K Eise SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 21 386 (1975)
24 R F Westover SPE Journal 18 12 1473 (1962)
25 Lord Raleigh Philosophical Magazine 35 1ndash12 (1918)
26 German Patent DRP 1129681
27 British Patent BP 759354
28 U S Patent 3880564
29 U S Patent 4012477
30 J F Ingen Housz Plastverarbeiter 10 1 (1975)
31 U S Patent 4142805
32 U S Patent 4194841
33 U S Patent 4213709
34 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 25 193 (1979)
35 P Hold Z Tadmor and L Valsamis SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 25 205 (1979)
36 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis Plastics Engineering Nov 20ndash25 (1979)
37 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis Plastics Engineering Dec 30ndash38 (1979)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3537
References 983092983093
38 Z Tadmor et al The Diskpack Plastics Processor Farrel Publication Jan (1982)
39 L Valsamis AIChE Meeting Washington D C Oct (1983)
40 B Maxwell and A J Scalora Modern Plastics 37 107 Oct (1959)
41 U S Patent 3 046603
42 L L Blyler PhD thesis Princeton University NJ (1966)
43 H G Fritz Kunststo983142echnik 6 430 (1968)
44 H G Fritz PhD thesis Stuttgart University Germany (1971)
45 C W Macosko and J M Starita SPE Journal 27 30 (1971)
46 P A Good A J Schwartz and C W Macosko AIChE Journal 20 1 67 (1974)
47 V L Kocherov Y L Lukach E A Sporyagin and G V Vinogradov Polym Eng Sci 13
194 (1973)
48 J Berzen and G Braun Kunststoffe 69 2 62ndash66 (1979)49 R S Porter et al J Polym Sci 17 485ndash488 (1979)
50 C A Sperati Modern Plastics Encyclopedia McGraw-Hill NY (1983)
51 S S Schwartz and S H Goodman see Chapter 1 [36]
52 G R Snelling and J F Lontz J Appl Polym Sci 3 9 257ndash265 (1960)
53 D C F Couzens Plastics and Rubber Processing March 45ndash48 (1976)
54 P W Bridgman ldquoStudies in Large Plastic Flow and Fracturerdquo McGraw-Hill NY (1952)
55 H L D Push ldquoThe Mechanical Behavior o Materials Under Pressurerdquo Elsevier Amster-
dam (1970)56 H L D Push and A H Low J Inst Metals 93 201 (196565)
57 F Slack Mach Design Oct 7 61ndash64 (1982)
58 J H Southern and R S Porter J Appl Polym Sci 14 2305 (1970)
59 J H Southern and R S Porter J Macromol Sci Phys 3ndash4 541 (1970)
60 J H Southern N E Weeks and R S Porter Macromol Chem 162 19 (1972)
61 N J Capiati and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 13 1177 (1975)
62 R S Porter J H Southern and N E Weeks Polym Eng Sci 15 213 (1975)
63 A E Zachariades E S Sherman and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 17 255
(1979)
64 A E Zachariades and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 17 277 (1979)
65 B Parsons D Bretherton and B N Cole in Advances in MTDR 11th Int Con Proc
S A Tobias and F Koeningsberger (Eds) Pergamon Press London Vol B 1049 (1971)
66 G Capaccio and I M Ward Polymer 15 233 (1974)
67 A G Gibson I M Ward B N Cole and B Parsons J Mater Sci 9 1193ndash1196 (1974)
68 A G Gibson and I M Ward J Appl Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 16 2015ndash2030 (1978)
69 P S Hope and B Parsons Polym Eng Sci 20 589ndash600 (1980)
70 P S Hope I M Ward and A G Gibson J Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 18 1242ndash1256
(1980)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3637
983092983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
71 P S Hope A G Gibson B Parsons and I M Ward Polym Eng Sci 20 54ndash55 (1980)
72 B Parsons and I M Ward Plast Rubber Proc Appl 2 3 215ndash224 (1982)
73 K Imada T Yamamoto K Shigematsu and M Takayanagi J Mater Sci 6 537ndash546
(1971)
74 K Nakamura K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 2 71 (1972)
75 K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 2 89 (1973)
76 K Nakamura K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 3 23 (1974)
77 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Mater Sci 10 1105 (1975)
78 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Mater Sci 12 1477 (1977)
79 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Appl Polym Sci 23 2543ndash2554 (1979)
80 D M Bigg Polym Eng Sci 16 725 (1976)
81 D M Bigg M M Epstein R J Fiorentino and E G Smith Polym Eng Sci 18 908(1978)
82 D M Bigg and M M Epstein ldquoScience and Technology o Polymer Processingrdquo N S Suh
and N Sung (Eds) 897 MIT Press (1979)
83 D M Bigg M M Epstein R J Fiorentino and E G Smith J Appl Polym Sci 26 395ndash
409 (1981)
84 K D Pae and D R Mears J Polym Sci B-6 269 (1968)
85 K D Pae D R Mears and J A Sauer J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 6 773 (1968)
86 D R Mears K P Pae and J A Sauer J Appl Phys 40 11 4229ndash4237 (1969)
87 L A Davis and C A Pampillo J Appl Phys 42 12 4659ndash4666 (1971)
88 A Buckley and H A Long Polym Eng Sci 9 2 115ndash120 (1969)
89 L A Davis Polym Eng Sci 14 9 641ndash645 (1974)
90 R K Okine and N P Suh Polym Eng Sci 22 5 269ndash279 (1982)
91 J R Collier T Y T Tam J Newcome and N Dinos Polym Eng Sci 16 204ndash211 (1976)
92 J H Faupel and F E Fisher ldquoEngineering Designrdquo Wiley NY (1981)
93 A E Zachariades R Ball and R S Porter J Mater Sci 13 2671ndash2675 (1978)
94 R R Westover Modern Plastics March (1963) 95 B Yi and R T Fenner Plastics and Polymers Dec 224ndash228 (1975)
96 A Mekkaoui and L N Valsamis Polym Eng Sci 24 1260ndash1269 (1984)
97 H Rust Kunststoffe 73 342ndash346 (1983)
98 J Huszman Kunststoffe 73 3437ndash348 (1983)
99 J M McKelvey U Maire and F Haupt Chem Eng Sept 27 94ndash102 (1976)
100 K Schneider Kunststoffe 68 201ndash206 (1978)
101 W T Rice Plastic Technology 87ndash91 Feb (1980)
102 Harrel Corp ldquoMelt Pump Systems or Extrudersrdquo Product Description TDS-264 (1982)
103 J M McKelvey and W T Rice Chem Eng 90 2 89ndash94 (1983)
104 K Kaper K Eise and H Herrmann SPE ANTEC Chicago 161ndash163 (1983)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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References 983092983095
105 C L Woodworth SPE ANTEC New Orleans 122ndash126 (1984)
106 W A Kramer SPE ANTEC Washington D C 23ndash29 (1985)
107 J Schut ldquoDie Drawing Makes Plastic Steelrdquo Plastics Technology Online Article March
5 (2001)
108 VDI Conerence Extrusiontechnik 2006 ldquoDer Einschnecken-Extruder von Morgenrdquo VDI
Verlag GmbH Duumlsseldor (2006)
109 P Rieg ldquoLatest Developments in High-Speed Extrusionrdquo Plastic Extrusion Asia Con-
erence Bangkok Thailand March 17ndash18 (2008) also presented at Advances in Ex-
trusion Conerence New Orleans December 9ndash10 (2008)
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983090983092 983090Different Types of Extruders
Table 23 shows a comparison o the high-speed 75-mm extruder to a conventional
180-mm extruder running at the same throughput The amount o material con-
sumed in the change-over is 150 kg or the 75-mm extruder and 1300 kg or the
180-mm extruder I we assume a resin cost o $100 per kg the savings are
$115000 per change-over I we have three change-overs per week the yearly sav-ings in reduced resin usage comes to $172500 per year Clearly this is not an insig-
nificant amount
Table 23 Comparison of Change-Over Time and Material Consumption
75-mm extruder 180-mm extruder
Volume in the extruder [liter] 4 40
Material consumption for change-over [kg] 150 1300
Change-over time [min] 5 40
983090983089983092983093 Change-over Time and Residence Time
Table 23 also shows that the change-over time or the 75-mm extruder is approx
5 minutes while it is approx 40 minutes in the 180-mm extruder Clearly the
reduced change-over time results rom the act that the volume occupied by the plas-
tic is much smaller (4 liter) in the 75-mm extruder than in the 180-mm extruder
(40 liter) I the change-over time can be reduced rom 40 to 5 minutes this means
that 35 minutes are now available to run production resulting in greater up-time othe extrusion line
The small volume o the HS-SSE also results in short residence times The mean
residence time ranges rom approx 5 to 10 seconds In conventional SSE the resi-
dence times are substantially longer typically between 50 to 100 seconds Since
HS-SSE can run at relatively low melt temperatures the chance o degradation is
actually less in these extruders There is ample evidence in actual high-speed ex-
trusion operations that the plastic is less susceptible to degradation in these opera-
tions
983090983090The Multiscrew Extruder
221The Twin Screw Extruder
A twin screw extruder is a machine with two Archimedean screws Admittedly this
is a very general definition However as soon as the definition is made more spe-
cific it is limited to a specific class o twin screw extruders There is a tremendous
variety o twin screw extruders with vast differences in design principle o opera-
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 1537
983090983090 The Multiscrew Extruder 983090983093
tion and field o application It is thereore difficult to make general comments
about twin screw extruders The differences between the various twin screw extrud-
ers are much larger than the differences between single screw extruders This is to
be expected since the twin screw construction substantially increases the number
o design variables such as direction o rotation degree o intermeshing etc A clas-sification o twin screw extruders is shown in Table 24 This classification is pri-
marily based on the geometrical configuration o the twin screw extruder Some
twin screw extruders unction in much the same ashion as single screw extruders
Other twin screw extruders operate quite differently rom single screw extruders
and are used in very different applications The design o the various twin screw
extruders with their operational and unctional aspects will be covered in more
detail in Chapter 10
Table 24 Classification of Twin Screw Extruders
Intermeshing extruders
Co-rotating extrudersLow speed extruders for profile extrusion
High speed extruders for compounding
Counter-rotating extruders
Conical extruders for profile extrusion
Parallel extruders for profile extrusion
High speed extruders for compounding
Non-intermeshing
extruders
Counter-rotating extrudersEqual screw length
Unequal screw length
Co-rotating extruders Not used in practice
Co-axial extruders
Inner melt transport forward
Inner melt transport rearward
Inner solids transport rearward
Inner plasticating with rearward transport
983090983090983090The Multiscrew Extruder With More Than Two Screws
There are several types o extruders which incorporate more than two screws One
relatively well-known example is the planetary roller extruder see Fig 211
Planetary screws
Sun (main) screw Melting and feed section
Discharge
Figure 211 The planetary roller extruder
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
This extruder looks similar to a single screw extruder The eed section is in act
the same as on a standard single screw extruder However the mixing section o the
extruder looks considerably different In the planetary roller section o the extruder
six or more planetary screws evenly spaced revolve around the circumerence o
the main screw In the planetary screw section the main screw is reerred to as thesun screw The planetary screws intermesh with the sun screw and the barrel The
planetary barrel section thereore must have helical grooves corresponding to the
helical flights on the planetary screws This planetary barrel section is generally a
separate barrel section with a flange-type connection to the eed barrel section
In the first part o the machine beore the planetary screws the material moves
orward as in a regular single screw extruder As the material reaches the planetary
section being largely plasticated at this point it is exposed to intensive mixing by
the rolling action between the planetary screws the sun screw and the barrel Thehelical design o the barrel sun screw and planetary screws result in a large sur-
ace area relative to the barrel length The small clearance between the planetary
screws and the mating suraces about frac14 mm allows thin layers o compound to be
exposed to large surace areas resulting in effective devolatilization heat exchange
and temperature control Thus heat-sensitive compounds can be processed with a
minimum o degradation For this reason the planetary gear extruder is requently
used or extrusion compounding o PVC ormulations both rigid and plasticized
[21 22] Planetary roller sections are also used as add-ons to regular extruders to
improve mixing perormance [97 98] Another multiscrew extruder is the our-screw extruder shown in Fig 212
Figure 983090983089983090
Four-screw extruder
This machine is used primarily or devolatilization o solvents rom 40 to as low as
03 [23] Flash devolatilization occurs in a flash dome attached to the barrel The
polymer solution is delivered under pressure and at temperatures above the boiling
point o the solvent The solution is then expanded through a nozzle into the flash
dome The oamy material resulting rom the flash devolatilization is then trans-
ported away by the our screws In many cases downstream vent sections will beincorporated to urther reduce the solvent level
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983090 The Multiscrew Extruder 983090983095
983090983090983091The Gear Pump Extruder
Gear pumps are used in some extrusion operations at the end o a plasticating
extruder either single screw or twin screw [99ndash106] Strictly speaking the gear
pump is a closely intermeshing counterrotating twin screw extruder However sincegear pumps are solely used to generate pressure they are generally not reerred to
as an extruder although the gear pump is an extruder One o the main advantages
o the gear pump is its good pressure-generating capability and its ability to main-
tain a relatively constant outlet pressure even i the inlet pressure fluctuates con-
siderably Some fluctuation in the outlet pressure will result rom the intermeshing
o the gear teeth This fluctuation can be reduced by a helical orientation o the gear
teeth instead o an axial orientation
Gear pumps are sometimes reerred to as positive displacement devices This is notcompletely correct because there must be mechanical clearances between the gears
and the housing which causes leakage Thereore the gear pump output is depend-
ent on pressure although the pressure sensitivity will generally be less than that o
a single screw extruder The actual pressure sensitivity will be determined by the
design clearances the polymer melt viscosity and the rotational speed o the gears
A good method to obtain constant throughput is to maintain a constant pressure di-
erential across the pump This can be done by a relatively simple pressure eedback
control on the extruder eeding into the gear pump [102] The non-zero clearances
in the gear pump will cause a transormation o mechanical energy into heat by vis-cous heat generation see Section 534 Thus the energy efficiency o actual gear
pumps is considerably below 100 the pumping efficiency generally ranges rom
15 to 35 The other 65 to 85 goes into mechanical losses and viscous heat gene-
ration Mechanical losses usually range rom about 20 to 40 and viscous heating
rom about 40 to 50 As a result the polymer melt going through the gear pump
will experience a considerable temperature rise typically 5 to 10degC However in
some cases the temperature rise can be as much as 20 to 30degC Since the gear
pump has limited energy efficiency the combination extruder-gear pump is not nec-
essarily more energy-efficient than the extruder without the gear pump Only i the
extruder eeding into the gear pump is very inefficient in its pressure development
will the addition o a gear pump allow a reduction in energy consumption This
could be the case with co-rotating twin screw extruders or single screw extruders
with inefficient screw design
The mixing capacity o gear pumps is very limited This was clearly demonstrated
by Kramer [106] by comparing melt temperature fluctuation beore and afer the
gear pump which showed no distinguishable improvement in melt temperature uni-
ormity Gear pumps are ofen added to extruders with unacceptable output fluc-tuations In many cases this constitutes treating the symptoms but not curing the
actual problem Most single screw extruders i properly designed can maintain
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983096 983090Different Types of Extruders
their output to within plusmn 1 I the output fluctuation is considerably larger than 1
there is probably something wrong with the machine very ofen incorrect screw
design In these cases solving the actual problem will generally be more efficient
than adding a gear pump For an efficient extruder-gear pump system the extruder
screw has to be modified to reduce the pressure-generating capacity o the screw
Gear pumps can be used advantageously
1 On extruders with poor pressure-generating capability (e g co-rotating twin
screws multi-stage vented extruders etc)
2 When output stability is required better than 1 i e in close tolerance extru-
sion (e g fiber spinning cable extrusion medical tubing coextrusion etc)
Gear pumps can cause problems when
1 The polymer contains abrasive components because o the small clearances thegear pump is very susceptible to wear
2 When the polymer is susceptible to degradation gear pumps are not sel-clean-
ing and combined with the exposure to high temperatures this will result in
degraded product
983090983091Disk Extruders
There are a number o extruders which do not utilize an Archimedean screw or
transport o the material but still all in the class o continuous extruders Some-
times these machines are reerred to as screwless extruders These machines
employ some kind o disk or drum to extrude the material One can classiy the disk
extruders according to their conveying mechanism (see Table 21) Most o the disk
extruders are based on viscous drag transport One special disk extruder utilizes
the elasticity o polymer melts to convey the material and to develop the necessary
diehead pressure
Disk extruders have been around or a long time at least since 1950 However at
this point in time the industrial significance o disk extruders is still relatively small
compared to screw extruders
983090983091983089Viscous Drag Disk Extruders
983090983091983089983089Stepped Disk Extruder
One o the first disk extruders was developed by Westover at Bell Telephone Labo-
ratories it is ofen reerred to as a stepped disk extruder or slider pad extruder [24]
A schematic picture o the extruder is shown in Fig 213
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 1937
983090983091 Disk Extruders 983090983097
In
Out
Figure 983090983089983091
The stepped disk
The heart o the machine is the stepped disk positioned a small distance rom a flat
disk When one o the disks is rotated with a polymer melt in the axial gap a pres-
sure build-up will occur at the transition o one gap size to another smaller gap sizesee Fig 214
v
Distance
P r e s s u r e
Figure 983090983089983092
Pressure generation in the step region
I exit channels are incorporated into the stepped disk the polymer can be extruded
in a continuous ashion The design o this extruder is based on Rayleighrsquos [25]
analysis o hydrodynamic lubrication in various geometries He concluded that the
parallel stepped pad was capable o supporting the greatest load The stepped disk
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983091983088 983090Different Types of Extruders
extruder has also been designed in a different configuration using a gradual change
in gap size This extruder has a wedge-shaped disk with a gradual increase in pres-
sure with radial distance
A practical disadvantage o the stepped disk extruder is the act that the machine is
difficult to clean because o the intricate design o the flow channels in the stepped
disk
983090983091983089983090Drum Extruder
Another rather old concept is the drum extruder A schematic picture o a machine
manuactured by Schmid amp Kocher in Switzerland is shown in Fig 215
In
OutOutIn
Figure 983090983089983093 The drum extruder by Schmid amp Kocher
Material is ed by a eed hopper into an annular space between rotor and barrel By
the rotational motion o the rotor the material is carried along the circumerence o
the barrel Just beore the material reaches the eed hopper it encounters a wiper
bar This wiper bar scrapes the polymer rom the rotor and deflects the polymer flow
into a channel that leads to the extruder die Several patents [26 27] were issued on
this design however these patents have long since expired
A very similar extruder (see Fig 216) was developed by Askco Engineering andCosden Oil amp Chemical in a joint venture later this became Permian Research Two
patents have been issued on this design [28 29] even though the concept is very
similar to the Schmid amp Kocher design
One special eature o this design is the capability to adjust the local gap by means
o a choker bar similar to the gap adjustment in a flat sheet die see Section 92 The
choker bar in this drum extruder is activated by adjustable hydraulic oil pressure
Drum extruders have not been able to be a serious competition to the single screw
extruder over the last 50 years
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983091983089
Hopper
DieRotor
Housing
Wiper bar
Hopper
Wiper bar
DieRotor
Housing
Figure 983090983089983094
The drum extruder by AskoCosden
983090983091983089983091Spiral Disk Extruder
The spiral disk extruder is another type o disk extruder that has been known or
many years Several patented designs were described by Schenkel (Chapter 1 [3])
Similar to the stepped disk extruder the development o the spiral disk extruder
is closely connected to spiral groove bearings It has long been known that spiral
groove bearings are capable o supporting substantial loads Ingen Housz [30] has
analyzed the melt conveying in a spiral disk extruder with logarithmic grooves in
the disk based on Newtonian flow behavior o the polymer melt In terms o melt
conveying capability the spiral disk extruder seems comparable to the screw ex-truder however the solids conveying capability is questionable
983090983091983089983092Diskpack Extruder
Another development in disk extruders is the diskpack extruder Tadmor originated
the idea o the diskpack machine which is covered under several patents [31ndash33]
The development o the machine was undertaken by the Farrel Machinery Group o
Emgart Corporation in cooperation with Tadmor [34ndash39] The basic concept o the
machine is shown in Fig 217Material drops in the axial gap between relatively thin disks mounted on a rotating
shaf The material will move with the disks almost a ull turn then it meets a chan-
nel block The channel block closes off the space between the disks and deflects the
polymer flow to either an outlet channel or to a transer channel in the barrel The
shape o the disks can be optimized or specific unctions solids conveying melting
devolatilization melt conveying and mixing A detailed unctional analysis can be
ound in Tadmorrsquos book on polymer processing (Chapter 1 [32])
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983091983090 983090Different Types of Extruders
v
v
Channel blockInlet
Outlet
Barrel
Solid bed
Shaft
Melt pool
Inlet Channel block
Outlet
Melt pool
Solid bed
Barrel
Shaft
v
v Figure 983090983089983095
The diskpack extruder
It is claimed that this machine can perorm all basic polymer-processing operations
with efficiency equaling or surpassing existing machinery Clearly i the claim is
true and can be delivered or a competitive price the diskpack extruder will become
an important machine in the extrusion industry The first diskpack machines were
delivered to the industry in 1982 still under a joint development type o agreement
Now almost 20 years afer the first diskpack machines were delivered it is clear
that the acceptance o these machines in the industry has been very limited In act
Farrel no longer actively markets the diskpack machine In most o the publications
the diskpack machine is reerred to as a polymer processor This term is probably
used to indicate that this machine can do more than just extruding although the
diskpack is o course an extruder
The diskpack machine incorporates some o the eatures o the drum extruder and
the single screw extruder One can think o the diskpack as a single screw extruder
using a screw with zero helix angle and very deep flights Forward axial transportcan only take place by transport channels in the barrel with the material orced into
those channels by a restrictor bar as with the drum extruder The use o restrictor
bars (channel block) and transer channels in the housing make it considerably
more complex than the barrel o a single screw extruder
One o the advantages o the diskpack is that mixing blocks and spreading dams can
be incorporated into the machine as shown in Fig 218(a)
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983091983091
v
v
Channel blockInlet
Outlet
Mixing block
Disk
Inlet Channel block
Outlet
Mixing blockDisk v
v Figure 983090983089983096(a)
Mixing blocks in the diskpack
Mixing blocks o various shapes can be positioned externally into the processing
chamber This is similar to the QSM extruder only that in the QSM extruder the
screw flight has to be interrupted to avoid contact This is not necessary in the disk-
pack because the flights have zero helix angles in other words they run perpen-
dicular to the rotor axis By the number o blocks the geometry o the block and the
clearance between block and disk one can tailor the mixing capability to the par-
ticular application The use o spreading dams allows the generation o a thin film
with a large surace area this results in effective devolatilization capability The
diskpack has inherently higher pressure-generating capability than the single
screw extruder does This is because the diskpack has two dragging suraces while
the single screw extruder has only one see Fig 218(b)
v
v=0
v
v
Conveying mechanismsingle screw extruder
Conveying mechanism
diskpack extruder Figure 983090983089983096(b)
Comparison of conveying mechanism in diskpackand single screw extruder
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983091983092 983090Different Types of Extruders
At the same net flow rate equal viscosity equal plate velocity and optimum plate
separation the theoretical maximum pressure gradient o the diskpack is eight
times higher than the single screw extruder [34] Thus high pressures can be gen-
erated over a short distance which allows a more compact machine design The
energy efficiency o the pressure generation is also better than in the single screwextruder the maximum pumping efficiency approaches 100 see derivation in
Appendix 21 For the single screw extruder the maximum pumping efficiency is
only 33 as discussed in Section 7413 The energy efficiency o pressure genera-
tion is the ratio o the theoretical energy requirement (flow rate times pressure rise)
to the actual energy requirement (wall velocity times shear stress integrated over
wall surace) It should be noted that the two dragging platesrsquo pumping mechanism
exists only in tangential direction The pumping in axial (orward) direction occurs
only in the transer channel in the housing This orward pumping occurs by the one
dragging plate mechanism as in the single screw extruder The maximum efficiency
or orward pumping thereore is only 33 The overall pumping efficiency will be
somewhere between 33 and 100 i the power consumption in the disk and channel
block clearance is neglected
Studies on melting in the diskpack were reported by Valsamis et al [96] It was
ound that two types o melting mechanism could take place in the diskpack the
drag melt removal (DMR) mechanism and the dissipative melt mixing (DMM) mech-
anism The DMR melting mechanism is the predominant mechanism in single screw
extruders this is discussed in detail in Section 73 In the DMR melting mechanismthe solids and melt coexist as two largely continuous and separate phases In the
DMM melting mechanism the solids are dispersed in the melt there is no conti-
nuous solid bed It was ound that the DMM mechanism could be induced by pro-
moting back leakage o the polymer melt past the channel block This can be con-
trolled by varying the clearance between the channel block and the disks The
advantage o the DMM melting mechanism is that the melting rate can be substan-
tially higher than with the DMR mechanism reportedly by as much as a actor o 3
[96]
Among all elementary polymer processing unctions the solids conveying in a disk-
pack extruder has not been discussed to any extent in the open technical literature
Considering that the solids conveying mechanism is a rictional drag mechanism
(as in single screw extruders) and not a positive displacement type o transport (as
in intermeshing counterrotating twin screw extruders see Sections 102 and 104)
it can be expected that the diskpack will have solids conveying limitations similar
to those o single screw extruders see Section 722 This means that powders
blends o powders and pellets slippery materials etc are likely to encounter solids
conveying problems in a diskpack extruder unless special measures are taken toenhance the solids conveying capability (e g crammer eeder grooves in the disks
etc)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983091983093
Because o the more complex machine geometry the cost per unit throughput o the
diskpack is higher than or the conventional single screw extruder Thereore the
diskpack does not compete directly with single screw extruders
Applications or the diskpack are specialty polymer processing operations such as
polymerization post-reactor processing (devolatilization) continuous compound-
ing etc As such the diskpack competes mostly with twin screw extruders Pres-
ently twin screw extruders are usually the first choice when it comes to specialty
polymer processing operations
983090983091983090The Elastic Melt Extruder
The elastic melt extruder was developed in the late 1950s by Maxwell and Scalora[40 41] The extruder makes use o the viscoelastic in particular the elastic pro-
perties o polymer melts When a viscoelastic fluid is exposed to a shearing deor-
mation normal stresses will develop in the fluid that are not equal in all directions
as opposed to a purely viscous fluid In the elastic melt extruder the polymer is
sheared between two plates one stationary and one rotating see Fig 219
Hopper
Heaters
Solid polymer
Die
Extrudate
Polymer melt
Rotor
Solid polymerHopper
Heaters
Die
Extrudate
Polymer melt
Rotor
Figure 983090983089983097
The elastic melt extruder
As the polymer is sheared normal stresses will generate a centripetal pumping
action Thus the polymer can be extruded through the central opening in the sta-
tionary plate in a continuous ashion Because normal stresses generate the pump-
ing action this machine is sometimes reerred to as a normal stress extruderThis extruder is quite interesting rom a rheological point o view since it is prob-
ably the only extruder that utilizes the elasticity o the melt or its conveying Thus
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983091983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
several detailed experimental and theoretical studies have been devoted to the elas-
tic melt extruder [42ndash47]
The detailed study by Fritz [44] concluded that transport by normal stresses only
could be as much as two orders o magnitude lower than a corresponding system
with orced eed In addition substantial temperature gradients developed in the
polymer causing substantial degradation in high molecular weight polyolefins The
scant market acceptance o the elastic melt extruder would tend to confirm Fritzrsquos
conclusions
Several modifications have been proposed to improve the perormance o the elastic
melt extruder Fritz [43] suggested incorporation o spiral grooves to improve the
pressure generating capability essentially combining the elastic melt extruder and
the spiral disk extruder into one machine In Russia [47] several modifications
were made to the design o the elastic melt extruder One o those combined a screwextruder with the elastic melt extruder to eliminate the eeding and plasticating
problem Despite all o these activities the elastic melt extruder has not been able to
acquire a position o importance in the extrusion industry
983090983091983091Overview of Disk Extruders
Many attempts have been made in the past to come up with a continuous plasticat-
ing extruder o simple design that could perorm better than the single screw ex-truder It seems air to say that at this point in time no disk extruder has been able
to meet this goal The simple disk extruders do not perorm nearly as well as the
single screw extruder The more complex disk extruder such as the diskpack can
possibly outperorm the single screw extruder However this is at the expense o
design simplicity thus increasing the cost o the machine Disk extruders there-
ore have not been able to seriously challenge the position o the single screw
extruder This is not to say however that it is not possible or this to happen some
time in the uture But considering the long dominance o the single screw extruder
it is not probable that a new disk extruder will come along that can challenge the
single screw extruder
983090983092Ram Extruders
Ram or plunger extruders are simple in design rugged and discontinuous in their
mode o operation Ram extruders are essentially positive displacement devices and
are able to generate very high pressures Because o the intermittent operation o
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983091983095
ram extruders they are ideally suited or cyclic processes such as injection molding
and blow molding In act the early molding machines were almost exclusively
equipped with ram extruders to supply the polymer melt to the mold Certain limita-
tions o the ram extruder have caused a switch to reciprocating screw extruders or
combinations o the two The two main limitations are
1 Limited melting capacity
2 Poor temperature uniormity o the polymer melt
Presently ram extruders are used in relatively small shot size molding machines
and certain specialty operations where use is made o the positive displacement
characteristics and the outstanding pressure generation capability There are basic-
ally two types o ram extruders single ram extruders and multi ram extruders
983090983092983089Single Ram Extruders
The single ram extruder is used in small general purpose molding machines but
also in some special polymer processing operations One such operation is the ex-
trusion o intractable polymers such as ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene
(UHMWPE) or polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) These polymers are not considered to
be melt processable on conventional melt processing equipment Teledynamik [48]
has built a ram injection-molding machine under a license rom Th Engel who
developed the prototype machine This machine is used to mold UHMWPE under
very high pressures The machine uses a reciprocating plunger that densifies the
cold incoming material with a pressure up to 300 MPa (about 44000 psi) The re-
quency o the ram can be adjusted continuously with a maximum o 250 strokes
minute The densified material is orced through heated channels into the heated
cylinder where final melting takes place The material is then injected into a mold
by a telescoping injection ram Pressures up to 100 MPa (about 14500 psi) occur
during the injection o the polymer into the mold
Another application is the extrusion o PTFE with again the primary ingredient orsuccessul extrusion being very high pressures Granular PTFE can be extruded at
slow rates in a ram extruder [49ndash51] The powder is compacted by the ram orced
into a die where the material is heated above the melting point and shaped into the
desired orm PTFE is ofen processed as a PTFE paste [52 53] This is small particle
size PTFE powder (about 02 mm) mixed with a processing aid such as naphta PTFE
paste can be extruded at room temperature or slightly above room temperature
Afer extrusion the processing aid is removed by heating the extrudate above its
volatilization temperature The extruded PTFE paste product may be sintered i the
application requires a more ully coalesced product
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983091983096 983090Different Types of Extruders
983090983092983089983089Solid State Extrusion
An extrusion technique that has slowly been gaining popularity is solid-state extru-
sion The polymer is orced through a die while it is below its melting point This
causes substantial deormation o the polymer in the die but since the polymer is in
the solid state a very effective molecular orientation takes place This orientation ismuch more effective than the one which occurs in conventional melt processing As
a result extraordinary mechanical properties can be obtained
Solid-state extrusion is a technique borrowed rom the metal industry where solid-
state extrusion has been used commercially since the late 1940s Bridgman [54]
was one o the first to do a systematic study on the effect o pressure on the mechan-
ical properties o metals He also studied polymers and ound that the glass tran-
sition temperature was raised by the application o pressure
There are two methods o solid-state extrusion one is direct solid-state extrusionthe other is hydrostatic extrusion In direct solid-state extrusion a pre-ormed solid
rod o material (a billet) is in direct contact with the plunger and the walls o the
extrusion die see Fig 220 The material is extruded as the ram is pushed towards
the die
Plunger
Billet
Barrel
DieExtrudate Figure 983090983090983088
Direct solid state extrusion
In hydrostatic extrusion the pressure required or extrusion is transmitted rom the
plunger to the billet through a lubricating liquid usually castor oil The billet must
be shaped to fit the die to prevent loss o fluid The hydrostatic fluid reduces the ric-
tion thereby reducing the extrusion pressure see Fig 221
In hydrostatic extrusion the pressure-generating device or the fluid does not neces-
sarily have to be in close proximity to the orming part o the machine The fluid canbe supplied to the extrusion device by high-pressure tubes
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983091983097
Plunger
Billet
Oil
Barrel
DieExtrudate Figure 983090983090983089
Hydrostatic solid state extrusion
Judging rom publications in the open literature most o the work on solid-state
extrusion o polymers is done at universities and research institutes It is possible
o course that some companies are working on solid-state extrusion but are keeping
the inormation proprietary A major research effort in solid-state extrusion has
been made at the University o Amherst Massachusetts [50ndash64] University o
Leeds England [65ndash72] Fyushu University Fukuoka Japan [73ndash76] Research
Institute or Polymers and Textiles Yokohama Japan [77ndash79] Battelle Columbus
Ohio [80ndash83] and Rutgers University New Brunswick New Jersey [84ndash86] As
mentioned earlier publications rom other sources are considerably less plentiul
[87ndash90] Efforts have also been made to achieve the same high degree o orientation
in a more or less conventional extrusion process by special die design and tempera-
ture control in the die region [91]
Table 25 shows a comparison o mechanical properties between steel aluminum
solid state extruded HDPE and HDPE extruded by conventional means
Table 25 clearly indicates that the mechanical properties o solid-state extruded
HDPE are much superior to the melt extruded HDPE In act the tensile strength o
solid-state extruded HDPE is about the same as carbon steel There are some other
interesting benefits associated with solidstate extrusion o polymers There is essen-
tially no die swell at high extrusion ratios (extrusion ratio is the ratio o the area in
the cylinder to the area in the die) Thus the dimensions o the extrudate closely
conorm to those o the die exit The surace o the extrudate produced by hydro-
static extrusion has a lower coefficient o riction than that o the un-oriented poly-
mer Above a certain extrusion ratio (about ten) polyethylene and polypropylene
become transparent Further solid-state extruded polymers maintain their ten-sile properties at elevated temperatures Polyethylene maintains its modulus up to
120degC when it is extruded in the solid state at a high extrusion ratio The thermal
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983092983088 983090Different Types of Extruders
conductivity in the extrusion direction is much higher than that o the un-oriented
polymer as much as 25 times higher The melting point o the solid-state extruded
polymer increases with the amount o orientation The melting point o HDPE can be
shifed to as high as 140degC
Table 25 Comparison of Mechanical Properties
Material Tensile modulus[MPa]
Tensile strength[MPa]
Elongation[]
Density[gcc]
Annealed SAE 1020 210000 410 35 786
W-200 degF SAE 1020 210000 720 6 786
Annealed 304 stainless
steel
200000 590 50 792
Aluminum 1100ndash0 70000 90 45 271
HDPE solid state
extruded
70000 480 3 097
HDPE melt extruded 10000 30 20ndash1000 096
A recent application o solid-state extrusion is the process developed by Synthetic
Hardwood Technologies Inc [107] This company has developed an expanded ori-
ented wood-filled polypropylene (EOW-PP) that is about 300 stronger than regular
PP The process is based on technology developed at Aluminum Company o Canada
Ltd (Alcan) in the early 1990s to solidstate extrude PP It involves ram extrusion
drawing o billets o PP just below the melting point with very high draw ratio and
high haul-off tension (about 3 MPa) to reeze-in the high level o orientation Alcan
did not pursue the technology and Symplastics Ltd licensed the patented process
this company started experimenting with adding small amounts o wood flour to the
PP However Symplastics ound the research and development too costly and sold
the patents and lab extrusion equipment to Frank Maine who set up SHW to com-
mercialize applications or the EOW-PP The key to the SHW process is that it com-
bines extrusion with drawing As the polymer is oriented the density drops about
50 rom about 1 g cc to 05 g cc The die drawing also allowed substantial in-creases in line speed rom about 0050 m min to about 9 m min The properties
achieved with EOW-PP are shown in Table 24 and compared to regular PP wood
and oriented PP
Solid-state extrusion has been practiced with coextrusion o different polymers [93]
Despite the large amount o research on solid-state extrusion and the outstanding
mechanical properties that can be obtained there does not seem to be much interest
in the polymer industry The main drawbacks o course are that solid-state extru-
sion is basically a discontinuous process it cannot be done on conventional polymer
processing equipment and very high pressures are required to achieve solid-stateextrusion Also one should keep in mind that very good mechanical properties can
be obtained by taking a profile (fiber film tube etc) produced by conventional con-
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983092983089
tinuous extrusion and exposing it to controlled deormation at a temperature below
the melting point This is a well-established technique in many extrusion operations
(fiber spinning film extrusion etc) and it can be done at a high rate This method
o producing extrudates with very good mechanical properties is likely to be more
cost-effective than solid-state extrusion It is possible that the die drawing processdeveloped by SHW can make solid-state extrusion more attractive commercially by
allowing large profiles to be processed at reasonable line speeds
Table 26 Mechanical Properties of PP Wood OPP and EOW-PP
Flexural strength [MPa] Flexural modulus [MPa]
Regular PP 50 1850
Wood 100 9000
Oriented PP 275 7600EOW-PP 140 7600
983090983092983090Multi Ram Extruder
As mentioned beore the main disadvantage o ram extruders is their intermittent
operation Several attempts have been made to overcome this problem by designing
multi-ram extruders that work together in such a way as to produce a continuousflow o material
Westover [94] designed a continuous ram extruder that combined our plunger-
cylinders Two plunger-cylinders were used or plasticating and two or pumping
An intricate shuttle valve connecting all the plunger cylinders provides continuous
extrusion
Another attempt to develop a continuous ram extruder was made by Yi and Fenner
[95] They designed a twin ram extruder with the cylinders in a V-configuration see
Fig 222The two rams discharge into a common barrel in which a plasticating shaf is rotat-
ing Thus solids conveying occurs in the two separate cylinders and plasticating
and melt conveying occurs in the annular region between the barrel and plasticat-
ing shaf The machine is able to extrude however the throughput uniormity is
poor The perormance could probably have been improved i the plasticating shaf
had been provided with a helical channel But o course then the machine would
have become a screw extruder with a ram-assisted eed This only goes to demon-
strate that it is ar rom easy to improve upon the simple screw extruder
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983092983090 983090Different Types of Extruders
Die Breaker plate
Plasticating shaft
Main
block
Feed cylinder
Figure 222 Twin ram extruder
983090983092983091 Appendix 983090983089
983090983092983091983089 Pumping Efficiency in Diskpack Extruder
The velocity profile between the moving walls is a parabolic unction when the fluid
is a Newtonian fluid see Section 621 and Fig 223
y
z H
Small pressure gradient
Medium pressure gradient
Large pressure gradient
Figure 983090983090983091
Velocity profiles between moving
walls
The velocity profile or a Newtonian fluid is
L8
PH
H
y41vv(y)
2
2
2
∆micro∆
minusminus= (1)
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983092983091
where v is the velocity o the plates H the distance between the plates and μ the
viscosity o the fluid The flow rate can be ound by integrating v(y) over the width
and depth o the channel this yields
L12
PWHvWHV
3
∆micro∆minus=
bull
(2)
The first term on the right-hand side o the equalation is the drag flow term The
second term is the pressure flow term The ratio o pressure flow to drag flow is
termed the throttle ratio rd (see Section 7413)
r d =Lv12
PH2
∆micro
∆ (3)
The flow rate can now be written as
(4)
The shear stress at the wall is obtained rom
dv H∆Pτ = micro =dy
05H 2∆L
(5)
The power consumption in the channel is
Zch = PvHWLvW2 ∆=∆τ (6)
The energy efficiency or pressure generation is
V∆Pε = =1 minus r
d Zch
(7)
Equation 7 is not valid or rd = 0 because in this case both numerator and denomi-
nator become zero From Eq 7 it can be seen that when the machine is operated atlow rd values the pumping efficiency can become close to 100 This is considerably
better than the single screw extruder where the optimum pumping efficiency is 33
at a throttle ratio value o 033 (rd = 13)
References
1 J LeBras ldquoRubber Fundamentals o its Science and Technologyrdquo Chemical Publ Co
NY (1957)
2 W S Penn ldquoSynthetic Rubber Technology Volume Irdquo MacLaren amp Sons Ltd London(1960)
3 W J S Naunton ldquoThe Applied Science o Rubberrdquo Edward Arnold Ltd London (1961)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3437
983092983092 983090Different Types of Extruders
4 C M Blow ldquoRubber Technology and Manuacturerdquo Butterworth amp Co Ltd London
(1971)
5 F R Eirich (Ed) ldquoScience and Technology o Rubberrdquo Academic Press NY (1978)
6 C W Evans ldquoPowdered and Particulate Rubber Technologyrdquo Applied Science Publ Ltd
London (1978)
7 G Targiel et al 10 IKV-Kolloquium Aachen March 12ndash14 45 (1980)
8 A Kennaway Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 17 378ndash391 (1964)
9 G Menges and J P Lehnen Plastverarbeiter 20 1 31ndash39 (1969)
10 M Parshall and A J Saulino Rubber World 2 5 78ndash83 (1967)
11 S E Perlberg Rubber World 2 6 71ndash76 (1967)
12 H H Gohlisch Gummi Asbest Kunststoffe 25 9 834ndash835 (1972)
13 E Harms ldquoKautschuk-Extruder Aubau und Einsatz aus verahrenstechnischer Sichtrdquo
Krausskop-Verlag Mainz Bd 2 Buchreihe Kunststo983142echnik (1974)
14 G Schwarz Eur Rubber Journal Sept 28ndash32 (1977)
15 G Menges and E G Harms Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 25 10 469ndash475 (1972)
16 G Menges and E G Harms Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 27 5 187ndash193 (1974)
17 E G Harms Elastomerics 109 6 33ndash39 (1977)
18 E G Harms Eur Rubber Journal 6 23 (1978)
19 E G Harms Kunststoffe 69 1 32ndash33 (1979)
20 E G Harms Dissertation RWTH Aachen Germany (1981)21 S H Collins Plastics Compounding Nov Dec 29 (1982)
22 D Anders Kunststoffe 69 194ndash198 (1979)
23 D Gras and K Eise SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 21 386 (1975)
24 R F Westover SPE Journal 18 12 1473 (1962)
25 Lord Raleigh Philosophical Magazine 35 1ndash12 (1918)
26 German Patent DRP 1129681
27 British Patent BP 759354
28 U S Patent 3880564
29 U S Patent 4012477
30 J F Ingen Housz Plastverarbeiter 10 1 (1975)
31 U S Patent 4142805
32 U S Patent 4194841
33 U S Patent 4213709
34 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 25 193 (1979)
35 P Hold Z Tadmor and L Valsamis SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 25 205 (1979)
36 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis Plastics Engineering Nov 20ndash25 (1979)
37 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis Plastics Engineering Dec 30ndash38 (1979)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3537
References 983092983093
38 Z Tadmor et al The Diskpack Plastics Processor Farrel Publication Jan (1982)
39 L Valsamis AIChE Meeting Washington D C Oct (1983)
40 B Maxwell and A J Scalora Modern Plastics 37 107 Oct (1959)
41 U S Patent 3 046603
42 L L Blyler PhD thesis Princeton University NJ (1966)
43 H G Fritz Kunststo983142echnik 6 430 (1968)
44 H G Fritz PhD thesis Stuttgart University Germany (1971)
45 C W Macosko and J M Starita SPE Journal 27 30 (1971)
46 P A Good A J Schwartz and C W Macosko AIChE Journal 20 1 67 (1974)
47 V L Kocherov Y L Lukach E A Sporyagin and G V Vinogradov Polym Eng Sci 13
194 (1973)
48 J Berzen and G Braun Kunststoffe 69 2 62ndash66 (1979)49 R S Porter et al J Polym Sci 17 485ndash488 (1979)
50 C A Sperati Modern Plastics Encyclopedia McGraw-Hill NY (1983)
51 S S Schwartz and S H Goodman see Chapter 1 [36]
52 G R Snelling and J F Lontz J Appl Polym Sci 3 9 257ndash265 (1960)
53 D C F Couzens Plastics and Rubber Processing March 45ndash48 (1976)
54 P W Bridgman ldquoStudies in Large Plastic Flow and Fracturerdquo McGraw-Hill NY (1952)
55 H L D Push ldquoThe Mechanical Behavior o Materials Under Pressurerdquo Elsevier Amster-
dam (1970)56 H L D Push and A H Low J Inst Metals 93 201 (196565)
57 F Slack Mach Design Oct 7 61ndash64 (1982)
58 J H Southern and R S Porter J Appl Polym Sci 14 2305 (1970)
59 J H Southern and R S Porter J Macromol Sci Phys 3ndash4 541 (1970)
60 J H Southern N E Weeks and R S Porter Macromol Chem 162 19 (1972)
61 N J Capiati and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 13 1177 (1975)
62 R S Porter J H Southern and N E Weeks Polym Eng Sci 15 213 (1975)
63 A E Zachariades E S Sherman and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 17 255
(1979)
64 A E Zachariades and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 17 277 (1979)
65 B Parsons D Bretherton and B N Cole in Advances in MTDR 11th Int Con Proc
S A Tobias and F Koeningsberger (Eds) Pergamon Press London Vol B 1049 (1971)
66 G Capaccio and I M Ward Polymer 15 233 (1974)
67 A G Gibson I M Ward B N Cole and B Parsons J Mater Sci 9 1193ndash1196 (1974)
68 A G Gibson and I M Ward J Appl Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 16 2015ndash2030 (1978)
69 P S Hope and B Parsons Polym Eng Sci 20 589ndash600 (1980)
70 P S Hope I M Ward and A G Gibson J Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 18 1242ndash1256
(1980)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3637
983092983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
71 P S Hope A G Gibson B Parsons and I M Ward Polym Eng Sci 20 54ndash55 (1980)
72 B Parsons and I M Ward Plast Rubber Proc Appl 2 3 215ndash224 (1982)
73 K Imada T Yamamoto K Shigematsu and M Takayanagi J Mater Sci 6 537ndash546
(1971)
74 K Nakamura K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 2 71 (1972)
75 K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 2 89 (1973)
76 K Nakamura K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 3 23 (1974)
77 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Mater Sci 10 1105 (1975)
78 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Mater Sci 12 1477 (1977)
79 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Appl Polym Sci 23 2543ndash2554 (1979)
80 D M Bigg Polym Eng Sci 16 725 (1976)
81 D M Bigg M M Epstein R J Fiorentino and E G Smith Polym Eng Sci 18 908(1978)
82 D M Bigg and M M Epstein ldquoScience and Technology o Polymer Processingrdquo N S Suh
and N Sung (Eds) 897 MIT Press (1979)
83 D M Bigg M M Epstein R J Fiorentino and E G Smith J Appl Polym Sci 26 395ndash
409 (1981)
84 K D Pae and D R Mears J Polym Sci B-6 269 (1968)
85 K D Pae D R Mears and J A Sauer J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 6 773 (1968)
86 D R Mears K P Pae and J A Sauer J Appl Phys 40 11 4229ndash4237 (1969)
87 L A Davis and C A Pampillo J Appl Phys 42 12 4659ndash4666 (1971)
88 A Buckley and H A Long Polym Eng Sci 9 2 115ndash120 (1969)
89 L A Davis Polym Eng Sci 14 9 641ndash645 (1974)
90 R K Okine and N P Suh Polym Eng Sci 22 5 269ndash279 (1982)
91 J R Collier T Y T Tam J Newcome and N Dinos Polym Eng Sci 16 204ndash211 (1976)
92 J H Faupel and F E Fisher ldquoEngineering Designrdquo Wiley NY (1981)
93 A E Zachariades R Ball and R S Porter J Mater Sci 13 2671ndash2675 (1978)
94 R R Westover Modern Plastics March (1963) 95 B Yi and R T Fenner Plastics and Polymers Dec 224ndash228 (1975)
96 A Mekkaoui and L N Valsamis Polym Eng Sci 24 1260ndash1269 (1984)
97 H Rust Kunststoffe 73 342ndash346 (1983)
98 J Huszman Kunststoffe 73 3437ndash348 (1983)
99 J M McKelvey U Maire and F Haupt Chem Eng Sept 27 94ndash102 (1976)
100 K Schneider Kunststoffe 68 201ndash206 (1978)
101 W T Rice Plastic Technology 87ndash91 Feb (1980)
102 Harrel Corp ldquoMelt Pump Systems or Extrudersrdquo Product Description TDS-264 (1982)
103 J M McKelvey and W T Rice Chem Eng 90 2 89ndash94 (1983)
104 K Kaper K Eise and H Herrmann SPE ANTEC Chicago 161ndash163 (1983)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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References 983092983095
105 C L Woodworth SPE ANTEC New Orleans 122ndash126 (1984)
106 W A Kramer SPE ANTEC Washington D C 23ndash29 (1985)
107 J Schut ldquoDie Drawing Makes Plastic Steelrdquo Plastics Technology Online Article March
5 (2001)
108 VDI Conerence Extrusiontechnik 2006 ldquoDer Einschnecken-Extruder von Morgenrdquo VDI
Verlag GmbH Duumlsseldor (2006)
109 P Rieg ldquoLatest Developments in High-Speed Extrusionrdquo Plastic Extrusion Asia Con-
erence Bangkok Thailand March 17ndash18 (2008) also presented at Advances in Ex-
trusion Conerence New Orleans December 9ndash10 (2008)
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983090983090 The Multiscrew Extruder 983090983093
tion and field o application It is thereore difficult to make general comments
about twin screw extruders The differences between the various twin screw extrud-
ers are much larger than the differences between single screw extruders This is to
be expected since the twin screw construction substantially increases the number
o design variables such as direction o rotation degree o intermeshing etc A clas-sification o twin screw extruders is shown in Table 24 This classification is pri-
marily based on the geometrical configuration o the twin screw extruder Some
twin screw extruders unction in much the same ashion as single screw extruders
Other twin screw extruders operate quite differently rom single screw extruders
and are used in very different applications The design o the various twin screw
extruders with their operational and unctional aspects will be covered in more
detail in Chapter 10
Table 24 Classification of Twin Screw Extruders
Intermeshing extruders
Co-rotating extrudersLow speed extruders for profile extrusion
High speed extruders for compounding
Counter-rotating extruders
Conical extruders for profile extrusion
Parallel extruders for profile extrusion
High speed extruders for compounding
Non-intermeshing
extruders
Counter-rotating extrudersEqual screw length
Unequal screw length
Co-rotating extruders Not used in practice
Co-axial extruders
Inner melt transport forward
Inner melt transport rearward
Inner solids transport rearward
Inner plasticating with rearward transport
983090983090983090The Multiscrew Extruder With More Than Two Screws
There are several types o extruders which incorporate more than two screws One
relatively well-known example is the planetary roller extruder see Fig 211
Planetary screws
Sun (main) screw Melting and feed section
Discharge
Figure 211 The planetary roller extruder
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983090983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
This extruder looks similar to a single screw extruder The eed section is in act
the same as on a standard single screw extruder However the mixing section o the
extruder looks considerably different In the planetary roller section o the extruder
six or more planetary screws evenly spaced revolve around the circumerence o
the main screw In the planetary screw section the main screw is reerred to as thesun screw The planetary screws intermesh with the sun screw and the barrel The
planetary barrel section thereore must have helical grooves corresponding to the
helical flights on the planetary screws This planetary barrel section is generally a
separate barrel section with a flange-type connection to the eed barrel section
In the first part o the machine beore the planetary screws the material moves
orward as in a regular single screw extruder As the material reaches the planetary
section being largely plasticated at this point it is exposed to intensive mixing by
the rolling action between the planetary screws the sun screw and the barrel Thehelical design o the barrel sun screw and planetary screws result in a large sur-
ace area relative to the barrel length The small clearance between the planetary
screws and the mating suraces about frac14 mm allows thin layers o compound to be
exposed to large surace areas resulting in effective devolatilization heat exchange
and temperature control Thus heat-sensitive compounds can be processed with a
minimum o degradation For this reason the planetary gear extruder is requently
used or extrusion compounding o PVC ormulations both rigid and plasticized
[21 22] Planetary roller sections are also used as add-ons to regular extruders to
improve mixing perormance [97 98] Another multiscrew extruder is the our-screw extruder shown in Fig 212
Figure 983090983089983090
Four-screw extruder
This machine is used primarily or devolatilization o solvents rom 40 to as low as
03 [23] Flash devolatilization occurs in a flash dome attached to the barrel The
polymer solution is delivered under pressure and at temperatures above the boiling
point o the solvent The solution is then expanded through a nozzle into the flash
dome The oamy material resulting rom the flash devolatilization is then trans-
ported away by the our screws In many cases downstream vent sections will beincorporated to urther reduce the solvent level
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983090983090 The Multiscrew Extruder 983090983095
983090983090983091The Gear Pump Extruder
Gear pumps are used in some extrusion operations at the end o a plasticating
extruder either single screw or twin screw [99ndash106] Strictly speaking the gear
pump is a closely intermeshing counterrotating twin screw extruder However sincegear pumps are solely used to generate pressure they are generally not reerred to
as an extruder although the gear pump is an extruder One o the main advantages
o the gear pump is its good pressure-generating capability and its ability to main-
tain a relatively constant outlet pressure even i the inlet pressure fluctuates con-
siderably Some fluctuation in the outlet pressure will result rom the intermeshing
o the gear teeth This fluctuation can be reduced by a helical orientation o the gear
teeth instead o an axial orientation
Gear pumps are sometimes reerred to as positive displacement devices This is notcompletely correct because there must be mechanical clearances between the gears
and the housing which causes leakage Thereore the gear pump output is depend-
ent on pressure although the pressure sensitivity will generally be less than that o
a single screw extruder The actual pressure sensitivity will be determined by the
design clearances the polymer melt viscosity and the rotational speed o the gears
A good method to obtain constant throughput is to maintain a constant pressure di-
erential across the pump This can be done by a relatively simple pressure eedback
control on the extruder eeding into the gear pump [102] The non-zero clearances
in the gear pump will cause a transormation o mechanical energy into heat by vis-cous heat generation see Section 534 Thus the energy efficiency o actual gear
pumps is considerably below 100 the pumping efficiency generally ranges rom
15 to 35 The other 65 to 85 goes into mechanical losses and viscous heat gene-
ration Mechanical losses usually range rom about 20 to 40 and viscous heating
rom about 40 to 50 As a result the polymer melt going through the gear pump
will experience a considerable temperature rise typically 5 to 10degC However in
some cases the temperature rise can be as much as 20 to 30degC Since the gear
pump has limited energy efficiency the combination extruder-gear pump is not nec-
essarily more energy-efficient than the extruder without the gear pump Only i the
extruder eeding into the gear pump is very inefficient in its pressure development
will the addition o a gear pump allow a reduction in energy consumption This
could be the case with co-rotating twin screw extruders or single screw extruders
with inefficient screw design
The mixing capacity o gear pumps is very limited This was clearly demonstrated
by Kramer [106] by comparing melt temperature fluctuation beore and afer the
gear pump which showed no distinguishable improvement in melt temperature uni-
ormity Gear pumps are ofen added to extruders with unacceptable output fluc-tuations In many cases this constitutes treating the symptoms but not curing the
actual problem Most single screw extruders i properly designed can maintain
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983090983096 983090Different Types of Extruders
their output to within plusmn 1 I the output fluctuation is considerably larger than 1
there is probably something wrong with the machine very ofen incorrect screw
design In these cases solving the actual problem will generally be more efficient
than adding a gear pump For an efficient extruder-gear pump system the extruder
screw has to be modified to reduce the pressure-generating capacity o the screw
Gear pumps can be used advantageously
1 On extruders with poor pressure-generating capability (e g co-rotating twin
screws multi-stage vented extruders etc)
2 When output stability is required better than 1 i e in close tolerance extru-
sion (e g fiber spinning cable extrusion medical tubing coextrusion etc)
Gear pumps can cause problems when
1 The polymer contains abrasive components because o the small clearances thegear pump is very susceptible to wear
2 When the polymer is susceptible to degradation gear pumps are not sel-clean-
ing and combined with the exposure to high temperatures this will result in
degraded product
983090983091Disk Extruders
There are a number o extruders which do not utilize an Archimedean screw or
transport o the material but still all in the class o continuous extruders Some-
times these machines are reerred to as screwless extruders These machines
employ some kind o disk or drum to extrude the material One can classiy the disk
extruders according to their conveying mechanism (see Table 21) Most o the disk
extruders are based on viscous drag transport One special disk extruder utilizes
the elasticity o polymer melts to convey the material and to develop the necessary
diehead pressure
Disk extruders have been around or a long time at least since 1950 However at
this point in time the industrial significance o disk extruders is still relatively small
compared to screw extruders
983090983091983089Viscous Drag Disk Extruders
983090983091983089983089Stepped Disk Extruder
One o the first disk extruders was developed by Westover at Bell Telephone Labo-
ratories it is ofen reerred to as a stepped disk extruder or slider pad extruder [24]
A schematic picture o the extruder is shown in Fig 213
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983090983097
In
Out
Figure 983090983089983091
The stepped disk
The heart o the machine is the stepped disk positioned a small distance rom a flat
disk When one o the disks is rotated with a polymer melt in the axial gap a pres-
sure build-up will occur at the transition o one gap size to another smaller gap sizesee Fig 214
v
Distance
P r e s s u r e
Figure 983090983089983092
Pressure generation in the step region
I exit channels are incorporated into the stepped disk the polymer can be extruded
in a continuous ashion The design o this extruder is based on Rayleighrsquos [25]
analysis o hydrodynamic lubrication in various geometries He concluded that the
parallel stepped pad was capable o supporting the greatest load The stepped disk
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983091983088 983090Different Types of Extruders
extruder has also been designed in a different configuration using a gradual change
in gap size This extruder has a wedge-shaped disk with a gradual increase in pres-
sure with radial distance
A practical disadvantage o the stepped disk extruder is the act that the machine is
difficult to clean because o the intricate design o the flow channels in the stepped
disk
983090983091983089983090Drum Extruder
Another rather old concept is the drum extruder A schematic picture o a machine
manuactured by Schmid amp Kocher in Switzerland is shown in Fig 215
In
OutOutIn
Figure 983090983089983093 The drum extruder by Schmid amp Kocher
Material is ed by a eed hopper into an annular space between rotor and barrel By
the rotational motion o the rotor the material is carried along the circumerence o
the barrel Just beore the material reaches the eed hopper it encounters a wiper
bar This wiper bar scrapes the polymer rom the rotor and deflects the polymer flow
into a channel that leads to the extruder die Several patents [26 27] were issued on
this design however these patents have long since expired
A very similar extruder (see Fig 216) was developed by Askco Engineering andCosden Oil amp Chemical in a joint venture later this became Permian Research Two
patents have been issued on this design [28 29] even though the concept is very
similar to the Schmid amp Kocher design
One special eature o this design is the capability to adjust the local gap by means
o a choker bar similar to the gap adjustment in a flat sheet die see Section 92 The
choker bar in this drum extruder is activated by adjustable hydraulic oil pressure
Drum extruders have not been able to be a serious competition to the single screw
extruder over the last 50 years
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983091983089
Hopper
DieRotor
Housing
Wiper bar
Hopper
Wiper bar
DieRotor
Housing
Figure 983090983089983094
The drum extruder by AskoCosden
983090983091983089983091Spiral Disk Extruder
The spiral disk extruder is another type o disk extruder that has been known or
many years Several patented designs were described by Schenkel (Chapter 1 [3])
Similar to the stepped disk extruder the development o the spiral disk extruder
is closely connected to spiral groove bearings It has long been known that spiral
groove bearings are capable o supporting substantial loads Ingen Housz [30] has
analyzed the melt conveying in a spiral disk extruder with logarithmic grooves in
the disk based on Newtonian flow behavior o the polymer melt In terms o melt
conveying capability the spiral disk extruder seems comparable to the screw ex-truder however the solids conveying capability is questionable
983090983091983089983092Diskpack Extruder
Another development in disk extruders is the diskpack extruder Tadmor originated
the idea o the diskpack machine which is covered under several patents [31ndash33]
The development o the machine was undertaken by the Farrel Machinery Group o
Emgart Corporation in cooperation with Tadmor [34ndash39] The basic concept o the
machine is shown in Fig 217Material drops in the axial gap between relatively thin disks mounted on a rotating
shaf The material will move with the disks almost a ull turn then it meets a chan-
nel block The channel block closes off the space between the disks and deflects the
polymer flow to either an outlet channel or to a transer channel in the barrel The
shape o the disks can be optimized or specific unctions solids conveying melting
devolatilization melt conveying and mixing A detailed unctional analysis can be
ound in Tadmorrsquos book on polymer processing (Chapter 1 [32])
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983091983090 983090Different Types of Extruders
v
v
Channel blockInlet
Outlet
Barrel
Solid bed
Shaft
Melt pool
Inlet Channel block
Outlet
Melt pool
Solid bed
Barrel
Shaft
v
v Figure 983090983089983095
The diskpack extruder
It is claimed that this machine can perorm all basic polymer-processing operations
with efficiency equaling or surpassing existing machinery Clearly i the claim is
true and can be delivered or a competitive price the diskpack extruder will become
an important machine in the extrusion industry The first diskpack machines were
delivered to the industry in 1982 still under a joint development type o agreement
Now almost 20 years afer the first diskpack machines were delivered it is clear
that the acceptance o these machines in the industry has been very limited In act
Farrel no longer actively markets the diskpack machine In most o the publications
the diskpack machine is reerred to as a polymer processor This term is probably
used to indicate that this machine can do more than just extruding although the
diskpack is o course an extruder
The diskpack machine incorporates some o the eatures o the drum extruder and
the single screw extruder One can think o the diskpack as a single screw extruder
using a screw with zero helix angle and very deep flights Forward axial transportcan only take place by transport channels in the barrel with the material orced into
those channels by a restrictor bar as with the drum extruder The use o restrictor
bars (channel block) and transer channels in the housing make it considerably
more complex than the barrel o a single screw extruder
One o the advantages o the diskpack is that mixing blocks and spreading dams can
be incorporated into the machine as shown in Fig 218(a)
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983091983091
v
v
Channel blockInlet
Outlet
Mixing block
Disk
Inlet Channel block
Outlet
Mixing blockDisk v
v Figure 983090983089983096(a)
Mixing blocks in the diskpack
Mixing blocks o various shapes can be positioned externally into the processing
chamber This is similar to the QSM extruder only that in the QSM extruder the
screw flight has to be interrupted to avoid contact This is not necessary in the disk-
pack because the flights have zero helix angles in other words they run perpen-
dicular to the rotor axis By the number o blocks the geometry o the block and the
clearance between block and disk one can tailor the mixing capability to the par-
ticular application The use o spreading dams allows the generation o a thin film
with a large surace area this results in effective devolatilization capability The
diskpack has inherently higher pressure-generating capability than the single
screw extruder does This is because the diskpack has two dragging suraces while
the single screw extruder has only one see Fig 218(b)
v
v=0
v
v
Conveying mechanismsingle screw extruder
Conveying mechanism
diskpack extruder Figure 983090983089983096(b)
Comparison of conveying mechanism in diskpackand single screw extruder
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983091983092 983090Different Types of Extruders
At the same net flow rate equal viscosity equal plate velocity and optimum plate
separation the theoretical maximum pressure gradient o the diskpack is eight
times higher than the single screw extruder [34] Thus high pressures can be gen-
erated over a short distance which allows a more compact machine design The
energy efficiency o the pressure generation is also better than in the single screwextruder the maximum pumping efficiency approaches 100 see derivation in
Appendix 21 For the single screw extruder the maximum pumping efficiency is
only 33 as discussed in Section 7413 The energy efficiency o pressure genera-
tion is the ratio o the theoretical energy requirement (flow rate times pressure rise)
to the actual energy requirement (wall velocity times shear stress integrated over
wall surace) It should be noted that the two dragging platesrsquo pumping mechanism
exists only in tangential direction The pumping in axial (orward) direction occurs
only in the transer channel in the housing This orward pumping occurs by the one
dragging plate mechanism as in the single screw extruder The maximum efficiency
or orward pumping thereore is only 33 The overall pumping efficiency will be
somewhere between 33 and 100 i the power consumption in the disk and channel
block clearance is neglected
Studies on melting in the diskpack were reported by Valsamis et al [96] It was
ound that two types o melting mechanism could take place in the diskpack the
drag melt removal (DMR) mechanism and the dissipative melt mixing (DMM) mech-
anism The DMR melting mechanism is the predominant mechanism in single screw
extruders this is discussed in detail in Section 73 In the DMR melting mechanismthe solids and melt coexist as two largely continuous and separate phases In the
DMM melting mechanism the solids are dispersed in the melt there is no conti-
nuous solid bed It was ound that the DMM mechanism could be induced by pro-
moting back leakage o the polymer melt past the channel block This can be con-
trolled by varying the clearance between the channel block and the disks The
advantage o the DMM melting mechanism is that the melting rate can be substan-
tially higher than with the DMR mechanism reportedly by as much as a actor o 3
[96]
Among all elementary polymer processing unctions the solids conveying in a disk-
pack extruder has not been discussed to any extent in the open technical literature
Considering that the solids conveying mechanism is a rictional drag mechanism
(as in single screw extruders) and not a positive displacement type o transport (as
in intermeshing counterrotating twin screw extruders see Sections 102 and 104)
it can be expected that the diskpack will have solids conveying limitations similar
to those o single screw extruders see Section 722 This means that powders
blends o powders and pellets slippery materials etc are likely to encounter solids
conveying problems in a diskpack extruder unless special measures are taken toenhance the solids conveying capability (e g crammer eeder grooves in the disks
etc)
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983091983093
Because o the more complex machine geometry the cost per unit throughput o the
diskpack is higher than or the conventional single screw extruder Thereore the
diskpack does not compete directly with single screw extruders
Applications or the diskpack are specialty polymer processing operations such as
polymerization post-reactor processing (devolatilization) continuous compound-
ing etc As such the diskpack competes mostly with twin screw extruders Pres-
ently twin screw extruders are usually the first choice when it comes to specialty
polymer processing operations
983090983091983090The Elastic Melt Extruder
The elastic melt extruder was developed in the late 1950s by Maxwell and Scalora[40 41] The extruder makes use o the viscoelastic in particular the elastic pro-
perties o polymer melts When a viscoelastic fluid is exposed to a shearing deor-
mation normal stresses will develop in the fluid that are not equal in all directions
as opposed to a purely viscous fluid In the elastic melt extruder the polymer is
sheared between two plates one stationary and one rotating see Fig 219
Hopper
Heaters
Solid polymer
Die
Extrudate
Polymer melt
Rotor
Solid polymerHopper
Heaters
Die
Extrudate
Polymer melt
Rotor
Figure 983090983089983097
The elastic melt extruder
As the polymer is sheared normal stresses will generate a centripetal pumping
action Thus the polymer can be extruded through the central opening in the sta-
tionary plate in a continuous ashion Because normal stresses generate the pump-
ing action this machine is sometimes reerred to as a normal stress extruderThis extruder is quite interesting rom a rheological point o view since it is prob-
ably the only extruder that utilizes the elasticity o the melt or its conveying Thus
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983091983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
several detailed experimental and theoretical studies have been devoted to the elas-
tic melt extruder [42ndash47]
The detailed study by Fritz [44] concluded that transport by normal stresses only
could be as much as two orders o magnitude lower than a corresponding system
with orced eed In addition substantial temperature gradients developed in the
polymer causing substantial degradation in high molecular weight polyolefins The
scant market acceptance o the elastic melt extruder would tend to confirm Fritzrsquos
conclusions
Several modifications have been proposed to improve the perormance o the elastic
melt extruder Fritz [43] suggested incorporation o spiral grooves to improve the
pressure generating capability essentially combining the elastic melt extruder and
the spiral disk extruder into one machine In Russia [47] several modifications
were made to the design o the elastic melt extruder One o those combined a screwextruder with the elastic melt extruder to eliminate the eeding and plasticating
problem Despite all o these activities the elastic melt extruder has not been able to
acquire a position o importance in the extrusion industry
983090983091983091Overview of Disk Extruders
Many attempts have been made in the past to come up with a continuous plasticat-
ing extruder o simple design that could perorm better than the single screw ex-truder It seems air to say that at this point in time no disk extruder has been able
to meet this goal The simple disk extruders do not perorm nearly as well as the
single screw extruder The more complex disk extruder such as the diskpack can
possibly outperorm the single screw extruder However this is at the expense o
design simplicity thus increasing the cost o the machine Disk extruders there-
ore have not been able to seriously challenge the position o the single screw
extruder This is not to say however that it is not possible or this to happen some
time in the uture But considering the long dominance o the single screw extruder
it is not probable that a new disk extruder will come along that can challenge the
single screw extruder
983090983092Ram Extruders
Ram or plunger extruders are simple in design rugged and discontinuous in their
mode o operation Ram extruders are essentially positive displacement devices and
are able to generate very high pressures Because o the intermittent operation o
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983091983095
ram extruders they are ideally suited or cyclic processes such as injection molding
and blow molding In act the early molding machines were almost exclusively
equipped with ram extruders to supply the polymer melt to the mold Certain limita-
tions o the ram extruder have caused a switch to reciprocating screw extruders or
combinations o the two The two main limitations are
1 Limited melting capacity
2 Poor temperature uniormity o the polymer melt
Presently ram extruders are used in relatively small shot size molding machines
and certain specialty operations where use is made o the positive displacement
characteristics and the outstanding pressure generation capability There are basic-
ally two types o ram extruders single ram extruders and multi ram extruders
983090983092983089Single Ram Extruders
The single ram extruder is used in small general purpose molding machines but
also in some special polymer processing operations One such operation is the ex-
trusion o intractable polymers such as ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene
(UHMWPE) or polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) These polymers are not considered to
be melt processable on conventional melt processing equipment Teledynamik [48]
has built a ram injection-molding machine under a license rom Th Engel who
developed the prototype machine This machine is used to mold UHMWPE under
very high pressures The machine uses a reciprocating plunger that densifies the
cold incoming material with a pressure up to 300 MPa (about 44000 psi) The re-
quency o the ram can be adjusted continuously with a maximum o 250 strokes
minute The densified material is orced through heated channels into the heated
cylinder where final melting takes place The material is then injected into a mold
by a telescoping injection ram Pressures up to 100 MPa (about 14500 psi) occur
during the injection o the polymer into the mold
Another application is the extrusion o PTFE with again the primary ingredient orsuccessul extrusion being very high pressures Granular PTFE can be extruded at
slow rates in a ram extruder [49ndash51] The powder is compacted by the ram orced
into a die where the material is heated above the melting point and shaped into the
desired orm PTFE is ofen processed as a PTFE paste [52 53] This is small particle
size PTFE powder (about 02 mm) mixed with a processing aid such as naphta PTFE
paste can be extruded at room temperature or slightly above room temperature
Afer extrusion the processing aid is removed by heating the extrudate above its
volatilization temperature The extruded PTFE paste product may be sintered i the
application requires a more ully coalesced product
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983091983096 983090Different Types of Extruders
983090983092983089983089Solid State Extrusion
An extrusion technique that has slowly been gaining popularity is solid-state extru-
sion The polymer is orced through a die while it is below its melting point This
causes substantial deormation o the polymer in the die but since the polymer is in
the solid state a very effective molecular orientation takes place This orientation ismuch more effective than the one which occurs in conventional melt processing As
a result extraordinary mechanical properties can be obtained
Solid-state extrusion is a technique borrowed rom the metal industry where solid-
state extrusion has been used commercially since the late 1940s Bridgman [54]
was one o the first to do a systematic study on the effect o pressure on the mechan-
ical properties o metals He also studied polymers and ound that the glass tran-
sition temperature was raised by the application o pressure
There are two methods o solid-state extrusion one is direct solid-state extrusionthe other is hydrostatic extrusion In direct solid-state extrusion a pre-ormed solid
rod o material (a billet) is in direct contact with the plunger and the walls o the
extrusion die see Fig 220 The material is extruded as the ram is pushed towards
the die
Plunger
Billet
Barrel
DieExtrudate Figure 983090983090983088
Direct solid state extrusion
In hydrostatic extrusion the pressure required or extrusion is transmitted rom the
plunger to the billet through a lubricating liquid usually castor oil The billet must
be shaped to fit the die to prevent loss o fluid The hydrostatic fluid reduces the ric-
tion thereby reducing the extrusion pressure see Fig 221
In hydrostatic extrusion the pressure-generating device or the fluid does not neces-
sarily have to be in close proximity to the orming part o the machine The fluid canbe supplied to the extrusion device by high-pressure tubes
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983091983097
Plunger
Billet
Oil
Barrel
DieExtrudate Figure 983090983090983089
Hydrostatic solid state extrusion
Judging rom publications in the open literature most o the work on solid-state
extrusion o polymers is done at universities and research institutes It is possible
o course that some companies are working on solid-state extrusion but are keeping
the inormation proprietary A major research effort in solid-state extrusion has
been made at the University o Amherst Massachusetts [50ndash64] University o
Leeds England [65ndash72] Fyushu University Fukuoka Japan [73ndash76] Research
Institute or Polymers and Textiles Yokohama Japan [77ndash79] Battelle Columbus
Ohio [80ndash83] and Rutgers University New Brunswick New Jersey [84ndash86] As
mentioned earlier publications rom other sources are considerably less plentiul
[87ndash90] Efforts have also been made to achieve the same high degree o orientation
in a more or less conventional extrusion process by special die design and tempera-
ture control in the die region [91]
Table 25 shows a comparison o mechanical properties between steel aluminum
solid state extruded HDPE and HDPE extruded by conventional means
Table 25 clearly indicates that the mechanical properties o solid-state extruded
HDPE are much superior to the melt extruded HDPE In act the tensile strength o
solid-state extruded HDPE is about the same as carbon steel There are some other
interesting benefits associated with solidstate extrusion o polymers There is essen-
tially no die swell at high extrusion ratios (extrusion ratio is the ratio o the area in
the cylinder to the area in the die) Thus the dimensions o the extrudate closely
conorm to those o the die exit The surace o the extrudate produced by hydro-
static extrusion has a lower coefficient o riction than that o the un-oriented poly-
mer Above a certain extrusion ratio (about ten) polyethylene and polypropylene
become transparent Further solid-state extruded polymers maintain their ten-sile properties at elevated temperatures Polyethylene maintains its modulus up to
120degC when it is extruded in the solid state at a high extrusion ratio The thermal
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983092983088 983090Different Types of Extruders
conductivity in the extrusion direction is much higher than that o the un-oriented
polymer as much as 25 times higher The melting point o the solid-state extruded
polymer increases with the amount o orientation The melting point o HDPE can be
shifed to as high as 140degC
Table 25 Comparison of Mechanical Properties
Material Tensile modulus[MPa]
Tensile strength[MPa]
Elongation[]
Density[gcc]
Annealed SAE 1020 210000 410 35 786
W-200 degF SAE 1020 210000 720 6 786
Annealed 304 stainless
steel
200000 590 50 792
Aluminum 1100ndash0 70000 90 45 271
HDPE solid state
extruded
70000 480 3 097
HDPE melt extruded 10000 30 20ndash1000 096
A recent application o solid-state extrusion is the process developed by Synthetic
Hardwood Technologies Inc [107] This company has developed an expanded ori-
ented wood-filled polypropylene (EOW-PP) that is about 300 stronger than regular
PP The process is based on technology developed at Aluminum Company o Canada
Ltd (Alcan) in the early 1990s to solidstate extrude PP It involves ram extrusion
drawing o billets o PP just below the melting point with very high draw ratio and
high haul-off tension (about 3 MPa) to reeze-in the high level o orientation Alcan
did not pursue the technology and Symplastics Ltd licensed the patented process
this company started experimenting with adding small amounts o wood flour to the
PP However Symplastics ound the research and development too costly and sold
the patents and lab extrusion equipment to Frank Maine who set up SHW to com-
mercialize applications or the EOW-PP The key to the SHW process is that it com-
bines extrusion with drawing As the polymer is oriented the density drops about
50 rom about 1 g cc to 05 g cc The die drawing also allowed substantial in-creases in line speed rom about 0050 m min to about 9 m min The properties
achieved with EOW-PP are shown in Table 24 and compared to regular PP wood
and oriented PP
Solid-state extrusion has been practiced with coextrusion o different polymers [93]
Despite the large amount o research on solid-state extrusion and the outstanding
mechanical properties that can be obtained there does not seem to be much interest
in the polymer industry The main drawbacks o course are that solid-state extru-
sion is basically a discontinuous process it cannot be done on conventional polymer
processing equipment and very high pressures are required to achieve solid-stateextrusion Also one should keep in mind that very good mechanical properties can
be obtained by taking a profile (fiber film tube etc) produced by conventional con-
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983092983089
tinuous extrusion and exposing it to controlled deormation at a temperature below
the melting point This is a well-established technique in many extrusion operations
(fiber spinning film extrusion etc) and it can be done at a high rate This method
o producing extrudates with very good mechanical properties is likely to be more
cost-effective than solid-state extrusion It is possible that the die drawing processdeveloped by SHW can make solid-state extrusion more attractive commercially by
allowing large profiles to be processed at reasonable line speeds
Table 26 Mechanical Properties of PP Wood OPP and EOW-PP
Flexural strength [MPa] Flexural modulus [MPa]
Regular PP 50 1850
Wood 100 9000
Oriented PP 275 7600EOW-PP 140 7600
983090983092983090Multi Ram Extruder
As mentioned beore the main disadvantage o ram extruders is their intermittent
operation Several attempts have been made to overcome this problem by designing
multi-ram extruders that work together in such a way as to produce a continuousflow o material
Westover [94] designed a continuous ram extruder that combined our plunger-
cylinders Two plunger-cylinders were used or plasticating and two or pumping
An intricate shuttle valve connecting all the plunger cylinders provides continuous
extrusion
Another attempt to develop a continuous ram extruder was made by Yi and Fenner
[95] They designed a twin ram extruder with the cylinders in a V-configuration see
Fig 222The two rams discharge into a common barrel in which a plasticating shaf is rotat-
ing Thus solids conveying occurs in the two separate cylinders and plasticating
and melt conveying occurs in the annular region between the barrel and plasticat-
ing shaf The machine is able to extrude however the throughput uniormity is
poor The perormance could probably have been improved i the plasticating shaf
had been provided with a helical channel But o course then the machine would
have become a screw extruder with a ram-assisted eed This only goes to demon-
strate that it is ar rom easy to improve upon the simple screw extruder
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983092983090 983090Different Types of Extruders
Die Breaker plate
Plasticating shaft
Main
block
Feed cylinder
Figure 222 Twin ram extruder
983090983092983091 Appendix 983090983089
983090983092983091983089 Pumping Efficiency in Diskpack Extruder
The velocity profile between the moving walls is a parabolic unction when the fluid
is a Newtonian fluid see Section 621 and Fig 223
y
z H
Small pressure gradient
Medium pressure gradient
Large pressure gradient
Figure 983090983090983091
Velocity profiles between moving
walls
The velocity profile or a Newtonian fluid is
L8
PH
H
y41vv(y)
2
2
2
∆micro∆
minusminus= (1)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983092983091
where v is the velocity o the plates H the distance between the plates and μ the
viscosity o the fluid The flow rate can be ound by integrating v(y) over the width
and depth o the channel this yields
L12
PWHvWHV
3
∆micro∆minus=
bull
(2)
The first term on the right-hand side o the equalation is the drag flow term The
second term is the pressure flow term The ratio o pressure flow to drag flow is
termed the throttle ratio rd (see Section 7413)
r d =Lv12
PH2
∆micro
∆ (3)
The flow rate can now be written as
(4)
The shear stress at the wall is obtained rom
dv H∆Pτ = micro =dy
05H 2∆L
(5)
The power consumption in the channel is
Zch = PvHWLvW2 ∆=∆τ (6)
The energy efficiency or pressure generation is
V∆Pε = =1 minus r
d Zch
(7)
Equation 7 is not valid or rd = 0 because in this case both numerator and denomi-
nator become zero From Eq 7 it can be seen that when the machine is operated atlow rd values the pumping efficiency can become close to 100 This is considerably
better than the single screw extruder where the optimum pumping efficiency is 33
at a throttle ratio value o 033 (rd = 13)
References
1 J LeBras ldquoRubber Fundamentals o its Science and Technologyrdquo Chemical Publ Co
NY (1957)
2 W S Penn ldquoSynthetic Rubber Technology Volume Irdquo MacLaren amp Sons Ltd London(1960)
3 W J S Naunton ldquoThe Applied Science o Rubberrdquo Edward Arnold Ltd London (1961)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3437
983092983092 983090Different Types of Extruders
4 C M Blow ldquoRubber Technology and Manuacturerdquo Butterworth amp Co Ltd London
(1971)
5 F R Eirich (Ed) ldquoScience and Technology o Rubberrdquo Academic Press NY (1978)
6 C W Evans ldquoPowdered and Particulate Rubber Technologyrdquo Applied Science Publ Ltd
London (1978)
7 G Targiel et al 10 IKV-Kolloquium Aachen March 12ndash14 45 (1980)
8 A Kennaway Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 17 378ndash391 (1964)
9 G Menges and J P Lehnen Plastverarbeiter 20 1 31ndash39 (1969)
10 M Parshall and A J Saulino Rubber World 2 5 78ndash83 (1967)
11 S E Perlberg Rubber World 2 6 71ndash76 (1967)
12 H H Gohlisch Gummi Asbest Kunststoffe 25 9 834ndash835 (1972)
13 E Harms ldquoKautschuk-Extruder Aubau und Einsatz aus verahrenstechnischer Sichtrdquo
Krausskop-Verlag Mainz Bd 2 Buchreihe Kunststo983142echnik (1974)
14 G Schwarz Eur Rubber Journal Sept 28ndash32 (1977)
15 G Menges and E G Harms Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 25 10 469ndash475 (1972)
16 G Menges and E G Harms Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 27 5 187ndash193 (1974)
17 E G Harms Elastomerics 109 6 33ndash39 (1977)
18 E G Harms Eur Rubber Journal 6 23 (1978)
19 E G Harms Kunststoffe 69 1 32ndash33 (1979)
20 E G Harms Dissertation RWTH Aachen Germany (1981)21 S H Collins Plastics Compounding Nov Dec 29 (1982)
22 D Anders Kunststoffe 69 194ndash198 (1979)
23 D Gras and K Eise SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 21 386 (1975)
24 R F Westover SPE Journal 18 12 1473 (1962)
25 Lord Raleigh Philosophical Magazine 35 1ndash12 (1918)
26 German Patent DRP 1129681
27 British Patent BP 759354
28 U S Patent 3880564
29 U S Patent 4012477
30 J F Ingen Housz Plastverarbeiter 10 1 (1975)
31 U S Patent 4142805
32 U S Patent 4194841
33 U S Patent 4213709
34 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 25 193 (1979)
35 P Hold Z Tadmor and L Valsamis SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 25 205 (1979)
36 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis Plastics Engineering Nov 20ndash25 (1979)
37 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis Plastics Engineering Dec 30ndash38 (1979)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3537
References 983092983093
38 Z Tadmor et al The Diskpack Plastics Processor Farrel Publication Jan (1982)
39 L Valsamis AIChE Meeting Washington D C Oct (1983)
40 B Maxwell and A J Scalora Modern Plastics 37 107 Oct (1959)
41 U S Patent 3 046603
42 L L Blyler PhD thesis Princeton University NJ (1966)
43 H G Fritz Kunststo983142echnik 6 430 (1968)
44 H G Fritz PhD thesis Stuttgart University Germany (1971)
45 C W Macosko and J M Starita SPE Journal 27 30 (1971)
46 P A Good A J Schwartz and C W Macosko AIChE Journal 20 1 67 (1974)
47 V L Kocherov Y L Lukach E A Sporyagin and G V Vinogradov Polym Eng Sci 13
194 (1973)
48 J Berzen and G Braun Kunststoffe 69 2 62ndash66 (1979)49 R S Porter et al J Polym Sci 17 485ndash488 (1979)
50 C A Sperati Modern Plastics Encyclopedia McGraw-Hill NY (1983)
51 S S Schwartz and S H Goodman see Chapter 1 [36]
52 G R Snelling and J F Lontz J Appl Polym Sci 3 9 257ndash265 (1960)
53 D C F Couzens Plastics and Rubber Processing March 45ndash48 (1976)
54 P W Bridgman ldquoStudies in Large Plastic Flow and Fracturerdquo McGraw-Hill NY (1952)
55 H L D Push ldquoThe Mechanical Behavior o Materials Under Pressurerdquo Elsevier Amster-
dam (1970)56 H L D Push and A H Low J Inst Metals 93 201 (196565)
57 F Slack Mach Design Oct 7 61ndash64 (1982)
58 J H Southern and R S Porter J Appl Polym Sci 14 2305 (1970)
59 J H Southern and R S Porter J Macromol Sci Phys 3ndash4 541 (1970)
60 J H Southern N E Weeks and R S Porter Macromol Chem 162 19 (1972)
61 N J Capiati and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 13 1177 (1975)
62 R S Porter J H Southern and N E Weeks Polym Eng Sci 15 213 (1975)
63 A E Zachariades E S Sherman and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 17 255
(1979)
64 A E Zachariades and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 17 277 (1979)
65 B Parsons D Bretherton and B N Cole in Advances in MTDR 11th Int Con Proc
S A Tobias and F Koeningsberger (Eds) Pergamon Press London Vol B 1049 (1971)
66 G Capaccio and I M Ward Polymer 15 233 (1974)
67 A G Gibson I M Ward B N Cole and B Parsons J Mater Sci 9 1193ndash1196 (1974)
68 A G Gibson and I M Ward J Appl Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 16 2015ndash2030 (1978)
69 P S Hope and B Parsons Polym Eng Sci 20 589ndash600 (1980)
70 P S Hope I M Ward and A G Gibson J Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 18 1242ndash1256
(1980)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3637
983092983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
71 P S Hope A G Gibson B Parsons and I M Ward Polym Eng Sci 20 54ndash55 (1980)
72 B Parsons and I M Ward Plast Rubber Proc Appl 2 3 215ndash224 (1982)
73 K Imada T Yamamoto K Shigematsu and M Takayanagi J Mater Sci 6 537ndash546
(1971)
74 K Nakamura K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 2 71 (1972)
75 K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 2 89 (1973)
76 K Nakamura K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 3 23 (1974)
77 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Mater Sci 10 1105 (1975)
78 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Mater Sci 12 1477 (1977)
79 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Appl Polym Sci 23 2543ndash2554 (1979)
80 D M Bigg Polym Eng Sci 16 725 (1976)
81 D M Bigg M M Epstein R J Fiorentino and E G Smith Polym Eng Sci 18 908(1978)
82 D M Bigg and M M Epstein ldquoScience and Technology o Polymer Processingrdquo N S Suh
and N Sung (Eds) 897 MIT Press (1979)
83 D M Bigg M M Epstein R J Fiorentino and E G Smith J Appl Polym Sci 26 395ndash
409 (1981)
84 K D Pae and D R Mears J Polym Sci B-6 269 (1968)
85 K D Pae D R Mears and J A Sauer J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 6 773 (1968)
86 D R Mears K P Pae and J A Sauer J Appl Phys 40 11 4229ndash4237 (1969)
87 L A Davis and C A Pampillo J Appl Phys 42 12 4659ndash4666 (1971)
88 A Buckley and H A Long Polym Eng Sci 9 2 115ndash120 (1969)
89 L A Davis Polym Eng Sci 14 9 641ndash645 (1974)
90 R K Okine and N P Suh Polym Eng Sci 22 5 269ndash279 (1982)
91 J R Collier T Y T Tam J Newcome and N Dinos Polym Eng Sci 16 204ndash211 (1976)
92 J H Faupel and F E Fisher ldquoEngineering Designrdquo Wiley NY (1981)
93 A E Zachariades R Ball and R S Porter J Mater Sci 13 2671ndash2675 (1978)
94 R R Westover Modern Plastics March (1963) 95 B Yi and R T Fenner Plastics and Polymers Dec 224ndash228 (1975)
96 A Mekkaoui and L N Valsamis Polym Eng Sci 24 1260ndash1269 (1984)
97 H Rust Kunststoffe 73 342ndash346 (1983)
98 J Huszman Kunststoffe 73 3437ndash348 (1983)
99 J M McKelvey U Maire and F Haupt Chem Eng Sept 27 94ndash102 (1976)
100 K Schneider Kunststoffe 68 201ndash206 (1978)
101 W T Rice Plastic Technology 87ndash91 Feb (1980)
102 Harrel Corp ldquoMelt Pump Systems or Extrudersrdquo Product Description TDS-264 (1982)
103 J M McKelvey and W T Rice Chem Eng 90 2 89ndash94 (1983)
104 K Kaper K Eise and H Herrmann SPE ANTEC Chicago 161ndash163 (1983)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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References 983092983095
105 C L Woodworth SPE ANTEC New Orleans 122ndash126 (1984)
106 W A Kramer SPE ANTEC Washington D C 23ndash29 (1985)
107 J Schut ldquoDie Drawing Makes Plastic Steelrdquo Plastics Technology Online Article March
5 (2001)
108 VDI Conerence Extrusiontechnik 2006 ldquoDer Einschnecken-Extruder von Morgenrdquo VDI
Verlag GmbH Duumlsseldor (2006)
109 P Rieg ldquoLatest Developments in High-Speed Extrusionrdquo Plastic Extrusion Asia Con-
erence Bangkok Thailand March 17ndash18 (2008) also presented at Advances in Ex-
trusion Conerence New Orleans December 9ndash10 (2008)
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983090983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
This extruder looks similar to a single screw extruder The eed section is in act
the same as on a standard single screw extruder However the mixing section o the
extruder looks considerably different In the planetary roller section o the extruder
six or more planetary screws evenly spaced revolve around the circumerence o
the main screw In the planetary screw section the main screw is reerred to as thesun screw The planetary screws intermesh with the sun screw and the barrel The
planetary barrel section thereore must have helical grooves corresponding to the
helical flights on the planetary screws This planetary barrel section is generally a
separate barrel section with a flange-type connection to the eed barrel section
In the first part o the machine beore the planetary screws the material moves
orward as in a regular single screw extruder As the material reaches the planetary
section being largely plasticated at this point it is exposed to intensive mixing by
the rolling action between the planetary screws the sun screw and the barrel Thehelical design o the barrel sun screw and planetary screws result in a large sur-
ace area relative to the barrel length The small clearance between the planetary
screws and the mating suraces about frac14 mm allows thin layers o compound to be
exposed to large surace areas resulting in effective devolatilization heat exchange
and temperature control Thus heat-sensitive compounds can be processed with a
minimum o degradation For this reason the planetary gear extruder is requently
used or extrusion compounding o PVC ormulations both rigid and plasticized
[21 22] Planetary roller sections are also used as add-ons to regular extruders to
improve mixing perormance [97 98] Another multiscrew extruder is the our-screw extruder shown in Fig 212
Figure 983090983089983090
Four-screw extruder
This machine is used primarily or devolatilization o solvents rom 40 to as low as
03 [23] Flash devolatilization occurs in a flash dome attached to the barrel The
polymer solution is delivered under pressure and at temperatures above the boiling
point o the solvent The solution is then expanded through a nozzle into the flash
dome The oamy material resulting rom the flash devolatilization is then trans-
ported away by the our screws In many cases downstream vent sections will beincorporated to urther reduce the solvent level
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983090 The Multiscrew Extruder 983090983095
983090983090983091The Gear Pump Extruder
Gear pumps are used in some extrusion operations at the end o a plasticating
extruder either single screw or twin screw [99ndash106] Strictly speaking the gear
pump is a closely intermeshing counterrotating twin screw extruder However sincegear pumps are solely used to generate pressure they are generally not reerred to
as an extruder although the gear pump is an extruder One o the main advantages
o the gear pump is its good pressure-generating capability and its ability to main-
tain a relatively constant outlet pressure even i the inlet pressure fluctuates con-
siderably Some fluctuation in the outlet pressure will result rom the intermeshing
o the gear teeth This fluctuation can be reduced by a helical orientation o the gear
teeth instead o an axial orientation
Gear pumps are sometimes reerred to as positive displacement devices This is notcompletely correct because there must be mechanical clearances between the gears
and the housing which causes leakage Thereore the gear pump output is depend-
ent on pressure although the pressure sensitivity will generally be less than that o
a single screw extruder The actual pressure sensitivity will be determined by the
design clearances the polymer melt viscosity and the rotational speed o the gears
A good method to obtain constant throughput is to maintain a constant pressure di-
erential across the pump This can be done by a relatively simple pressure eedback
control on the extruder eeding into the gear pump [102] The non-zero clearances
in the gear pump will cause a transormation o mechanical energy into heat by vis-cous heat generation see Section 534 Thus the energy efficiency o actual gear
pumps is considerably below 100 the pumping efficiency generally ranges rom
15 to 35 The other 65 to 85 goes into mechanical losses and viscous heat gene-
ration Mechanical losses usually range rom about 20 to 40 and viscous heating
rom about 40 to 50 As a result the polymer melt going through the gear pump
will experience a considerable temperature rise typically 5 to 10degC However in
some cases the temperature rise can be as much as 20 to 30degC Since the gear
pump has limited energy efficiency the combination extruder-gear pump is not nec-
essarily more energy-efficient than the extruder without the gear pump Only i the
extruder eeding into the gear pump is very inefficient in its pressure development
will the addition o a gear pump allow a reduction in energy consumption This
could be the case with co-rotating twin screw extruders or single screw extruders
with inefficient screw design
The mixing capacity o gear pumps is very limited This was clearly demonstrated
by Kramer [106] by comparing melt temperature fluctuation beore and afer the
gear pump which showed no distinguishable improvement in melt temperature uni-
ormity Gear pumps are ofen added to extruders with unacceptable output fluc-tuations In many cases this constitutes treating the symptoms but not curing the
actual problem Most single screw extruders i properly designed can maintain
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983096 983090Different Types of Extruders
their output to within plusmn 1 I the output fluctuation is considerably larger than 1
there is probably something wrong with the machine very ofen incorrect screw
design In these cases solving the actual problem will generally be more efficient
than adding a gear pump For an efficient extruder-gear pump system the extruder
screw has to be modified to reduce the pressure-generating capacity o the screw
Gear pumps can be used advantageously
1 On extruders with poor pressure-generating capability (e g co-rotating twin
screws multi-stage vented extruders etc)
2 When output stability is required better than 1 i e in close tolerance extru-
sion (e g fiber spinning cable extrusion medical tubing coextrusion etc)
Gear pumps can cause problems when
1 The polymer contains abrasive components because o the small clearances thegear pump is very susceptible to wear
2 When the polymer is susceptible to degradation gear pumps are not sel-clean-
ing and combined with the exposure to high temperatures this will result in
degraded product
983090983091Disk Extruders
There are a number o extruders which do not utilize an Archimedean screw or
transport o the material but still all in the class o continuous extruders Some-
times these machines are reerred to as screwless extruders These machines
employ some kind o disk or drum to extrude the material One can classiy the disk
extruders according to their conveying mechanism (see Table 21) Most o the disk
extruders are based on viscous drag transport One special disk extruder utilizes
the elasticity o polymer melts to convey the material and to develop the necessary
diehead pressure
Disk extruders have been around or a long time at least since 1950 However at
this point in time the industrial significance o disk extruders is still relatively small
compared to screw extruders
983090983091983089Viscous Drag Disk Extruders
983090983091983089983089Stepped Disk Extruder
One o the first disk extruders was developed by Westover at Bell Telephone Labo-
ratories it is ofen reerred to as a stepped disk extruder or slider pad extruder [24]
A schematic picture o the extruder is shown in Fig 213
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983090983097
In
Out
Figure 983090983089983091
The stepped disk
The heart o the machine is the stepped disk positioned a small distance rom a flat
disk When one o the disks is rotated with a polymer melt in the axial gap a pres-
sure build-up will occur at the transition o one gap size to another smaller gap sizesee Fig 214
v
Distance
P r e s s u r e
Figure 983090983089983092
Pressure generation in the step region
I exit channels are incorporated into the stepped disk the polymer can be extruded
in a continuous ashion The design o this extruder is based on Rayleighrsquos [25]
analysis o hydrodynamic lubrication in various geometries He concluded that the
parallel stepped pad was capable o supporting the greatest load The stepped disk
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983091983088 983090Different Types of Extruders
extruder has also been designed in a different configuration using a gradual change
in gap size This extruder has a wedge-shaped disk with a gradual increase in pres-
sure with radial distance
A practical disadvantage o the stepped disk extruder is the act that the machine is
difficult to clean because o the intricate design o the flow channels in the stepped
disk
983090983091983089983090Drum Extruder
Another rather old concept is the drum extruder A schematic picture o a machine
manuactured by Schmid amp Kocher in Switzerland is shown in Fig 215
In
OutOutIn
Figure 983090983089983093 The drum extruder by Schmid amp Kocher
Material is ed by a eed hopper into an annular space between rotor and barrel By
the rotational motion o the rotor the material is carried along the circumerence o
the barrel Just beore the material reaches the eed hopper it encounters a wiper
bar This wiper bar scrapes the polymer rom the rotor and deflects the polymer flow
into a channel that leads to the extruder die Several patents [26 27] were issued on
this design however these patents have long since expired
A very similar extruder (see Fig 216) was developed by Askco Engineering andCosden Oil amp Chemical in a joint venture later this became Permian Research Two
patents have been issued on this design [28 29] even though the concept is very
similar to the Schmid amp Kocher design
One special eature o this design is the capability to adjust the local gap by means
o a choker bar similar to the gap adjustment in a flat sheet die see Section 92 The
choker bar in this drum extruder is activated by adjustable hydraulic oil pressure
Drum extruders have not been able to be a serious competition to the single screw
extruder over the last 50 years
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983091983089
Hopper
DieRotor
Housing
Wiper bar
Hopper
Wiper bar
DieRotor
Housing
Figure 983090983089983094
The drum extruder by AskoCosden
983090983091983089983091Spiral Disk Extruder
The spiral disk extruder is another type o disk extruder that has been known or
many years Several patented designs were described by Schenkel (Chapter 1 [3])
Similar to the stepped disk extruder the development o the spiral disk extruder
is closely connected to spiral groove bearings It has long been known that spiral
groove bearings are capable o supporting substantial loads Ingen Housz [30] has
analyzed the melt conveying in a spiral disk extruder with logarithmic grooves in
the disk based on Newtonian flow behavior o the polymer melt In terms o melt
conveying capability the spiral disk extruder seems comparable to the screw ex-truder however the solids conveying capability is questionable
983090983091983089983092Diskpack Extruder
Another development in disk extruders is the diskpack extruder Tadmor originated
the idea o the diskpack machine which is covered under several patents [31ndash33]
The development o the machine was undertaken by the Farrel Machinery Group o
Emgart Corporation in cooperation with Tadmor [34ndash39] The basic concept o the
machine is shown in Fig 217Material drops in the axial gap between relatively thin disks mounted on a rotating
shaf The material will move with the disks almost a ull turn then it meets a chan-
nel block The channel block closes off the space between the disks and deflects the
polymer flow to either an outlet channel or to a transer channel in the barrel The
shape o the disks can be optimized or specific unctions solids conveying melting
devolatilization melt conveying and mixing A detailed unctional analysis can be
ound in Tadmorrsquos book on polymer processing (Chapter 1 [32])
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983091983090 983090Different Types of Extruders
v
v
Channel blockInlet
Outlet
Barrel
Solid bed
Shaft
Melt pool
Inlet Channel block
Outlet
Melt pool
Solid bed
Barrel
Shaft
v
v Figure 983090983089983095
The diskpack extruder
It is claimed that this machine can perorm all basic polymer-processing operations
with efficiency equaling or surpassing existing machinery Clearly i the claim is
true and can be delivered or a competitive price the diskpack extruder will become
an important machine in the extrusion industry The first diskpack machines were
delivered to the industry in 1982 still under a joint development type o agreement
Now almost 20 years afer the first diskpack machines were delivered it is clear
that the acceptance o these machines in the industry has been very limited In act
Farrel no longer actively markets the diskpack machine In most o the publications
the diskpack machine is reerred to as a polymer processor This term is probably
used to indicate that this machine can do more than just extruding although the
diskpack is o course an extruder
The diskpack machine incorporates some o the eatures o the drum extruder and
the single screw extruder One can think o the diskpack as a single screw extruder
using a screw with zero helix angle and very deep flights Forward axial transportcan only take place by transport channels in the barrel with the material orced into
those channels by a restrictor bar as with the drum extruder The use o restrictor
bars (channel block) and transer channels in the housing make it considerably
more complex than the barrel o a single screw extruder
One o the advantages o the diskpack is that mixing blocks and spreading dams can
be incorporated into the machine as shown in Fig 218(a)
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983091983091
v
v
Channel blockInlet
Outlet
Mixing block
Disk
Inlet Channel block
Outlet
Mixing blockDisk v
v Figure 983090983089983096(a)
Mixing blocks in the diskpack
Mixing blocks o various shapes can be positioned externally into the processing
chamber This is similar to the QSM extruder only that in the QSM extruder the
screw flight has to be interrupted to avoid contact This is not necessary in the disk-
pack because the flights have zero helix angles in other words they run perpen-
dicular to the rotor axis By the number o blocks the geometry o the block and the
clearance between block and disk one can tailor the mixing capability to the par-
ticular application The use o spreading dams allows the generation o a thin film
with a large surace area this results in effective devolatilization capability The
diskpack has inherently higher pressure-generating capability than the single
screw extruder does This is because the diskpack has two dragging suraces while
the single screw extruder has only one see Fig 218(b)
v
v=0
v
v
Conveying mechanismsingle screw extruder
Conveying mechanism
diskpack extruder Figure 983090983089983096(b)
Comparison of conveying mechanism in diskpackand single screw extruder
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983091983092 983090Different Types of Extruders
At the same net flow rate equal viscosity equal plate velocity and optimum plate
separation the theoretical maximum pressure gradient o the diskpack is eight
times higher than the single screw extruder [34] Thus high pressures can be gen-
erated over a short distance which allows a more compact machine design The
energy efficiency o the pressure generation is also better than in the single screwextruder the maximum pumping efficiency approaches 100 see derivation in
Appendix 21 For the single screw extruder the maximum pumping efficiency is
only 33 as discussed in Section 7413 The energy efficiency o pressure genera-
tion is the ratio o the theoretical energy requirement (flow rate times pressure rise)
to the actual energy requirement (wall velocity times shear stress integrated over
wall surace) It should be noted that the two dragging platesrsquo pumping mechanism
exists only in tangential direction The pumping in axial (orward) direction occurs
only in the transer channel in the housing This orward pumping occurs by the one
dragging plate mechanism as in the single screw extruder The maximum efficiency
or orward pumping thereore is only 33 The overall pumping efficiency will be
somewhere between 33 and 100 i the power consumption in the disk and channel
block clearance is neglected
Studies on melting in the diskpack were reported by Valsamis et al [96] It was
ound that two types o melting mechanism could take place in the diskpack the
drag melt removal (DMR) mechanism and the dissipative melt mixing (DMM) mech-
anism The DMR melting mechanism is the predominant mechanism in single screw
extruders this is discussed in detail in Section 73 In the DMR melting mechanismthe solids and melt coexist as two largely continuous and separate phases In the
DMM melting mechanism the solids are dispersed in the melt there is no conti-
nuous solid bed It was ound that the DMM mechanism could be induced by pro-
moting back leakage o the polymer melt past the channel block This can be con-
trolled by varying the clearance between the channel block and the disks The
advantage o the DMM melting mechanism is that the melting rate can be substan-
tially higher than with the DMR mechanism reportedly by as much as a actor o 3
[96]
Among all elementary polymer processing unctions the solids conveying in a disk-
pack extruder has not been discussed to any extent in the open technical literature
Considering that the solids conveying mechanism is a rictional drag mechanism
(as in single screw extruders) and not a positive displacement type o transport (as
in intermeshing counterrotating twin screw extruders see Sections 102 and 104)
it can be expected that the diskpack will have solids conveying limitations similar
to those o single screw extruders see Section 722 This means that powders
blends o powders and pellets slippery materials etc are likely to encounter solids
conveying problems in a diskpack extruder unless special measures are taken toenhance the solids conveying capability (e g crammer eeder grooves in the disks
etc)
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983091983093
Because o the more complex machine geometry the cost per unit throughput o the
diskpack is higher than or the conventional single screw extruder Thereore the
diskpack does not compete directly with single screw extruders
Applications or the diskpack are specialty polymer processing operations such as
polymerization post-reactor processing (devolatilization) continuous compound-
ing etc As such the diskpack competes mostly with twin screw extruders Pres-
ently twin screw extruders are usually the first choice when it comes to specialty
polymer processing operations
983090983091983090The Elastic Melt Extruder
The elastic melt extruder was developed in the late 1950s by Maxwell and Scalora[40 41] The extruder makes use o the viscoelastic in particular the elastic pro-
perties o polymer melts When a viscoelastic fluid is exposed to a shearing deor-
mation normal stresses will develop in the fluid that are not equal in all directions
as opposed to a purely viscous fluid In the elastic melt extruder the polymer is
sheared between two plates one stationary and one rotating see Fig 219
Hopper
Heaters
Solid polymer
Die
Extrudate
Polymer melt
Rotor
Solid polymerHopper
Heaters
Die
Extrudate
Polymer melt
Rotor
Figure 983090983089983097
The elastic melt extruder
As the polymer is sheared normal stresses will generate a centripetal pumping
action Thus the polymer can be extruded through the central opening in the sta-
tionary plate in a continuous ashion Because normal stresses generate the pump-
ing action this machine is sometimes reerred to as a normal stress extruderThis extruder is quite interesting rom a rheological point o view since it is prob-
ably the only extruder that utilizes the elasticity o the melt or its conveying Thus
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983091983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
several detailed experimental and theoretical studies have been devoted to the elas-
tic melt extruder [42ndash47]
The detailed study by Fritz [44] concluded that transport by normal stresses only
could be as much as two orders o magnitude lower than a corresponding system
with orced eed In addition substantial temperature gradients developed in the
polymer causing substantial degradation in high molecular weight polyolefins The
scant market acceptance o the elastic melt extruder would tend to confirm Fritzrsquos
conclusions
Several modifications have been proposed to improve the perormance o the elastic
melt extruder Fritz [43] suggested incorporation o spiral grooves to improve the
pressure generating capability essentially combining the elastic melt extruder and
the spiral disk extruder into one machine In Russia [47] several modifications
were made to the design o the elastic melt extruder One o those combined a screwextruder with the elastic melt extruder to eliminate the eeding and plasticating
problem Despite all o these activities the elastic melt extruder has not been able to
acquire a position o importance in the extrusion industry
983090983091983091Overview of Disk Extruders
Many attempts have been made in the past to come up with a continuous plasticat-
ing extruder o simple design that could perorm better than the single screw ex-truder It seems air to say that at this point in time no disk extruder has been able
to meet this goal The simple disk extruders do not perorm nearly as well as the
single screw extruder The more complex disk extruder such as the diskpack can
possibly outperorm the single screw extruder However this is at the expense o
design simplicity thus increasing the cost o the machine Disk extruders there-
ore have not been able to seriously challenge the position o the single screw
extruder This is not to say however that it is not possible or this to happen some
time in the uture But considering the long dominance o the single screw extruder
it is not probable that a new disk extruder will come along that can challenge the
single screw extruder
983090983092Ram Extruders
Ram or plunger extruders are simple in design rugged and discontinuous in their
mode o operation Ram extruders are essentially positive displacement devices and
are able to generate very high pressures Because o the intermittent operation o
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983091983095
ram extruders they are ideally suited or cyclic processes such as injection molding
and blow molding In act the early molding machines were almost exclusively
equipped with ram extruders to supply the polymer melt to the mold Certain limita-
tions o the ram extruder have caused a switch to reciprocating screw extruders or
combinations o the two The two main limitations are
1 Limited melting capacity
2 Poor temperature uniormity o the polymer melt
Presently ram extruders are used in relatively small shot size molding machines
and certain specialty operations where use is made o the positive displacement
characteristics and the outstanding pressure generation capability There are basic-
ally two types o ram extruders single ram extruders and multi ram extruders
983090983092983089Single Ram Extruders
The single ram extruder is used in small general purpose molding machines but
also in some special polymer processing operations One such operation is the ex-
trusion o intractable polymers such as ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene
(UHMWPE) or polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) These polymers are not considered to
be melt processable on conventional melt processing equipment Teledynamik [48]
has built a ram injection-molding machine under a license rom Th Engel who
developed the prototype machine This machine is used to mold UHMWPE under
very high pressures The machine uses a reciprocating plunger that densifies the
cold incoming material with a pressure up to 300 MPa (about 44000 psi) The re-
quency o the ram can be adjusted continuously with a maximum o 250 strokes
minute The densified material is orced through heated channels into the heated
cylinder where final melting takes place The material is then injected into a mold
by a telescoping injection ram Pressures up to 100 MPa (about 14500 psi) occur
during the injection o the polymer into the mold
Another application is the extrusion o PTFE with again the primary ingredient orsuccessul extrusion being very high pressures Granular PTFE can be extruded at
slow rates in a ram extruder [49ndash51] The powder is compacted by the ram orced
into a die where the material is heated above the melting point and shaped into the
desired orm PTFE is ofen processed as a PTFE paste [52 53] This is small particle
size PTFE powder (about 02 mm) mixed with a processing aid such as naphta PTFE
paste can be extruded at room temperature or slightly above room temperature
Afer extrusion the processing aid is removed by heating the extrudate above its
volatilization temperature The extruded PTFE paste product may be sintered i the
application requires a more ully coalesced product
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983091983096 983090Different Types of Extruders
983090983092983089983089Solid State Extrusion
An extrusion technique that has slowly been gaining popularity is solid-state extru-
sion The polymer is orced through a die while it is below its melting point This
causes substantial deormation o the polymer in the die but since the polymer is in
the solid state a very effective molecular orientation takes place This orientation ismuch more effective than the one which occurs in conventional melt processing As
a result extraordinary mechanical properties can be obtained
Solid-state extrusion is a technique borrowed rom the metal industry where solid-
state extrusion has been used commercially since the late 1940s Bridgman [54]
was one o the first to do a systematic study on the effect o pressure on the mechan-
ical properties o metals He also studied polymers and ound that the glass tran-
sition temperature was raised by the application o pressure
There are two methods o solid-state extrusion one is direct solid-state extrusionthe other is hydrostatic extrusion In direct solid-state extrusion a pre-ormed solid
rod o material (a billet) is in direct contact with the plunger and the walls o the
extrusion die see Fig 220 The material is extruded as the ram is pushed towards
the die
Plunger
Billet
Barrel
DieExtrudate Figure 983090983090983088
Direct solid state extrusion
In hydrostatic extrusion the pressure required or extrusion is transmitted rom the
plunger to the billet through a lubricating liquid usually castor oil The billet must
be shaped to fit the die to prevent loss o fluid The hydrostatic fluid reduces the ric-
tion thereby reducing the extrusion pressure see Fig 221
In hydrostatic extrusion the pressure-generating device or the fluid does not neces-
sarily have to be in close proximity to the orming part o the machine The fluid canbe supplied to the extrusion device by high-pressure tubes
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983091983097
Plunger
Billet
Oil
Barrel
DieExtrudate Figure 983090983090983089
Hydrostatic solid state extrusion
Judging rom publications in the open literature most o the work on solid-state
extrusion o polymers is done at universities and research institutes It is possible
o course that some companies are working on solid-state extrusion but are keeping
the inormation proprietary A major research effort in solid-state extrusion has
been made at the University o Amherst Massachusetts [50ndash64] University o
Leeds England [65ndash72] Fyushu University Fukuoka Japan [73ndash76] Research
Institute or Polymers and Textiles Yokohama Japan [77ndash79] Battelle Columbus
Ohio [80ndash83] and Rutgers University New Brunswick New Jersey [84ndash86] As
mentioned earlier publications rom other sources are considerably less plentiul
[87ndash90] Efforts have also been made to achieve the same high degree o orientation
in a more or less conventional extrusion process by special die design and tempera-
ture control in the die region [91]
Table 25 shows a comparison o mechanical properties between steel aluminum
solid state extruded HDPE and HDPE extruded by conventional means
Table 25 clearly indicates that the mechanical properties o solid-state extruded
HDPE are much superior to the melt extruded HDPE In act the tensile strength o
solid-state extruded HDPE is about the same as carbon steel There are some other
interesting benefits associated with solidstate extrusion o polymers There is essen-
tially no die swell at high extrusion ratios (extrusion ratio is the ratio o the area in
the cylinder to the area in the die) Thus the dimensions o the extrudate closely
conorm to those o the die exit The surace o the extrudate produced by hydro-
static extrusion has a lower coefficient o riction than that o the un-oriented poly-
mer Above a certain extrusion ratio (about ten) polyethylene and polypropylene
become transparent Further solid-state extruded polymers maintain their ten-sile properties at elevated temperatures Polyethylene maintains its modulus up to
120degC when it is extruded in the solid state at a high extrusion ratio The thermal
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983092983088 983090Different Types of Extruders
conductivity in the extrusion direction is much higher than that o the un-oriented
polymer as much as 25 times higher The melting point o the solid-state extruded
polymer increases with the amount o orientation The melting point o HDPE can be
shifed to as high as 140degC
Table 25 Comparison of Mechanical Properties
Material Tensile modulus[MPa]
Tensile strength[MPa]
Elongation[]
Density[gcc]
Annealed SAE 1020 210000 410 35 786
W-200 degF SAE 1020 210000 720 6 786
Annealed 304 stainless
steel
200000 590 50 792
Aluminum 1100ndash0 70000 90 45 271
HDPE solid state
extruded
70000 480 3 097
HDPE melt extruded 10000 30 20ndash1000 096
A recent application o solid-state extrusion is the process developed by Synthetic
Hardwood Technologies Inc [107] This company has developed an expanded ori-
ented wood-filled polypropylene (EOW-PP) that is about 300 stronger than regular
PP The process is based on technology developed at Aluminum Company o Canada
Ltd (Alcan) in the early 1990s to solidstate extrude PP It involves ram extrusion
drawing o billets o PP just below the melting point with very high draw ratio and
high haul-off tension (about 3 MPa) to reeze-in the high level o orientation Alcan
did not pursue the technology and Symplastics Ltd licensed the patented process
this company started experimenting with adding small amounts o wood flour to the
PP However Symplastics ound the research and development too costly and sold
the patents and lab extrusion equipment to Frank Maine who set up SHW to com-
mercialize applications or the EOW-PP The key to the SHW process is that it com-
bines extrusion with drawing As the polymer is oriented the density drops about
50 rom about 1 g cc to 05 g cc The die drawing also allowed substantial in-creases in line speed rom about 0050 m min to about 9 m min The properties
achieved with EOW-PP are shown in Table 24 and compared to regular PP wood
and oriented PP
Solid-state extrusion has been practiced with coextrusion o different polymers [93]
Despite the large amount o research on solid-state extrusion and the outstanding
mechanical properties that can be obtained there does not seem to be much interest
in the polymer industry The main drawbacks o course are that solid-state extru-
sion is basically a discontinuous process it cannot be done on conventional polymer
processing equipment and very high pressures are required to achieve solid-stateextrusion Also one should keep in mind that very good mechanical properties can
be obtained by taking a profile (fiber film tube etc) produced by conventional con-
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983092983089
tinuous extrusion and exposing it to controlled deormation at a temperature below
the melting point This is a well-established technique in many extrusion operations
(fiber spinning film extrusion etc) and it can be done at a high rate This method
o producing extrudates with very good mechanical properties is likely to be more
cost-effective than solid-state extrusion It is possible that the die drawing processdeveloped by SHW can make solid-state extrusion more attractive commercially by
allowing large profiles to be processed at reasonable line speeds
Table 26 Mechanical Properties of PP Wood OPP and EOW-PP
Flexural strength [MPa] Flexural modulus [MPa]
Regular PP 50 1850
Wood 100 9000
Oriented PP 275 7600EOW-PP 140 7600
983090983092983090Multi Ram Extruder
As mentioned beore the main disadvantage o ram extruders is their intermittent
operation Several attempts have been made to overcome this problem by designing
multi-ram extruders that work together in such a way as to produce a continuousflow o material
Westover [94] designed a continuous ram extruder that combined our plunger-
cylinders Two plunger-cylinders were used or plasticating and two or pumping
An intricate shuttle valve connecting all the plunger cylinders provides continuous
extrusion
Another attempt to develop a continuous ram extruder was made by Yi and Fenner
[95] They designed a twin ram extruder with the cylinders in a V-configuration see
Fig 222The two rams discharge into a common barrel in which a plasticating shaf is rotat-
ing Thus solids conveying occurs in the two separate cylinders and plasticating
and melt conveying occurs in the annular region between the barrel and plasticat-
ing shaf The machine is able to extrude however the throughput uniormity is
poor The perormance could probably have been improved i the plasticating shaf
had been provided with a helical channel But o course then the machine would
have become a screw extruder with a ram-assisted eed This only goes to demon-
strate that it is ar rom easy to improve upon the simple screw extruder
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983092983090 983090Different Types of Extruders
Die Breaker plate
Plasticating shaft
Main
block
Feed cylinder
Figure 222 Twin ram extruder
983090983092983091 Appendix 983090983089
983090983092983091983089 Pumping Efficiency in Diskpack Extruder
The velocity profile between the moving walls is a parabolic unction when the fluid
is a Newtonian fluid see Section 621 and Fig 223
y
z H
Small pressure gradient
Medium pressure gradient
Large pressure gradient
Figure 983090983090983091
Velocity profiles between moving
walls
The velocity profile or a Newtonian fluid is
L8
PH
H
y41vv(y)
2
2
2
∆micro∆
minusminus= (1)
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983092983091
where v is the velocity o the plates H the distance between the plates and μ the
viscosity o the fluid The flow rate can be ound by integrating v(y) over the width
and depth o the channel this yields
L12
PWHvWHV
3
∆micro∆minus=
bull
(2)
The first term on the right-hand side o the equalation is the drag flow term The
second term is the pressure flow term The ratio o pressure flow to drag flow is
termed the throttle ratio rd (see Section 7413)
r d =Lv12
PH2
∆micro
∆ (3)
The flow rate can now be written as
(4)
The shear stress at the wall is obtained rom
dv H∆Pτ = micro =dy
05H 2∆L
(5)
The power consumption in the channel is
Zch = PvHWLvW2 ∆=∆τ (6)
The energy efficiency or pressure generation is
V∆Pε = =1 minus r
d Zch
(7)
Equation 7 is not valid or rd = 0 because in this case both numerator and denomi-
nator become zero From Eq 7 it can be seen that when the machine is operated atlow rd values the pumping efficiency can become close to 100 This is considerably
better than the single screw extruder where the optimum pumping efficiency is 33
at a throttle ratio value o 033 (rd = 13)
References
1 J LeBras ldquoRubber Fundamentals o its Science and Technologyrdquo Chemical Publ Co
NY (1957)
2 W S Penn ldquoSynthetic Rubber Technology Volume Irdquo MacLaren amp Sons Ltd London(1960)
3 W J S Naunton ldquoThe Applied Science o Rubberrdquo Edward Arnold Ltd London (1961)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3437
983092983092 983090Different Types of Extruders
4 C M Blow ldquoRubber Technology and Manuacturerdquo Butterworth amp Co Ltd London
(1971)
5 F R Eirich (Ed) ldquoScience and Technology o Rubberrdquo Academic Press NY (1978)
6 C W Evans ldquoPowdered and Particulate Rubber Technologyrdquo Applied Science Publ Ltd
London (1978)
7 G Targiel et al 10 IKV-Kolloquium Aachen March 12ndash14 45 (1980)
8 A Kennaway Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 17 378ndash391 (1964)
9 G Menges and J P Lehnen Plastverarbeiter 20 1 31ndash39 (1969)
10 M Parshall and A J Saulino Rubber World 2 5 78ndash83 (1967)
11 S E Perlberg Rubber World 2 6 71ndash76 (1967)
12 H H Gohlisch Gummi Asbest Kunststoffe 25 9 834ndash835 (1972)
13 E Harms ldquoKautschuk-Extruder Aubau und Einsatz aus verahrenstechnischer Sichtrdquo
Krausskop-Verlag Mainz Bd 2 Buchreihe Kunststo983142echnik (1974)
14 G Schwarz Eur Rubber Journal Sept 28ndash32 (1977)
15 G Menges and E G Harms Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 25 10 469ndash475 (1972)
16 G Menges and E G Harms Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 27 5 187ndash193 (1974)
17 E G Harms Elastomerics 109 6 33ndash39 (1977)
18 E G Harms Eur Rubber Journal 6 23 (1978)
19 E G Harms Kunststoffe 69 1 32ndash33 (1979)
20 E G Harms Dissertation RWTH Aachen Germany (1981)21 S H Collins Plastics Compounding Nov Dec 29 (1982)
22 D Anders Kunststoffe 69 194ndash198 (1979)
23 D Gras and K Eise SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 21 386 (1975)
24 R F Westover SPE Journal 18 12 1473 (1962)
25 Lord Raleigh Philosophical Magazine 35 1ndash12 (1918)
26 German Patent DRP 1129681
27 British Patent BP 759354
28 U S Patent 3880564
29 U S Patent 4012477
30 J F Ingen Housz Plastverarbeiter 10 1 (1975)
31 U S Patent 4142805
32 U S Patent 4194841
33 U S Patent 4213709
34 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 25 193 (1979)
35 P Hold Z Tadmor and L Valsamis SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 25 205 (1979)
36 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis Plastics Engineering Nov 20ndash25 (1979)
37 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis Plastics Engineering Dec 30ndash38 (1979)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3537
References 983092983093
38 Z Tadmor et al The Diskpack Plastics Processor Farrel Publication Jan (1982)
39 L Valsamis AIChE Meeting Washington D C Oct (1983)
40 B Maxwell and A J Scalora Modern Plastics 37 107 Oct (1959)
41 U S Patent 3 046603
42 L L Blyler PhD thesis Princeton University NJ (1966)
43 H G Fritz Kunststo983142echnik 6 430 (1968)
44 H G Fritz PhD thesis Stuttgart University Germany (1971)
45 C W Macosko and J M Starita SPE Journal 27 30 (1971)
46 P A Good A J Schwartz and C W Macosko AIChE Journal 20 1 67 (1974)
47 V L Kocherov Y L Lukach E A Sporyagin and G V Vinogradov Polym Eng Sci 13
194 (1973)
48 J Berzen and G Braun Kunststoffe 69 2 62ndash66 (1979)49 R S Porter et al J Polym Sci 17 485ndash488 (1979)
50 C A Sperati Modern Plastics Encyclopedia McGraw-Hill NY (1983)
51 S S Schwartz and S H Goodman see Chapter 1 [36]
52 G R Snelling and J F Lontz J Appl Polym Sci 3 9 257ndash265 (1960)
53 D C F Couzens Plastics and Rubber Processing March 45ndash48 (1976)
54 P W Bridgman ldquoStudies in Large Plastic Flow and Fracturerdquo McGraw-Hill NY (1952)
55 H L D Push ldquoThe Mechanical Behavior o Materials Under Pressurerdquo Elsevier Amster-
dam (1970)56 H L D Push and A H Low J Inst Metals 93 201 (196565)
57 F Slack Mach Design Oct 7 61ndash64 (1982)
58 J H Southern and R S Porter J Appl Polym Sci 14 2305 (1970)
59 J H Southern and R S Porter J Macromol Sci Phys 3ndash4 541 (1970)
60 J H Southern N E Weeks and R S Porter Macromol Chem 162 19 (1972)
61 N J Capiati and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 13 1177 (1975)
62 R S Porter J H Southern and N E Weeks Polym Eng Sci 15 213 (1975)
63 A E Zachariades E S Sherman and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 17 255
(1979)
64 A E Zachariades and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 17 277 (1979)
65 B Parsons D Bretherton and B N Cole in Advances in MTDR 11th Int Con Proc
S A Tobias and F Koeningsberger (Eds) Pergamon Press London Vol B 1049 (1971)
66 G Capaccio and I M Ward Polymer 15 233 (1974)
67 A G Gibson I M Ward B N Cole and B Parsons J Mater Sci 9 1193ndash1196 (1974)
68 A G Gibson and I M Ward J Appl Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 16 2015ndash2030 (1978)
69 P S Hope and B Parsons Polym Eng Sci 20 589ndash600 (1980)
70 P S Hope I M Ward and A G Gibson J Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 18 1242ndash1256
(1980)
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983092983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
71 P S Hope A G Gibson B Parsons and I M Ward Polym Eng Sci 20 54ndash55 (1980)
72 B Parsons and I M Ward Plast Rubber Proc Appl 2 3 215ndash224 (1982)
73 K Imada T Yamamoto K Shigematsu and M Takayanagi J Mater Sci 6 537ndash546
(1971)
74 K Nakamura K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 2 71 (1972)
75 K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 2 89 (1973)
76 K Nakamura K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 3 23 (1974)
77 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Mater Sci 10 1105 (1975)
78 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Mater Sci 12 1477 (1977)
79 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Appl Polym Sci 23 2543ndash2554 (1979)
80 D M Bigg Polym Eng Sci 16 725 (1976)
81 D M Bigg M M Epstein R J Fiorentino and E G Smith Polym Eng Sci 18 908(1978)
82 D M Bigg and M M Epstein ldquoScience and Technology o Polymer Processingrdquo N S Suh
and N Sung (Eds) 897 MIT Press (1979)
83 D M Bigg M M Epstein R J Fiorentino and E G Smith J Appl Polym Sci 26 395ndash
409 (1981)
84 K D Pae and D R Mears J Polym Sci B-6 269 (1968)
85 K D Pae D R Mears and J A Sauer J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 6 773 (1968)
86 D R Mears K P Pae and J A Sauer J Appl Phys 40 11 4229ndash4237 (1969)
87 L A Davis and C A Pampillo J Appl Phys 42 12 4659ndash4666 (1971)
88 A Buckley and H A Long Polym Eng Sci 9 2 115ndash120 (1969)
89 L A Davis Polym Eng Sci 14 9 641ndash645 (1974)
90 R K Okine and N P Suh Polym Eng Sci 22 5 269ndash279 (1982)
91 J R Collier T Y T Tam J Newcome and N Dinos Polym Eng Sci 16 204ndash211 (1976)
92 J H Faupel and F E Fisher ldquoEngineering Designrdquo Wiley NY (1981)
93 A E Zachariades R Ball and R S Porter J Mater Sci 13 2671ndash2675 (1978)
94 R R Westover Modern Plastics March (1963) 95 B Yi and R T Fenner Plastics and Polymers Dec 224ndash228 (1975)
96 A Mekkaoui and L N Valsamis Polym Eng Sci 24 1260ndash1269 (1984)
97 H Rust Kunststoffe 73 342ndash346 (1983)
98 J Huszman Kunststoffe 73 3437ndash348 (1983)
99 J M McKelvey U Maire and F Haupt Chem Eng Sept 27 94ndash102 (1976)
100 K Schneider Kunststoffe 68 201ndash206 (1978)
101 W T Rice Plastic Technology 87ndash91 Feb (1980)
102 Harrel Corp ldquoMelt Pump Systems or Extrudersrdquo Product Description TDS-264 (1982)
103 J M McKelvey and W T Rice Chem Eng 90 2 89ndash94 (1983)
104 K Kaper K Eise and H Herrmann SPE ANTEC Chicago 161ndash163 (1983)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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References 983092983095
105 C L Woodworth SPE ANTEC New Orleans 122ndash126 (1984)
106 W A Kramer SPE ANTEC Washington D C 23ndash29 (1985)
107 J Schut ldquoDie Drawing Makes Plastic Steelrdquo Plastics Technology Online Article March
5 (2001)
108 VDI Conerence Extrusiontechnik 2006 ldquoDer Einschnecken-Extruder von Morgenrdquo VDI
Verlag GmbH Duumlsseldor (2006)
109 P Rieg ldquoLatest Developments in High-Speed Extrusionrdquo Plastic Extrusion Asia Con-
erence Bangkok Thailand March 17ndash18 (2008) also presented at Advances in Ex-
trusion Conerence New Orleans December 9ndash10 (2008)
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983090983090 The Multiscrew Extruder 983090983095
983090983090983091The Gear Pump Extruder
Gear pumps are used in some extrusion operations at the end o a plasticating
extruder either single screw or twin screw [99ndash106] Strictly speaking the gear
pump is a closely intermeshing counterrotating twin screw extruder However sincegear pumps are solely used to generate pressure they are generally not reerred to
as an extruder although the gear pump is an extruder One o the main advantages
o the gear pump is its good pressure-generating capability and its ability to main-
tain a relatively constant outlet pressure even i the inlet pressure fluctuates con-
siderably Some fluctuation in the outlet pressure will result rom the intermeshing
o the gear teeth This fluctuation can be reduced by a helical orientation o the gear
teeth instead o an axial orientation
Gear pumps are sometimes reerred to as positive displacement devices This is notcompletely correct because there must be mechanical clearances between the gears
and the housing which causes leakage Thereore the gear pump output is depend-
ent on pressure although the pressure sensitivity will generally be less than that o
a single screw extruder The actual pressure sensitivity will be determined by the
design clearances the polymer melt viscosity and the rotational speed o the gears
A good method to obtain constant throughput is to maintain a constant pressure di-
erential across the pump This can be done by a relatively simple pressure eedback
control on the extruder eeding into the gear pump [102] The non-zero clearances
in the gear pump will cause a transormation o mechanical energy into heat by vis-cous heat generation see Section 534 Thus the energy efficiency o actual gear
pumps is considerably below 100 the pumping efficiency generally ranges rom
15 to 35 The other 65 to 85 goes into mechanical losses and viscous heat gene-
ration Mechanical losses usually range rom about 20 to 40 and viscous heating
rom about 40 to 50 As a result the polymer melt going through the gear pump
will experience a considerable temperature rise typically 5 to 10degC However in
some cases the temperature rise can be as much as 20 to 30degC Since the gear
pump has limited energy efficiency the combination extruder-gear pump is not nec-
essarily more energy-efficient than the extruder without the gear pump Only i the
extruder eeding into the gear pump is very inefficient in its pressure development
will the addition o a gear pump allow a reduction in energy consumption This
could be the case with co-rotating twin screw extruders or single screw extruders
with inefficient screw design
The mixing capacity o gear pumps is very limited This was clearly demonstrated
by Kramer [106] by comparing melt temperature fluctuation beore and afer the
gear pump which showed no distinguishable improvement in melt temperature uni-
ormity Gear pumps are ofen added to extruders with unacceptable output fluc-tuations In many cases this constitutes treating the symptoms but not curing the
actual problem Most single screw extruders i properly designed can maintain
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983090983096 983090Different Types of Extruders
their output to within plusmn 1 I the output fluctuation is considerably larger than 1
there is probably something wrong with the machine very ofen incorrect screw
design In these cases solving the actual problem will generally be more efficient
than adding a gear pump For an efficient extruder-gear pump system the extruder
screw has to be modified to reduce the pressure-generating capacity o the screw
Gear pumps can be used advantageously
1 On extruders with poor pressure-generating capability (e g co-rotating twin
screws multi-stage vented extruders etc)
2 When output stability is required better than 1 i e in close tolerance extru-
sion (e g fiber spinning cable extrusion medical tubing coextrusion etc)
Gear pumps can cause problems when
1 The polymer contains abrasive components because o the small clearances thegear pump is very susceptible to wear
2 When the polymer is susceptible to degradation gear pumps are not sel-clean-
ing and combined with the exposure to high temperatures this will result in
degraded product
983090983091Disk Extruders
There are a number o extruders which do not utilize an Archimedean screw or
transport o the material but still all in the class o continuous extruders Some-
times these machines are reerred to as screwless extruders These machines
employ some kind o disk or drum to extrude the material One can classiy the disk
extruders according to their conveying mechanism (see Table 21) Most o the disk
extruders are based on viscous drag transport One special disk extruder utilizes
the elasticity o polymer melts to convey the material and to develop the necessary
diehead pressure
Disk extruders have been around or a long time at least since 1950 However at
this point in time the industrial significance o disk extruders is still relatively small
compared to screw extruders
983090983091983089Viscous Drag Disk Extruders
983090983091983089983089Stepped Disk Extruder
One o the first disk extruders was developed by Westover at Bell Telephone Labo-
ratories it is ofen reerred to as a stepped disk extruder or slider pad extruder [24]
A schematic picture o the extruder is shown in Fig 213
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983090983097
In
Out
Figure 983090983089983091
The stepped disk
The heart o the machine is the stepped disk positioned a small distance rom a flat
disk When one o the disks is rotated with a polymer melt in the axial gap a pres-
sure build-up will occur at the transition o one gap size to another smaller gap sizesee Fig 214
v
Distance
P r e s s u r e
Figure 983090983089983092
Pressure generation in the step region
I exit channels are incorporated into the stepped disk the polymer can be extruded
in a continuous ashion The design o this extruder is based on Rayleighrsquos [25]
analysis o hydrodynamic lubrication in various geometries He concluded that the
parallel stepped pad was capable o supporting the greatest load The stepped disk
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983091983088 983090Different Types of Extruders
extruder has also been designed in a different configuration using a gradual change
in gap size This extruder has a wedge-shaped disk with a gradual increase in pres-
sure with radial distance
A practical disadvantage o the stepped disk extruder is the act that the machine is
difficult to clean because o the intricate design o the flow channels in the stepped
disk
983090983091983089983090Drum Extruder
Another rather old concept is the drum extruder A schematic picture o a machine
manuactured by Schmid amp Kocher in Switzerland is shown in Fig 215
In
OutOutIn
Figure 983090983089983093 The drum extruder by Schmid amp Kocher
Material is ed by a eed hopper into an annular space between rotor and barrel By
the rotational motion o the rotor the material is carried along the circumerence o
the barrel Just beore the material reaches the eed hopper it encounters a wiper
bar This wiper bar scrapes the polymer rom the rotor and deflects the polymer flow
into a channel that leads to the extruder die Several patents [26 27] were issued on
this design however these patents have long since expired
A very similar extruder (see Fig 216) was developed by Askco Engineering andCosden Oil amp Chemical in a joint venture later this became Permian Research Two
patents have been issued on this design [28 29] even though the concept is very
similar to the Schmid amp Kocher design
One special eature o this design is the capability to adjust the local gap by means
o a choker bar similar to the gap adjustment in a flat sheet die see Section 92 The
choker bar in this drum extruder is activated by adjustable hydraulic oil pressure
Drum extruders have not been able to be a serious competition to the single screw
extruder over the last 50 years
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983091983089
Hopper
DieRotor
Housing
Wiper bar
Hopper
Wiper bar
DieRotor
Housing
Figure 983090983089983094
The drum extruder by AskoCosden
983090983091983089983091Spiral Disk Extruder
The spiral disk extruder is another type o disk extruder that has been known or
many years Several patented designs were described by Schenkel (Chapter 1 [3])
Similar to the stepped disk extruder the development o the spiral disk extruder
is closely connected to spiral groove bearings It has long been known that spiral
groove bearings are capable o supporting substantial loads Ingen Housz [30] has
analyzed the melt conveying in a spiral disk extruder with logarithmic grooves in
the disk based on Newtonian flow behavior o the polymer melt In terms o melt
conveying capability the spiral disk extruder seems comparable to the screw ex-truder however the solids conveying capability is questionable
983090983091983089983092Diskpack Extruder
Another development in disk extruders is the diskpack extruder Tadmor originated
the idea o the diskpack machine which is covered under several patents [31ndash33]
The development o the machine was undertaken by the Farrel Machinery Group o
Emgart Corporation in cooperation with Tadmor [34ndash39] The basic concept o the
machine is shown in Fig 217Material drops in the axial gap between relatively thin disks mounted on a rotating
shaf The material will move with the disks almost a ull turn then it meets a chan-
nel block The channel block closes off the space between the disks and deflects the
polymer flow to either an outlet channel or to a transer channel in the barrel The
shape o the disks can be optimized or specific unctions solids conveying melting
devolatilization melt conveying and mixing A detailed unctional analysis can be
ound in Tadmorrsquos book on polymer processing (Chapter 1 [32])
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983091983090 983090Different Types of Extruders
v
v
Channel blockInlet
Outlet
Barrel
Solid bed
Shaft
Melt pool
Inlet Channel block
Outlet
Melt pool
Solid bed
Barrel
Shaft
v
v Figure 983090983089983095
The diskpack extruder
It is claimed that this machine can perorm all basic polymer-processing operations
with efficiency equaling or surpassing existing machinery Clearly i the claim is
true and can be delivered or a competitive price the diskpack extruder will become
an important machine in the extrusion industry The first diskpack machines were
delivered to the industry in 1982 still under a joint development type o agreement
Now almost 20 years afer the first diskpack machines were delivered it is clear
that the acceptance o these machines in the industry has been very limited In act
Farrel no longer actively markets the diskpack machine In most o the publications
the diskpack machine is reerred to as a polymer processor This term is probably
used to indicate that this machine can do more than just extruding although the
diskpack is o course an extruder
The diskpack machine incorporates some o the eatures o the drum extruder and
the single screw extruder One can think o the diskpack as a single screw extruder
using a screw with zero helix angle and very deep flights Forward axial transportcan only take place by transport channels in the barrel with the material orced into
those channels by a restrictor bar as with the drum extruder The use o restrictor
bars (channel block) and transer channels in the housing make it considerably
more complex than the barrel o a single screw extruder
One o the advantages o the diskpack is that mixing blocks and spreading dams can
be incorporated into the machine as shown in Fig 218(a)
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983091983091
v
v
Channel blockInlet
Outlet
Mixing block
Disk
Inlet Channel block
Outlet
Mixing blockDisk v
v Figure 983090983089983096(a)
Mixing blocks in the diskpack
Mixing blocks o various shapes can be positioned externally into the processing
chamber This is similar to the QSM extruder only that in the QSM extruder the
screw flight has to be interrupted to avoid contact This is not necessary in the disk-
pack because the flights have zero helix angles in other words they run perpen-
dicular to the rotor axis By the number o blocks the geometry o the block and the
clearance between block and disk one can tailor the mixing capability to the par-
ticular application The use o spreading dams allows the generation o a thin film
with a large surace area this results in effective devolatilization capability The
diskpack has inherently higher pressure-generating capability than the single
screw extruder does This is because the diskpack has two dragging suraces while
the single screw extruder has only one see Fig 218(b)
v
v=0
v
v
Conveying mechanismsingle screw extruder
Conveying mechanism
diskpack extruder Figure 983090983089983096(b)
Comparison of conveying mechanism in diskpackand single screw extruder
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983091983092 983090Different Types of Extruders
At the same net flow rate equal viscosity equal plate velocity and optimum plate
separation the theoretical maximum pressure gradient o the diskpack is eight
times higher than the single screw extruder [34] Thus high pressures can be gen-
erated over a short distance which allows a more compact machine design The
energy efficiency o the pressure generation is also better than in the single screwextruder the maximum pumping efficiency approaches 100 see derivation in
Appendix 21 For the single screw extruder the maximum pumping efficiency is
only 33 as discussed in Section 7413 The energy efficiency o pressure genera-
tion is the ratio o the theoretical energy requirement (flow rate times pressure rise)
to the actual energy requirement (wall velocity times shear stress integrated over
wall surace) It should be noted that the two dragging platesrsquo pumping mechanism
exists only in tangential direction The pumping in axial (orward) direction occurs
only in the transer channel in the housing This orward pumping occurs by the one
dragging plate mechanism as in the single screw extruder The maximum efficiency
or orward pumping thereore is only 33 The overall pumping efficiency will be
somewhere between 33 and 100 i the power consumption in the disk and channel
block clearance is neglected
Studies on melting in the diskpack were reported by Valsamis et al [96] It was
ound that two types o melting mechanism could take place in the diskpack the
drag melt removal (DMR) mechanism and the dissipative melt mixing (DMM) mech-
anism The DMR melting mechanism is the predominant mechanism in single screw
extruders this is discussed in detail in Section 73 In the DMR melting mechanismthe solids and melt coexist as two largely continuous and separate phases In the
DMM melting mechanism the solids are dispersed in the melt there is no conti-
nuous solid bed It was ound that the DMM mechanism could be induced by pro-
moting back leakage o the polymer melt past the channel block This can be con-
trolled by varying the clearance between the channel block and the disks The
advantage o the DMM melting mechanism is that the melting rate can be substan-
tially higher than with the DMR mechanism reportedly by as much as a actor o 3
[96]
Among all elementary polymer processing unctions the solids conveying in a disk-
pack extruder has not been discussed to any extent in the open technical literature
Considering that the solids conveying mechanism is a rictional drag mechanism
(as in single screw extruders) and not a positive displacement type o transport (as
in intermeshing counterrotating twin screw extruders see Sections 102 and 104)
it can be expected that the diskpack will have solids conveying limitations similar
to those o single screw extruders see Section 722 This means that powders
blends o powders and pellets slippery materials etc are likely to encounter solids
conveying problems in a diskpack extruder unless special measures are taken toenhance the solids conveying capability (e g crammer eeder grooves in the disks
etc)
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983091983093
Because o the more complex machine geometry the cost per unit throughput o the
diskpack is higher than or the conventional single screw extruder Thereore the
diskpack does not compete directly with single screw extruders
Applications or the diskpack are specialty polymer processing operations such as
polymerization post-reactor processing (devolatilization) continuous compound-
ing etc As such the diskpack competes mostly with twin screw extruders Pres-
ently twin screw extruders are usually the first choice when it comes to specialty
polymer processing operations
983090983091983090The Elastic Melt Extruder
The elastic melt extruder was developed in the late 1950s by Maxwell and Scalora[40 41] The extruder makes use o the viscoelastic in particular the elastic pro-
perties o polymer melts When a viscoelastic fluid is exposed to a shearing deor-
mation normal stresses will develop in the fluid that are not equal in all directions
as opposed to a purely viscous fluid In the elastic melt extruder the polymer is
sheared between two plates one stationary and one rotating see Fig 219
Hopper
Heaters
Solid polymer
Die
Extrudate
Polymer melt
Rotor
Solid polymerHopper
Heaters
Die
Extrudate
Polymer melt
Rotor
Figure 983090983089983097
The elastic melt extruder
As the polymer is sheared normal stresses will generate a centripetal pumping
action Thus the polymer can be extruded through the central opening in the sta-
tionary plate in a continuous ashion Because normal stresses generate the pump-
ing action this machine is sometimes reerred to as a normal stress extruderThis extruder is quite interesting rom a rheological point o view since it is prob-
ably the only extruder that utilizes the elasticity o the melt or its conveying Thus
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983091983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
several detailed experimental and theoretical studies have been devoted to the elas-
tic melt extruder [42ndash47]
The detailed study by Fritz [44] concluded that transport by normal stresses only
could be as much as two orders o magnitude lower than a corresponding system
with orced eed In addition substantial temperature gradients developed in the
polymer causing substantial degradation in high molecular weight polyolefins The
scant market acceptance o the elastic melt extruder would tend to confirm Fritzrsquos
conclusions
Several modifications have been proposed to improve the perormance o the elastic
melt extruder Fritz [43] suggested incorporation o spiral grooves to improve the
pressure generating capability essentially combining the elastic melt extruder and
the spiral disk extruder into one machine In Russia [47] several modifications
were made to the design o the elastic melt extruder One o those combined a screwextruder with the elastic melt extruder to eliminate the eeding and plasticating
problem Despite all o these activities the elastic melt extruder has not been able to
acquire a position o importance in the extrusion industry
983090983091983091Overview of Disk Extruders
Many attempts have been made in the past to come up with a continuous plasticat-
ing extruder o simple design that could perorm better than the single screw ex-truder It seems air to say that at this point in time no disk extruder has been able
to meet this goal The simple disk extruders do not perorm nearly as well as the
single screw extruder The more complex disk extruder such as the diskpack can
possibly outperorm the single screw extruder However this is at the expense o
design simplicity thus increasing the cost o the machine Disk extruders there-
ore have not been able to seriously challenge the position o the single screw
extruder This is not to say however that it is not possible or this to happen some
time in the uture But considering the long dominance o the single screw extruder
it is not probable that a new disk extruder will come along that can challenge the
single screw extruder
983090983092Ram Extruders
Ram or plunger extruders are simple in design rugged and discontinuous in their
mode o operation Ram extruders are essentially positive displacement devices and
are able to generate very high pressures Because o the intermittent operation o
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983091983095
ram extruders they are ideally suited or cyclic processes such as injection molding
and blow molding In act the early molding machines were almost exclusively
equipped with ram extruders to supply the polymer melt to the mold Certain limita-
tions o the ram extruder have caused a switch to reciprocating screw extruders or
combinations o the two The two main limitations are
1 Limited melting capacity
2 Poor temperature uniormity o the polymer melt
Presently ram extruders are used in relatively small shot size molding machines
and certain specialty operations where use is made o the positive displacement
characteristics and the outstanding pressure generation capability There are basic-
ally two types o ram extruders single ram extruders and multi ram extruders
983090983092983089Single Ram Extruders
The single ram extruder is used in small general purpose molding machines but
also in some special polymer processing operations One such operation is the ex-
trusion o intractable polymers such as ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene
(UHMWPE) or polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) These polymers are not considered to
be melt processable on conventional melt processing equipment Teledynamik [48]
has built a ram injection-molding machine under a license rom Th Engel who
developed the prototype machine This machine is used to mold UHMWPE under
very high pressures The machine uses a reciprocating plunger that densifies the
cold incoming material with a pressure up to 300 MPa (about 44000 psi) The re-
quency o the ram can be adjusted continuously with a maximum o 250 strokes
minute The densified material is orced through heated channels into the heated
cylinder where final melting takes place The material is then injected into a mold
by a telescoping injection ram Pressures up to 100 MPa (about 14500 psi) occur
during the injection o the polymer into the mold
Another application is the extrusion o PTFE with again the primary ingredient orsuccessul extrusion being very high pressures Granular PTFE can be extruded at
slow rates in a ram extruder [49ndash51] The powder is compacted by the ram orced
into a die where the material is heated above the melting point and shaped into the
desired orm PTFE is ofen processed as a PTFE paste [52 53] This is small particle
size PTFE powder (about 02 mm) mixed with a processing aid such as naphta PTFE
paste can be extruded at room temperature or slightly above room temperature
Afer extrusion the processing aid is removed by heating the extrudate above its
volatilization temperature The extruded PTFE paste product may be sintered i the
application requires a more ully coalesced product
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983091983096 983090Different Types of Extruders
983090983092983089983089Solid State Extrusion
An extrusion technique that has slowly been gaining popularity is solid-state extru-
sion The polymer is orced through a die while it is below its melting point This
causes substantial deormation o the polymer in the die but since the polymer is in
the solid state a very effective molecular orientation takes place This orientation ismuch more effective than the one which occurs in conventional melt processing As
a result extraordinary mechanical properties can be obtained
Solid-state extrusion is a technique borrowed rom the metal industry where solid-
state extrusion has been used commercially since the late 1940s Bridgman [54]
was one o the first to do a systematic study on the effect o pressure on the mechan-
ical properties o metals He also studied polymers and ound that the glass tran-
sition temperature was raised by the application o pressure
There are two methods o solid-state extrusion one is direct solid-state extrusionthe other is hydrostatic extrusion In direct solid-state extrusion a pre-ormed solid
rod o material (a billet) is in direct contact with the plunger and the walls o the
extrusion die see Fig 220 The material is extruded as the ram is pushed towards
the die
Plunger
Billet
Barrel
DieExtrudate Figure 983090983090983088
Direct solid state extrusion
In hydrostatic extrusion the pressure required or extrusion is transmitted rom the
plunger to the billet through a lubricating liquid usually castor oil The billet must
be shaped to fit the die to prevent loss o fluid The hydrostatic fluid reduces the ric-
tion thereby reducing the extrusion pressure see Fig 221
In hydrostatic extrusion the pressure-generating device or the fluid does not neces-
sarily have to be in close proximity to the orming part o the machine The fluid canbe supplied to the extrusion device by high-pressure tubes
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983091983097
Plunger
Billet
Oil
Barrel
DieExtrudate Figure 983090983090983089
Hydrostatic solid state extrusion
Judging rom publications in the open literature most o the work on solid-state
extrusion o polymers is done at universities and research institutes It is possible
o course that some companies are working on solid-state extrusion but are keeping
the inormation proprietary A major research effort in solid-state extrusion has
been made at the University o Amherst Massachusetts [50ndash64] University o
Leeds England [65ndash72] Fyushu University Fukuoka Japan [73ndash76] Research
Institute or Polymers and Textiles Yokohama Japan [77ndash79] Battelle Columbus
Ohio [80ndash83] and Rutgers University New Brunswick New Jersey [84ndash86] As
mentioned earlier publications rom other sources are considerably less plentiul
[87ndash90] Efforts have also been made to achieve the same high degree o orientation
in a more or less conventional extrusion process by special die design and tempera-
ture control in the die region [91]
Table 25 shows a comparison o mechanical properties between steel aluminum
solid state extruded HDPE and HDPE extruded by conventional means
Table 25 clearly indicates that the mechanical properties o solid-state extruded
HDPE are much superior to the melt extruded HDPE In act the tensile strength o
solid-state extruded HDPE is about the same as carbon steel There are some other
interesting benefits associated with solidstate extrusion o polymers There is essen-
tially no die swell at high extrusion ratios (extrusion ratio is the ratio o the area in
the cylinder to the area in the die) Thus the dimensions o the extrudate closely
conorm to those o the die exit The surace o the extrudate produced by hydro-
static extrusion has a lower coefficient o riction than that o the un-oriented poly-
mer Above a certain extrusion ratio (about ten) polyethylene and polypropylene
become transparent Further solid-state extruded polymers maintain their ten-sile properties at elevated temperatures Polyethylene maintains its modulus up to
120degC when it is extruded in the solid state at a high extrusion ratio The thermal
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983092983088 983090Different Types of Extruders
conductivity in the extrusion direction is much higher than that o the un-oriented
polymer as much as 25 times higher The melting point o the solid-state extruded
polymer increases with the amount o orientation The melting point o HDPE can be
shifed to as high as 140degC
Table 25 Comparison of Mechanical Properties
Material Tensile modulus[MPa]
Tensile strength[MPa]
Elongation[]
Density[gcc]
Annealed SAE 1020 210000 410 35 786
W-200 degF SAE 1020 210000 720 6 786
Annealed 304 stainless
steel
200000 590 50 792
Aluminum 1100ndash0 70000 90 45 271
HDPE solid state
extruded
70000 480 3 097
HDPE melt extruded 10000 30 20ndash1000 096
A recent application o solid-state extrusion is the process developed by Synthetic
Hardwood Technologies Inc [107] This company has developed an expanded ori-
ented wood-filled polypropylene (EOW-PP) that is about 300 stronger than regular
PP The process is based on technology developed at Aluminum Company o Canada
Ltd (Alcan) in the early 1990s to solidstate extrude PP It involves ram extrusion
drawing o billets o PP just below the melting point with very high draw ratio and
high haul-off tension (about 3 MPa) to reeze-in the high level o orientation Alcan
did not pursue the technology and Symplastics Ltd licensed the patented process
this company started experimenting with adding small amounts o wood flour to the
PP However Symplastics ound the research and development too costly and sold
the patents and lab extrusion equipment to Frank Maine who set up SHW to com-
mercialize applications or the EOW-PP The key to the SHW process is that it com-
bines extrusion with drawing As the polymer is oriented the density drops about
50 rom about 1 g cc to 05 g cc The die drawing also allowed substantial in-creases in line speed rom about 0050 m min to about 9 m min The properties
achieved with EOW-PP are shown in Table 24 and compared to regular PP wood
and oriented PP
Solid-state extrusion has been practiced with coextrusion o different polymers [93]
Despite the large amount o research on solid-state extrusion and the outstanding
mechanical properties that can be obtained there does not seem to be much interest
in the polymer industry The main drawbacks o course are that solid-state extru-
sion is basically a discontinuous process it cannot be done on conventional polymer
processing equipment and very high pressures are required to achieve solid-stateextrusion Also one should keep in mind that very good mechanical properties can
be obtained by taking a profile (fiber film tube etc) produced by conventional con-
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983092983089
tinuous extrusion and exposing it to controlled deormation at a temperature below
the melting point This is a well-established technique in many extrusion operations
(fiber spinning film extrusion etc) and it can be done at a high rate This method
o producing extrudates with very good mechanical properties is likely to be more
cost-effective than solid-state extrusion It is possible that the die drawing processdeveloped by SHW can make solid-state extrusion more attractive commercially by
allowing large profiles to be processed at reasonable line speeds
Table 26 Mechanical Properties of PP Wood OPP and EOW-PP
Flexural strength [MPa] Flexural modulus [MPa]
Regular PP 50 1850
Wood 100 9000
Oriented PP 275 7600EOW-PP 140 7600
983090983092983090Multi Ram Extruder
As mentioned beore the main disadvantage o ram extruders is their intermittent
operation Several attempts have been made to overcome this problem by designing
multi-ram extruders that work together in such a way as to produce a continuousflow o material
Westover [94] designed a continuous ram extruder that combined our plunger-
cylinders Two plunger-cylinders were used or plasticating and two or pumping
An intricate shuttle valve connecting all the plunger cylinders provides continuous
extrusion
Another attempt to develop a continuous ram extruder was made by Yi and Fenner
[95] They designed a twin ram extruder with the cylinders in a V-configuration see
Fig 222The two rams discharge into a common barrel in which a plasticating shaf is rotat-
ing Thus solids conveying occurs in the two separate cylinders and plasticating
and melt conveying occurs in the annular region between the barrel and plasticat-
ing shaf The machine is able to extrude however the throughput uniormity is
poor The perormance could probably have been improved i the plasticating shaf
had been provided with a helical channel But o course then the machine would
have become a screw extruder with a ram-assisted eed This only goes to demon-
strate that it is ar rom easy to improve upon the simple screw extruder
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983092983090 983090Different Types of Extruders
Die Breaker plate
Plasticating shaft
Main
block
Feed cylinder
Figure 222 Twin ram extruder
983090983092983091 Appendix 983090983089
983090983092983091983089 Pumping Efficiency in Diskpack Extruder
The velocity profile between the moving walls is a parabolic unction when the fluid
is a Newtonian fluid see Section 621 and Fig 223
y
z H
Small pressure gradient
Medium pressure gradient
Large pressure gradient
Figure 983090983090983091
Velocity profiles between moving
walls
The velocity profile or a Newtonian fluid is
L8
PH
H
y41vv(y)
2
2
2
∆micro∆
minusminus= (1)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983092983091
where v is the velocity o the plates H the distance between the plates and μ the
viscosity o the fluid The flow rate can be ound by integrating v(y) over the width
and depth o the channel this yields
L12
PWHvWHV
3
∆micro∆minus=
bull
(2)
The first term on the right-hand side o the equalation is the drag flow term The
second term is the pressure flow term The ratio o pressure flow to drag flow is
termed the throttle ratio rd (see Section 7413)
r d =Lv12
PH2
∆micro
∆ (3)
The flow rate can now be written as
(4)
The shear stress at the wall is obtained rom
dv H∆Pτ = micro =dy
05H 2∆L
(5)
The power consumption in the channel is
Zch = PvHWLvW2 ∆=∆τ (6)
The energy efficiency or pressure generation is
V∆Pε = =1 minus r
d Zch
(7)
Equation 7 is not valid or rd = 0 because in this case both numerator and denomi-
nator become zero From Eq 7 it can be seen that when the machine is operated atlow rd values the pumping efficiency can become close to 100 This is considerably
better than the single screw extruder where the optimum pumping efficiency is 33
at a throttle ratio value o 033 (rd = 13)
References
1 J LeBras ldquoRubber Fundamentals o its Science and Technologyrdquo Chemical Publ Co
NY (1957)
2 W S Penn ldquoSynthetic Rubber Technology Volume Irdquo MacLaren amp Sons Ltd London(1960)
3 W J S Naunton ldquoThe Applied Science o Rubberrdquo Edward Arnold Ltd London (1961)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3437
983092983092 983090Different Types of Extruders
4 C M Blow ldquoRubber Technology and Manuacturerdquo Butterworth amp Co Ltd London
(1971)
5 F R Eirich (Ed) ldquoScience and Technology o Rubberrdquo Academic Press NY (1978)
6 C W Evans ldquoPowdered and Particulate Rubber Technologyrdquo Applied Science Publ Ltd
London (1978)
7 G Targiel et al 10 IKV-Kolloquium Aachen March 12ndash14 45 (1980)
8 A Kennaway Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 17 378ndash391 (1964)
9 G Menges and J P Lehnen Plastverarbeiter 20 1 31ndash39 (1969)
10 M Parshall and A J Saulino Rubber World 2 5 78ndash83 (1967)
11 S E Perlberg Rubber World 2 6 71ndash76 (1967)
12 H H Gohlisch Gummi Asbest Kunststoffe 25 9 834ndash835 (1972)
13 E Harms ldquoKautschuk-Extruder Aubau und Einsatz aus verahrenstechnischer Sichtrdquo
Krausskop-Verlag Mainz Bd 2 Buchreihe Kunststo983142echnik (1974)
14 G Schwarz Eur Rubber Journal Sept 28ndash32 (1977)
15 G Menges and E G Harms Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 25 10 469ndash475 (1972)
16 G Menges and E G Harms Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 27 5 187ndash193 (1974)
17 E G Harms Elastomerics 109 6 33ndash39 (1977)
18 E G Harms Eur Rubber Journal 6 23 (1978)
19 E G Harms Kunststoffe 69 1 32ndash33 (1979)
20 E G Harms Dissertation RWTH Aachen Germany (1981)21 S H Collins Plastics Compounding Nov Dec 29 (1982)
22 D Anders Kunststoffe 69 194ndash198 (1979)
23 D Gras and K Eise SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 21 386 (1975)
24 R F Westover SPE Journal 18 12 1473 (1962)
25 Lord Raleigh Philosophical Magazine 35 1ndash12 (1918)
26 German Patent DRP 1129681
27 British Patent BP 759354
28 U S Patent 3880564
29 U S Patent 4012477
30 J F Ingen Housz Plastverarbeiter 10 1 (1975)
31 U S Patent 4142805
32 U S Patent 4194841
33 U S Patent 4213709
34 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 25 193 (1979)
35 P Hold Z Tadmor and L Valsamis SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 25 205 (1979)
36 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis Plastics Engineering Nov 20ndash25 (1979)
37 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis Plastics Engineering Dec 30ndash38 (1979)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3537
References 983092983093
38 Z Tadmor et al The Diskpack Plastics Processor Farrel Publication Jan (1982)
39 L Valsamis AIChE Meeting Washington D C Oct (1983)
40 B Maxwell and A J Scalora Modern Plastics 37 107 Oct (1959)
41 U S Patent 3 046603
42 L L Blyler PhD thesis Princeton University NJ (1966)
43 H G Fritz Kunststo983142echnik 6 430 (1968)
44 H G Fritz PhD thesis Stuttgart University Germany (1971)
45 C W Macosko and J M Starita SPE Journal 27 30 (1971)
46 P A Good A J Schwartz and C W Macosko AIChE Journal 20 1 67 (1974)
47 V L Kocherov Y L Lukach E A Sporyagin and G V Vinogradov Polym Eng Sci 13
194 (1973)
48 J Berzen and G Braun Kunststoffe 69 2 62ndash66 (1979)49 R S Porter et al J Polym Sci 17 485ndash488 (1979)
50 C A Sperati Modern Plastics Encyclopedia McGraw-Hill NY (1983)
51 S S Schwartz and S H Goodman see Chapter 1 [36]
52 G R Snelling and J F Lontz J Appl Polym Sci 3 9 257ndash265 (1960)
53 D C F Couzens Plastics and Rubber Processing March 45ndash48 (1976)
54 P W Bridgman ldquoStudies in Large Plastic Flow and Fracturerdquo McGraw-Hill NY (1952)
55 H L D Push ldquoThe Mechanical Behavior o Materials Under Pressurerdquo Elsevier Amster-
dam (1970)56 H L D Push and A H Low J Inst Metals 93 201 (196565)
57 F Slack Mach Design Oct 7 61ndash64 (1982)
58 J H Southern and R S Porter J Appl Polym Sci 14 2305 (1970)
59 J H Southern and R S Porter J Macromol Sci Phys 3ndash4 541 (1970)
60 J H Southern N E Weeks and R S Porter Macromol Chem 162 19 (1972)
61 N J Capiati and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 13 1177 (1975)
62 R S Porter J H Southern and N E Weeks Polym Eng Sci 15 213 (1975)
63 A E Zachariades E S Sherman and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 17 255
(1979)
64 A E Zachariades and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 17 277 (1979)
65 B Parsons D Bretherton and B N Cole in Advances in MTDR 11th Int Con Proc
S A Tobias and F Koeningsberger (Eds) Pergamon Press London Vol B 1049 (1971)
66 G Capaccio and I M Ward Polymer 15 233 (1974)
67 A G Gibson I M Ward B N Cole and B Parsons J Mater Sci 9 1193ndash1196 (1974)
68 A G Gibson and I M Ward J Appl Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 16 2015ndash2030 (1978)
69 P S Hope and B Parsons Polym Eng Sci 20 589ndash600 (1980)
70 P S Hope I M Ward and A G Gibson J Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 18 1242ndash1256
(1980)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983092983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
71 P S Hope A G Gibson B Parsons and I M Ward Polym Eng Sci 20 54ndash55 (1980)
72 B Parsons and I M Ward Plast Rubber Proc Appl 2 3 215ndash224 (1982)
73 K Imada T Yamamoto K Shigematsu and M Takayanagi J Mater Sci 6 537ndash546
(1971)
74 K Nakamura K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 2 71 (1972)
75 K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 2 89 (1973)
76 K Nakamura K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 3 23 (1974)
77 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Mater Sci 10 1105 (1975)
78 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Mater Sci 12 1477 (1977)
79 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Appl Polym Sci 23 2543ndash2554 (1979)
80 D M Bigg Polym Eng Sci 16 725 (1976)
81 D M Bigg M M Epstein R J Fiorentino and E G Smith Polym Eng Sci 18 908(1978)
82 D M Bigg and M M Epstein ldquoScience and Technology o Polymer Processingrdquo N S Suh
and N Sung (Eds) 897 MIT Press (1979)
83 D M Bigg M M Epstein R J Fiorentino and E G Smith J Appl Polym Sci 26 395ndash
409 (1981)
84 K D Pae and D R Mears J Polym Sci B-6 269 (1968)
85 K D Pae D R Mears and J A Sauer J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 6 773 (1968)
86 D R Mears K P Pae and J A Sauer J Appl Phys 40 11 4229ndash4237 (1969)
87 L A Davis and C A Pampillo J Appl Phys 42 12 4659ndash4666 (1971)
88 A Buckley and H A Long Polym Eng Sci 9 2 115ndash120 (1969)
89 L A Davis Polym Eng Sci 14 9 641ndash645 (1974)
90 R K Okine and N P Suh Polym Eng Sci 22 5 269ndash279 (1982)
91 J R Collier T Y T Tam J Newcome and N Dinos Polym Eng Sci 16 204ndash211 (1976)
92 J H Faupel and F E Fisher ldquoEngineering Designrdquo Wiley NY (1981)
93 A E Zachariades R Ball and R S Porter J Mater Sci 13 2671ndash2675 (1978)
94 R R Westover Modern Plastics March (1963) 95 B Yi and R T Fenner Plastics and Polymers Dec 224ndash228 (1975)
96 A Mekkaoui and L N Valsamis Polym Eng Sci 24 1260ndash1269 (1984)
97 H Rust Kunststoffe 73 342ndash346 (1983)
98 J Huszman Kunststoffe 73 3437ndash348 (1983)
99 J M McKelvey U Maire and F Haupt Chem Eng Sept 27 94ndash102 (1976)
100 K Schneider Kunststoffe 68 201ndash206 (1978)
101 W T Rice Plastic Technology 87ndash91 Feb (1980)
102 Harrel Corp ldquoMelt Pump Systems or Extrudersrdquo Product Description TDS-264 (1982)
103 J M McKelvey and W T Rice Chem Eng 90 2 89ndash94 (1983)
104 K Kaper K Eise and H Herrmann SPE ANTEC Chicago 161ndash163 (1983)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3737
References 983092983095
105 C L Woodworth SPE ANTEC New Orleans 122ndash126 (1984)
106 W A Kramer SPE ANTEC Washington D C 23ndash29 (1985)
107 J Schut ldquoDie Drawing Makes Plastic Steelrdquo Plastics Technology Online Article March
5 (2001)
108 VDI Conerence Extrusiontechnik 2006 ldquoDer Einschnecken-Extruder von Morgenrdquo VDI
Verlag GmbH Duumlsseldor (2006)
109 P Rieg ldquoLatest Developments in High-Speed Extrusionrdquo Plastic Extrusion Asia Con-
erence Bangkok Thailand March 17ndash18 (2008) also presented at Advances in Ex-
trusion Conerence New Orleans December 9ndash10 (2008)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983096 983090Different Types of Extruders
their output to within plusmn 1 I the output fluctuation is considerably larger than 1
there is probably something wrong with the machine very ofen incorrect screw
design In these cases solving the actual problem will generally be more efficient
than adding a gear pump For an efficient extruder-gear pump system the extruder
screw has to be modified to reduce the pressure-generating capacity o the screw
Gear pumps can be used advantageously
1 On extruders with poor pressure-generating capability (e g co-rotating twin
screws multi-stage vented extruders etc)
2 When output stability is required better than 1 i e in close tolerance extru-
sion (e g fiber spinning cable extrusion medical tubing coextrusion etc)
Gear pumps can cause problems when
1 The polymer contains abrasive components because o the small clearances thegear pump is very susceptible to wear
2 When the polymer is susceptible to degradation gear pumps are not sel-clean-
ing and combined with the exposure to high temperatures this will result in
degraded product
983090983091Disk Extruders
There are a number o extruders which do not utilize an Archimedean screw or
transport o the material but still all in the class o continuous extruders Some-
times these machines are reerred to as screwless extruders These machines
employ some kind o disk or drum to extrude the material One can classiy the disk
extruders according to their conveying mechanism (see Table 21) Most o the disk
extruders are based on viscous drag transport One special disk extruder utilizes
the elasticity o polymer melts to convey the material and to develop the necessary
diehead pressure
Disk extruders have been around or a long time at least since 1950 However at
this point in time the industrial significance o disk extruders is still relatively small
compared to screw extruders
983090983091983089Viscous Drag Disk Extruders
983090983091983089983089Stepped Disk Extruder
One o the first disk extruders was developed by Westover at Bell Telephone Labo-
ratories it is ofen reerred to as a stepped disk extruder or slider pad extruder [24]
A schematic picture o the extruder is shown in Fig 213
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983090983097
In
Out
Figure 983090983089983091
The stepped disk
The heart o the machine is the stepped disk positioned a small distance rom a flat
disk When one o the disks is rotated with a polymer melt in the axial gap a pres-
sure build-up will occur at the transition o one gap size to another smaller gap sizesee Fig 214
v
Distance
P r e s s u r e
Figure 983090983089983092
Pressure generation in the step region
I exit channels are incorporated into the stepped disk the polymer can be extruded
in a continuous ashion The design o this extruder is based on Rayleighrsquos [25]
analysis o hydrodynamic lubrication in various geometries He concluded that the
parallel stepped pad was capable o supporting the greatest load The stepped disk
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983091983088 983090Different Types of Extruders
extruder has also been designed in a different configuration using a gradual change
in gap size This extruder has a wedge-shaped disk with a gradual increase in pres-
sure with radial distance
A practical disadvantage o the stepped disk extruder is the act that the machine is
difficult to clean because o the intricate design o the flow channels in the stepped
disk
983090983091983089983090Drum Extruder
Another rather old concept is the drum extruder A schematic picture o a machine
manuactured by Schmid amp Kocher in Switzerland is shown in Fig 215
In
OutOutIn
Figure 983090983089983093 The drum extruder by Schmid amp Kocher
Material is ed by a eed hopper into an annular space between rotor and barrel By
the rotational motion o the rotor the material is carried along the circumerence o
the barrel Just beore the material reaches the eed hopper it encounters a wiper
bar This wiper bar scrapes the polymer rom the rotor and deflects the polymer flow
into a channel that leads to the extruder die Several patents [26 27] were issued on
this design however these patents have long since expired
A very similar extruder (see Fig 216) was developed by Askco Engineering andCosden Oil amp Chemical in a joint venture later this became Permian Research Two
patents have been issued on this design [28 29] even though the concept is very
similar to the Schmid amp Kocher design
One special eature o this design is the capability to adjust the local gap by means
o a choker bar similar to the gap adjustment in a flat sheet die see Section 92 The
choker bar in this drum extruder is activated by adjustable hydraulic oil pressure
Drum extruders have not been able to be a serious competition to the single screw
extruder over the last 50 years
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983091983089
Hopper
DieRotor
Housing
Wiper bar
Hopper
Wiper bar
DieRotor
Housing
Figure 983090983089983094
The drum extruder by AskoCosden
983090983091983089983091Spiral Disk Extruder
The spiral disk extruder is another type o disk extruder that has been known or
many years Several patented designs were described by Schenkel (Chapter 1 [3])
Similar to the stepped disk extruder the development o the spiral disk extruder
is closely connected to spiral groove bearings It has long been known that spiral
groove bearings are capable o supporting substantial loads Ingen Housz [30] has
analyzed the melt conveying in a spiral disk extruder with logarithmic grooves in
the disk based on Newtonian flow behavior o the polymer melt In terms o melt
conveying capability the spiral disk extruder seems comparable to the screw ex-truder however the solids conveying capability is questionable
983090983091983089983092Diskpack Extruder
Another development in disk extruders is the diskpack extruder Tadmor originated
the idea o the diskpack machine which is covered under several patents [31ndash33]
The development o the machine was undertaken by the Farrel Machinery Group o
Emgart Corporation in cooperation with Tadmor [34ndash39] The basic concept o the
machine is shown in Fig 217Material drops in the axial gap between relatively thin disks mounted on a rotating
shaf The material will move with the disks almost a ull turn then it meets a chan-
nel block The channel block closes off the space between the disks and deflects the
polymer flow to either an outlet channel or to a transer channel in the barrel The
shape o the disks can be optimized or specific unctions solids conveying melting
devolatilization melt conveying and mixing A detailed unctional analysis can be
ound in Tadmorrsquos book on polymer processing (Chapter 1 [32])
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983091983090 983090Different Types of Extruders
v
v
Channel blockInlet
Outlet
Barrel
Solid bed
Shaft
Melt pool
Inlet Channel block
Outlet
Melt pool
Solid bed
Barrel
Shaft
v
v Figure 983090983089983095
The diskpack extruder
It is claimed that this machine can perorm all basic polymer-processing operations
with efficiency equaling or surpassing existing machinery Clearly i the claim is
true and can be delivered or a competitive price the diskpack extruder will become
an important machine in the extrusion industry The first diskpack machines were
delivered to the industry in 1982 still under a joint development type o agreement
Now almost 20 years afer the first diskpack machines were delivered it is clear
that the acceptance o these machines in the industry has been very limited In act
Farrel no longer actively markets the diskpack machine In most o the publications
the diskpack machine is reerred to as a polymer processor This term is probably
used to indicate that this machine can do more than just extruding although the
diskpack is o course an extruder
The diskpack machine incorporates some o the eatures o the drum extruder and
the single screw extruder One can think o the diskpack as a single screw extruder
using a screw with zero helix angle and very deep flights Forward axial transportcan only take place by transport channels in the barrel with the material orced into
those channels by a restrictor bar as with the drum extruder The use o restrictor
bars (channel block) and transer channels in the housing make it considerably
more complex than the barrel o a single screw extruder
One o the advantages o the diskpack is that mixing blocks and spreading dams can
be incorporated into the machine as shown in Fig 218(a)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983091983091
v
v
Channel blockInlet
Outlet
Mixing block
Disk
Inlet Channel block
Outlet
Mixing blockDisk v
v Figure 983090983089983096(a)
Mixing blocks in the diskpack
Mixing blocks o various shapes can be positioned externally into the processing
chamber This is similar to the QSM extruder only that in the QSM extruder the
screw flight has to be interrupted to avoid contact This is not necessary in the disk-
pack because the flights have zero helix angles in other words they run perpen-
dicular to the rotor axis By the number o blocks the geometry o the block and the
clearance between block and disk one can tailor the mixing capability to the par-
ticular application The use o spreading dams allows the generation o a thin film
with a large surace area this results in effective devolatilization capability The
diskpack has inherently higher pressure-generating capability than the single
screw extruder does This is because the diskpack has two dragging suraces while
the single screw extruder has only one see Fig 218(b)
v
v=0
v
v
Conveying mechanismsingle screw extruder
Conveying mechanism
diskpack extruder Figure 983090983089983096(b)
Comparison of conveying mechanism in diskpackand single screw extruder
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983091983092 983090Different Types of Extruders
At the same net flow rate equal viscosity equal plate velocity and optimum plate
separation the theoretical maximum pressure gradient o the diskpack is eight
times higher than the single screw extruder [34] Thus high pressures can be gen-
erated over a short distance which allows a more compact machine design The
energy efficiency o the pressure generation is also better than in the single screwextruder the maximum pumping efficiency approaches 100 see derivation in
Appendix 21 For the single screw extruder the maximum pumping efficiency is
only 33 as discussed in Section 7413 The energy efficiency o pressure genera-
tion is the ratio o the theoretical energy requirement (flow rate times pressure rise)
to the actual energy requirement (wall velocity times shear stress integrated over
wall surace) It should be noted that the two dragging platesrsquo pumping mechanism
exists only in tangential direction The pumping in axial (orward) direction occurs
only in the transer channel in the housing This orward pumping occurs by the one
dragging plate mechanism as in the single screw extruder The maximum efficiency
or orward pumping thereore is only 33 The overall pumping efficiency will be
somewhere between 33 and 100 i the power consumption in the disk and channel
block clearance is neglected
Studies on melting in the diskpack were reported by Valsamis et al [96] It was
ound that two types o melting mechanism could take place in the diskpack the
drag melt removal (DMR) mechanism and the dissipative melt mixing (DMM) mech-
anism The DMR melting mechanism is the predominant mechanism in single screw
extruders this is discussed in detail in Section 73 In the DMR melting mechanismthe solids and melt coexist as two largely continuous and separate phases In the
DMM melting mechanism the solids are dispersed in the melt there is no conti-
nuous solid bed It was ound that the DMM mechanism could be induced by pro-
moting back leakage o the polymer melt past the channel block This can be con-
trolled by varying the clearance between the channel block and the disks The
advantage o the DMM melting mechanism is that the melting rate can be substan-
tially higher than with the DMR mechanism reportedly by as much as a actor o 3
[96]
Among all elementary polymer processing unctions the solids conveying in a disk-
pack extruder has not been discussed to any extent in the open technical literature
Considering that the solids conveying mechanism is a rictional drag mechanism
(as in single screw extruders) and not a positive displacement type o transport (as
in intermeshing counterrotating twin screw extruders see Sections 102 and 104)
it can be expected that the diskpack will have solids conveying limitations similar
to those o single screw extruders see Section 722 This means that powders
blends o powders and pellets slippery materials etc are likely to encounter solids
conveying problems in a diskpack extruder unless special measures are taken toenhance the solids conveying capability (e g crammer eeder grooves in the disks
etc)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983091983093
Because o the more complex machine geometry the cost per unit throughput o the
diskpack is higher than or the conventional single screw extruder Thereore the
diskpack does not compete directly with single screw extruders
Applications or the diskpack are specialty polymer processing operations such as
polymerization post-reactor processing (devolatilization) continuous compound-
ing etc As such the diskpack competes mostly with twin screw extruders Pres-
ently twin screw extruders are usually the first choice when it comes to specialty
polymer processing operations
983090983091983090The Elastic Melt Extruder
The elastic melt extruder was developed in the late 1950s by Maxwell and Scalora[40 41] The extruder makes use o the viscoelastic in particular the elastic pro-
perties o polymer melts When a viscoelastic fluid is exposed to a shearing deor-
mation normal stresses will develop in the fluid that are not equal in all directions
as opposed to a purely viscous fluid In the elastic melt extruder the polymer is
sheared between two plates one stationary and one rotating see Fig 219
Hopper
Heaters
Solid polymer
Die
Extrudate
Polymer melt
Rotor
Solid polymerHopper
Heaters
Die
Extrudate
Polymer melt
Rotor
Figure 983090983089983097
The elastic melt extruder
As the polymer is sheared normal stresses will generate a centripetal pumping
action Thus the polymer can be extruded through the central opening in the sta-
tionary plate in a continuous ashion Because normal stresses generate the pump-
ing action this machine is sometimes reerred to as a normal stress extruderThis extruder is quite interesting rom a rheological point o view since it is prob-
ably the only extruder that utilizes the elasticity o the melt or its conveying Thus
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983091983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
several detailed experimental and theoretical studies have been devoted to the elas-
tic melt extruder [42ndash47]
The detailed study by Fritz [44] concluded that transport by normal stresses only
could be as much as two orders o magnitude lower than a corresponding system
with orced eed In addition substantial temperature gradients developed in the
polymer causing substantial degradation in high molecular weight polyolefins The
scant market acceptance o the elastic melt extruder would tend to confirm Fritzrsquos
conclusions
Several modifications have been proposed to improve the perormance o the elastic
melt extruder Fritz [43] suggested incorporation o spiral grooves to improve the
pressure generating capability essentially combining the elastic melt extruder and
the spiral disk extruder into one machine In Russia [47] several modifications
were made to the design o the elastic melt extruder One o those combined a screwextruder with the elastic melt extruder to eliminate the eeding and plasticating
problem Despite all o these activities the elastic melt extruder has not been able to
acquire a position o importance in the extrusion industry
983090983091983091Overview of Disk Extruders
Many attempts have been made in the past to come up with a continuous plasticat-
ing extruder o simple design that could perorm better than the single screw ex-truder It seems air to say that at this point in time no disk extruder has been able
to meet this goal The simple disk extruders do not perorm nearly as well as the
single screw extruder The more complex disk extruder such as the diskpack can
possibly outperorm the single screw extruder However this is at the expense o
design simplicity thus increasing the cost o the machine Disk extruders there-
ore have not been able to seriously challenge the position o the single screw
extruder This is not to say however that it is not possible or this to happen some
time in the uture But considering the long dominance o the single screw extruder
it is not probable that a new disk extruder will come along that can challenge the
single screw extruder
983090983092Ram Extruders
Ram or plunger extruders are simple in design rugged and discontinuous in their
mode o operation Ram extruders are essentially positive displacement devices and
are able to generate very high pressures Because o the intermittent operation o
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983091983095
ram extruders they are ideally suited or cyclic processes such as injection molding
and blow molding In act the early molding machines were almost exclusively
equipped with ram extruders to supply the polymer melt to the mold Certain limita-
tions o the ram extruder have caused a switch to reciprocating screw extruders or
combinations o the two The two main limitations are
1 Limited melting capacity
2 Poor temperature uniormity o the polymer melt
Presently ram extruders are used in relatively small shot size molding machines
and certain specialty operations where use is made o the positive displacement
characteristics and the outstanding pressure generation capability There are basic-
ally two types o ram extruders single ram extruders and multi ram extruders
983090983092983089Single Ram Extruders
The single ram extruder is used in small general purpose molding machines but
also in some special polymer processing operations One such operation is the ex-
trusion o intractable polymers such as ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene
(UHMWPE) or polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) These polymers are not considered to
be melt processable on conventional melt processing equipment Teledynamik [48]
has built a ram injection-molding machine under a license rom Th Engel who
developed the prototype machine This machine is used to mold UHMWPE under
very high pressures The machine uses a reciprocating plunger that densifies the
cold incoming material with a pressure up to 300 MPa (about 44000 psi) The re-
quency o the ram can be adjusted continuously with a maximum o 250 strokes
minute The densified material is orced through heated channels into the heated
cylinder where final melting takes place The material is then injected into a mold
by a telescoping injection ram Pressures up to 100 MPa (about 14500 psi) occur
during the injection o the polymer into the mold
Another application is the extrusion o PTFE with again the primary ingredient orsuccessul extrusion being very high pressures Granular PTFE can be extruded at
slow rates in a ram extruder [49ndash51] The powder is compacted by the ram orced
into a die where the material is heated above the melting point and shaped into the
desired orm PTFE is ofen processed as a PTFE paste [52 53] This is small particle
size PTFE powder (about 02 mm) mixed with a processing aid such as naphta PTFE
paste can be extruded at room temperature or slightly above room temperature
Afer extrusion the processing aid is removed by heating the extrudate above its
volatilization temperature The extruded PTFE paste product may be sintered i the
application requires a more ully coalesced product
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983091983096 983090Different Types of Extruders
983090983092983089983089Solid State Extrusion
An extrusion technique that has slowly been gaining popularity is solid-state extru-
sion The polymer is orced through a die while it is below its melting point This
causes substantial deormation o the polymer in the die but since the polymer is in
the solid state a very effective molecular orientation takes place This orientation ismuch more effective than the one which occurs in conventional melt processing As
a result extraordinary mechanical properties can be obtained
Solid-state extrusion is a technique borrowed rom the metal industry where solid-
state extrusion has been used commercially since the late 1940s Bridgman [54]
was one o the first to do a systematic study on the effect o pressure on the mechan-
ical properties o metals He also studied polymers and ound that the glass tran-
sition temperature was raised by the application o pressure
There are two methods o solid-state extrusion one is direct solid-state extrusionthe other is hydrostatic extrusion In direct solid-state extrusion a pre-ormed solid
rod o material (a billet) is in direct contact with the plunger and the walls o the
extrusion die see Fig 220 The material is extruded as the ram is pushed towards
the die
Plunger
Billet
Barrel
DieExtrudate Figure 983090983090983088
Direct solid state extrusion
In hydrostatic extrusion the pressure required or extrusion is transmitted rom the
plunger to the billet through a lubricating liquid usually castor oil The billet must
be shaped to fit the die to prevent loss o fluid The hydrostatic fluid reduces the ric-
tion thereby reducing the extrusion pressure see Fig 221
In hydrostatic extrusion the pressure-generating device or the fluid does not neces-
sarily have to be in close proximity to the orming part o the machine The fluid canbe supplied to the extrusion device by high-pressure tubes
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983091983097
Plunger
Billet
Oil
Barrel
DieExtrudate Figure 983090983090983089
Hydrostatic solid state extrusion
Judging rom publications in the open literature most o the work on solid-state
extrusion o polymers is done at universities and research institutes It is possible
o course that some companies are working on solid-state extrusion but are keeping
the inormation proprietary A major research effort in solid-state extrusion has
been made at the University o Amherst Massachusetts [50ndash64] University o
Leeds England [65ndash72] Fyushu University Fukuoka Japan [73ndash76] Research
Institute or Polymers and Textiles Yokohama Japan [77ndash79] Battelle Columbus
Ohio [80ndash83] and Rutgers University New Brunswick New Jersey [84ndash86] As
mentioned earlier publications rom other sources are considerably less plentiul
[87ndash90] Efforts have also been made to achieve the same high degree o orientation
in a more or less conventional extrusion process by special die design and tempera-
ture control in the die region [91]
Table 25 shows a comparison o mechanical properties between steel aluminum
solid state extruded HDPE and HDPE extruded by conventional means
Table 25 clearly indicates that the mechanical properties o solid-state extruded
HDPE are much superior to the melt extruded HDPE In act the tensile strength o
solid-state extruded HDPE is about the same as carbon steel There are some other
interesting benefits associated with solidstate extrusion o polymers There is essen-
tially no die swell at high extrusion ratios (extrusion ratio is the ratio o the area in
the cylinder to the area in the die) Thus the dimensions o the extrudate closely
conorm to those o the die exit The surace o the extrudate produced by hydro-
static extrusion has a lower coefficient o riction than that o the un-oriented poly-
mer Above a certain extrusion ratio (about ten) polyethylene and polypropylene
become transparent Further solid-state extruded polymers maintain their ten-sile properties at elevated temperatures Polyethylene maintains its modulus up to
120degC when it is extruded in the solid state at a high extrusion ratio The thermal
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983092983088 983090Different Types of Extruders
conductivity in the extrusion direction is much higher than that o the un-oriented
polymer as much as 25 times higher The melting point o the solid-state extruded
polymer increases with the amount o orientation The melting point o HDPE can be
shifed to as high as 140degC
Table 25 Comparison of Mechanical Properties
Material Tensile modulus[MPa]
Tensile strength[MPa]
Elongation[]
Density[gcc]
Annealed SAE 1020 210000 410 35 786
W-200 degF SAE 1020 210000 720 6 786
Annealed 304 stainless
steel
200000 590 50 792
Aluminum 1100ndash0 70000 90 45 271
HDPE solid state
extruded
70000 480 3 097
HDPE melt extruded 10000 30 20ndash1000 096
A recent application o solid-state extrusion is the process developed by Synthetic
Hardwood Technologies Inc [107] This company has developed an expanded ori-
ented wood-filled polypropylene (EOW-PP) that is about 300 stronger than regular
PP The process is based on technology developed at Aluminum Company o Canada
Ltd (Alcan) in the early 1990s to solidstate extrude PP It involves ram extrusion
drawing o billets o PP just below the melting point with very high draw ratio and
high haul-off tension (about 3 MPa) to reeze-in the high level o orientation Alcan
did not pursue the technology and Symplastics Ltd licensed the patented process
this company started experimenting with adding small amounts o wood flour to the
PP However Symplastics ound the research and development too costly and sold
the patents and lab extrusion equipment to Frank Maine who set up SHW to com-
mercialize applications or the EOW-PP The key to the SHW process is that it com-
bines extrusion with drawing As the polymer is oriented the density drops about
50 rom about 1 g cc to 05 g cc The die drawing also allowed substantial in-creases in line speed rom about 0050 m min to about 9 m min The properties
achieved with EOW-PP are shown in Table 24 and compared to regular PP wood
and oriented PP
Solid-state extrusion has been practiced with coextrusion o different polymers [93]
Despite the large amount o research on solid-state extrusion and the outstanding
mechanical properties that can be obtained there does not seem to be much interest
in the polymer industry The main drawbacks o course are that solid-state extru-
sion is basically a discontinuous process it cannot be done on conventional polymer
processing equipment and very high pressures are required to achieve solid-stateextrusion Also one should keep in mind that very good mechanical properties can
be obtained by taking a profile (fiber film tube etc) produced by conventional con-
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983092983089
tinuous extrusion and exposing it to controlled deormation at a temperature below
the melting point This is a well-established technique in many extrusion operations
(fiber spinning film extrusion etc) and it can be done at a high rate This method
o producing extrudates with very good mechanical properties is likely to be more
cost-effective than solid-state extrusion It is possible that the die drawing processdeveloped by SHW can make solid-state extrusion more attractive commercially by
allowing large profiles to be processed at reasonable line speeds
Table 26 Mechanical Properties of PP Wood OPP and EOW-PP
Flexural strength [MPa] Flexural modulus [MPa]
Regular PP 50 1850
Wood 100 9000
Oriented PP 275 7600EOW-PP 140 7600
983090983092983090Multi Ram Extruder
As mentioned beore the main disadvantage o ram extruders is their intermittent
operation Several attempts have been made to overcome this problem by designing
multi-ram extruders that work together in such a way as to produce a continuousflow o material
Westover [94] designed a continuous ram extruder that combined our plunger-
cylinders Two plunger-cylinders were used or plasticating and two or pumping
An intricate shuttle valve connecting all the plunger cylinders provides continuous
extrusion
Another attempt to develop a continuous ram extruder was made by Yi and Fenner
[95] They designed a twin ram extruder with the cylinders in a V-configuration see
Fig 222The two rams discharge into a common barrel in which a plasticating shaf is rotat-
ing Thus solids conveying occurs in the two separate cylinders and plasticating
and melt conveying occurs in the annular region between the barrel and plasticat-
ing shaf The machine is able to extrude however the throughput uniormity is
poor The perormance could probably have been improved i the plasticating shaf
had been provided with a helical channel But o course then the machine would
have become a screw extruder with a ram-assisted eed This only goes to demon-
strate that it is ar rom easy to improve upon the simple screw extruder
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983092983090 983090Different Types of Extruders
Die Breaker plate
Plasticating shaft
Main
block
Feed cylinder
Figure 222 Twin ram extruder
983090983092983091 Appendix 983090983089
983090983092983091983089 Pumping Efficiency in Diskpack Extruder
The velocity profile between the moving walls is a parabolic unction when the fluid
is a Newtonian fluid see Section 621 and Fig 223
y
z H
Small pressure gradient
Medium pressure gradient
Large pressure gradient
Figure 983090983090983091
Velocity profiles between moving
walls
The velocity profile or a Newtonian fluid is
L8
PH
H
y41vv(y)
2
2
2
∆micro∆
minusminus= (1)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983092983091
where v is the velocity o the plates H the distance between the plates and μ the
viscosity o the fluid The flow rate can be ound by integrating v(y) over the width
and depth o the channel this yields
L12
PWHvWHV
3
∆micro∆minus=
bull
(2)
The first term on the right-hand side o the equalation is the drag flow term The
second term is the pressure flow term The ratio o pressure flow to drag flow is
termed the throttle ratio rd (see Section 7413)
r d =Lv12
PH2
∆micro
∆ (3)
The flow rate can now be written as
(4)
The shear stress at the wall is obtained rom
dv H∆Pτ = micro =dy
05H 2∆L
(5)
The power consumption in the channel is
Zch = PvHWLvW2 ∆=∆τ (6)
The energy efficiency or pressure generation is
V∆Pε = =1 minus r
d Zch
(7)
Equation 7 is not valid or rd = 0 because in this case both numerator and denomi-
nator become zero From Eq 7 it can be seen that when the machine is operated atlow rd values the pumping efficiency can become close to 100 This is considerably
better than the single screw extruder where the optimum pumping efficiency is 33
at a throttle ratio value o 033 (rd = 13)
References
1 J LeBras ldquoRubber Fundamentals o its Science and Technologyrdquo Chemical Publ Co
NY (1957)
2 W S Penn ldquoSynthetic Rubber Technology Volume Irdquo MacLaren amp Sons Ltd London(1960)
3 W J S Naunton ldquoThe Applied Science o Rubberrdquo Edward Arnold Ltd London (1961)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3437
983092983092 983090Different Types of Extruders
4 C M Blow ldquoRubber Technology and Manuacturerdquo Butterworth amp Co Ltd London
(1971)
5 F R Eirich (Ed) ldquoScience and Technology o Rubberrdquo Academic Press NY (1978)
6 C W Evans ldquoPowdered and Particulate Rubber Technologyrdquo Applied Science Publ Ltd
London (1978)
7 G Targiel et al 10 IKV-Kolloquium Aachen March 12ndash14 45 (1980)
8 A Kennaway Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 17 378ndash391 (1964)
9 G Menges and J P Lehnen Plastverarbeiter 20 1 31ndash39 (1969)
10 M Parshall and A J Saulino Rubber World 2 5 78ndash83 (1967)
11 S E Perlberg Rubber World 2 6 71ndash76 (1967)
12 H H Gohlisch Gummi Asbest Kunststoffe 25 9 834ndash835 (1972)
13 E Harms ldquoKautschuk-Extruder Aubau und Einsatz aus verahrenstechnischer Sichtrdquo
Krausskop-Verlag Mainz Bd 2 Buchreihe Kunststo983142echnik (1974)
14 G Schwarz Eur Rubber Journal Sept 28ndash32 (1977)
15 G Menges and E G Harms Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 25 10 469ndash475 (1972)
16 G Menges and E G Harms Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 27 5 187ndash193 (1974)
17 E G Harms Elastomerics 109 6 33ndash39 (1977)
18 E G Harms Eur Rubber Journal 6 23 (1978)
19 E G Harms Kunststoffe 69 1 32ndash33 (1979)
20 E G Harms Dissertation RWTH Aachen Germany (1981)21 S H Collins Plastics Compounding Nov Dec 29 (1982)
22 D Anders Kunststoffe 69 194ndash198 (1979)
23 D Gras and K Eise SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 21 386 (1975)
24 R F Westover SPE Journal 18 12 1473 (1962)
25 Lord Raleigh Philosophical Magazine 35 1ndash12 (1918)
26 German Patent DRP 1129681
27 British Patent BP 759354
28 U S Patent 3880564
29 U S Patent 4012477
30 J F Ingen Housz Plastverarbeiter 10 1 (1975)
31 U S Patent 4142805
32 U S Patent 4194841
33 U S Patent 4213709
34 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 25 193 (1979)
35 P Hold Z Tadmor and L Valsamis SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 25 205 (1979)
36 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis Plastics Engineering Nov 20ndash25 (1979)
37 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis Plastics Engineering Dec 30ndash38 (1979)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3537
References 983092983093
38 Z Tadmor et al The Diskpack Plastics Processor Farrel Publication Jan (1982)
39 L Valsamis AIChE Meeting Washington D C Oct (1983)
40 B Maxwell and A J Scalora Modern Plastics 37 107 Oct (1959)
41 U S Patent 3 046603
42 L L Blyler PhD thesis Princeton University NJ (1966)
43 H G Fritz Kunststo983142echnik 6 430 (1968)
44 H G Fritz PhD thesis Stuttgart University Germany (1971)
45 C W Macosko and J M Starita SPE Journal 27 30 (1971)
46 P A Good A J Schwartz and C W Macosko AIChE Journal 20 1 67 (1974)
47 V L Kocherov Y L Lukach E A Sporyagin and G V Vinogradov Polym Eng Sci 13
194 (1973)
48 J Berzen and G Braun Kunststoffe 69 2 62ndash66 (1979)49 R S Porter et al J Polym Sci 17 485ndash488 (1979)
50 C A Sperati Modern Plastics Encyclopedia McGraw-Hill NY (1983)
51 S S Schwartz and S H Goodman see Chapter 1 [36]
52 G R Snelling and J F Lontz J Appl Polym Sci 3 9 257ndash265 (1960)
53 D C F Couzens Plastics and Rubber Processing March 45ndash48 (1976)
54 P W Bridgman ldquoStudies in Large Plastic Flow and Fracturerdquo McGraw-Hill NY (1952)
55 H L D Push ldquoThe Mechanical Behavior o Materials Under Pressurerdquo Elsevier Amster-
dam (1970)56 H L D Push and A H Low J Inst Metals 93 201 (196565)
57 F Slack Mach Design Oct 7 61ndash64 (1982)
58 J H Southern and R S Porter J Appl Polym Sci 14 2305 (1970)
59 J H Southern and R S Porter J Macromol Sci Phys 3ndash4 541 (1970)
60 J H Southern N E Weeks and R S Porter Macromol Chem 162 19 (1972)
61 N J Capiati and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 13 1177 (1975)
62 R S Porter J H Southern and N E Weeks Polym Eng Sci 15 213 (1975)
63 A E Zachariades E S Sherman and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 17 255
(1979)
64 A E Zachariades and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 17 277 (1979)
65 B Parsons D Bretherton and B N Cole in Advances in MTDR 11th Int Con Proc
S A Tobias and F Koeningsberger (Eds) Pergamon Press London Vol B 1049 (1971)
66 G Capaccio and I M Ward Polymer 15 233 (1974)
67 A G Gibson I M Ward B N Cole and B Parsons J Mater Sci 9 1193ndash1196 (1974)
68 A G Gibson and I M Ward J Appl Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 16 2015ndash2030 (1978)
69 P S Hope and B Parsons Polym Eng Sci 20 589ndash600 (1980)
70 P S Hope I M Ward and A G Gibson J Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 18 1242ndash1256
(1980)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3637
983092983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
71 P S Hope A G Gibson B Parsons and I M Ward Polym Eng Sci 20 54ndash55 (1980)
72 B Parsons and I M Ward Plast Rubber Proc Appl 2 3 215ndash224 (1982)
73 K Imada T Yamamoto K Shigematsu and M Takayanagi J Mater Sci 6 537ndash546
(1971)
74 K Nakamura K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 2 71 (1972)
75 K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 2 89 (1973)
76 K Nakamura K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 3 23 (1974)
77 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Mater Sci 10 1105 (1975)
78 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Mater Sci 12 1477 (1977)
79 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Appl Polym Sci 23 2543ndash2554 (1979)
80 D M Bigg Polym Eng Sci 16 725 (1976)
81 D M Bigg M M Epstein R J Fiorentino and E G Smith Polym Eng Sci 18 908(1978)
82 D M Bigg and M M Epstein ldquoScience and Technology o Polymer Processingrdquo N S Suh
and N Sung (Eds) 897 MIT Press (1979)
83 D M Bigg M M Epstein R J Fiorentino and E G Smith J Appl Polym Sci 26 395ndash
409 (1981)
84 K D Pae and D R Mears J Polym Sci B-6 269 (1968)
85 K D Pae D R Mears and J A Sauer J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 6 773 (1968)
86 D R Mears K P Pae and J A Sauer J Appl Phys 40 11 4229ndash4237 (1969)
87 L A Davis and C A Pampillo J Appl Phys 42 12 4659ndash4666 (1971)
88 A Buckley and H A Long Polym Eng Sci 9 2 115ndash120 (1969)
89 L A Davis Polym Eng Sci 14 9 641ndash645 (1974)
90 R K Okine and N P Suh Polym Eng Sci 22 5 269ndash279 (1982)
91 J R Collier T Y T Tam J Newcome and N Dinos Polym Eng Sci 16 204ndash211 (1976)
92 J H Faupel and F E Fisher ldquoEngineering Designrdquo Wiley NY (1981)
93 A E Zachariades R Ball and R S Porter J Mater Sci 13 2671ndash2675 (1978)
94 R R Westover Modern Plastics March (1963) 95 B Yi and R T Fenner Plastics and Polymers Dec 224ndash228 (1975)
96 A Mekkaoui and L N Valsamis Polym Eng Sci 24 1260ndash1269 (1984)
97 H Rust Kunststoffe 73 342ndash346 (1983)
98 J Huszman Kunststoffe 73 3437ndash348 (1983)
99 J M McKelvey U Maire and F Haupt Chem Eng Sept 27 94ndash102 (1976)
100 K Schneider Kunststoffe 68 201ndash206 (1978)
101 W T Rice Plastic Technology 87ndash91 Feb (1980)
102 Harrel Corp ldquoMelt Pump Systems or Extrudersrdquo Product Description TDS-264 (1982)
103 J M McKelvey and W T Rice Chem Eng 90 2 89ndash94 (1983)
104 K Kaper K Eise and H Herrmann SPE ANTEC Chicago 161ndash163 (1983)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3737
References 983092983095
105 C L Woodworth SPE ANTEC New Orleans 122ndash126 (1984)
106 W A Kramer SPE ANTEC Washington D C 23ndash29 (1985)
107 J Schut ldquoDie Drawing Makes Plastic Steelrdquo Plastics Technology Online Article March
5 (2001)
108 VDI Conerence Extrusiontechnik 2006 ldquoDer Einschnecken-Extruder von Morgenrdquo VDI
Verlag GmbH Duumlsseldor (2006)
109 P Rieg ldquoLatest Developments in High-Speed Extrusionrdquo Plastic Extrusion Asia Con-
erence Bangkok Thailand March 17ndash18 (2008) also presented at Advances in Ex-
trusion Conerence New Orleans December 9ndash10 (2008)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 1937
983090983091 Disk Extruders 983090983097
In
Out
Figure 983090983089983091
The stepped disk
The heart o the machine is the stepped disk positioned a small distance rom a flat
disk When one o the disks is rotated with a polymer melt in the axial gap a pres-
sure build-up will occur at the transition o one gap size to another smaller gap sizesee Fig 214
v
Distance
P r e s s u r e
Figure 983090983089983092
Pressure generation in the step region
I exit channels are incorporated into the stepped disk the polymer can be extruded
in a continuous ashion The design o this extruder is based on Rayleighrsquos [25]
analysis o hydrodynamic lubrication in various geometries He concluded that the
parallel stepped pad was capable o supporting the greatest load The stepped disk
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983091983088 983090Different Types of Extruders
extruder has also been designed in a different configuration using a gradual change
in gap size This extruder has a wedge-shaped disk with a gradual increase in pres-
sure with radial distance
A practical disadvantage o the stepped disk extruder is the act that the machine is
difficult to clean because o the intricate design o the flow channels in the stepped
disk
983090983091983089983090Drum Extruder
Another rather old concept is the drum extruder A schematic picture o a machine
manuactured by Schmid amp Kocher in Switzerland is shown in Fig 215
In
OutOutIn
Figure 983090983089983093 The drum extruder by Schmid amp Kocher
Material is ed by a eed hopper into an annular space between rotor and barrel By
the rotational motion o the rotor the material is carried along the circumerence o
the barrel Just beore the material reaches the eed hopper it encounters a wiper
bar This wiper bar scrapes the polymer rom the rotor and deflects the polymer flow
into a channel that leads to the extruder die Several patents [26 27] were issued on
this design however these patents have long since expired
A very similar extruder (see Fig 216) was developed by Askco Engineering andCosden Oil amp Chemical in a joint venture later this became Permian Research Two
patents have been issued on this design [28 29] even though the concept is very
similar to the Schmid amp Kocher design
One special eature o this design is the capability to adjust the local gap by means
o a choker bar similar to the gap adjustment in a flat sheet die see Section 92 The
choker bar in this drum extruder is activated by adjustable hydraulic oil pressure
Drum extruders have not been able to be a serious competition to the single screw
extruder over the last 50 years
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983091983089
Hopper
DieRotor
Housing
Wiper bar
Hopper
Wiper bar
DieRotor
Housing
Figure 983090983089983094
The drum extruder by AskoCosden
983090983091983089983091Spiral Disk Extruder
The spiral disk extruder is another type o disk extruder that has been known or
many years Several patented designs were described by Schenkel (Chapter 1 [3])
Similar to the stepped disk extruder the development o the spiral disk extruder
is closely connected to spiral groove bearings It has long been known that spiral
groove bearings are capable o supporting substantial loads Ingen Housz [30] has
analyzed the melt conveying in a spiral disk extruder with logarithmic grooves in
the disk based on Newtonian flow behavior o the polymer melt In terms o melt
conveying capability the spiral disk extruder seems comparable to the screw ex-truder however the solids conveying capability is questionable
983090983091983089983092Diskpack Extruder
Another development in disk extruders is the diskpack extruder Tadmor originated
the idea o the diskpack machine which is covered under several patents [31ndash33]
The development o the machine was undertaken by the Farrel Machinery Group o
Emgart Corporation in cooperation with Tadmor [34ndash39] The basic concept o the
machine is shown in Fig 217Material drops in the axial gap between relatively thin disks mounted on a rotating
shaf The material will move with the disks almost a ull turn then it meets a chan-
nel block The channel block closes off the space between the disks and deflects the
polymer flow to either an outlet channel or to a transer channel in the barrel The
shape o the disks can be optimized or specific unctions solids conveying melting
devolatilization melt conveying and mixing A detailed unctional analysis can be
ound in Tadmorrsquos book on polymer processing (Chapter 1 [32])
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983091983090 983090Different Types of Extruders
v
v
Channel blockInlet
Outlet
Barrel
Solid bed
Shaft
Melt pool
Inlet Channel block
Outlet
Melt pool
Solid bed
Barrel
Shaft
v
v Figure 983090983089983095
The diskpack extruder
It is claimed that this machine can perorm all basic polymer-processing operations
with efficiency equaling or surpassing existing machinery Clearly i the claim is
true and can be delivered or a competitive price the diskpack extruder will become
an important machine in the extrusion industry The first diskpack machines were
delivered to the industry in 1982 still under a joint development type o agreement
Now almost 20 years afer the first diskpack machines were delivered it is clear
that the acceptance o these machines in the industry has been very limited In act
Farrel no longer actively markets the diskpack machine In most o the publications
the diskpack machine is reerred to as a polymer processor This term is probably
used to indicate that this machine can do more than just extruding although the
diskpack is o course an extruder
The diskpack machine incorporates some o the eatures o the drum extruder and
the single screw extruder One can think o the diskpack as a single screw extruder
using a screw with zero helix angle and very deep flights Forward axial transportcan only take place by transport channels in the barrel with the material orced into
those channels by a restrictor bar as with the drum extruder The use o restrictor
bars (channel block) and transer channels in the housing make it considerably
more complex than the barrel o a single screw extruder
One o the advantages o the diskpack is that mixing blocks and spreading dams can
be incorporated into the machine as shown in Fig 218(a)
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983091983091
v
v
Channel blockInlet
Outlet
Mixing block
Disk
Inlet Channel block
Outlet
Mixing blockDisk v
v Figure 983090983089983096(a)
Mixing blocks in the diskpack
Mixing blocks o various shapes can be positioned externally into the processing
chamber This is similar to the QSM extruder only that in the QSM extruder the
screw flight has to be interrupted to avoid contact This is not necessary in the disk-
pack because the flights have zero helix angles in other words they run perpen-
dicular to the rotor axis By the number o blocks the geometry o the block and the
clearance between block and disk one can tailor the mixing capability to the par-
ticular application The use o spreading dams allows the generation o a thin film
with a large surace area this results in effective devolatilization capability The
diskpack has inherently higher pressure-generating capability than the single
screw extruder does This is because the diskpack has two dragging suraces while
the single screw extruder has only one see Fig 218(b)
v
v=0
v
v
Conveying mechanismsingle screw extruder
Conveying mechanism
diskpack extruder Figure 983090983089983096(b)
Comparison of conveying mechanism in diskpackand single screw extruder
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983091983092 983090Different Types of Extruders
At the same net flow rate equal viscosity equal plate velocity and optimum plate
separation the theoretical maximum pressure gradient o the diskpack is eight
times higher than the single screw extruder [34] Thus high pressures can be gen-
erated over a short distance which allows a more compact machine design The
energy efficiency o the pressure generation is also better than in the single screwextruder the maximum pumping efficiency approaches 100 see derivation in
Appendix 21 For the single screw extruder the maximum pumping efficiency is
only 33 as discussed in Section 7413 The energy efficiency o pressure genera-
tion is the ratio o the theoretical energy requirement (flow rate times pressure rise)
to the actual energy requirement (wall velocity times shear stress integrated over
wall surace) It should be noted that the two dragging platesrsquo pumping mechanism
exists only in tangential direction The pumping in axial (orward) direction occurs
only in the transer channel in the housing This orward pumping occurs by the one
dragging plate mechanism as in the single screw extruder The maximum efficiency
or orward pumping thereore is only 33 The overall pumping efficiency will be
somewhere between 33 and 100 i the power consumption in the disk and channel
block clearance is neglected
Studies on melting in the diskpack were reported by Valsamis et al [96] It was
ound that two types o melting mechanism could take place in the diskpack the
drag melt removal (DMR) mechanism and the dissipative melt mixing (DMM) mech-
anism The DMR melting mechanism is the predominant mechanism in single screw
extruders this is discussed in detail in Section 73 In the DMR melting mechanismthe solids and melt coexist as two largely continuous and separate phases In the
DMM melting mechanism the solids are dispersed in the melt there is no conti-
nuous solid bed It was ound that the DMM mechanism could be induced by pro-
moting back leakage o the polymer melt past the channel block This can be con-
trolled by varying the clearance between the channel block and the disks The
advantage o the DMM melting mechanism is that the melting rate can be substan-
tially higher than with the DMR mechanism reportedly by as much as a actor o 3
[96]
Among all elementary polymer processing unctions the solids conveying in a disk-
pack extruder has not been discussed to any extent in the open technical literature
Considering that the solids conveying mechanism is a rictional drag mechanism
(as in single screw extruders) and not a positive displacement type o transport (as
in intermeshing counterrotating twin screw extruders see Sections 102 and 104)
it can be expected that the diskpack will have solids conveying limitations similar
to those o single screw extruders see Section 722 This means that powders
blends o powders and pellets slippery materials etc are likely to encounter solids
conveying problems in a diskpack extruder unless special measures are taken toenhance the solids conveying capability (e g crammer eeder grooves in the disks
etc)
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983091983093
Because o the more complex machine geometry the cost per unit throughput o the
diskpack is higher than or the conventional single screw extruder Thereore the
diskpack does not compete directly with single screw extruders
Applications or the diskpack are specialty polymer processing operations such as
polymerization post-reactor processing (devolatilization) continuous compound-
ing etc As such the diskpack competes mostly with twin screw extruders Pres-
ently twin screw extruders are usually the first choice when it comes to specialty
polymer processing operations
983090983091983090The Elastic Melt Extruder
The elastic melt extruder was developed in the late 1950s by Maxwell and Scalora[40 41] The extruder makes use o the viscoelastic in particular the elastic pro-
perties o polymer melts When a viscoelastic fluid is exposed to a shearing deor-
mation normal stresses will develop in the fluid that are not equal in all directions
as opposed to a purely viscous fluid In the elastic melt extruder the polymer is
sheared between two plates one stationary and one rotating see Fig 219
Hopper
Heaters
Solid polymer
Die
Extrudate
Polymer melt
Rotor
Solid polymerHopper
Heaters
Die
Extrudate
Polymer melt
Rotor
Figure 983090983089983097
The elastic melt extruder
As the polymer is sheared normal stresses will generate a centripetal pumping
action Thus the polymer can be extruded through the central opening in the sta-
tionary plate in a continuous ashion Because normal stresses generate the pump-
ing action this machine is sometimes reerred to as a normal stress extruderThis extruder is quite interesting rom a rheological point o view since it is prob-
ably the only extruder that utilizes the elasticity o the melt or its conveying Thus
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983091983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
several detailed experimental and theoretical studies have been devoted to the elas-
tic melt extruder [42ndash47]
The detailed study by Fritz [44] concluded that transport by normal stresses only
could be as much as two orders o magnitude lower than a corresponding system
with orced eed In addition substantial temperature gradients developed in the
polymer causing substantial degradation in high molecular weight polyolefins The
scant market acceptance o the elastic melt extruder would tend to confirm Fritzrsquos
conclusions
Several modifications have been proposed to improve the perormance o the elastic
melt extruder Fritz [43] suggested incorporation o spiral grooves to improve the
pressure generating capability essentially combining the elastic melt extruder and
the spiral disk extruder into one machine In Russia [47] several modifications
were made to the design o the elastic melt extruder One o those combined a screwextruder with the elastic melt extruder to eliminate the eeding and plasticating
problem Despite all o these activities the elastic melt extruder has not been able to
acquire a position o importance in the extrusion industry
983090983091983091Overview of Disk Extruders
Many attempts have been made in the past to come up with a continuous plasticat-
ing extruder o simple design that could perorm better than the single screw ex-truder It seems air to say that at this point in time no disk extruder has been able
to meet this goal The simple disk extruders do not perorm nearly as well as the
single screw extruder The more complex disk extruder such as the diskpack can
possibly outperorm the single screw extruder However this is at the expense o
design simplicity thus increasing the cost o the machine Disk extruders there-
ore have not been able to seriously challenge the position o the single screw
extruder This is not to say however that it is not possible or this to happen some
time in the uture But considering the long dominance o the single screw extruder
it is not probable that a new disk extruder will come along that can challenge the
single screw extruder
983090983092Ram Extruders
Ram or plunger extruders are simple in design rugged and discontinuous in their
mode o operation Ram extruders are essentially positive displacement devices and
are able to generate very high pressures Because o the intermittent operation o
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983091983095
ram extruders they are ideally suited or cyclic processes such as injection molding
and blow molding In act the early molding machines were almost exclusively
equipped with ram extruders to supply the polymer melt to the mold Certain limita-
tions o the ram extruder have caused a switch to reciprocating screw extruders or
combinations o the two The two main limitations are
1 Limited melting capacity
2 Poor temperature uniormity o the polymer melt
Presently ram extruders are used in relatively small shot size molding machines
and certain specialty operations where use is made o the positive displacement
characteristics and the outstanding pressure generation capability There are basic-
ally two types o ram extruders single ram extruders and multi ram extruders
983090983092983089Single Ram Extruders
The single ram extruder is used in small general purpose molding machines but
also in some special polymer processing operations One such operation is the ex-
trusion o intractable polymers such as ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene
(UHMWPE) or polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) These polymers are not considered to
be melt processable on conventional melt processing equipment Teledynamik [48]
has built a ram injection-molding machine under a license rom Th Engel who
developed the prototype machine This machine is used to mold UHMWPE under
very high pressures The machine uses a reciprocating plunger that densifies the
cold incoming material with a pressure up to 300 MPa (about 44000 psi) The re-
quency o the ram can be adjusted continuously with a maximum o 250 strokes
minute The densified material is orced through heated channels into the heated
cylinder where final melting takes place The material is then injected into a mold
by a telescoping injection ram Pressures up to 100 MPa (about 14500 psi) occur
during the injection o the polymer into the mold
Another application is the extrusion o PTFE with again the primary ingredient orsuccessul extrusion being very high pressures Granular PTFE can be extruded at
slow rates in a ram extruder [49ndash51] The powder is compacted by the ram orced
into a die where the material is heated above the melting point and shaped into the
desired orm PTFE is ofen processed as a PTFE paste [52 53] This is small particle
size PTFE powder (about 02 mm) mixed with a processing aid such as naphta PTFE
paste can be extruded at room temperature or slightly above room temperature
Afer extrusion the processing aid is removed by heating the extrudate above its
volatilization temperature The extruded PTFE paste product may be sintered i the
application requires a more ully coalesced product
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983091983096 983090Different Types of Extruders
983090983092983089983089Solid State Extrusion
An extrusion technique that has slowly been gaining popularity is solid-state extru-
sion The polymer is orced through a die while it is below its melting point This
causes substantial deormation o the polymer in the die but since the polymer is in
the solid state a very effective molecular orientation takes place This orientation ismuch more effective than the one which occurs in conventional melt processing As
a result extraordinary mechanical properties can be obtained
Solid-state extrusion is a technique borrowed rom the metal industry where solid-
state extrusion has been used commercially since the late 1940s Bridgman [54]
was one o the first to do a systematic study on the effect o pressure on the mechan-
ical properties o metals He also studied polymers and ound that the glass tran-
sition temperature was raised by the application o pressure
There are two methods o solid-state extrusion one is direct solid-state extrusionthe other is hydrostatic extrusion In direct solid-state extrusion a pre-ormed solid
rod o material (a billet) is in direct contact with the plunger and the walls o the
extrusion die see Fig 220 The material is extruded as the ram is pushed towards
the die
Plunger
Billet
Barrel
DieExtrudate Figure 983090983090983088
Direct solid state extrusion
In hydrostatic extrusion the pressure required or extrusion is transmitted rom the
plunger to the billet through a lubricating liquid usually castor oil The billet must
be shaped to fit the die to prevent loss o fluid The hydrostatic fluid reduces the ric-
tion thereby reducing the extrusion pressure see Fig 221
In hydrostatic extrusion the pressure-generating device or the fluid does not neces-
sarily have to be in close proximity to the orming part o the machine The fluid canbe supplied to the extrusion device by high-pressure tubes
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983091983097
Plunger
Billet
Oil
Barrel
DieExtrudate Figure 983090983090983089
Hydrostatic solid state extrusion
Judging rom publications in the open literature most o the work on solid-state
extrusion o polymers is done at universities and research institutes It is possible
o course that some companies are working on solid-state extrusion but are keeping
the inormation proprietary A major research effort in solid-state extrusion has
been made at the University o Amherst Massachusetts [50ndash64] University o
Leeds England [65ndash72] Fyushu University Fukuoka Japan [73ndash76] Research
Institute or Polymers and Textiles Yokohama Japan [77ndash79] Battelle Columbus
Ohio [80ndash83] and Rutgers University New Brunswick New Jersey [84ndash86] As
mentioned earlier publications rom other sources are considerably less plentiul
[87ndash90] Efforts have also been made to achieve the same high degree o orientation
in a more or less conventional extrusion process by special die design and tempera-
ture control in the die region [91]
Table 25 shows a comparison o mechanical properties between steel aluminum
solid state extruded HDPE and HDPE extruded by conventional means
Table 25 clearly indicates that the mechanical properties o solid-state extruded
HDPE are much superior to the melt extruded HDPE In act the tensile strength o
solid-state extruded HDPE is about the same as carbon steel There are some other
interesting benefits associated with solidstate extrusion o polymers There is essen-
tially no die swell at high extrusion ratios (extrusion ratio is the ratio o the area in
the cylinder to the area in the die) Thus the dimensions o the extrudate closely
conorm to those o the die exit The surace o the extrudate produced by hydro-
static extrusion has a lower coefficient o riction than that o the un-oriented poly-
mer Above a certain extrusion ratio (about ten) polyethylene and polypropylene
become transparent Further solid-state extruded polymers maintain their ten-sile properties at elevated temperatures Polyethylene maintains its modulus up to
120degC when it is extruded in the solid state at a high extrusion ratio The thermal
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983092983088 983090Different Types of Extruders
conductivity in the extrusion direction is much higher than that o the un-oriented
polymer as much as 25 times higher The melting point o the solid-state extruded
polymer increases with the amount o orientation The melting point o HDPE can be
shifed to as high as 140degC
Table 25 Comparison of Mechanical Properties
Material Tensile modulus[MPa]
Tensile strength[MPa]
Elongation[]
Density[gcc]
Annealed SAE 1020 210000 410 35 786
W-200 degF SAE 1020 210000 720 6 786
Annealed 304 stainless
steel
200000 590 50 792
Aluminum 1100ndash0 70000 90 45 271
HDPE solid state
extruded
70000 480 3 097
HDPE melt extruded 10000 30 20ndash1000 096
A recent application o solid-state extrusion is the process developed by Synthetic
Hardwood Technologies Inc [107] This company has developed an expanded ori-
ented wood-filled polypropylene (EOW-PP) that is about 300 stronger than regular
PP The process is based on technology developed at Aluminum Company o Canada
Ltd (Alcan) in the early 1990s to solidstate extrude PP It involves ram extrusion
drawing o billets o PP just below the melting point with very high draw ratio and
high haul-off tension (about 3 MPa) to reeze-in the high level o orientation Alcan
did not pursue the technology and Symplastics Ltd licensed the patented process
this company started experimenting with adding small amounts o wood flour to the
PP However Symplastics ound the research and development too costly and sold
the patents and lab extrusion equipment to Frank Maine who set up SHW to com-
mercialize applications or the EOW-PP The key to the SHW process is that it com-
bines extrusion with drawing As the polymer is oriented the density drops about
50 rom about 1 g cc to 05 g cc The die drawing also allowed substantial in-creases in line speed rom about 0050 m min to about 9 m min The properties
achieved with EOW-PP are shown in Table 24 and compared to regular PP wood
and oriented PP
Solid-state extrusion has been practiced with coextrusion o different polymers [93]
Despite the large amount o research on solid-state extrusion and the outstanding
mechanical properties that can be obtained there does not seem to be much interest
in the polymer industry The main drawbacks o course are that solid-state extru-
sion is basically a discontinuous process it cannot be done on conventional polymer
processing equipment and very high pressures are required to achieve solid-stateextrusion Also one should keep in mind that very good mechanical properties can
be obtained by taking a profile (fiber film tube etc) produced by conventional con-
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983092983089
tinuous extrusion and exposing it to controlled deormation at a temperature below
the melting point This is a well-established technique in many extrusion operations
(fiber spinning film extrusion etc) and it can be done at a high rate This method
o producing extrudates with very good mechanical properties is likely to be more
cost-effective than solid-state extrusion It is possible that the die drawing processdeveloped by SHW can make solid-state extrusion more attractive commercially by
allowing large profiles to be processed at reasonable line speeds
Table 26 Mechanical Properties of PP Wood OPP and EOW-PP
Flexural strength [MPa] Flexural modulus [MPa]
Regular PP 50 1850
Wood 100 9000
Oriented PP 275 7600EOW-PP 140 7600
983090983092983090Multi Ram Extruder
As mentioned beore the main disadvantage o ram extruders is their intermittent
operation Several attempts have been made to overcome this problem by designing
multi-ram extruders that work together in such a way as to produce a continuousflow o material
Westover [94] designed a continuous ram extruder that combined our plunger-
cylinders Two plunger-cylinders were used or plasticating and two or pumping
An intricate shuttle valve connecting all the plunger cylinders provides continuous
extrusion
Another attempt to develop a continuous ram extruder was made by Yi and Fenner
[95] They designed a twin ram extruder with the cylinders in a V-configuration see
Fig 222The two rams discharge into a common barrel in which a plasticating shaf is rotat-
ing Thus solids conveying occurs in the two separate cylinders and plasticating
and melt conveying occurs in the annular region between the barrel and plasticat-
ing shaf The machine is able to extrude however the throughput uniormity is
poor The perormance could probably have been improved i the plasticating shaf
had been provided with a helical channel But o course then the machine would
have become a screw extruder with a ram-assisted eed This only goes to demon-
strate that it is ar rom easy to improve upon the simple screw extruder
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983092983090 983090Different Types of Extruders
Die Breaker plate
Plasticating shaft
Main
block
Feed cylinder
Figure 222 Twin ram extruder
983090983092983091 Appendix 983090983089
983090983092983091983089 Pumping Efficiency in Diskpack Extruder
The velocity profile between the moving walls is a parabolic unction when the fluid
is a Newtonian fluid see Section 621 and Fig 223
y
z H
Small pressure gradient
Medium pressure gradient
Large pressure gradient
Figure 983090983090983091
Velocity profiles between moving
walls
The velocity profile or a Newtonian fluid is
L8
PH
H
y41vv(y)
2
2
2
∆micro∆
minusminus= (1)
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983092983091
where v is the velocity o the plates H the distance between the plates and μ the
viscosity o the fluid The flow rate can be ound by integrating v(y) over the width
and depth o the channel this yields
L12
PWHvWHV
3
∆micro∆minus=
bull
(2)
The first term on the right-hand side o the equalation is the drag flow term The
second term is the pressure flow term The ratio o pressure flow to drag flow is
termed the throttle ratio rd (see Section 7413)
r d =Lv12
PH2
∆micro
∆ (3)
The flow rate can now be written as
(4)
The shear stress at the wall is obtained rom
dv H∆Pτ = micro =dy
05H 2∆L
(5)
The power consumption in the channel is
Zch = PvHWLvW2 ∆=∆τ (6)
The energy efficiency or pressure generation is
V∆Pε = =1 minus r
d Zch
(7)
Equation 7 is not valid or rd = 0 because in this case both numerator and denomi-
nator become zero From Eq 7 it can be seen that when the machine is operated atlow rd values the pumping efficiency can become close to 100 This is considerably
better than the single screw extruder where the optimum pumping efficiency is 33
at a throttle ratio value o 033 (rd = 13)
References
1 J LeBras ldquoRubber Fundamentals o its Science and Technologyrdquo Chemical Publ Co
NY (1957)
2 W S Penn ldquoSynthetic Rubber Technology Volume Irdquo MacLaren amp Sons Ltd London(1960)
3 W J S Naunton ldquoThe Applied Science o Rubberrdquo Edward Arnold Ltd London (1961)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3437
983092983092 983090Different Types of Extruders
4 C M Blow ldquoRubber Technology and Manuacturerdquo Butterworth amp Co Ltd London
(1971)
5 F R Eirich (Ed) ldquoScience and Technology o Rubberrdquo Academic Press NY (1978)
6 C W Evans ldquoPowdered and Particulate Rubber Technologyrdquo Applied Science Publ Ltd
London (1978)
7 G Targiel et al 10 IKV-Kolloquium Aachen March 12ndash14 45 (1980)
8 A Kennaway Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 17 378ndash391 (1964)
9 G Menges and J P Lehnen Plastverarbeiter 20 1 31ndash39 (1969)
10 M Parshall and A J Saulino Rubber World 2 5 78ndash83 (1967)
11 S E Perlberg Rubber World 2 6 71ndash76 (1967)
12 H H Gohlisch Gummi Asbest Kunststoffe 25 9 834ndash835 (1972)
13 E Harms ldquoKautschuk-Extruder Aubau und Einsatz aus verahrenstechnischer Sichtrdquo
Krausskop-Verlag Mainz Bd 2 Buchreihe Kunststo983142echnik (1974)
14 G Schwarz Eur Rubber Journal Sept 28ndash32 (1977)
15 G Menges and E G Harms Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 25 10 469ndash475 (1972)
16 G Menges and E G Harms Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 27 5 187ndash193 (1974)
17 E G Harms Elastomerics 109 6 33ndash39 (1977)
18 E G Harms Eur Rubber Journal 6 23 (1978)
19 E G Harms Kunststoffe 69 1 32ndash33 (1979)
20 E G Harms Dissertation RWTH Aachen Germany (1981)21 S H Collins Plastics Compounding Nov Dec 29 (1982)
22 D Anders Kunststoffe 69 194ndash198 (1979)
23 D Gras and K Eise SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 21 386 (1975)
24 R F Westover SPE Journal 18 12 1473 (1962)
25 Lord Raleigh Philosophical Magazine 35 1ndash12 (1918)
26 German Patent DRP 1129681
27 British Patent BP 759354
28 U S Patent 3880564
29 U S Patent 4012477
30 J F Ingen Housz Plastverarbeiter 10 1 (1975)
31 U S Patent 4142805
32 U S Patent 4194841
33 U S Patent 4213709
34 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 25 193 (1979)
35 P Hold Z Tadmor and L Valsamis SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 25 205 (1979)
36 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis Plastics Engineering Nov 20ndash25 (1979)
37 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis Plastics Engineering Dec 30ndash38 (1979)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3537
References 983092983093
38 Z Tadmor et al The Diskpack Plastics Processor Farrel Publication Jan (1982)
39 L Valsamis AIChE Meeting Washington D C Oct (1983)
40 B Maxwell and A J Scalora Modern Plastics 37 107 Oct (1959)
41 U S Patent 3 046603
42 L L Blyler PhD thesis Princeton University NJ (1966)
43 H G Fritz Kunststo983142echnik 6 430 (1968)
44 H G Fritz PhD thesis Stuttgart University Germany (1971)
45 C W Macosko and J M Starita SPE Journal 27 30 (1971)
46 P A Good A J Schwartz and C W Macosko AIChE Journal 20 1 67 (1974)
47 V L Kocherov Y L Lukach E A Sporyagin and G V Vinogradov Polym Eng Sci 13
194 (1973)
48 J Berzen and G Braun Kunststoffe 69 2 62ndash66 (1979)49 R S Porter et al J Polym Sci 17 485ndash488 (1979)
50 C A Sperati Modern Plastics Encyclopedia McGraw-Hill NY (1983)
51 S S Schwartz and S H Goodman see Chapter 1 [36]
52 G R Snelling and J F Lontz J Appl Polym Sci 3 9 257ndash265 (1960)
53 D C F Couzens Plastics and Rubber Processing March 45ndash48 (1976)
54 P W Bridgman ldquoStudies in Large Plastic Flow and Fracturerdquo McGraw-Hill NY (1952)
55 H L D Push ldquoThe Mechanical Behavior o Materials Under Pressurerdquo Elsevier Amster-
dam (1970)56 H L D Push and A H Low J Inst Metals 93 201 (196565)
57 F Slack Mach Design Oct 7 61ndash64 (1982)
58 J H Southern and R S Porter J Appl Polym Sci 14 2305 (1970)
59 J H Southern and R S Porter J Macromol Sci Phys 3ndash4 541 (1970)
60 J H Southern N E Weeks and R S Porter Macromol Chem 162 19 (1972)
61 N J Capiati and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 13 1177 (1975)
62 R S Porter J H Southern and N E Weeks Polym Eng Sci 15 213 (1975)
63 A E Zachariades E S Sherman and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 17 255
(1979)
64 A E Zachariades and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 17 277 (1979)
65 B Parsons D Bretherton and B N Cole in Advances in MTDR 11th Int Con Proc
S A Tobias and F Koeningsberger (Eds) Pergamon Press London Vol B 1049 (1971)
66 G Capaccio and I M Ward Polymer 15 233 (1974)
67 A G Gibson I M Ward B N Cole and B Parsons J Mater Sci 9 1193ndash1196 (1974)
68 A G Gibson and I M Ward J Appl Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 16 2015ndash2030 (1978)
69 P S Hope and B Parsons Polym Eng Sci 20 589ndash600 (1980)
70 P S Hope I M Ward and A G Gibson J Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 18 1242ndash1256
(1980)
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983092983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
71 P S Hope A G Gibson B Parsons and I M Ward Polym Eng Sci 20 54ndash55 (1980)
72 B Parsons and I M Ward Plast Rubber Proc Appl 2 3 215ndash224 (1982)
73 K Imada T Yamamoto K Shigematsu and M Takayanagi J Mater Sci 6 537ndash546
(1971)
74 K Nakamura K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 2 71 (1972)
75 K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 2 89 (1973)
76 K Nakamura K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 3 23 (1974)
77 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Mater Sci 10 1105 (1975)
78 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Mater Sci 12 1477 (1977)
79 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Appl Polym Sci 23 2543ndash2554 (1979)
80 D M Bigg Polym Eng Sci 16 725 (1976)
81 D M Bigg M M Epstein R J Fiorentino and E G Smith Polym Eng Sci 18 908(1978)
82 D M Bigg and M M Epstein ldquoScience and Technology o Polymer Processingrdquo N S Suh
and N Sung (Eds) 897 MIT Press (1979)
83 D M Bigg M M Epstein R J Fiorentino and E G Smith J Appl Polym Sci 26 395ndash
409 (1981)
84 K D Pae and D R Mears J Polym Sci B-6 269 (1968)
85 K D Pae D R Mears and J A Sauer J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 6 773 (1968)
86 D R Mears K P Pae and J A Sauer J Appl Phys 40 11 4229ndash4237 (1969)
87 L A Davis and C A Pampillo J Appl Phys 42 12 4659ndash4666 (1971)
88 A Buckley and H A Long Polym Eng Sci 9 2 115ndash120 (1969)
89 L A Davis Polym Eng Sci 14 9 641ndash645 (1974)
90 R K Okine and N P Suh Polym Eng Sci 22 5 269ndash279 (1982)
91 J R Collier T Y T Tam J Newcome and N Dinos Polym Eng Sci 16 204ndash211 (1976)
92 J H Faupel and F E Fisher ldquoEngineering Designrdquo Wiley NY (1981)
93 A E Zachariades R Ball and R S Porter J Mater Sci 13 2671ndash2675 (1978)
94 R R Westover Modern Plastics March (1963) 95 B Yi and R T Fenner Plastics and Polymers Dec 224ndash228 (1975)
96 A Mekkaoui and L N Valsamis Polym Eng Sci 24 1260ndash1269 (1984)
97 H Rust Kunststoffe 73 342ndash346 (1983)
98 J Huszman Kunststoffe 73 3437ndash348 (1983)
99 J M McKelvey U Maire and F Haupt Chem Eng Sept 27 94ndash102 (1976)
100 K Schneider Kunststoffe 68 201ndash206 (1978)
101 W T Rice Plastic Technology 87ndash91 Feb (1980)
102 Harrel Corp ldquoMelt Pump Systems or Extrudersrdquo Product Description TDS-264 (1982)
103 J M McKelvey and W T Rice Chem Eng 90 2 89ndash94 (1983)
104 K Kaper K Eise and H Herrmann SPE ANTEC Chicago 161ndash163 (1983)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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References 983092983095
105 C L Woodworth SPE ANTEC New Orleans 122ndash126 (1984)
106 W A Kramer SPE ANTEC Washington D C 23ndash29 (1985)
107 J Schut ldquoDie Drawing Makes Plastic Steelrdquo Plastics Technology Online Article March
5 (2001)
108 VDI Conerence Extrusiontechnik 2006 ldquoDer Einschnecken-Extruder von Morgenrdquo VDI
Verlag GmbH Duumlsseldor (2006)
109 P Rieg ldquoLatest Developments in High-Speed Extrusionrdquo Plastic Extrusion Asia Con-
erence Bangkok Thailand March 17ndash18 (2008) also presented at Advances in Ex-
trusion Conerence New Orleans December 9ndash10 (2008)
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983091983088 983090Different Types of Extruders
extruder has also been designed in a different configuration using a gradual change
in gap size This extruder has a wedge-shaped disk with a gradual increase in pres-
sure with radial distance
A practical disadvantage o the stepped disk extruder is the act that the machine is
difficult to clean because o the intricate design o the flow channels in the stepped
disk
983090983091983089983090Drum Extruder
Another rather old concept is the drum extruder A schematic picture o a machine
manuactured by Schmid amp Kocher in Switzerland is shown in Fig 215
In
OutOutIn
Figure 983090983089983093 The drum extruder by Schmid amp Kocher
Material is ed by a eed hopper into an annular space between rotor and barrel By
the rotational motion o the rotor the material is carried along the circumerence o
the barrel Just beore the material reaches the eed hopper it encounters a wiper
bar This wiper bar scrapes the polymer rom the rotor and deflects the polymer flow
into a channel that leads to the extruder die Several patents [26 27] were issued on
this design however these patents have long since expired
A very similar extruder (see Fig 216) was developed by Askco Engineering andCosden Oil amp Chemical in a joint venture later this became Permian Research Two
patents have been issued on this design [28 29] even though the concept is very
similar to the Schmid amp Kocher design
One special eature o this design is the capability to adjust the local gap by means
o a choker bar similar to the gap adjustment in a flat sheet die see Section 92 The
choker bar in this drum extruder is activated by adjustable hydraulic oil pressure
Drum extruders have not been able to be a serious competition to the single screw
extruder over the last 50 years
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983091983089
Hopper
DieRotor
Housing
Wiper bar
Hopper
Wiper bar
DieRotor
Housing
Figure 983090983089983094
The drum extruder by AskoCosden
983090983091983089983091Spiral Disk Extruder
The spiral disk extruder is another type o disk extruder that has been known or
many years Several patented designs were described by Schenkel (Chapter 1 [3])
Similar to the stepped disk extruder the development o the spiral disk extruder
is closely connected to spiral groove bearings It has long been known that spiral
groove bearings are capable o supporting substantial loads Ingen Housz [30] has
analyzed the melt conveying in a spiral disk extruder with logarithmic grooves in
the disk based on Newtonian flow behavior o the polymer melt In terms o melt
conveying capability the spiral disk extruder seems comparable to the screw ex-truder however the solids conveying capability is questionable
983090983091983089983092Diskpack Extruder
Another development in disk extruders is the diskpack extruder Tadmor originated
the idea o the diskpack machine which is covered under several patents [31ndash33]
The development o the machine was undertaken by the Farrel Machinery Group o
Emgart Corporation in cooperation with Tadmor [34ndash39] The basic concept o the
machine is shown in Fig 217Material drops in the axial gap between relatively thin disks mounted on a rotating
shaf The material will move with the disks almost a ull turn then it meets a chan-
nel block The channel block closes off the space between the disks and deflects the
polymer flow to either an outlet channel or to a transer channel in the barrel The
shape o the disks can be optimized or specific unctions solids conveying melting
devolatilization melt conveying and mixing A detailed unctional analysis can be
ound in Tadmorrsquos book on polymer processing (Chapter 1 [32])
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983091983090 983090Different Types of Extruders
v
v
Channel blockInlet
Outlet
Barrel
Solid bed
Shaft
Melt pool
Inlet Channel block
Outlet
Melt pool
Solid bed
Barrel
Shaft
v
v Figure 983090983089983095
The diskpack extruder
It is claimed that this machine can perorm all basic polymer-processing operations
with efficiency equaling or surpassing existing machinery Clearly i the claim is
true and can be delivered or a competitive price the diskpack extruder will become
an important machine in the extrusion industry The first diskpack machines were
delivered to the industry in 1982 still under a joint development type o agreement
Now almost 20 years afer the first diskpack machines were delivered it is clear
that the acceptance o these machines in the industry has been very limited In act
Farrel no longer actively markets the diskpack machine In most o the publications
the diskpack machine is reerred to as a polymer processor This term is probably
used to indicate that this machine can do more than just extruding although the
diskpack is o course an extruder
The diskpack machine incorporates some o the eatures o the drum extruder and
the single screw extruder One can think o the diskpack as a single screw extruder
using a screw with zero helix angle and very deep flights Forward axial transportcan only take place by transport channels in the barrel with the material orced into
those channels by a restrictor bar as with the drum extruder The use o restrictor
bars (channel block) and transer channels in the housing make it considerably
more complex than the barrel o a single screw extruder
One o the advantages o the diskpack is that mixing blocks and spreading dams can
be incorporated into the machine as shown in Fig 218(a)
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983091983091
v
v
Channel blockInlet
Outlet
Mixing block
Disk
Inlet Channel block
Outlet
Mixing blockDisk v
v Figure 983090983089983096(a)
Mixing blocks in the diskpack
Mixing blocks o various shapes can be positioned externally into the processing
chamber This is similar to the QSM extruder only that in the QSM extruder the
screw flight has to be interrupted to avoid contact This is not necessary in the disk-
pack because the flights have zero helix angles in other words they run perpen-
dicular to the rotor axis By the number o blocks the geometry o the block and the
clearance between block and disk one can tailor the mixing capability to the par-
ticular application The use o spreading dams allows the generation o a thin film
with a large surace area this results in effective devolatilization capability The
diskpack has inherently higher pressure-generating capability than the single
screw extruder does This is because the diskpack has two dragging suraces while
the single screw extruder has only one see Fig 218(b)
v
v=0
v
v
Conveying mechanismsingle screw extruder
Conveying mechanism
diskpack extruder Figure 983090983089983096(b)
Comparison of conveying mechanism in diskpackand single screw extruder
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983091983092 983090Different Types of Extruders
At the same net flow rate equal viscosity equal plate velocity and optimum plate
separation the theoretical maximum pressure gradient o the diskpack is eight
times higher than the single screw extruder [34] Thus high pressures can be gen-
erated over a short distance which allows a more compact machine design The
energy efficiency o the pressure generation is also better than in the single screwextruder the maximum pumping efficiency approaches 100 see derivation in
Appendix 21 For the single screw extruder the maximum pumping efficiency is
only 33 as discussed in Section 7413 The energy efficiency o pressure genera-
tion is the ratio o the theoretical energy requirement (flow rate times pressure rise)
to the actual energy requirement (wall velocity times shear stress integrated over
wall surace) It should be noted that the two dragging platesrsquo pumping mechanism
exists only in tangential direction The pumping in axial (orward) direction occurs
only in the transer channel in the housing This orward pumping occurs by the one
dragging plate mechanism as in the single screw extruder The maximum efficiency
or orward pumping thereore is only 33 The overall pumping efficiency will be
somewhere between 33 and 100 i the power consumption in the disk and channel
block clearance is neglected
Studies on melting in the diskpack were reported by Valsamis et al [96] It was
ound that two types o melting mechanism could take place in the diskpack the
drag melt removal (DMR) mechanism and the dissipative melt mixing (DMM) mech-
anism The DMR melting mechanism is the predominant mechanism in single screw
extruders this is discussed in detail in Section 73 In the DMR melting mechanismthe solids and melt coexist as two largely continuous and separate phases In the
DMM melting mechanism the solids are dispersed in the melt there is no conti-
nuous solid bed It was ound that the DMM mechanism could be induced by pro-
moting back leakage o the polymer melt past the channel block This can be con-
trolled by varying the clearance between the channel block and the disks The
advantage o the DMM melting mechanism is that the melting rate can be substan-
tially higher than with the DMR mechanism reportedly by as much as a actor o 3
[96]
Among all elementary polymer processing unctions the solids conveying in a disk-
pack extruder has not been discussed to any extent in the open technical literature
Considering that the solids conveying mechanism is a rictional drag mechanism
(as in single screw extruders) and not a positive displacement type o transport (as
in intermeshing counterrotating twin screw extruders see Sections 102 and 104)
it can be expected that the diskpack will have solids conveying limitations similar
to those o single screw extruders see Section 722 This means that powders
blends o powders and pellets slippery materials etc are likely to encounter solids
conveying problems in a diskpack extruder unless special measures are taken toenhance the solids conveying capability (e g crammer eeder grooves in the disks
etc)
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983091983093
Because o the more complex machine geometry the cost per unit throughput o the
diskpack is higher than or the conventional single screw extruder Thereore the
diskpack does not compete directly with single screw extruders
Applications or the diskpack are specialty polymer processing operations such as
polymerization post-reactor processing (devolatilization) continuous compound-
ing etc As such the diskpack competes mostly with twin screw extruders Pres-
ently twin screw extruders are usually the first choice when it comes to specialty
polymer processing operations
983090983091983090The Elastic Melt Extruder
The elastic melt extruder was developed in the late 1950s by Maxwell and Scalora[40 41] The extruder makes use o the viscoelastic in particular the elastic pro-
perties o polymer melts When a viscoelastic fluid is exposed to a shearing deor-
mation normal stresses will develop in the fluid that are not equal in all directions
as opposed to a purely viscous fluid In the elastic melt extruder the polymer is
sheared between two plates one stationary and one rotating see Fig 219
Hopper
Heaters
Solid polymer
Die
Extrudate
Polymer melt
Rotor
Solid polymerHopper
Heaters
Die
Extrudate
Polymer melt
Rotor
Figure 983090983089983097
The elastic melt extruder
As the polymer is sheared normal stresses will generate a centripetal pumping
action Thus the polymer can be extruded through the central opening in the sta-
tionary plate in a continuous ashion Because normal stresses generate the pump-
ing action this machine is sometimes reerred to as a normal stress extruderThis extruder is quite interesting rom a rheological point o view since it is prob-
ably the only extruder that utilizes the elasticity o the melt or its conveying Thus
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983091983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
several detailed experimental and theoretical studies have been devoted to the elas-
tic melt extruder [42ndash47]
The detailed study by Fritz [44] concluded that transport by normal stresses only
could be as much as two orders o magnitude lower than a corresponding system
with orced eed In addition substantial temperature gradients developed in the
polymer causing substantial degradation in high molecular weight polyolefins The
scant market acceptance o the elastic melt extruder would tend to confirm Fritzrsquos
conclusions
Several modifications have been proposed to improve the perormance o the elastic
melt extruder Fritz [43] suggested incorporation o spiral grooves to improve the
pressure generating capability essentially combining the elastic melt extruder and
the spiral disk extruder into one machine In Russia [47] several modifications
were made to the design o the elastic melt extruder One o those combined a screwextruder with the elastic melt extruder to eliminate the eeding and plasticating
problem Despite all o these activities the elastic melt extruder has not been able to
acquire a position o importance in the extrusion industry
983090983091983091Overview of Disk Extruders
Many attempts have been made in the past to come up with a continuous plasticat-
ing extruder o simple design that could perorm better than the single screw ex-truder It seems air to say that at this point in time no disk extruder has been able
to meet this goal The simple disk extruders do not perorm nearly as well as the
single screw extruder The more complex disk extruder such as the diskpack can
possibly outperorm the single screw extruder However this is at the expense o
design simplicity thus increasing the cost o the machine Disk extruders there-
ore have not been able to seriously challenge the position o the single screw
extruder This is not to say however that it is not possible or this to happen some
time in the uture But considering the long dominance o the single screw extruder
it is not probable that a new disk extruder will come along that can challenge the
single screw extruder
983090983092Ram Extruders
Ram or plunger extruders are simple in design rugged and discontinuous in their
mode o operation Ram extruders are essentially positive displacement devices and
are able to generate very high pressures Because o the intermittent operation o
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983091983095
ram extruders they are ideally suited or cyclic processes such as injection molding
and blow molding In act the early molding machines were almost exclusively
equipped with ram extruders to supply the polymer melt to the mold Certain limita-
tions o the ram extruder have caused a switch to reciprocating screw extruders or
combinations o the two The two main limitations are
1 Limited melting capacity
2 Poor temperature uniormity o the polymer melt
Presently ram extruders are used in relatively small shot size molding machines
and certain specialty operations where use is made o the positive displacement
characteristics and the outstanding pressure generation capability There are basic-
ally two types o ram extruders single ram extruders and multi ram extruders
983090983092983089Single Ram Extruders
The single ram extruder is used in small general purpose molding machines but
also in some special polymer processing operations One such operation is the ex-
trusion o intractable polymers such as ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene
(UHMWPE) or polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) These polymers are not considered to
be melt processable on conventional melt processing equipment Teledynamik [48]
has built a ram injection-molding machine under a license rom Th Engel who
developed the prototype machine This machine is used to mold UHMWPE under
very high pressures The machine uses a reciprocating plunger that densifies the
cold incoming material with a pressure up to 300 MPa (about 44000 psi) The re-
quency o the ram can be adjusted continuously with a maximum o 250 strokes
minute The densified material is orced through heated channels into the heated
cylinder where final melting takes place The material is then injected into a mold
by a telescoping injection ram Pressures up to 100 MPa (about 14500 psi) occur
during the injection o the polymer into the mold
Another application is the extrusion o PTFE with again the primary ingredient orsuccessul extrusion being very high pressures Granular PTFE can be extruded at
slow rates in a ram extruder [49ndash51] The powder is compacted by the ram orced
into a die where the material is heated above the melting point and shaped into the
desired orm PTFE is ofen processed as a PTFE paste [52 53] This is small particle
size PTFE powder (about 02 mm) mixed with a processing aid such as naphta PTFE
paste can be extruded at room temperature or slightly above room temperature
Afer extrusion the processing aid is removed by heating the extrudate above its
volatilization temperature The extruded PTFE paste product may be sintered i the
application requires a more ully coalesced product
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983091983096 983090Different Types of Extruders
983090983092983089983089Solid State Extrusion
An extrusion technique that has slowly been gaining popularity is solid-state extru-
sion The polymer is orced through a die while it is below its melting point This
causes substantial deormation o the polymer in the die but since the polymer is in
the solid state a very effective molecular orientation takes place This orientation ismuch more effective than the one which occurs in conventional melt processing As
a result extraordinary mechanical properties can be obtained
Solid-state extrusion is a technique borrowed rom the metal industry where solid-
state extrusion has been used commercially since the late 1940s Bridgman [54]
was one o the first to do a systematic study on the effect o pressure on the mechan-
ical properties o metals He also studied polymers and ound that the glass tran-
sition temperature was raised by the application o pressure
There are two methods o solid-state extrusion one is direct solid-state extrusionthe other is hydrostatic extrusion In direct solid-state extrusion a pre-ormed solid
rod o material (a billet) is in direct contact with the plunger and the walls o the
extrusion die see Fig 220 The material is extruded as the ram is pushed towards
the die
Plunger
Billet
Barrel
DieExtrudate Figure 983090983090983088
Direct solid state extrusion
In hydrostatic extrusion the pressure required or extrusion is transmitted rom the
plunger to the billet through a lubricating liquid usually castor oil The billet must
be shaped to fit the die to prevent loss o fluid The hydrostatic fluid reduces the ric-
tion thereby reducing the extrusion pressure see Fig 221
In hydrostatic extrusion the pressure-generating device or the fluid does not neces-
sarily have to be in close proximity to the orming part o the machine The fluid canbe supplied to the extrusion device by high-pressure tubes
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983091983097
Plunger
Billet
Oil
Barrel
DieExtrudate Figure 983090983090983089
Hydrostatic solid state extrusion
Judging rom publications in the open literature most o the work on solid-state
extrusion o polymers is done at universities and research institutes It is possible
o course that some companies are working on solid-state extrusion but are keeping
the inormation proprietary A major research effort in solid-state extrusion has
been made at the University o Amherst Massachusetts [50ndash64] University o
Leeds England [65ndash72] Fyushu University Fukuoka Japan [73ndash76] Research
Institute or Polymers and Textiles Yokohama Japan [77ndash79] Battelle Columbus
Ohio [80ndash83] and Rutgers University New Brunswick New Jersey [84ndash86] As
mentioned earlier publications rom other sources are considerably less plentiul
[87ndash90] Efforts have also been made to achieve the same high degree o orientation
in a more or less conventional extrusion process by special die design and tempera-
ture control in the die region [91]
Table 25 shows a comparison o mechanical properties between steel aluminum
solid state extruded HDPE and HDPE extruded by conventional means
Table 25 clearly indicates that the mechanical properties o solid-state extruded
HDPE are much superior to the melt extruded HDPE In act the tensile strength o
solid-state extruded HDPE is about the same as carbon steel There are some other
interesting benefits associated with solidstate extrusion o polymers There is essen-
tially no die swell at high extrusion ratios (extrusion ratio is the ratio o the area in
the cylinder to the area in the die) Thus the dimensions o the extrudate closely
conorm to those o the die exit The surace o the extrudate produced by hydro-
static extrusion has a lower coefficient o riction than that o the un-oriented poly-
mer Above a certain extrusion ratio (about ten) polyethylene and polypropylene
become transparent Further solid-state extruded polymers maintain their ten-sile properties at elevated temperatures Polyethylene maintains its modulus up to
120degC when it is extruded in the solid state at a high extrusion ratio The thermal
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983092983088 983090Different Types of Extruders
conductivity in the extrusion direction is much higher than that o the un-oriented
polymer as much as 25 times higher The melting point o the solid-state extruded
polymer increases with the amount o orientation The melting point o HDPE can be
shifed to as high as 140degC
Table 25 Comparison of Mechanical Properties
Material Tensile modulus[MPa]
Tensile strength[MPa]
Elongation[]
Density[gcc]
Annealed SAE 1020 210000 410 35 786
W-200 degF SAE 1020 210000 720 6 786
Annealed 304 stainless
steel
200000 590 50 792
Aluminum 1100ndash0 70000 90 45 271
HDPE solid state
extruded
70000 480 3 097
HDPE melt extruded 10000 30 20ndash1000 096
A recent application o solid-state extrusion is the process developed by Synthetic
Hardwood Technologies Inc [107] This company has developed an expanded ori-
ented wood-filled polypropylene (EOW-PP) that is about 300 stronger than regular
PP The process is based on technology developed at Aluminum Company o Canada
Ltd (Alcan) in the early 1990s to solidstate extrude PP It involves ram extrusion
drawing o billets o PP just below the melting point with very high draw ratio and
high haul-off tension (about 3 MPa) to reeze-in the high level o orientation Alcan
did not pursue the technology and Symplastics Ltd licensed the patented process
this company started experimenting with adding small amounts o wood flour to the
PP However Symplastics ound the research and development too costly and sold
the patents and lab extrusion equipment to Frank Maine who set up SHW to com-
mercialize applications or the EOW-PP The key to the SHW process is that it com-
bines extrusion with drawing As the polymer is oriented the density drops about
50 rom about 1 g cc to 05 g cc The die drawing also allowed substantial in-creases in line speed rom about 0050 m min to about 9 m min The properties
achieved with EOW-PP are shown in Table 24 and compared to regular PP wood
and oriented PP
Solid-state extrusion has been practiced with coextrusion o different polymers [93]
Despite the large amount o research on solid-state extrusion and the outstanding
mechanical properties that can be obtained there does not seem to be much interest
in the polymer industry The main drawbacks o course are that solid-state extru-
sion is basically a discontinuous process it cannot be done on conventional polymer
processing equipment and very high pressures are required to achieve solid-stateextrusion Also one should keep in mind that very good mechanical properties can
be obtained by taking a profile (fiber film tube etc) produced by conventional con-
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983092983089
tinuous extrusion and exposing it to controlled deormation at a temperature below
the melting point This is a well-established technique in many extrusion operations
(fiber spinning film extrusion etc) and it can be done at a high rate This method
o producing extrudates with very good mechanical properties is likely to be more
cost-effective than solid-state extrusion It is possible that the die drawing processdeveloped by SHW can make solid-state extrusion more attractive commercially by
allowing large profiles to be processed at reasonable line speeds
Table 26 Mechanical Properties of PP Wood OPP and EOW-PP
Flexural strength [MPa] Flexural modulus [MPa]
Regular PP 50 1850
Wood 100 9000
Oriented PP 275 7600EOW-PP 140 7600
983090983092983090Multi Ram Extruder
As mentioned beore the main disadvantage o ram extruders is their intermittent
operation Several attempts have been made to overcome this problem by designing
multi-ram extruders that work together in such a way as to produce a continuousflow o material
Westover [94] designed a continuous ram extruder that combined our plunger-
cylinders Two plunger-cylinders were used or plasticating and two or pumping
An intricate shuttle valve connecting all the plunger cylinders provides continuous
extrusion
Another attempt to develop a continuous ram extruder was made by Yi and Fenner
[95] They designed a twin ram extruder with the cylinders in a V-configuration see
Fig 222The two rams discharge into a common barrel in which a plasticating shaf is rotat-
ing Thus solids conveying occurs in the two separate cylinders and plasticating
and melt conveying occurs in the annular region between the barrel and plasticat-
ing shaf The machine is able to extrude however the throughput uniormity is
poor The perormance could probably have been improved i the plasticating shaf
had been provided with a helical channel But o course then the machine would
have become a screw extruder with a ram-assisted eed This only goes to demon-
strate that it is ar rom easy to improve upon the simple screw extruder
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983092983090 983090Different Types of Extruders
Die Breaker plate
Plasticating shaft
Main
block
Feed cylinder
Figure 222 Twin ram extruder
983090983092983091 Appendix 983090983089
983090983092983091983089 Pumping Efficiency in Diskpack Extruder
The velocity profile between the moving walls is a parabolic unction when the fluid
is a Newtonian fluid see Section 621 and Fig 223
y
z H
Small pressure gradient
Medium pressure gradient
Large pressure gradient
Figure 983090983090983091
Velocity profiles between moving
walls
The velocity profile or a Newtonian fluid is
L8
PH
H
y41vv(y)
2
2
2
∆micro∆
minusminus= (1)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983092983091
where v is the velocity o the plates H the distance between the plates and μ the
viscosity o the fluid The flow rate can be ound by integrating v(y) over the width
and depth o the channel this yields
L12
PWHvWHV
3
∆micro∆minus=
bull
(2)
The first term on the right-hand side o the equalation is the drag flow term The
second term is the pressure flow term The ratio o pressure flow to drag flow is
termed the throttle ratio rd (see Section 7413)
r d =Lv12
PH2
∆micro
∆ (3)
The flow rate can now be written as
(4)
The shear stress at the wall is obtained rom
dv H∆Pτ = micro =dy
05H 2∆L
(5)
The power consumption in the channel is
Zch = PvHWLvW2 ∆=∆τ (6)
The energy efficiency or pressure generation is
V∆Pε = =1 minus r
d Zch
(7)
Equation 7 is not valid or rd = 0 because in this case both numerator and denomi-
nator become zero From Eq 7 it can be seen that when the machine is operated atlow rd values the pumping efficiency can become close to 100 This is considerably
better than the single screw extruder where the optimum pumping efficiency is 33
at a throttle ratio value o 033 (rd = 13)
References
1 J LeBras ldquoRubber Fundamentals o its Science and Technologyrdquo Chemical Publ Co
NY (1957)
2 W S Penn ldquoSynthetic Rubber Technology Volume Irdquo MacLaren amp Sons Ltd London(1960)
3 W J S Naunton ldquoThe Applied Science o Rubberrdquo Edward Arnold Ltd London (1961)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3437
983092983092 983090Different Types of Extruders
4 C M Blow ldquoRubber Technology and Manuacturerdquo Butterworth amp Co Ltd London
(1971)
5 F R Eirich (Ed) ldquoScience and Technology o Rubberrdquo Academic Press NY (1978)
6 C W Evans ldquoPowdered and Particulate Rubber Technologyrdquo Applied Science Publ Ltd
London (1978)
7 G Targiel et al 10 IKV-Kolloquium Aachen March 12ndash14 45 (1980)
8 A Kennaway Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 17 378ndash391 (1964)
9 G Menges and J P Lehnen Plastverarbeiter 20 1 31ndash39 (1969)
10 M Parshall and A J Saulino Rubber World 2 5 78ndash83 (1967)
11 S E Perlberg Rubber World 2 6 71ndash76 (1967)
12 H H Gohlisch Gummi Asbest Kunststoffe 25 9 834ndash835 (1972)
13 E Harms ldquoKautschuk-Extruder Aubau und Einsatz aus verahrenstechnischer Sichtrdquo
Krausskop-Verlag Mainz Bd 2 Buchreihe Kunststo983142echnik (1974)
14 G Schwarz Eur Rubber Journal Sept 28ndash32 (1977)
15 G Menges and E G Harms Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 25 10 469ndash475 (1972)
16 G Menges and E G Harms Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 27 5 187ndash193 (1974)
17 E G Harms Elastomerics 109 6 33ndash39 (1977)
18 E G Harms Eur Rubber Journal 6 23 (1978)
19 E G Harms Kunststoffe 69 1 32ndash33 (1979)
20 E G Harms Dissertation RWTH Aachen Germany (1981)21 S H Collins Plastics Compounding Nov Dec 29 (1982)
22 D Anders Kunststoffe 69 194ndash198 (1979)
23 D Gras and K Eise SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 21 386 (1975)
24 R F Westover SPE Journal 18 12 1473 (1962)
25 Lord Raleigh Philosophical Magazine 35 1ndash12 (1918)
26 German Patent DRP 1129681
27 British Patent BP 759354
28 U S Patent 3880564
29 U S Patent 4012477
30 J F Ingen Housz Plastverarbeiter 10 1 (1975)
31 U S Patent 4142805
32 U S Patent 4194841
33 U S Patent 4213709
34 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 25 193 (1979)
35 P Hold Z Tadmor and L Valsamis SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 25 205 (1979)
36 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis Plastics Engineering Nov 20ndash25 (1979)
37 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis Plastics Engineering Dec 30ndash38 (1979)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3537
References 983092983093
38 Z Tadmor et al The Diskpack Plastics Processor Farrel Publication Jan (1982)
39 L Valsamis AIChE Meeting Washington D C Oct (1983)
40 B Maxwell and A J Scalora Modern Plastics 37 107 Oct (1959)
41 U S Patent 3 046603
42 L L Blyler PhD thesis Princeton University NJ (1966)
43 H G Fritz Kunststo983142echnik 6 430 (1968)
44 H G Fritz PhD thesis Stuttgart University Germany (1971)
45 C W Macosko and J M Starita SPE Journal 27 30 (1971)
46 P A Good A J Schwartz and C W Macosko AIChE Journal 20 1 67 (1974)
47 V L Kocherov Y L Lukach E A Sporyagin and G V Vinogradov Polym Eng Sci 13
194 (1973)
48 J Berzen and G Braun Kunststoffe 69 2 62ndash66 (1979)49 R S Porter et al J Polym Sci 17 485ndash488 (1979)
50 C A Sperati Modern Plastics Encyclopedia McGraw-Hill NY (1983)
51 S S Schwartz and S H Goodman see Chapter 1 [36]
52 G R Snelling and J F Lontz J Appl Polym Sci 3 9 257ndash265 (1960)
53 D C F Couzens Plastics and Rubber Processing March 45ndash48 (1976)
54 P W Bridgman ldquoStudies in Large Plastic Flow and Fracturerdquo McGraw-Hill NY (1952)
55 H L D Push ldquoThe Mechanical Behavior o Materials Under Pressurerdquo Elsevier Amster-
dam (1970)56 H L D Push and A H Low J Inst Metals 93 201 (196565)
57 F Slack Mach Design Oct 7 61ndash64 (1982)
58 J H Southern and R S Porter J Appl Polym Sci 14 2305 (1970)
59 J H Southern and R S Porter J Macromol Sci Phys 3ndash4 541 (1970)
60 J H Southern N E Weeks and R S Porter Macromol Chem 162 19 (1972)
61 N J Capiati and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 13 1177 (1975)
62 R S Porter J H Southern and N E Weeks Polym Eng Sci 15 213 (1975)
63 A E Zachariades E S Sherman and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 17 255
(1979)
64 A E Zachariades and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 17 277 (1979)
65 B Parsons D Bretherton and B N Cole in Advances in MTDR 11th Int Con Proc
S A Tobias and F Koeningsberger (Eds) Pergamon Press London Vol B 1049 (1971)
66 G Capaccio and I M Ward Polymer 15 233 (1974)
67 A G Gibson I M Ward B N Cole and B Parsons J Mater Sci 9 1193ndash1196 (1974)
68 A G Gibson and I M Ward J Appl Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 16 2015ndash2030 (1978)
69 P S Hope and B Parsons Polym Eng Sci 20 589ndash600 (1980)
70 P S Hope I M Ward and A G Gibson J Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 18 1242ndash1256
(1980)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3637
983092983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
71 P S Hope A G Gibson B Parsons and I M Ward Polym Eng Sci 20 54ndash55 (1980)
72 B Parsons and I M Ward Plast Rubber Proc Appl 2 3 215ndash224 (1982)
73 K Imada T Yamamoto K Shigematsu and M Takayanagi J Mater Sci 6 537ndash546
(1971)
74 K Nakamura K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 2 71 (1972)
75 K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 2 89 (1973)
76 K Nakamura K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 3 23 (1974)
77 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Mater Sci 10 1105 (1975)
78 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Mater Sci 12 1477 (1977)
79 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Appl Polym Sci 23 2543ndash2554 (1979)
80 D M Bigg Polym Eng Sci 16 725 (1976)
81 D M Bigg M M Epstein R J Fiorentino and E G Smith Polym Eng Sci 18 908(1978)
82 D M Bigg and M M Epstein ldquoScience and Technology o Polymer Processingrdquo N S Suh
and N Sung (Eds) 897 MIT Press (1979)
83 D M Bigg M M Epstein R J Fiorentino and E G Smith J Appl Polym Sci 26 395ndash
409 (1981)
84 K D Pae and D R Mears J Polym Sci B-6 269 (1968)
85 K D Pae D R Mears and J A Sauer J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 6 773 (1968)
86 D R Mears K P Pae and J A Sauer J Appl Phys 40 11 4229ndash4237 (1969)
87 L A Davis and C A Pampillo J Appl Phys 42 12 4659ndash4666 (1971)
88 A Buckley and H A Long Polym Eng Sci 9 2 115ndash120 (1969)
89 L A Davis Polym Eng Sci 14 9 641ndash645 (1974)
90 R K Okine and N P Suh Polym Eng Sci 22 5 269ndash279 (1982)
91 J R Collier T Y T Tam J Newcome and N Dinos Polym Eng Sci 16 204ndash211 (1976)
92 J H Faupel and F E Fisher ldquoEngineering Designrdquo Wiley NY (1981)
93 A E Zachariades R Ball and R S Porter J Mater Sci 13 2671ndash2675 (1978)
94 R R Westover Modern Plastics March (1963) 95 B Yi and R T Fenner Plastics and Polymers Dec 224ndash228 (1975)
96 A Mekkaoui and L N Valsamis Polym Eng Sci 24 1260ndash1269 (1984)
97 H Rust Kunststoffe 73 342ndash346 (1983)
98 J Huszman Kunststoffe 73 3437ndash348 (1983)
99 J M McKelvey U Maire and F Haupt Chem Eng Sept 27 94ndash102 (1976)
100 K Schneider Kunststoffe 68 201ndash206 (1978)
101 W T Rice Plastic Technology 87ndash91 Feb (1980)
102 Harrel Corp ldquoMelt Pump Systems or Extrudersrdquo Product Description TDS-264 (1982)
103 J M McKelvey and W T Rice Chem Eng 90 2 89ndash94 (1983)
104 K Kaper K Eise and H Herrmann SPE ANTEC Chicago 161ndash163 (1983)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3737
References 983092983095
105 C L Woodworth SPE ANTEC New Orleans 122ndash126 (1984)
106 W A Kramer SPE ANTEC Washington D C 23ndash29 (1985)
107 J Schut ldquoDie Drawing Makes Plastic Steelrdquo Plastics Technology Online Article March
5 (2001)
108 VDI Conerence Extrusiontechnik 2006 ldquoDer Einschnecken-Extruder von Morgenrdquo VDI
Verlag GmbH Duumlsseldor (2006)
109 P Rieg ldquoLatest Developments in High-Speed Extrusionrdquo Plastic Extrusion Asia Con-
erence Bangkok Thailand March 17ndash18 (2008) also presented at Advances in Ex-
trusion Conerence New Orleans December 9ndash10 (2008)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983091983089
Hopper
DieRotor
Housing
Wiper bar
Hopper
Wiper bar
DieRotor
Housing
Figure 983090983089983094
The drum extruder by AskoCosden
983090983091983089983091Spiral Disk Extruder
The spiral disk extruder is another type o disk extruder that has been known or
many years Several patented designs were described by Schenkel (Chapter 1 [3])
Similar to the stepped disk extruder the development o the spiral disk extruder
is closely connected to spiral groove bearings It has long been known that spiral
groove bearings are capable o supporting substantial loads Ingen Housz [30] has
analyzed the melt conveying in a spiral disk extruder with logarithmic grooves in
the disk based on Newtonian flow behavior o the polymer melt In terms o melt
conveying capability the spiral disk extruder seems comparable to the screw ex-truder however the solids conveying capability is questionable
983090983091983089983092Diskpack Extruder
Another development in disk extruders is the diskpack extruder Tadmor originated
the idea o the diskpack machine which is covered under several patents [31ndash33]
The development o the machine was undertaken by the Farrel Machinery Group o
Emgart Corporation in cooperation with Tadmor [34ndash39] The basic concept o the
machine is shown in Fig 217Material drops in the axial gap between relatively thin disks mounted on a rotating
shaf The material will move with the disks almost a ull turn then it meets a chan-
nel block The channel block closes off the space between the disks and deflects the
polymer flow to either an outlet channel or to a transer channel in the barrel The
shape o the disks can be optimized or specific unctions solids conveying melting
devolatilization melt conveying and mixing A detailed unctional analysis can be
ound in Tadmorrsquos book on polymer processing (Chapter 1 [32])
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983091983090 983090Different Types of Extruders
v
v
Channel blockInlet
Outlet
Barrel
Solid bed
Shaft
Melt pool
Inlet Channel block
Outlet
Melt pool
Solid bed
Barrel
Shaft
v
v Figure 983090983089983095
The diskpack extruder
It is claimed that this machine can perorm all basic polymer-processing operations
with efficiency equaling or surpassing existing machinery Clearly i the claim is
true and can be delivered or a competitive price the diskpack extruder will become
an important machine in the extrusion industry The first diskpack machines were
delivered to the industry in 1982 still under a joint development type o agreement
Now almost 20 years afer the first diskpack machines were delivered it is clear
that the acceptance o these machines in the industry has been very limited In act
Farrel no longer actively markets the diskpack machine In most o the publications
the diskpack machine is reerred to as a polymer processor This term is probably
used to indicate that this machine can do more than just extruding although the
diskpack is o course an extruder
The diskpack machine incorporates some o the eatures o the drum extruder and
the single screw extruder One can think o the diskpack as a single screw extruder
using a screw with zero helix angle and very deep flights Forward axial transportcan only take place by transport channels in the barrel with the material orced into
those channels by a restrictor bar as with the drum extruder The use o restrictor
bars (channel block) and transer channels in the housing make it considerably
more complex than the barrel o a single screw extruder
One o the advantages o the diskpack is that mixing blocks and spreading dams can
be incorporated into the machine as shown in Fig 218(a)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983091983091
v
v
Channel blockInlet
Outlet
Mixing block
Disk
Inlet Channel block
Outlet
Mixing blockDisk v
v Figure 983090983089983096(a)
Mixing blocks in the diskpack
Mixing blocks o various shapes can be positioned externally into the processing
chamber This is similar to the QSM extruder only that in the QSM extruder the
screw flight has to be interrupted to avoid contact This is not necessary in the disk-
pack because the flights have zero helix angles in other words they run perpen-
dicular to the rotor axis By the number o blocks the geometry o the block and the
clearance between block and disk one can tailor the mixing capability to the par-
ticular application The use o spreading dams allows the generation o a thin film
with a large surace area this results in effective devolatilization capability The
diskpack has inherently higher pressure-generating capability than the single
screw extruder does This is because the diskpack has two dragging suraces while
the single screw extruder has only one see Fig 218(b)
v
v=0
v
v
Conveying mechanismsingle screw extruder
Conveying mechanism
diskpack extruder Figure 983090983089983096(b)
Comparison of conveying mechanism in diskpackand single screw extruder
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983091983092 983090Different Types of Extruders
At the same net flow rate equal viscosity equal plate velocity and optimum plate
separation the theoretical maximum pressure gradient o the diskpack is eight
times higher than the single screw extruder [34] Thus high pressures can be gen-
erated over a short distance which allows a more compact machine design The
energy efficiency o the pressure generation is also better than in the single screwextruder the maximum pumping efficiency approaches 100 see derivation in
Appendix 21 For the single screw extruder the maximum pumping efficiency is
only 33 as discussed in Section 7413 The energy efficiency o pressure genera-
tion is the ratio o the theoretical energy requirement (flow rate times pressure rise)
to the actual energy requirement (wall velocity times shear stress integrated over
wall surace) It should be noted that the two dragging platesrsquo pumping mechanism
exists only in tangential direction The pumping in axial (orward) direction occurs
only in the transer channel in the housing This orward pumping occurs by the one
dragging plate mechanism as in the single screw extruder The maximum efficiency
or orward pumping thereore is only 33 The overall pumping efficiency will be
somewhere between 33 and 100 i the power consumption in the disk and channel
block clearance is neglected
Studies on melting in the diskpack were reported by Valsamis et al [96] It was
ound that two types o melting mechanism could take place in the diskpack the
drag melt removal (DMR) mechanism and the dissipative melt mixing (DMM) mech-
anism The DMR melting mechanism is the predominant mechanism in single screw
extruders this is discussed in detail in Section 73 In the DMR melting mechanismthe solids and melt coexist as two largely continuous and separate phases In the
DMM melting mechanism the solids are dispersed in the melt there is no conti-
nuous solid bed It was ound that the DMM mechanism could be induced by pro-
moting back leakage o the polymer melt past the channel block This can be con-
trolled by varying the clearance between the channel block and the disks The
advantage o the DMM melting mechanism is that the melting rate can be substan-
tially higher than with the DMR mechanism reportedly by as much as a actor o 3
[96]
Among all elementary polymer processing unctions the solids conveying in a disk-
pack extruder has not been discussed to any extent in the open technical literature
Considering that the solids conveying mechanism is a rictional drag mechanism
(as in single screw extruders) and not a positive displacement type o transport (as
in intermeshing counterrotating twin screw extruders see Sections 102 and 104)
it can be expected that the diskpack will have solids conveying limitations similar
to those o single screw extruders see Section 722 This means that powders
blends o powders and pellets slippery materials etc are likely to encounter solids
conveying problems in a diskpack extruder unless special measures are taken toenhance the solids conveying capability (e g crammer eeder grooves in the disks
etc)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983091983093
Because o the more complex machine geometry the cost per unit throughput o the
diskpack is higher than or the conventional single screw extruder Thereore the
diskpack does not compete directly with single screw extruders
Applications or the diskpack are specialty polymer processing operations such as
polymerization post-reactor processing (devolatilization) continuous compound-
ing etc As such the diskpack competes mostly with twin screw extruders Pres-
ently twin screw extruders are usually the first choice when it comes to specialty
polymer processing operations
983090983091983090The Elastic Melt Extruder
The elastic melt extruder was developed in the late 1950s by Maxwell and Scalora[40 41] The extruder makes use o the viscoelastic in particular the elastic pro-
perties o polymer melts When a viscoelastic fluid is exposed to a shearing deor-
mation normal stresses will develop in the fluid that are not equal in all directions
as opposed to a purely viscous fluid In the elastic melt extruder the polymer is
sheared between two plates one stationary and one rotating see Fig 219
Hopper
Heaters
Solid polymer
Die
Extrudate
Polymer melt
Rotor
Solid polymerHopper
Heaters
Die
Extrudate
Polymer melt
Rotor
Figure 983090983089983097
The elastic melt extruder
As the polymer is sheared normal stresses will generate a centripetal pumping
action Thus the polymer can be extruded through the central opening in the sta-
tionary plate in a continuous ashion Because normal stresses generate the pump-
ing action this machine is sometimes reerred to as a normal stress extruderThis extruder is quite interesting rom a rheological point o view since it is prob-
ably the only extruder that utilizes the elasticity o the melt or its conveying Thus
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983091983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
several detailed experimental and theoretical studies have been devoted to the elas-
tic melt extruder [42ndash47]
The detailed study by Fritz [44] concluded that transport by normal stresses only
could be as much as two orders o magnitude lower than a corresponding system
with orced eed In addition substantial temperature gradients developed in the
polymer causing substantial degradation in high molecular weight polyolefins The
scant market acceptance o the elastic melt extruder would tend to confirm Fritzrsquos
conclusions
Several modifications have been proposed to improve the perormance o the elastic
melt extruder Fritz [43] suggested incorporation o spiral grooves to improve the
pressure generating capability essentially combining the elastic melt extruder and
the spiral disk extruder into one machine In Russia [47] several modifications
were made to the design o the elastic melt extruder One o those combined a screwextruder with the elastic melt extruder to eliminate the eeding and plasticating
problem Despite all o these activities the elastic melt extruder has not been able to
acquire a position o importance in the extrusion industry
983090983091983091Overview of Disk Extruders
Many attempts have been made in the past to come up with a continuous plasticat-
ing extruder o simple design that could perorm better than the single screw ex-truder It seems air to say that at this point in time no disk extruder has been able
to meet this goal The simple disk extruders do not perorm nearly as well as the
single screw extruder The more complex disk extruder such as the diskpack can
possibly outperorm the single screw extruder However this is at the expense o
design simplicity thus increasing the cost o the machine Disk extruders there-
ore have not been able to seriously challenge the position o the single screw
extruder This is not to say however that it is not possible or this to happen some
time in the uture But considering the long dominance o the single screw extruder
it is not probable that a new disk extruder will come along that can challenge the
single screw extruder
983090983092Ram Extruders
Ram or plunger extruders are simple in design rugged and discontinuous in their
mode o operation Ram extruders are essentially positive displacement devices and
are able to generate very high pressures Because o the intermittent operation o
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983091983095
ram extruders they are ideally suited or cyclic processes such as injection molding
and blow molding In act the early molding machines were almost exclusively
equipped with ram extruders to supply the polymer melt to the mold Certain limita-
tions o the ram extruder have caused a switch to reciprocating screw extruders or
combinations o the two The two main limitations are
1 Limited melting capacity
2 Poor temperature uniormity o the polymer melt
Presently ram extruders are used in relatively small shot size molding machines
and certain specialty operations where use is made o the positive displacement
characteristics and the outstanding pressure generation capability There are basic-
ally two types o ram extruders single ram extruders and multi ram extruders
983090983092983089Single Ram Extruders
The single ram extruder is used in small general purpose molding machines but
also in some special polymer processing operations One such operation is the ex-
trusion o intractable polymers such as ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene
(UHMWPE) or polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) These polymers are not considered to
be melt processable on conventional melt processing equipment Teledynamik [48]
has built a ram injection-molding machine under a license rom Th Engel who
developed the prototype machine This machine is used to mold UHMWPE under
very high pressures The machine uses a reciprocating plunger that densifies the
cold incoming material with a pressure up to 300 MPa (about 44000 psi) The re-
quency o the ram can be adjusted continuously with a maximum o 250 strokes
minute The densified material is orced through heated channels into the heated
cylinder where final melting takes place The material is then injected into a mold
by a telescoping injection ram Pressures up to 100 MPa (about 14500 psi) occur
during the injection o the polymer into the mold
Another application is the extrusion o PTFE with again the primary ingredient orsuccessul extrusion being very high pressures Granular PTFE can be extruded at
slow rates in a ram extruder [49ndash51] The powder is compacted by the ram orced
into a die where the material is heated above the melting point and shaped into the
desired orm PTFE is ofen processed as a PTFE paste [52 53] This is small particle
size PTFE powder (about 02 mm) mixed with a processing aid such as naphta PTFE
paste can be extruded at room temperature or slightly above room temperature
Afer extrusion the processing aid is removed by heating the extrudate above its
volatilization temperature The extruded PTFE paste product may be sintered i the
application requires a more ully coalesced product
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983091983096 983090Different Types of Extruders
983090983092983089983089Solid State Extrusion
An extrusion technique that has slowly been gaining popularity is solid-state extru-
sion The polymer is orced through a die while it is below its melting point This
causes substantial deormation o the polymer in the die but since the polymer is in
the solid state a very effective molecular orientation takes place This orientation ismuch more effective than the one which occurs in conventional melt processing As
a result extraordinary mechanical properties can be obtained
Solid-state extrusion is a technique borrowed rom the metal industry where solid-
state extrusion has been used commercially since the late 1940s Bridgman [54]
was one o the first to do a systematic study on the effect o pressure on the mechan-
ical properties o metals He also studied polymers and ound that the glass tran-
sition temperature was raised by the application o pressure
There are two methods o solid-state extrusion one is direct solid-state extrusionthe other is hydrostatic extrusion In direct solid-state extrusion a pre-ormed solid
rod o material (a billet) is in direct contact with the plunger and the walls o the
extrusion die see Fig 220 The material is extruded as the ram is pushed towards
the die
Plunger
Billet
Barrel
DieExtrudate Figure 983090983090983088
Direct solid state extrusion
In hydrostatic extrusion the pressure required or extrusion is transmitted rom the
plunger to the billet through a lubricating liquid usually castor oil The billet must
be shaped to fit the die to prevent loss o fluid The hydrostatic fluid reduces the ric-
tion thereby reducing the extrusion pressure see Fig 221
In hydrostatic extrusion the pressure-generating device or the fluid does not neces-
sarily have to be in close proximity to the orming part o the machine The fluid canbe supplied to the extrusion device by high-pressure tubes
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983091983097
Plunger
Billet
Oil
Barrel
DieExtrudate Figure 983090983090983089
Hydrostatic solid state extrusion
Judging rom publications in the open literature most o the work on solid-state
extrusion o polymers is done at universities and research institutes It is possible
o course that some companies are working on solid-state extrusion but are keeping
the inormation proprietary A major research effort in solid-state extrusion has
been made at the University o Amherst Massachusetts [50ndash64] University o
Leeds England [65ndash72] Fyushu University Fukuoka Japan [73ndash76] Research
Institute or Polymers and Textiles Yokohama Japan [77ndash79] Battelle Columbus
Ohio [80ndash83] and Rutgers University New Brunswick New Jersey [84ndash86] As
mentioned earlier publications rom other sources are considerably less plentiul
[87ndash90] Efforts have also been made to achieve the same high degree o orientation
in a more or less conventional extrusion process by special die design and tempera-
ture control in the die region [91]
Table 25 shows a comparison o mechanical properties between steel aluminum
solid state extruded HDPE and HDPE extruded by conventional means
Table 25 clearly indicates that the mechanical properties o solid-state extruded
HDPE are much superior to the melt extruded HDPE In act the tensile strength o
solid-state extruded HDPE is about the same as carbon steel There are some other
interesting benefits associated with solidstate extrusion o polymers There is essen-
tially no die swell at high extrusion ratios (extrusion ratio is the ratio o the area in
the cylinder to the area in the die) Thus the dimensions o the extrudate closely
conorm to those o the die exit The surace o the extrudate produced by hydro-
static extrusion has a lower coefficient o riction than that o the un-oriented poly-
mer Above a certain extrusion ratio (about ten) polyethylene and polypropylene
become transparent Further solid-state extruded polymers maintain their ten-sile properties at elevated temperatures Polyethylene maintains its modulus up to
120degC when it is extruded in the solid state at a high extrusion ratio The thermal
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983092983088 983090Different Types of Extruders
conductivity in the extrusion direction is much higher than that o the un-oriented
polymer as much as 25 times higher The melting point o the solid-state extruded
polymer increases with the amount o orientation The melting point o HDPE can be
shifed to as high as 140degC
Table 25 Comparison of Mechanical Properties
Material Tensile modulus[MPa]
Tensile strength[MPa]
Elongation[]
Density[gcc]
Annealed SAE 1020 210000 410 35 786
W-200 degF SAE 1020 210000 720 6 786
Annealed 304 stainless
steel
200000 590 50 792
Aluminum 1100ndash0 70000 90 45 271
HDPE solid state
extruded
70000 480 3 097
HDPE melt extruded 10000 30 20ndash1000 096
A recent application o solid-state extrusion is the process developed by Synthetic
Hardwood Technologies Inc [107] This company has developed an expanded ori-
ented wood-filled polypropylene (EOW-PP) that is about 300 stronger than regular
PP The process is based on technology developed at Aluminum Company o Canada
Ltd (Alcan) in the early 1990s to solidstate extrude PP It involves ram extrusion
drawing o billets o PP just below the melting point with very high draw ratio and
high haul-off tension (about 3 MPa) to reeze-in the high level o orientation Alcan
did not pursue the technology and Symplastics Ltd licensed the patented process
this company started experimenting with adding small amounts o wood flour to the
PP However Symplastics ound the research and development too costly and sold
the patents and lab extrusion equipment to Frank Maine who set up SHW to com-
mercialize applications or the EOW-PP The key to the SHW process is that it com-
bines extrusion with drawing As the polymer is oriented the density drops about
50 rom about 1 g cc to 05 g cc The die drawing also allowed substantial in-creases in line speed rom about 0050 m min to about 9 m min The properties
achieved with EOW-PP are shown in Table 24 and compared to regular PP wood
and oriented PP
Solid-state extrusion has been practiced with coextrusion o different polymers [93]
Despite the large amount o research on solid-state extrusion and the outstanding
mechanical properties that can be obtained there does not seem to be much interest
in the polymer industry The main drawbacks o course are that solid-state extru-
sion is basically a discontinuous process it cannot be done on conventional polymer
processing equipment and very high pressures are required to achieve solid-stateextrusion Also one should keep in mind that very good mechanical properties can
be obtained by taking a profile (fiber film tube etc) produced by conventional con-
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983092983089
tinuous extrusion and exposing it to controlled deormation at a temperature below
the melting point This is a well-established technique in many extrusion operations
(fiber spinning film extrusion etc) and it can be done at a high rate This method
o producing extrudates with very good mechanical properties is likely to be more
cost-effective than solid-state extrusion It is possible that the die drawing processdeveloped by SHW can make solid-state extrusion more attractive commercially by
allowing large profiles to be processed at reasonable line speeds
Table 26 Mechanical Properties of PP Wood OPP and EOW-PP
Flexural strength [MPa] Flexural modulus [MPa]
Regular PP 50 1850
Wood 100 9000
Oriented PP 275 7600EOW-PP 140 7600
983090983092983090Multi Ram Extruder
As mentioned beore the main disadvantage o ram extruders is their intermittent
operation Several attempts have been made to overcome this problem by designing
multi-ram extruders that work together in such a way as to produce a continuousflow o material
Westover [94] designed a continuous ram extruder that combined our plunger-
cylinders Two plunger-cylinders were used or plasticating and two or pumping
An intricate shuttle valve connecting all the plunger cylinders provides continuous
extrusion
Another attempt to develop a continuous ram extruder was made by Yi and Fenner
[95] They designed a twin ram extruder with the cylinders in a V-configuration see
Fig 222The two rams discharge into a common barrel in which a plasticating shaf is rotat-
ing Thus solids conveying occurs in the two separate cylinders and plasticating
and melt conveying occurs in the annular region between the barrel and plasticat-
ing shaf The machine is able to extrude however the throughput uniormity is
poor The perormance could probably have been improved i the plasticating shaf
had been provided with a helical channel But o course then the machine would
have become a screw extruder with a ram-assisted eed This only goes to demon-
strate that it is ar rom easy to improve upon the simple screw extruder
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983092983090 983090Different Types of Extruders
Die Breaker plate
Plasticating shaft
Main
block
Feed cylinder
Figure 222 Twin ram extruder
983090983092983091 Appendix 983090983089
983090983092983091983089 Pumping Efficiency in Diskpack Extruder
The velocity profile between the moving walls is a parabolic unction when the fluid
is a Newtonian fluid see Section 621 and Fig 223
y
z H
Small pressure gradient
Medium pressure gradient
Large pressure gradient
Figure 983090983090983091
Velocity profiles between moving
walls
The velocity profile or a Newtonian fluid is
L8
PH
H
y41vv(y)
2
2
2
∆micro∆
minusminus= (1)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983092983091
where v is the velocity o the plates H the distance between the plates and μ the
viscosity o the fluid The flow rate can be ound by integrating v(y) over the width
and depth o the channel this yields
L12
PWHvWHV
3
∆micro∆minus=
bull
(2)
The first term on the right-hand side o the equalation is the drag flow term The
second term is the pressure flow term The ratio o pressure flow to drag flow is
termed the throttle ratio rd (see Section 7413)
r d =Lv12
PH2
∆micro
∆ (3)
The flow rate can now be written as
(4)
The shear stress at the wall is obtained rom
dv H∆Pτ = micro =dy
05H 2∆L
(5)
The power consumption in the channel is
Zch = PvHWLvW2 ∆=∆τ (6)
The energy efficiency or pressure generation is
V∆Pε = =1 minus r
d Zch
(7)
Equation 7 is not valid or rd = 0 because in this case both numerator and denomi-
nator become zero From Eq 7 it can be seen that when the machine is operated atlow rd values the pumping efficiency can become close to 100 This is considerably
better than the single screw extruder where the optimum pumping efficiency is 33
at a throttle ratio value o 033 (rd = 13)
References
1 J LeBras ldquoRubber Fundamentals o its Science and Technologyrdquo Chemical Publ Co
NY (1957)
2 W S Penn ldquoSynthetic Rubber Technology Volume Irdquo MacLaren amp Sons Ltd London(1960)
3 W J S Naunton ldquoThe Applied Science o Rubberrdquo Edward Arnold Ltd London (1961)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3437
983092983092 983090Different Types of Extruders
4 C M Blow ldquoRubber Technology and Manuacturerdquo Butterworth amp Co Ltd London
(1971)
5 F R Eirich (Ed) ldquoScience and Technology o Rubberrdquo Academic Press NY (1978)
6 C W Evans ldquoPowdered and Particulate Rubber Technologyrdquo Applied Science Publ Ltd
London (1978)
7 G Targiel et al 10 IKV-Kolloquium Aachen March 12ndash14 45 (1980)
8 A Kennaway Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 17 378ndash391 (1964)
9 G Menges and J P Lehnen Plastverarbeiter 20 1 31ndash39 (1969)
10 M Parshall and A J Saulino Rubber World 2 5 78ndash83 (1967)
11 S E Perlberg Rubber World 2 6 71ndash76 (1967)
12 H H Gohlisch Gummi Asbest Kunststoffe 25 9 834ndash835 (1972)
13 E Harms ldquoKautschuk-Extruder Aubau und Einsatz aus verahrenstechnischer Sichtrdquo
Krausskop-Verlag Mainz Bd 2 Buchreihe Kunststo983142echnik (1974)
14 G Schwarz Eur Rubber Journal Sept 28ndash32 (1977)
15 G Menges and E G Harms Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 25 10 469ndash475 (1972)
16 G Menges and E G Harms Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 27 5 187ndash193 (1974)
17 E G Harms Elastomerics 109 6 33ndash39 (1977)
18 E G Harms Eur Rubber Journal 6 23 (1978)
19 E G Harms Kunststoffe 69 1 32ndash33 (1979)
20 E G Harms Dissertation RWTH Aachen Germany (1981)21 S H Collins Plastics Compounding Nov Dec 29 (1982)
22 D Anders Kunststoffe 69 194ndash198 (1979)
23 D Gras and K Eise SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 21 386 (1975)
24 R F Westover SPE Journal 18 12 1473 (1962)
25 Lord Raleigh Philosophical Magazine 35 1ndash12 (1918)
26 German Patent DRP 1129681
27 British Patent BP 759354
28 U S Patent 3880564
29 U S Patent 4012477
30 J F Ingen Housz Plastverarbeiter 10 1 (1975)
31 U S Patent 4142805
32 U S Patent 4194841
33 U S Patent 4213709
34 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 25 193 (1979)
35 P Hold Z Tadmor and L Valsamis SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 25 205 (1979)
36 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis Plastics Engineering Nov 20ndash25 (1979)
37 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis Plastics Engineering Dec 30ndash38 (1979)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3537
References 983092983093
38 Z Tadmor et al The Diskpack Plastics Processor Farrel Publication Jan (1982)
39 L Valsamis AIChE Meeting Washington D C Oct (1983)
40 B Maxwell and A J Scalora Modern Plastics 37 107 Oct (1959)
41 U S Patent 3 046603
42 L L Blyler PhD thesis Princeton University NJ (1966)
43 H G Fritz Kunststo983142echnik 6 430 (1968)
44 H G Fritz PhD thesis Stuttgart University Germany (1971)
45 C W Macosko and J M Starita SPE Journal 27 30 (1971)
46 P A Good A J Schwartz and C W Macosko AIChE Journal 20 1 67 (1974)
47 V L Kocherov Y L Lukach E A Sporyagin and G V Vinogradov Polym Eng Sci 13
194 (1973)
48 J Berzen and G Braun Kunststoffe 69 2 62ndash66 (1979)49 R S Porter et al J Polym Sci 17 485ndash488 (1979)
50 C A Sperati Modern Plastics Encyclopedia McGraw-Hill NY (1983)
51 S S Schwartz and S H Goodman see Chapter 1 [36]
52 G R Snelling and J F Lontz J Appl Polym Sci 3 9 257ndash265 (1960)
53 D C F Couzens Plastics and Rubber Processing March 45ndash48 (1976)
54 P W Bridgman ldquoStudies in Large Plastic Flow and Fracturerdquo McGraw-Hill NY (1952)
55 H L D Push ldquoThe Mechanical Behavior o Materials Under Pressurerdquo Elsevier Amster-
dam (1970)56 H L D Push and A H Low J Inst Metals 93 201 (196565)
57 F Slack Mach Design Oct 7 61ndash64 (1982)
58 J H Southern and R S Porter J Appl Polym Sci 14 2305 (1970)
59 J H Southern and R S Porter J Macromol Sci Phys 3ndash4 541 (1970)
60 J H Southern N E Weeks and R S Porter Macromol Chem 162 19 (1972)
61 N J Capiati and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 13 1177 (1975)
62 R S Porter J H Southern and N E Weeks Polym Eng Sci 15 213 (1975)
63 A E Zachariades E S Sherman and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 17 255
(1979)
64 A E Zachariades and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 17 277 (1979)
65 B Parsons D Bretherton and B N Cole in Advances in MTDR 11th Int Con Proc
S A Tobias and F Koeningsberger (Eds) Pergamon Press London Vol B 1049 (1971)
66 G Capaccio and I M Ward Polymer 15 233 (1974)
67 A G Gibson I M Ward B N Cole and B Parsons J Mater Sci 9 1193ndash1196 (1974)
68 A G Gibson and I M Ward J Appl Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 16 2015ndash2030 (1978)
69 P S Hope and B Parsons Polym Eng Sci 20 589ndash600 (1980)
70 P S Hope I M Ward and A G Gibson J Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 18 1242ndash1256
(1980)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3637
983092983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
71 P S Hope A G Gibson B Parsons and I M Ward Polym Eng Sci 20 54ndash55 (1980)
72 B Parsons and I M Ward Plast Rubber Proc Appl 2 3 215ndash224 (1982)
73 K Imada T Yamamoto K Shigematsu and M Takayanagi J Mater Sci 6 537ndash546
(1971)
74 K Nakamura K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 2 71 (1972)
75 K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 2 89 (1973)
76 K Nakamura K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 3 23 (1974)
77 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Mater Sci 10 1105 (1975)
78 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Mater Sci 12 1477 (1977)
79 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Appl Polym Sci 23 2543ndash2554 (1979)
80 D M Bigg Polym Eng Sci 16 725 (1976)
81 D M Bigg M M Epstein R J Fiorentino and E G Smith Polym Eng Sci 18 908(1978)
82 D M Bigg and M M Epstein ldquoScience and Technology o Polymer Processingrdquo N S Suh
and N Sung (Eds) 897 MIT Press (1979)
83 D M Bigg M M Epstein R J Fiorentino and E G Smith J Appl Polym Sci 26 395ndash
409 (1981)
84 K D Pae and D R Mears J Polym Sci B-6 269 (1968)
85 K D Pae D R Mears and J A Sauer J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 6 773 (1968)
86 D R Mears K P Pae and J A Sauer J Appl Phys 40 11 4229ndash4237 (1969)
87 L A Davis and C A Pampillo J Appl Phys 42 12 4659ndash4666 (1971)
88 A Buckley and H A Long Polym Eng Sci 9 2 115ndash120 (1969)
89 L A Davis Polym Eng Sci 14 9 641ndash645 (1974)
90 R K Okine and N P Suh Polym Eng Sci 22 5 269ndash279 (1982)
91 J R Collier T Y T Tam J Newcome and N Dinos Polym Eng Sci 16 204ndash211 (1976)
92 J H Faupel and F E Fisher ldquoEngineering Designrdquo Wiley NY (1981)
93 A E Zachariades R Ball and R S Porter J Mater Sci 13 2671ndash2675 (1978)
94 R R Westover Modern Plastics March (1963) 95 B Yi and R T Fenner Plastics and Polymers Dec 224ndash228 (1975)
96 A Mekkaoui and L N Valsamis Polym Eng Sci 24 1260ndash1269 (1984)
97 H Rust Kunststoffe 73 342ndash346 (1983)
98 J Huszman Kunststoffe 73 3437ndash348 (1983)
99 J M McKelvey U Maire and F Haupt Chem Eng Sept 27 94ndash102 (1976)
100 K Schneider Kunststoffe 68 201ndash206 (1978)
101 W T Rice Plastic Technology 87ndash91 Feb (1980)
102 Harrel Corp ldquoMelt Pump Systems or Extrudersrdquo Product Description TDS-264 (1982)
103 J M McKelvey and W T Rice Chem Eng 90 2 89ndash94 (1983)
104 K Kaper K Eise and H Herrmann SPE ANTEC Chicago 161ndash163 (1983)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3737
References 983092983095
105 C L Woodworth SPE ANTEC New Orleans 122ndash126 (1984)
106 W A Kramer SPE ANTEC Washington D C 23ndash29 (1985)
107 J Schut ldquoDie Drawing Makes Plastic Steelrdquo Plastics Technology Online Article March
5 (2001)
108 VDI Conerence Extrusiontechnik 2006 ldquoDer Einschnecken-Extruder von Morgenrdquo VDI
Verlag GmbH Duumlsseldor (2006)
109 P Rieg ldquoLatest Developments in High-Speed Extrusionrdquo Plastic Extrusion Asia Con-
erence Bangkok Thailand March 17ndash18 (2008) also presented at Advances in Ex-
trusion Conerence New Orleans December 9ndash10 (2008)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983091983090 983090Different Types of Extruders
v
v
Channel blockInlet
Outlet
Barrel
Solid bed
Shaft
Melt pool
Inlet Channel block
Outlet
Melt pool
Solid bed
Barrel
Shaft
v
v Figure 983090983089983095
The diskpack extruder
It is claimed that this machine can perorm all basic polymer-processing operations
with efficiency equaling or surpassing existing machinery Clearly i the claim is
true and can be delivered or a competitive price the diskpack extruder will become
an important machine in the extrusion industry The first diskpack machines were
delivered to the industry in 1982 still under a joint development type o agreement
Now almost 20 years afer the first diskpack machines were delivered it is clear
that the acceptance o these machines in the industry has been very limited In act
Farrel no longer actively markets the diskpack machine In most o the publications
the diskpack machine is reerred to as a polymer processor This term is probably
used to indicate that this machine can do more than just extruding although the
diskpack is o course an extruder
The diskpack machine incorporates some o the eatures o the drum extruder and
the single screw extruder One can think o the diskpack as a single screw extruder
using a screw with zero helix angle and very deep flights Forward axial transportcan only take place by transport channels in the barrel with the material orced into
those channels by a restrictor bar as with the drum extruder The use o restrictor
bars (channel block) and transer channels in the housing make it considerably
more complex than the barrel o a single screw extruder
One o the advantages o the diskpack is that mixing blocks and spreading dams can
be incorporated into the machine as shown in Fig 218(a)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983091983091
v
v
Channel blockInlet
Outlet
Mixing block
Disk
Inlet Channel block
Outlet
Mixing blockDisk v
v Figure 983090983089983096(a)
Mixing blocks in the diskpack
Mixing blocks o various shapes can be positioned externally into the processing
chamber This is similar to the QSM extruder only that in the QSM extruder the
screw flight has to be interrupted to avoid contact This is not necessary in the disk-
pack because the flights have zero helix angles in other words they run perpen-
dicular to the rotor axis By the number o blocks the geometry o the block and the
clearance between block and disk one can tailor the mixing capability to the par-
ticular application The use o spreading dams allows the generation o a thin film
with a large surace area this results in effective devolatilization capability The
diskpack has inherently higher pressure-generating capability than the single
screw extruder does This is because the diskpack has two dragging suraces while
the single screw extruder has only one see Fig 218(b)
v
v=0
v
v
Conveying mechanismsingle screw extruder
Conveying mechanism
diskpack extruder Figure 983090983089983096(b)
Comparison of conveying mechanism in diskpackand single screw extruder
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983091983092 983090Different Types of Extruders
At the same net flow rate equal viscosity equal plate velocity and optimum plate
separation the theoretical maximum pressure gradient o the diskpack is eight
times higher than the single screw extruder [34] Thus high pressures can be gen-
erated over a short distance which allows a more compact machine design The
energy efficiency o the pressure generation is also better than in the single screwextruder the maximum pumping efficiency approaches 100 see derivation in
Appendix 21 For the single screw extruder the maximum pumping efficiency is
only 33 as discussed in Section 7413 The energy efficiency o pressure genera-
tion is the ratio o the theoretical energy requirement (flow rate times pressure rise)
to the actual energy requirement (wall velocity times shear stress integrated over
wall surace) It should be noted that the two dragging platesrsquo pumping mechanism
exists only in tangential direction The pumping in axial (orward) direction occurs
only in the transer channel in the housing This orward pumping occurs by the one
dragging plate mechanism as in the single screw extruder The maximum efficiency
or orward pumping thereore is only 33 The overall pumping efficiency will be
somewhere between 33 and 100 i the power consumption in the disk and channel
block clearance is neglected
Studies on melting in the diskpack were reported by Valsamis et al [96] It was
ound that two types o melting mechanism could take place in the diskpack the
drag melt removal (DMR) mechanism and the dissipative melt mixing (DMM) mech-
anism The DMR melting mechanism is the predominant mechanism in single screw
extruders this is discussed in detail in Section 73 In the DMR melting mechanismthe solids and melt coexist as two largely continuous and separate phases In the
DMM melting mechanism the solids are dispersed in the melt there is no conti-
nuous solid bed It was ound that the DMM mechanism could be induced by pro-
moting back leakage o the polymer melt past the channel block This can be con-
trolled by varying the clearance between the channel block and the disks The
advantage o the DMM melting mechanism is that the melting rate can be substan-
tially higher than with the DMR mechanism reportedly by as much as a actor o 3
[96]
Among all elementary polymer processing unctions the solids conveying in a disk-
pack extruder has not been discussed to any extent in the open technical literature
Considering that the solids conveying mechanism is a rictional drag mechanism
(as in single screw extruders) and not a positive displacement type o transport (as
in intermeshing counterrotating twin screw extruders see Sections 102 and 104)
it can be expected that the diskpack will have solids conveying limitations similar
to those o single screw extruders see Section 722 This means that powders
blends o powders and pellets slippery materials etc are likely to encounter solids
conveying problems in a diskpack extruder unless special measures are taken toenhance the solids conveying capability (e g crammer eeder grooves in the disks
etc)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983091983093
Because o the more complex machine geometry the cost per unit throughput o the
diskpack is higher than or the conventional single screw extruder Thereore the
diskpack does not compete directly with single screw extruders
Applications or the diskpack are specialty polymer processing operations such as
polymerization post-reactor processing (devolatilization) continuous compound-
ing etc As such the diskpack competes mostly with twin screw extruders Pres-
ently twin screw extruders are usually the first choice when it comes to specialty
polymer processing operations
983090983091983090The Elastic Melt Extruder
The elastic melt extruder was developed in the late 1950s by Maxwell and Scalora[40 41] The extruder makes use o the viscoelastic in particular the elastic pro-
perties o polymer melts When a viscoelastic fluid is exposed to a shearing deor-
mation normal stresses will develop in the fluid that are not equal in all directions
as opposed to a purely viscous fluid In the elastic melt extruder the polymer is
sheared between two plates one stationary and one rotating see Fig 219
Hopper
Heaters
Solid polymer
Die
Extrudate
Polymer melt
Rotor
Solid polymerHopper
Heaters
Die
Extrudate
Polymer melt
Rotor
Figure 983090983089983097
The elastic melt extruder
As the polymer is sheared normal stresses will generate a centripetal pumping
action Thus the polymer can be extruded through the central opening in the sta-
tionary plate in a continuous ashion Because normal stresses generate the pump-
ing action this machine is sometimes reerred to as a normal stress extruderThis extruder is quite interesting rom a rheological point o view since it is prob-
ably the only extruder that utilizes the elasticity o the melt or its conveying Thus
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983091983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
several detailed experimental and theoretical studies have been devoted to the elas-
tic melt extruder [42ndash47]
The detailed study by Fritz [44] concluded that transport by normal stresses only
could be as much as two orders o magnitude lower than a corresponding system
with orced eed In addition substantial temperature gradients developed in the
polymer causing substantial degradation in high molecular weight polyolefins The
scant market acceptance o the elastic melt extruder would tend to confirm Fritzrsquos
conclusions
Several modifications have been proposed to improve the perormance o the elastic
melt extruder Fritz [43] suggested incorporation o spiral grooves to improve the
pressure generating capability essentially combining the elastic melt extruder and
the spiral disk extruder into one machine In Russia [47] several modifications
were made to the design o the elastic melt extruder One o those combined a screwextruder with the elastic melt extruder to eliminate the eeding and plasticating
problem Despite all o these activities the elastic melt extruder has not been able to
acquire a position o importance in the extrusion industry
983090983091983091Overview of Disk Extruders
Many attempts have been made in the past to come up with a continuous plasticat-
ing extruder o simple design that could perorm better than the single screw ex-truder It seems air to say that at this point in time no disk extruder has been able
to meet this goal The simple disk extruders do not perorm nearly as well as the
single screw extruder The more complex disk extruder such as the diskpack can
possibly outperorm the single screw extruder However this is at the expense o
design simplicity thus increasing the cost o the machine Disk extruders there-
ore have not been able to seriously challenge the position o the single screw
extruder This is not to say however that it is not possible or this to happen some
time in the uture But considering the long dominance o the single screw extruder
it is not probable that a new disk extruder will come along that can challenge the
single screw extruder
983090983092Ram Extruders
Ram or plunger extruders are simple in design rugged and discontinuous in their
mode o operation Ram extruders are essentially positive displacement devices and
are able to generate very high pressures Because o the intermittent operation o
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 2737
983090983092 Ram Extruders 983091983095
ram extruders they are ideally suited or cyclic processes such as injection molding
and blow molding In act the early molding machines were almost exclusively
equipped with ram extruders to supply the polymer melt to the mold Certain limita-
tions o the ram extruder have caused a switch to reciprocating screw extruders or
combinations o the two The two main limitations are
1 Limited melting capacity
2 Poor temperature uniormity o the polymer melt
Presently ram extruders are used in relatively small shot size molding machines
and certain specialty operations where use is made o the positive displacement
characteristics and the outstanding pressure generation capability There are basic-
ally two types o ram extruders single ram extruders and multi ram extruders
983090983092983089Single Ram Extruders
The single ram extruder is used in small general purpose molding machines but
also in some special polymer processing operations One such operation is the ex-
trusion o intractable polymers such as ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene
(UHMWPE) or polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) These polymers are not considered to
be melt processable on conventional melt processing equipment Teledynamik [48]
has built a ram injection-molding machine under a license rom Th Engel who
developed the prototype machine This machine is used to mold UHMWPE under
very high pressures The machine uses a reciprocating plunger that densifies the
cold incoming material with a pressure up to 300 MPa (about 44000 psi) The re-
quency o the ram can be adjusted continuously with a maximum o 250 strokes
minute The densified material is orced through heated channels into the heated
cylinder where final melting takes place The material is then injected into a mold
by a telescoping injection ram Pressures up to 100 MPa (about 14500 psi) occur
during the injection o the polymer into the mold
Another application is the extrusion o PTFE with again the primary ingredient orsuccessul extrusion being very high pressures Granular PTFE can be extruded at
slow rates in a ram extruder [49ndash51] The powder is compacted by the ram orced
into a die where the material is heated above the melting point and shaped into the
desired orm PTFE is ofen processed as a PTFE paste [52 53] This is small particle
size PTFE powder (about 02 mm) mixed with a processing aid such as naphta PTFE
paste can be extruded at room temperature or slightly above room temperature
Afer extrusion the processing aid is removed by heating the extrudate above its
volatilization temperature The extruded PTFE paste product may be sintered i the
application requires a more ully coalesced product
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983091983096 983090Different Types of Extruders
983090983092983089983089Solid State Extrusion
An extrusion technique that has slowly been gaining popularity is solid-state extru-
sion The polymer is orced through a die while it is below its melting point This
causes substantial deormation o the polymer in the die but since the polymer is in
the solid state a very effective molecular orientation takes place This orientation ismuch more effective than the one which occurs in conventional melt processing As
a result extraordinary mechanical properties can be obtained
Solid-state extrusion is a technique borrowed rom the metal industry where solid-
state extrusion has been used commercially since the late 1940s Bridgman [54]
was one o the first to do a systematic study on the effect o pressure on the mechan-
ical properties o metals He also studied polymers and ound that the glass tran-
sition temperature was raised by the application o pressure
There are two methods o solid-state extrusion one is direct solid-state extrusionthe other is hydrostatic extrusion In direct solid-state extrusion a pre-ormed solid
rod o material (a billet) is in direct contact with the plunger and the walls o the
extrusion die see Fig 220 The material is extruded as the ram is pushed towards
the die
Plunger
Billet
Barrel
DieExtrudate Figure 983090983090983088
Direct solid state extrusion
In hydrostatic extrusion the pressure required or extrusion is transmitted rom the
plunger to the billet through a lubricating liquid usually castor oil The billet must
be shaped to fit the die to prevent loss o fluid The hydrostatic fluid reduces the ric-
tion thereby reducing the extrusion pressure see Fig 221
In hydrostatic extrusion the pressure-generating device or the fluid does not neces-
sarily have to be in close proximity to the orming part o the machine The fluid canbe supplied to the extrusion device by high-pressure tubes
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983091983097
Plunger
Billet
Oil
Barrel
DieExtrudate Figure 983090983090983089
Hydrostatic solid state extrusion
Judging rom publications in the open literature most o the work on solid-state
extrusion o polymers is done at universities and research institutes It is possible
o course that some companies are working on solid-state extrusion but are keeping
the inormation proprietary A major research effort in solid-state extrusion has
been made at the University o Amherst Massachusetts [50ndash64] University o
Leeds England [65ndash72] Fyushu University Fukuoka Japan [73ndash76] Research
Institute or Polymers and Textiles Yokohama Japan [77ndash79] Battelle Columbus
Ohio [80ndash83] and Rutgers University New Brunswick New Jersey [84ndash86] As
mentioned earlier publications rom other sources are considerably less plentiul
[87ndash90] Efforts have also been made to achieve the same high degree o orientation
in a more or less conventional extrusion process by special die design and tempera-
ture control in the die region [91]
Table 25 shows a comparison o mechanical properties between steel aluminum
solid state extruded HDPE and HDPE extruded by conventional means
Table 25 clearly indicates that the mechanical properties o solid-state extruded
HDPE are much superior to the melt extruded HDPE In act the tensile strength o
solid-state extruded HDPE is about the same as carbon steel There are some other
interesting benefits associated with solidstate extrusion o polymers There is essen-
tially no die swell at high extrusion ratios (extrusion ratio is the ratio o the area in
the cylinder to the area in the die) Thus the dimensions o the extrudate closely
conorm to those o the die exit The surace o the extrudate produced by hydro-
static extrusion has a lower coefficient o riction than that o the un-oriented poly-
mer Above a certain extrusion ratio (about ten) polyethylene and polypropylene
become transparent Further solid-state extruded polymers maintain their ten-sile properties at elevated temperatures Polyethylene maintains its modulus up to
120degC when it is extruded in the solid state at a high extrusion ratio The thermal
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983092983088 983090Different Types of Extruders
conductivity in the extrusion direction is much higher than that o the un-oriented
polymer as much as 25 times higher The melting point o the solid-state extruded
polymer increases with the amount o orientation The melting point o HDPE can be
shifed to as high as 140degC
Table 25 Comparison of Mechanical Properties
Material Tensile modulus[MPa]
Tensile strength[MPa]
Elongation[]
Density[gcc]
Annealed SAE 1020 210000 410 35 786
W-200 degF SAE 1020 210000 720 6 786
Annealed 304 stainless
steel
200000 590 50 792
Aluminum 1100ndash0 70000 90 45 271
HDPE solid state
extruded
70000 480 3 097
HDPE melt extruded 10000 30 20ndash1000 096
A recent application o solid-state extrusion is the process developed by Synthetic
Hardwood Technologies Inc [107] This company has developed an expanded ori-
ented wood-filled polypropylene (EOW-PP) that is about 300 stronger than regular
PP The process is based on technology developed at Aluminum Company o Canada
Ltd (Alcan) in the early 1990s to solidstate extrude PP It involves ram extrusion
drawing o billets o PP just below the melting point with very high draw ratio and
high haul-off tension (about 3 MPa) to reeze-in the high level o orientation Alcan
did not pursue the technology and Symplastics Ltd licensed the patented process
this company started experimenting with adding small amounts o wood flour to the
PP However Symplastics ound the research and development too costly and sold
the patents and lab extrusion equipment to Frank Maine who set up SHW to com-
mercialize applications or the EOW-PP The key to the SHW process is that it com-
bines extrusion with drawing As the polymer is oriented the density drops about
50 rom about 1 g cc to 05 g cc The die drawing also allowed substantial in-creases in line speed rom about 0050 m min to about 9 m min The properties
achieved with EOW-PP are shown in Table 24 and compared to regular PP wood
and oriented PP
Solid-state extrusion has been practiced with coextrusion o different polymers [93]
Despite the large amount o research on solid-state extrusion and the outstanding
mechanical properties that can be obtained there does not seem to be much interest
in the polymer industry The main drawbacks o course are that solid-state extru-
sion is basically a discontinuous process it cannot be done on conventional polymer
processing equipment and very high pressures are required to achieve solid-stateextrusion Also one should keep in mind that very good mechanical properties can
be obtained by taking a profile (fiber film tube etc) produced by conventional con-
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983092983089
tinuous extrusion and exposing it to controlled deormation at a temperature below
the melting point This is a well-established technique in many extrusion operations
(fiber spinning film extrusion etc) and it can be done at a high rate This method
o producing extrudates with very good mechanical properties is likely to be more
cost-effective than solid-state extrusion It is possible that the die drawing processdeveloped by SHW can make solid-state extrusion more attractive commercially by
allowing large profiles to be processed at reasonable line speeds
Table 26 Mechanical Properties of PP Wood OPP and EOW-PP
Flexural strength [MPa] Flexural modulus [MPa]
Regular PP 50 1850
Wood 100 9000
Oriented PP 275 7600EOW-PP 140 7600
983090983092983090Multi Ram Extruder
As mentioned beore the main disadvantage o ram extruders is their intermittent
operation Several attempts have been made to overcome this problem by designing
multi-ram extruders that work together in such a way as to produce a continuousflow o material
Westover [94] designed a continuous ram extruder that combined our plunger-
cylinders Two plunger-cylinders were used or plasticating and two or pumping
An intricate shuttle valve connecting all the plunger cylinders provides continuous
extrusion
Another attempt to develop a continuous ram extruder was made by Yi and Fenner
[95] They designed a twin ram extruder with the cylinders in a V-configuration see
Fig 222The two rams discharge into a common barrel in which a plasticating shaf is rotat-
ing Thus solids conveying occurs in the two separate cylinders and plasticating
and melt conveying occurs in the annular region between the barrel and plasticat-
ing shaf The machine is able to extrude however the throughput uniormity is
poor The perormance could probably have been improved i the plasticating shaf
had been provided with a helical channel But o course then the machine would
have become a screw extruder with a ram-assisted eed This only goes to demon-
strate that it is ar rom easy to improve upon the simple screw extruder
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983092983090 983090Different Types of Extruders
Die Breaker plate
Plasticating shaft
Main
block
Feed cylinder
Figure 222 Twin ram extruder
983090983092983091 Appendix 983090983089
983090983092983091983089 Pumping Efficiency in Diskpack Extruder
The velocity profile between the moving walls is a parabolic unction when the fluid
is a Newtonian fluid see Section 621 and Fig 223
y
z H
Small pressure gradient
Medium pressure gradient
Large pressure gradient
Figure 983090983090983091
Velocity profiles between moving
walls
The velocity profile or a Newtonian fluid is
L8
PH
H
y41vv(y)
2
2
2
∆micro∆
minusminus= (1)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983092983091
where v is the velocity o the plates H the distance between the plates and μ the
viscosity o the fluid The flow rate can be ound by integrating v(y) over the width
and depth o the channel this yields
L12
PWHvWHV
3
∆micro∆minus=
bull
(2)
The first term on the right-hand side o the equalation is the drag flow term The
second term is the pressure flow term The ratio o pressure flow to drag flow is
termed the throttle ratio rd (see Section 7413)
r d =Lv12
PH2
∆micro
∆ (3)
The flow rate can now be written as
(4)
The shear stress at the wall is obtained rom
dv H∆Pτ = micro =dy
05H 2∆L
(5)
The power consumption in the channel is
Zch = PvHWLvW2 ∆=∆τ (6)
The energy efficiency or pressure generation is
V∆Pε = =1 minus r
d Zch
(7)
Equation 7 is not valid or rd = 0 because in this case both numerator and denomi-
nator become zero From Eq 7 it can be seen that when the machine is operated atlow rd values the pumping efficiency can become close to 100 This is considerably
better than the single screw extruder where the optimum pumping efficiency is 33
at a throttle ratio value o 033 (rd = 13)
References
1 J LeBras ldquoRubber Fundamentals o its Science and Technologyrdquo Chemical Publ Co
NY (1957)
2 W S Penn ldquoSynthetic Rubber Technology Volume Irdquo MacLaren amp Sons Ltd London(1960)
3 W J S Naunton ldquoThe Applied Science o Rubberrdquo Edward Arnold Ltd London (1961)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3437
983092983092 983090Different Types of Extruders
4 C M Blow ldquoRubber Technology and Manuacturerdquo Butterworth amp Co Ltd London
(1971)
5 F R Eirich (Ed) ldquoScience and Technology o Rubberrdquo Academic Press NY (1978)
6 C W Evans ldquoPowdered and Particulate Rubber Technologyrdquo Applied Science Publ Ltd
London (1978)
7 G Targiel et al 10 IKV-Kolloquium Aachen March 12ndash14 45 (1980)
8 A Kennaway Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 17 378ndash391 (1964)
9 G Menges and J P Lehnen Plastverarbeiter 20 1 31ndash39 (1969)
10 M Parshall and A J Saulino Rubber World 2 5 78ndash83 (1967)
11 S E Perlberg Rubber World 2 6 71ndash76 (1967)
12 H H Gohlisch Gummi Asbest Kunststoffe 25 9 834ndash835 (1972)
13 E Harms ldquoKautschuk-Extruder Aubau und Einsatz aus verahrenstechnischer Sichtrdquo
Krausskop-Verlag Mainz Bd 2 Buchreihe Kunststo983142echnik (1974)
14 G Schwarz Eur Rubber Journal Sept 28ndash32 (1977)
15 G Menges and E G Harms Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 25 10 469ndash475 (1972)
16 G Menges and E G Harms Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 27 5 187ndash193 (1974)
17 E G Harms Elastomerics 109 6 33ndash39 (1977)
18 E G Harms Eur Rubber Journal 6 23 (1978)
19 E G Harms Kunststoffe 69 1 32ndash33 (1979)
20 E G Harms Dissertation RWTH Aachen Germany (1981)21 S H Collins Plastics Compounding Nov Dec 29 (1982)
22 D Anders Kunststoffe 69 194ndash198 (1979)
23 D Gras and K Eise SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 21 386 (1975)
24 R F Westover SPE Journal 18 12 1473 (1962)
25 Lord Raleigh Philosophical Magazine 35 1ndash12 (1918)
26 German Patent DRP 1129681
27 British Patent BP 759354
28 U S Patent 3880564
29 U S Patent 4012477
30 J F Ingen Housz Plastverarbeiter 10 1 (1975)
31 U S Patent 4142805
32 U S Patent 4194841
33 U S Patent 4213709
34 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 25 193 (1979)
35 P Hold Z Tadmor and L Valsamis SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 25 205 (1979)
36 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis Plastics Engineering Nov 20ndash25 (1979)
37 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis Plastics Engineering Dec 30ndash38 (1979)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3537
References 983092983093
38 Z Tadmor et al The Diskpack Plastics Processor Farrel Publication Jan (1982)
39 L Valsamis AIChE Meeting Washington D C Oct (1983)
40 B Maxwell and A J Scalora Modern Plastics 37 107 Oct (1959)
41 U S Patent 3 046603
42 L L Blyler PhD thesis Princeton University NJ (1966)
43 H G Fritz Kunststo983142echnik 6 430 (1968)
44 H G Fritz PhD thesis Stuttgart University Germany (1971)
45 C W Macosko and J M Starita SPE Journal 27 30 (1971)
46 P A Good A J Schwartz and C W Macosko AIChE Journal 20 1 67 (1974)
47 V L Kocherov Y L Lukach E A Sporyagin and G V Vinogradov Polym Eng Sci 13
194 (1973)
48 J Berzen and G Braun Kunststoffe 69 2 62ndash66 (1979)49 R S Porter et al J Polym Sci 17 485ndash488 (1979)
50 C A Sperati Modern Plastics Encyclopedia McGraw-Hill NY (1983)
51 S S Schwartz and S H Goodman see Chapter 1 [36]
52 G R Snelling and J F Lontz J Appl Polym Sci 3 9 257ndash265 (1960)
53 D C F Couzens Plastics and Rubber Processing March 45ndash48 (1976)
54 P W Bridgman ldquoStudies in Large Plastic Flow and Fracturerdquo McGraw-Hill NY (1952)
55 H L D Push ldquoThe Mechanical Behavior o Materials Under Pressurerdquo Elsevier Amster-
dam (1970)56 H L D Push and A H Low J Inst Metals 93 201 (196565)
57 F Slack Mach Design Oct 7 61ndash64 (1982)
58 J H Southern and R S Porter J Appl Polym Sci 14 2305 (1970)
59 J H Southern and R S Porter J Macromol Sci Phys 3ndash4 541 (1970)
60 J H Southern N E Weeks and R S Porter Macromol Chem 162 19 (1972)
61 N J Capiati and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 13 1177 (1975)
62 R S Porter J H Southern and N E Weeks Polym Eng Sci 15 213 (1975)
63 A E Zachariades E S Sherman and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 17 255
(1979)
64 A E Zachariades and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 17 277 (1979)
65 B Parsons D Bretherton and B N Cole in Advances in MTDR 11th Int Con Proc
S A Tobias and F Koeningsberger (Eds) Pergamon Press London Vol B 1049 (1971)
66 G Capaccio and I M Ward Polymer 15 233 (1974)
67 A G Gibson I M Ward B N Cole and B Parsons J Mater Sci 9 1193ndash1196 (1974)
68 A G Gibson and I M Ward J Appl Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 16 2015ndash2030 (1978)
69 P S Hope and B Parsons Polym Eng Sci 20 589ndash600 (1980)
70 P S Hope I M Ward and A G Gibson J Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 18 1242ndash1256
(1980)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3637
983092983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
71 P S Hope A G Gibson B Parsons and I M Ward Polym Eng Sci 20 54ndash55 (1980)
72 B Parsons and I M Ward Plast Rubber Proc Appl 2 3 215ndash224 (1982)
73 K Imada T Yamamoto K Shigematsu and M Takayanagi J Mater Sci 6 537ndash546
(1971)
74 K Nakamura K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 2 71 (1972)
75 K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 2 89 (1973)
76 K Nakamura K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 3 23 (1974)
77 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Mater Sci 10 1105 (1975)
78 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Mater Sci 12 1477 (1977)
79 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Appl Polym Sci 23 2543ndash2554 (1979)
80 D M Bigg Polym Eng Sci 16 725 (1976)
81 D M Bigg M M Epstein R J Fiorentino and E G Smith Polym Eng Sci 18 908(1978)
82 D M Bigg and M M Epstein ldquoScience and Technology o Polymer Processingrdquo N S Suh
and N Sung (Eds) 897 MIT Press (1979)
83 D M Bigg M M Epstein R J Fiorentino and E G Smith J Appl Polym Sci 26 395ndash
409 (1981)
84 K D Pae and D R Mears J Polym Sci B-6 269 (1968)
85 K D Pae D R Mears and J A Sauer J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 6 773 (1968)
86 D R Mears K P Pae and J A Sauer J Appl Phys 40 11 4229ndash4237 (1969)
87 L A Davis and C A Pampillo J Appl Phys 42 12 4659ndash4666 (1971)
88 A Buckley and H A Long Polym Eng Sci 9 2 115ndash120 (1969)
89 L A Davis Polym Eng Sci 14 9 641ndash645 (1974)
90 R K Okine and N P Suh Polym Eng Sci 22 5 269ndash279 (1982)
91 J R Collier T Y T Tam J Newcome and N Dinos Polym Eng Sci 16 204ndash211 (1976)
92 J H Faupel and F E Fisher ldquoEngineering Designrdquo Wiley NY (1981)
93 A E Zachariades R Ball and R S Porter J Mater Sci 13 2671ndash2675 (1978)
94 R R Westover Modern Plastics March (1963) 95 B Yi and R T Fenner Plastics and Polymers Dec 224ndash228 (1975)
96 A Mekkaoui and L N Valsamis Polym Eng Sci 24 1260ndash1269 (1984)
97 H Rust Kunststoffe 73 342ndash346 (1983)
98 J Huszman Kunststoffe 73 3437ndash348 (1983)
99 J M McKelvey U Maire and F Haupt Chem Eng Sept 27 94ndash102 (1976)
100 K Schneider Kunststoffe 68 201ndash206 (1978)
101 W T Rice Plastic Technology 87ndash91 Feb (1980)
102 Harrel Corp ldquoMelt Pump Systems or Extrudersrdquo Product Description TDS-264 (1982)
103 J M McKelvey and W T Rice Chem Eng 90 2 89ndash94 (1983)
104 K Kaper K Eise and H Herrmann SPE ANTEC Chicago 161ndash163 (1983)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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References 983092983095
105 C L Woodworth SPE ANTEC New Orleans 122ndash126 (1984)
106 W A Kramer SPE ANTEC Washington D C 23ndash29 (1985)
107 J Schut ldquoDie Drawing Makes Plastic Steelrdquo Plastics Technology Online Article March
5 (2001)
108 VDI Conerence Extrusiontechnik 2006 ldquoDer Einschnecken-Extruder von Morgenrdquo VDI
Verlag GmbH Duumlsseldor (2006)
109 P Rieg ldquoLatest Developments in High-Speed Extrusionrdquo Plastic Extrusion Asia Con-
erence Bangkok Thailand March 17ndash18 (2008) also presented at Advances in Ex-
trusion Conerence New Orleans December 9ndash10 (2008)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983091983091
v
v
Channel blockInlet
Outlet
Mixing block
Disk
Inlet Channel block
Outlet
Mixing blockDisk v
v Figure 983090983089983096(a)
Mixing blocks in the diskpack
Mixing blocks o various shapes can be positioned externally into the processing
chamber This is similar to the QSM extruder only that in the QSM extruder the
screw flight has to be interrupted to avoid contact This is not necessary in the disk-
pack because the flights have zero helix angles in other words they run perpen-
dicular to the rotor axis By the number o blocks the geometry o the block and the
clearance between block and disk one can tailor the mixing capability to the par-
ticular application The use o spreading dams allows the generation o a thin film
with a large surace area this results in effective devolatilization capability The
diskpack has inherently higher pressure-generating capability than the single
screw extruder does This is because the diskpack has two dragging suraces while
the single screw extruder has only one see Fig 218(b)
v
v=0
v
v
Conveying mechanismsingle screw extruder
Conveying mechanism
diskpack extruder Figure 983090983089983096(b)
Comparison of conveying mechanism in diskpackand single screw extruder
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983091983092 983090Different Types of Extruders
At the same net flow rate equal viscosity equal plate velocity and optimum plate
separation the theoretical maximum pressure gradient o the diskpack is eight
times higher than the single screw extruder [34] Thus high pressures can be gen-
erated over a short distance which allows a more compact machine design The
energy efficiency o the pressure generation is also better than in the single screwextruder the maximum pumping efficiency approaches 100 see derivation in
Appendix 21 For the single screw extruder the maximum pumping efficiency is
only 33 as discussed in Section 7413 The energy efficiency o pressure genera-
tion is the ratio o the theoretical energy requirement (flow rate times pressure rise)
to the actual energy requirement (wall velocity times shear stress integrated over
wall surace) It should be noted that the two dragging platesrsquo pumping mechanism
exists only in tangential direction The pumping in axial (orward) direction occurs
only in the transer channel in the housing This orward pumping occurs by the one
dragging plate mechanism as in the single screw extruder The maximum efficiency
or orward pumping thereore is only 33 The overall pumping efficiency will be
somewhere between 33 and 100 i the power consumption in the disk and channel
block clearance is neglected
Studies on melting in the diskpack were reported by Valsamis et al [96] It was
ound that two types o melting mechanism could take place in the diskpack the
drag melt removal (DMR) mechanism and the dissipative melt mixing (DMM) mech-
anism The DMR melting mechanism is the predominant mechanism in single screw
extruders this is discussed in detail in Section 73 In the DMR melting mechanismthe solids and melt coexist as two largely continuous and separate phases In the
DMM melting mechanism the solids are dispersed in the melt there is no conti-
nuous solid bed It was ound that the DMM mechanism could be induced by pro-
moting back leakage o the polymer melt past the channel block This can be con-
trolled by varying the clearance between the channel block and the disks The
advantage o the DMM melting mechanism is that the melting rate can be substan-
tially higher than with the DMR mechanism reportedly by as much as a actor o 3
[96]
Among all elementary polymer processing unctions the solids conveying in a disk-
pack extruder has not been discussed to any extent in the open technical literature
Considering that the solids conveying mechanism is a rictional drag mechanism
(as in single screw extruders) and not a positive displacement type o transport (as
in intermeshing counterrotating twin screw extruders see Sections 102 and 104)
it can be expected that the diskpack will have solids conveying limitations similar
to those o single screw extruders see Section 722 This means that powders
blends o powders and pellets slippery materials etc are likely to encounter solids
conveying problems in a diskpack extruder unless special measures are taken toenhance the solids conveying capability (e g crammer eeder grooves in the disks
etc)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983091983093
Because o the more complex machine geometry the cost per unit throughput o the
diskpack is higher than or the conventional single screw extruder Thereore the
diskpack does not compete directly with single screw extruders
Applications or the diskpack are specialty polymer processing operations such as
polymerization post-reactor processing (devolatilization) continuous compound-
ing etc As such the diskpack competes mostly with twin screw extruders Pres-
ently twin screw extruders are usually the first choice when it comes to specialty
polymer processing operations
983090983091983090The Elastic Melt Extruder
The elastic melt extruder was developed in the late 1950s by Maxwell and Scalora[40 41] The extruder makes use o the viscoelastic in particular the elastic pro-
perties o polymer melts When a viscoelastic fluid is exposed to a shearing deor-
mation normal stresses will develop in the fluid that are not equal in all directions
as opposed to a purely viscous fluid In the elastic melt extruder the polymer is
sheared between two plates one stationary and one rotating see Fig 219
Hopper
Heaters
Solid polymer
Die
Extrudate
Polymer melt
Rotor
Solid polymerHopper
Heaters
Die
Extrudate
Polymer melt
Rotor
Figure 983090983089983097
The elastic melt extruder
As the polymer is sheared normal stresses will generate a centripetal pumping
action Thus the polymer can be extruded through the central opening in the sta-
tionary plate in a continuous ashion Because normal stresses generate the pump-
ing action this machine is sometimes reerred to as a normal stress extruderThis extruder is quite interesting rom a rheological point o view since it is prob-
ably the only extruder that utilizes the elasticity o the melt or its conveying Thus
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983091983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
several detailed experimental and theoretical studies have been devoted to the elas-
tic melt extruder [42ndash47]
The detailed study by Fritz [44] concluded that transport by normal stresses only
could be as much as two orders o magnitude lower than a corresponding system
with orced eed In addition substantial temperature gradients developed in the
polymer causing substantial degradation in high molecular weight polyolefins The
scant market acceptance o the elastic melt extruder would tend to confirm Fritzrsquos
conclusions
Several modifications have been proposed to improve the perormance o the elastic
melt extruder Fritz [43] suggested incorporation o spiral grooves to improve the
pressure generating capability essentially combining the elastic melt extruder and
the spiral disk extruder into one machine In Russia [47] several modifications
were made to the design o the elastic melt extruder One o those combined a screwextruder with the elastic melt extruder to eliminate the eeding and plasticating
problem Despite all o these activities the elastic melt extruder has not been able to
acquire a position o importance in the extrusion industry
983090983091983091Overview of Disk Extruders
Many attempts have been made in the past to come up with a continuous plasticat-
ing extruder o simple design that could perorm better than the single screw ex-truder It seems air to say that at this point in time no disk extruder has been able
to meet this goal The simple disk extruders do not perorm nearly as well as the
single screw extruder The more complex disk extruder such as the diskpack can
possibly outperorm the single screw extruder However this is at the expense o
design simplicity thus increasing the cost o the machine Disk extruders there-
ore have not been able to seriously challenge the position o the single screw
extruder This is not to say however that it is not possible or this to happen some
time in the uture But considering the long dominance o the single screw extruder
it is not probable that a new disk extruder will come along that can challenge the
single screw extruder
983090983092Ram Extruders
Ram or plunger extruders are simple in design rugged and discontinuous in their
mode o operation Ram extruders are essentially positive displacement devices and
are able to generate very high pressures Because o the intermittent operation o
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983091983095
ram extruders they are ideally suited or cyclic processes such as injection molding
and blow molding In act the early molding machines were almost exclusively
equipped with ram extruders to supply the polymer melt to the mold Certain limita-
tions o the ram extruder have caused a switch to reciprocating screw extruders or
combinations o the two The two main limitations are
1 Limited melting capacity
2 Poor temperature uniormity o the polymer melt
Presently ram extruders are used in relatively small shot size molding machines
and certain specialty operations where use is made o the positive displacement
characteristics and the outstanding pressure generation capability There are basic-
ally two types o ram extruders single ram extruders and multi ram extruders
983090983092983089Single Ram Extruders
The single ram extruder is used in small general purpose molding machines but
also in some special polymer processing operations One such operation is the ex-
trusion o intractable polymers such as ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene
(UHMWPE) or polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) These polymers are not considered to
be melt processable on conventional melt processing equipment Teledynamik [48]
has built a ram injection-molding machine under a license rom Th Engel who
developed the prototype machine This machine is used to mold UHMWPE under
very high pressures The machine uses a reciprocating plunger that densifies the
cold incoming material with a pressure up to 300 MPa (about 44000 psi) The re-
quency o the ram can be adjusted continuously with a maximum o 250 strokes
minute The densified material is orced through heated channels into the heated
cylinder where final melting takes place The material is then injected into a mold
by a telescoping injection ram Pressures up to 100 MPa (about 14500 psi) occur
during the injection o the polymer into the mold
Another application is the extrusion o PTFE with again the primary ingredient orsuccessul extrusion being very high pressures Granular PTFE can be extruded at
slow rates in a ram extruder [49ndash51] The powder is compacted by the ram orced
into a die where the material is heated above the melting point and shaped into the
desired orm PTFE is ofen processed as a PTFE paste [52 53] This is small particle
size PTFE powder (about 02 mm) mixed with a processing aid such as naphta PTFE
paste can be extruded at room temperature or slightly above room temperature
Afer extrusion the processing aid is removed by heating the extrudate above its
volatilization temperature The extruded PTFE paste product may be sintered i the
application requires a more ully coalesced product
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983091983096 983090Different Types of Extruders
983090983092983089983089Solid State Extrusion
An extrusion technique that has slowly been gaining popularity is solid-state extru-
sion The polymer is orced through a die while it is below its melting point This
causes substantial deormation o the polymer in the die but since the polymer is in
the solid state a very effective molecular orientation takes place This orientation ismuch more effective than the one which occurs in conventional melt processing As
a result extraordinary mechanical properties can be obtained
Solid-state extrusion is a technique borrowed rom the metal industry where solid-
state extrusion has been used commercially since the late 1940s Bridgman [54]
was one o the first to do a systematic study on the effect o pressure on the mechan-
ical properties o metals He also studied polymers and ound that the glass tran-
sition temperature was raised by the application o pressure
There are two methods o solid-state extrusion one is direct solid-state extrusionthe other is hydrostatic extrusion In direct solid-state extrusion a pre-ormed solid
rod o material (a billet) is in direct contact with the plunger and the walls o the
extrusion die see Fig 220 The material is extruded as the ram is pushed towards
the die
Plunger
Billet
Barrel
DieExtrudate Figure 983090983090983088
Direct solid state extrusion
In hydrostatic extrusion the pressure required or extrusion is transmitted rom the
plunger to the billet through a lubricating liquid usually castor oil The billet must
be shaped to fit the die to prevent loss o fluid The hydrostatic fluid reduces the ric-
tion thereby reducing the extrusion pressure see Fig 221
In hydrostatic extrusion the pressure-generating device or the fluid does not neces-
sarily have to be in close proximity to the orming part o the machine The fluid canbe supplied to the extrusion device by high-pressure tubes
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983091983097
Plunger
Billet
Oil
Barrel
DieExtrudate Figure 983090983090983089
Hydrostatic solid state extrusion
Judging rom publications in the open literature most o the work on solid-state
extrusion o polymers is done at universities and research institutes It is possible
o course that some companies are working on solid-state extrusion but are keeping
the inormation proprietary A major research effort in solid-state extrusion has
been made at the University o Amherst Massachusetts [50ndash64] University o
Leeds England [65ndash72] Fyushu University Fukuoka Japan [73ndash76] Research
Institute or Polymers and Textiles Yokohama Japan [77ndash79] Battelle Columbus
Ohio [80ndash83] and Rutgers University New Brunswick New Jersey [84ndash86] As
mentioned earlier publications rom other sources are considerably less plentiul
[87ndash90] Efforts have also been made to achieve the same high degree o orientation
in a more or less conventional extrusion process by special die design and tempera-
ture control in the die region [91]
Table 25 shows a comparison o mechanical properties between steel aluminum
solid state extruded HDPE and HDPE extruded by conventional means
Table 25 clearly indicates that the mechanical properties o solid-state extruded
HDPE are much superior to the melt extruded HDPE In act the tensile strength o
solid-state extruded HDPE is about the same as carbon steel There are some other
interesting benefits associated with solidstate extrusion o polymers There is essen-
tially no die swell at high extrusion ratios (extrusion ratio is the ratio o the area in
the cylinder to the area in the die) Thus the dimensions o the extrudate closely
conorm to those o the die exit The surace o the extrudate produced by hydro-
static extrusion has a lower coefficient o riction than that o the un-oriented poly-
mer Above a certain extrusion ratio (about ten) polyethylene and polypropylene
become transparent Further solid-state extruded polymers maintain their ten-sile properties at elevated temperatures Polyethylene maintains its modulus up to
120degC when it is extruded in the solid state at a high extrusion ratio The thermal
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983092983088 983090Different Types of Extruders
conductivity in the extrusion direction is much higher than that o the un-oriented
polymer as much as 25 times higher The melting point o the solid-state extruded
polymer increases with the amount o orientation The melting point o HDPE can be
shifed to as high as 140degC
Table 25 Comparison of Mechanical Properties
Material Tensile modulus[MPa]
Tensile strength[MPa]
Elongation[]
Density[gcc]
Annealed SAE 1020 210000 410 35 786
W-200 degF SAE 1020 210000 720 6 786
Annealed 304 stainless
steel
200000 590 50 792
Aluminum 1100ndash0 70000 90 45 271
HDPE solid state
extruded
70000 480 3 097
HDPE melt extruded 10000 30 20ndash1000 096
A recent application o solid-state extrusion is the process developed by Synthetic
Hardwood Technologies Inc [107] This company has developed an expanded ori-
ented wood-filled polypropylene (EOW-PP) that is about 300 stronger than regular
PP The process is based on technology developed at Aluminum Company o Canada
Ltd (Alcan) in the early 1990s to solidstate extrude PP It involves ram extrusion
drawing o billets o PP just below the melting point with very high draw ratio and
high haul-off tension (about 3 MPa) to reeze-in the high level o orientation Alcan
did not pursue the technology and Symplastics Ltd licensed the patented process
this company started experimenting with adding small amounts o wood flour to the
PP However Symplastics ound the research and development too costly and sold
the patents and lab extrusion equipment to Frank Maine who set up SHW to com-
mercialize applications or the EOW-PP The key to the SHW process is that it com-
bines extrusion with drawing As the polymer is oriented the density drops about
50 rom about 1 g cc to 05 g cc The die drawing also allowed substantial in-creases in line speed rom about 0050 m min to about 9 m min The properties
achieved with EOW-PP are shown in Table 24 and compared to regular PP wood
and oriented PP
Solid-state extrusion has been practiced with coextrusion o different polymers [93]
Despite the large amount o research on solid-state extrusion and the outstanding
mechanical properties that can be obtained there does not seem to be much interest
in the polymer industry The main drawbacks o course are that solid-state extru-
sion is basically a discontinuous process it cannot be done on conventional polymer
processing equipment and very high pressures are required to achieve solid-stateextrusion Also one should keep in mind that very good mechanical properties can
be obtained by taking a profile (fiber film tube etc) produced by conventional con-
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983092983089
tinuous extrusion and exposing it to controlled deormation at a temperature below
the melting point This is a well-established technique in many extrusion operations
(fiber spinning film extrusion etc) and it can be done at a high rate This method
o producing extrudates with very good mechanical properties is likely to be more
cost-effective than solid-state extrusion It is possible that the die drawing processdeveloped by SHW can make solid-state extrusion more attractive commercially by
allowing large profiles to be processed at reasonable line speeds
Table 26 Mechanical Properties of PP Wood OPP and EOW-PP
Flexural strength [MPa] Flexural modulus [MPa]
Regular PP 50 1850
Wood 100 9000
Oriented PP 275 7600EOW-PP 140 7600
983090983092983090Multi Ram Extruder
As mentioned beore the main disadvantage o ram extruders is their intermittent
operation Several attempts have been made to overcome this problem by designing
multi-ram extruders that work together in such a way as to produce a continuousflow o material
Westover [94] designed a continuous ram extruder that combined our plunger-
cylinders Two plunger-cylinders were used or plasticating and two or pumping
An intricate shuttle valve connecting all the plunger cylinders provides continuous
extrusion
Another attempt to develop a continuous ram extruder was made by Yi and Fenner
[95] They designed a twin ram extruder with the cylinders in a V-configuration see
Fig 222The two rams discharge into a common barrel in which a plasticating shaf is rotat-
ing Thus solids conveying occurs in the two separate cylinders and plasticating
and melt conveying occurs in the annular region between the barrel and plasticat-
ing shaf The machine is able to extrude however the throughput uniormity is
poor The perormance could probably have been improved i the plasticating shaf
had been provided with a helical channel But o course then the machine would
have become a screw extruder with a ram-assisted eed This only goes to demon-
strate that it is ar rom easy to improve upon the simple screw extruder
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983092983090 983090Different Types of Extruders
Die Breaker plate
Plasticating shaft
Main
block
Feed cylinder
Figure 222 Twin ram extruder
983090983092983091 Appendix 983090983089
983090983092983091983089 Pumping Efficiency in Diskpack Extruder
The velocity profile between the moving walls is a parabolic unction when the fluid
is a Newtonian fluid see Section 621 and Fig 223
y
z H
Small pressure gradient
Medium pressure gradient
Large pressure gradient
Figure 983090983090983091
Velocity profiles between moving
walls
The velocity profile or a Newtonian fluid is
L8
PH
H
y41vv(y)
2
2
2
∆micro∆
minusminus= (1)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983092983091
where v is the velocity o the plates H the distance between the plates and μ the
viscosity o the fluid The flow rate can be ound by integrating v(y) over the width
and depth o the channel this yields
L12
PWHvWHV
3
∆micro∆minus=
bull
(2)
The first term on the right-hand side o the equalation is the drag flow term The
second term is the pressure flow term The ratio o pressure flow to drag flow is
termed the throttle ratio rd (see Section 7413)
r d =Lv12
PH2
∆micro
∆ (3)
The flow rate can now be written as
(4)
The shear stress at the wall is obtained rom
dv H∆Pτ = micro =dy
05H 2∆L
(5)
The power consumption in the channel is
Zch = PvHWLvW2 ∆=∆τ (6)
The energy efficiency or pressure generation is
V∆Pε = =1 minus r
d Zch
(7)
Equation 7 is not valid or rd = 0 because in this case both numerator and denomi-
nator become zero From Eq 7 it can be seen that when the machine is operated atlow rd values the pumping efficiency can become close to 100 This is considerably
better than the single screw extruder where the optimum pumping efficiency is 33
at a throttle ratio value o 033 (rd = 13)
References
1 J LeBras ldquoRubber Fundamentals o its Science and Technologyrdquo Chemical Publ Co
NY (1957)
2 W S Penn ldquoSynthetic Rubber Technology Volume Irdquo MacLaren amp Sons Ltd London(1960)
3 W J S Naunton ldquoThe Applied Science o Rubberrdquo Edward Arnold Ltd London (1961)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3437
983092983092 983090Different Types of Extruders
4 C M Blow ldquoRubber Technology and Manuacturerdquo Butterworth amp Co Ltd London
(1971)
5 F R Eirich (Ed) ldquoScience and Technology o Rubberrdquo Academic Press NY (1978)
6 C W Evans ldquoPowdered and Particulate Rubber Technologyrdquo Applied Science Publ Ltd
London (1978)
7 G Targiel et al 10 IKV-Kolloquium Aachen March 12ndash14 45 (1980)
8 A Kennaway Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 17 378ndash391 (1964)
9 G Menges and J P Lehnen Plastverarbeiter 20 1 31ndash39 (1969)
10 M Parshall and A J Saulino Rubber World 2 5 78ndash83 (1967)
11 S E Perlberg Rubber World 2 6 71ndash76 (1967)
12 H H Gohlisch Gummi Asbest Kunststoffe 25 9 834ndash835 (1972)
13 E Harms ldquoKautschuk-Extruder Aubau und Einsatz aus verahrenstechnischer Sichtrdquo
Krausskop-Verlag Mainz Bd 2 Buchreihe Kunststo983142echnik (1974)
14 G Schwarz Eur Rubber Journal Sept 28ndash32 (1977)
15 G Menges and E G Harms Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 25 10 469ndash475 (1972)
16 G Menges and E G Harms Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 27 5 187ndash193 (1974)
17 E G Harms Elastomerics 109 6 33ndash39 (1977)
18 E G Harms Eur Rubber Journal 6 23 (1978)
19 E G Harms Kunststoffe 69 1 32ndash33 (1979)
20 E G Harms Dissertation RWTH Aachen Germany (1981)21 S H Collins Plastics Compounding Nov Dec 29 (1982)
22 D Anders Kunststoffe 69 194ndash198 (1979)
23 D Gras and K Eise SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 21 386 (1975)
24 R F Westover SPE Journal 18 12 1473 (1962)
25 Lord Raleigh Philosophical Magazine 35 1ndash12 (1918)
26 German Patent DRP 1129681
27 British Patent BP 759354
28 U S Patent 3880564
29 U S Patent 4012477
30 J F Ingen Housz Plastverarbeiter 10 1 (1975)
31 U S Patent 4142805
32 U S Patent 4194841
33 U S Patent 4213709
34 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 25 193 (1979)
35 P Hold Z Tadmor and L Valsamis SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 25 205 (1979)
36 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis Plastics Engineering Nov 20ndash25 (1979)
37 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis Plastics Engineering Dec 30ndash38 (1979)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3537
References 983092983093
38 Z Tadmor et al The Diskpack Plastics Processor Farrel Publication Jan (1982)
39 L Valsamis AIChE Meeting Washington D C Oct (1983)
40 B Maxwell and A J Scalora Modern Plastics 37 107 Oct (1959)
41 U S Patent 3 046603
42 L L Blyler PhD thesis Princeton University NJ (1966)
43 H G Fritz Kunststo983142echnik 6 430 (1968)
44 H G Fritz PhD thesis Stuttgart University Germany (1971)
45 C W Macosko and J M Starita SPE Journal 27 30 (1971)
46 P A Good A J Schwartz and C W Macosko AIChE Journal 20 1 67 (1974)
47 V L Kocherov Y L Lukach E A Sporyagin and G V Vinogradov Polym Eng Sci 13
194 (1973)
48 J Berzen and G Braun Kunststoffe 69 2 62ndash66 (1979)49 R S Porter et al J Polym Sci 17 485ndash488 (1979)
50 C A Sperati Modern Plastics Encyclopedia McGraw-Hill NY (1983)
51 S S Schwartz and S H Goodman see Chapter 1 [36]
52 G R Snelling and J F Lontz J Appl Polym Sci 3 9 257ndash265 (1960)
53 D C F Couzens Plastics and Rubber Processing March 45ndash48 (1976)
54 P W Bridgman ldquoStudies in Large Plastic Flow and Fracturerdquo McGraw-Hill NY (1952)
55 H L D Push ldquoThe Mechanical Behavior o Materials Under Pressurerdquo Elsevier Amster-
dam (1970)56 H L D Push and A H Low J Inst Metals 93 201 (196565)
57 F Slack Mach Design Oct 7 61ndash64 (1982)
58 J H Southern and R S Porter J Appl Polym Sci 14 2305 (1970)
59 J H Southern and R S Porter J Macromol Sci Phys 3ndash4 541 (1970)
60 J H Southern N E Weeks and R S Porter Macromol Chem 162 19 (1972)
61 N J Capiati and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 13 1177 (1975)
62 R S Porter J H Southern and N E Weeks Polym Eng Sci 15 213 (1975)
63 A E Zachariades E S Sherman and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 17 255
(1979)
64 A E Zachariades and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 17 277 (1979)
65 B Parsons D Bretherton and B N Cole in Advances in MTDR 11th Int Con Proc
S A Tobias and F Koeningsberger (Eds) Pergamon Press London Vol B 1049 (1971)
66 G Capaccio and I M Ward Polymer 15 233 (1974)
67 A G Gibson I M Ward B N Cole and B Parsons J Mater Sci 9 1193ndash1196 (1974)
68 A G Gibson and I M Ward J Appl Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 16 2015ndash2030 (1978)
69 P S Hope and B Parsons Polym Eng Sci 20 589ndash600 (1980)
70 P S Hope I M Ward and A G Gibson J Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 18 1242ndash1256
(1980)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3637
983092983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
71 P S Hope A G Gibson B Parsons and I M Ward Polym Eng Sci 20 54ndash55 (1980)
72 B Parsons and I M Ward Plast Rubber Proc Appl 2 3 215ndash224 (1982)
73 K Imada T Yamamoto K Shigematsu and M Takayanagi J Mater Sci 6 537ndash546
(1971)
74 K Nakamura K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 2 71 (1972)
75 K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 2 89 (1973)
76 K Nakamura K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 3 23 (1974)
77 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Mater Sci 10 1105 (1975)
78 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Mater Sci 12 1477 (1977)
79 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Appl Polym Sci 23 2543ndash2554 (1979)
80 D M Bigg Polym Eng Sci 16 725 (1976)
81 D M Bigg M M Epstein R J Fiorentino and E G Smith Polym Eng Sci 18 908(1978)
82 D M Bigg and M M Epstein ldquoScience and Technology o Polymer Processingrdquo N S Suh
and N Sung (Eds) 897 MIT Press (1979)
83 D M Bigg M M Epstein R J Fiorentino and E G Smith J Appl Polym Sci 26 395ndash
409 (1981)
84 K D Pae and D R Mears J Polym Sci B-6 269 (1968)
85 K D Pae D R Mears and J A Sauer J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 6 773 (1968)
86 D R Mears K P Pae and J A Sauer J Appl Phys 40 11 4229ndash4237 (1969)
87 L A Davis and C A Pampillo J Appl Phys 42 12 4659ndash4666 (1971)
88 A Buckley and H A Long Polym Eng Sci 9 2 115ndash120 (1969)
89 L A Davis Polym Eng Sci 14 9 641ndash645 (1974)
90 R K Okine and N P Suh Polym Eng Sci 22 5 269ndash279 (1982)
91 J R Collier T Y T Tam J Newcome and N Dinos Polym Eng Sci 16 204ndash211 (1976)
92 J H Faupel and F E Fisher ldquoEngineering Designrdquo Wiley NY (1981)
93 A E Zachariades R Ball and R S Porter J Mater Sci 13 2671ndash2675 (1978)
94 R R Westover Modern Plastics March (1963) 95 B Yi and R T Fenner Plastics and Polymers Dec 224ndash228 (1975)
96 A Mekkaoui and L N Valsamis Polym Eng Sci 24 1260ndash1269 (1984)
97 H Rust Kunststoffe 73 342ndash346 (1983)
98 J Huszman Kunststoffe 73 3437ndash348 (1983)
99 J M McKelvey U Maire and F Haupt Chem Eng Sept 27 94ndash102 (1976)
100 K Schneider Kunststoffe 68 201ndash206 (1978)
101 W T Rice Plastic Technology 87ndash91 Feb (1980)
102 Harrel Corp ldquoMelt Pump Systems or Extrudersrdquo Product Description TDS-264 (1982)
103 J M McKelvey and W T Rice Chem Eng 90 2 89ndash94 (1983)
104 K Kaper K Eise and H Herrmann SPE ANTEC Chicago 161ndash163 (1983)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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References 983092983095
105 C L Woodworth SPE ANTEC New Orleans 122ndash126 (1984)
106 W A Kramer SPE ANTEC Washington D C 23ndash29 (1985)
107 J Schut ldquoDie Drawing Makes Plastic Steelrdquo Plastics Technology Online Article March
5 (2001)
108 VDI Conerence Extrusiontechnik 2006 ldquoDer Einschnecken-Extruder von Morgenrdquo VDI
Verlag GmbH Duumlsseldor (2006)
109 P Rieg ldquoLatest Developments in High-Speed Extrusionrdquo Plastic Extrusion Asia Con-
erence Bangkok Thailand March 17ndash18 (2008) also presented at Advances in Ex-
trusion Conerence New Orleans December 9ndash10 (2008)
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983091983092 983090Different Types of Extruders
At the same net flow rate equal viscosity equal plate velocity and optimum plate
separation the theoretical maximum pressure gradient o the diskpack is eight
times higher than the single screw extruder [34] Thus high pressures can be gen-
erated over a short distance which allows a more compact machine design The
energy efficiency o the pressure generation is also better than in the single screwextruder the maximum pumping efficiency approaches 100 see derivation in
Appendix 21 For the single screw extruder the maximum pumping efficiency is
only 33 as discussed in Section 7413 The energy efficiency o pressure genera-
tion is the ratio o the theoretical energy requirement (flow rate times pressure rise)
to the actual energy requirement (wall velocity times shear stress integrated over
wall surace) It should be noted that the two dragging platesrsquo pumping mechanism
exists only in tangential direction The pumping in axial (orward) direction occurs
only in the transer channel in the housing This orward pumping occurs by the one
dragging plate mechanism as in the single screw extruder The maximum efficiency
or orward pumping thereore is only 33 The overall pumping efficiency will be
somewhere between 33 and 100 i the power consumption in the disk and channel
block clearance is neglected
Studies on melting in the diskpack were reported by Valsamis et al [96] It was
ound that two types o melting mechanism could take place in the diskpack the
drag melt removal (DMR) mechanism and the dissipative melt mixing (DMM) mech-
anism The DMR melting mechanism is the predominant mechanism in single screw
extruders this is discussed in detail in Section 73 In the DMR melting mechanismthe solids and melt coexist as two largely continuous and separate phases In the
DMM melting mechanism the solids are dispersed in the melt there is no conti-
nuous solid bed It was ound that the DMM mechanism could be induced by pro-
moting back leakage o the polymer melt past the channel block This can be con-
trolled by varying the clearance between the channel block and the disks The
advantage o the DMM melting mechanism is that the melting rate can be substan-
tially higher than with the DMR mechanism reportedly by as much as a actor o 3
[96]
Among all elementary polymer processing unctions the solids conveying in a disk-
pack extruder has not been discussed to any extent in the open technical literature
Considering that the solids conveying mechanism is a rictional drag mechanism
(as in single screw extruders) and not a positive displacement type o transport (as
in intermeshing counterrotating twin screw extruders see Sections 102 and 104)
it can be expected that the diskpack will have solids conveying limitations similar
to those o single screw extruders see Section 722 This means that powders
blends o powders and pellets slippery materials etc are likely to encounter solids
conveying problems in a diskpack extruder unless special measures are taken toenhance the solids conveying capability (e g crammer eeder grooves in the disks
etc)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983091 Disk Extruders 983091983093
Because o the more complex machine geometry the cost per unit throughput o the
diskpack is higher than or the conventional single screw extruder Thereore the
diskpack does not compete directly with single screw extruders
Applications or the diskpack are specialty polymer processing operations such as
polymerization post-reactor processing (devolatilization) continuous compound-
ing etc As such the diskpack competes mostly with twin screw extruders Pres-
ently twin screw extruders are usually the first choice when it comes to specialty
polymer processing operations
983090983091983090The Elastic Melt Extruder
The elastic melt extruder was developed in the late 1950s by Maxwell and Scalora[40 41] The extruder makes use o the viscoelastic in particular the elastic pro-
perties o polymer melts When a viscoelastic fluid is exposed to a shearing deor-
mation normal stresses will develop in the fluid that are not equal in all directions
as opposed to a purely viscous fluid In the elastic melt extruder the polymer is
sheared between two plates one stationary and one rotating see Fig 219
Hopper
Heaters
Solid polymer
Die
Extrudate
Polymer melt
Rotor
Solid polymerHopper
Heaters
Die
Extrudate
Polymer melt
Rotor
Figure 983090983089983097
The elastic melt extruder
As the polymer is sheared normal stresses will generate a centripetal pumping
action Thus the polymer can be extruded through the central opening in the sta-
tionary plate in a continuous ashion Because normal stresses generate the pump-
ing action this machine is sometimes reerred to as a normal stress extruderThis extruder is quite interesting rom a rheological point o view since it is prob-
ably the only extruder that utilizes the elasticity o the melt or its conveying Thus
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983091983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
several detailed experimental and theoretical studies have been devoted to the elas-
tic melt extruder [42ndash47]
The detailed study by Fritz [44] concluded that transport by normal stresses only
could be as much as two orders o magnitude lower than a corresponding system
with orced eed In addition substantial temperature gradients developed in the
polymer causing substantial degradation in high molecular weight polyolefins The
scant market acceptance o the elastic melt extruder would tend to confirm Fritzrsquos
conclusions
Several modifications have been proposed to improve the perormance o the elastic
melt extruder Fritz [43] suggested incorporation o spiral grooves to improve the
pressure generating capability essentially combining the elastic melt extruder and
the spiral disk extruder into one machine In Russia [47] several modifications
were made to the design o the elastic melt extruder One o those combined a screwextruder with the elastic melt extruder to eliminate the eeding and plasticating
problem Despite all o these activities the elastic melt extruder has not been able to
acquire a position o importance in the extrusion industry
983090983091983091Overview of Disk Extruders
Many attempts have been made in the past to come up with a continuous plasticat-
ing extruder o simple design that could perorm better than the single screw ex-truder It seems air to say that at this point in time no disk extruder has been able
to meet this goal The simple disk extruders do not perorm nearly as well as the
single screw extruder The more complex disk extruder such as the diskpack can
possibly outperorm the single screw extruder However this is at the expense o
design simplicity thus increasing the cost o the machine Disk extruders there-
ore have not been able to seriously challenge the position o the single screw
extruder This is not to say however that it is not possible or this to happen some
time in the uture But considering the long dominance o the single screw extruder
it is not probable that a new disk extruder will come along that can challenge the
single screw extruder
983090983092Ram Extruders
Ram or plunger extruders are simple in design rugged and discontinuous in their
mode o operation Ram extruders are essentially positive displacement devices and
are able to generate very high pressures Because o the intermittent operation o
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983091983095
ram extruders they are ideally suited or cyclic processes such as injection molding
and blow molding In act the early molding machines were almost exclusively
equipped with ram extruders to supply the polymer melt to the mold Certain limita-
tions o the ram extruder have caused a switch to reciprocating screw extruders or
combinations o the two The two main limitations are
1 Limited melting capacity
2 Poor temperature uniormity o the polymer melt
Presently ram extruders are used in relatively small shot size molding machines
and certain specialty operations where use is made o the positive displacement
characteristics and the outstanding pressure generation capability There are basic-
ally two types o ram extruders single ram extruders and multi ram extruders
983090983092983089Single Ram Extruders
The single ram extruder is used in small general purpose molding machines but
also in some special polymer processing operations One such operation is the ex-
trusion o intractable polymers such as ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene
(UHMWPE) or polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) These polymers are not considered to
be melt processable on conventional melt processing equipment Teledynamik [48]
has built a ram injection-molding machine under a license rom Th Engel who
developed the prototype machine This machine is used to mold UHMWPE under
very high pressures The machine uses a reciprocating plunger that densifies the
cold incoming material with a pressure up to 300 MPa (about 44000 psi) The re-
quency o the ram can be adjusted continuously with a maximum o 250 strokes
minute The densified material is orced through heated channels into the heated
cylinder where final melting takes place The material is then injected into a mold
by a telescoping injection ram Pressures up to 100 MPa (about 14500 psi) occur
during the injection o the polymer into the mold
Another application is the extrusion o PTFE with again the primary ingredient orsuccessul extrusion being very high pressures Granular PTFE can be extruded at
slow rates in a ram extruder [49ndash51] The powder is compacted by the ram orced
into a die where the material is heated above the melting point and shaped into the
desired orm PTFE is ofen processed as a PTFE paste [52 53] This is small particle
size PTFE powder (about 02 mm) mixed with a processing aid such as naphta PTFE
paste can be extruded at room temperature or slightly above room temperature
Afer extrusion the processing aid is removed by heating the extrudate above its
volatilization temperature The extruded PTFE paste product may be sintered i the
application requires a more ully coalesced product
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983091983096 983090Different Types of Extruders
983090983092983089983089Solid State Extrusion
An extrusion technique that has slowly been gaining popularity is solid-state extru-
sion The polymer is orced through a die while it is below its melting point This
causes substantial deormation o the polymer in the die but since the polymer is in
the solid state a very effective molecular orientation takes place This orientation ismuch more effective than the one which occurs in conventional melt processing As
a result extraordinary mechanical properties can be obtained
Solid-state extrusion is a technique borrowed rom the metal industry where solid-
state extrusion has been used commercially since the late 1940s Bridgman [54]
was one o the first to do a systematic study on the effect o pressure on the mechan-
ical properties o metals He also studied polymers and ound that the glass tran-
sition temperature was raised by the application o pressure
There are two methods o solid-state extrusion one is direct solid-state extrusionthe other is hydrostatic extrusion In direct solid-state extrusion a pre-ormed solid
rod o material (a billet) is in direct contact with the plunger and the walls o the
extrusion die see Fig 220 The material is extruded as the ram is pushed towards
the die
Plunger
Billet
Barrel
DieExtrudate Figure 983090983090983088
Direct solid state extrusion
In hydrostatic extrusion the pressure required or extrusion is transmitted rom the
plunger to the billet through a lubricating liquid usually castor oil The billet must
be shaped to fit the die to prevent loss o fluid The hydrostatic fluid reduces the ric-
tion thereby reducing the extrusion pressure see Fig 221
In hydrostatic extrusion the pressure-generating device or the fluid does not neces-
sarily have to be in close proximity to the orming part o the machine The fluid canbe supplied to the extrusion device by high-pressure tubes
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983091983097
Plunger
Billet
Oil
Barrel
DieExtrudate Figure 983090983090983089
Hydrostatic solid state extrusion
Judging rom publications in the open literature most o the work on solid-state
extrusion o polymers is done at universities and research institutes It is possible
o course that some companies are working on solid-state extrusion but are keeping
the inormation proprietary A major research effort in solid-state extrusion has
been made at the University o Amherst Massachusetts [50ndash64] University o
Leeds England [65ndash72] Fyushu University Fukuoka Japan [73ndash76] Research
Institute or Polymers and Textiles Yokohama Japan [77ndash79] Battelle Columbus
Ohio [80ndash83] and Rutgers University New Brunswick New Jersey [84ndash86] As
mentioned earlier publications rom other sources are considerably less plentiul
[87ndash90] Efforts have also been made to achieve the same high degree o orientation
in a more or less conventional extrusion process by special die design and tempera-
ture control in the die region [91]
Table 25 shows a comparison o mechanical properties between steel aluminum
solid state extruded HDPE and HDPE extruded by conventional means
Table 25 clearly indicates that the mechanical properties o solid-state extruded
HDPE are much superior to the melt extruded HDPE In act the tensile strength o
solid-state extruded HDPE is about the same as carbon steel There are some other
interesting benefits associated with solidstate extrusion o polymers There is essen-
tially no die swell at high extrusion ratios (extrusion ratio is the ratio o the area in
the cylinder to the area in the die) Thus the dimensions o the extrudate closely
conorm to those o the die exit The surace o the extrudate produced by hydro-
static extrusion has a lower coefficient o riction than that o the un-oriented poly-
mer Above a certain extrusion ratio (about ten) polyethylene and polypropylene
become transparent Further solid-state extruded polymers maintain their ten-sile properties at elevated temperatures Polyethylene maintains its modulus up to
120degC when it is extruded in the solid state at a high extrusion ratio The thermal
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983092983088 983090Different Types of Extruders
conductivity in the extrusion direction is much higher than that o the un-oriented
polymer as much as 25 times higher The melting point o the solid-state extruded
polymer increases with the amount o orientation The melting point o HDPE can be
shifed to as high as 140degC
Table 25 Comparison of Mechanical Properties
Material Tensile modulus[MPa]
Tensile strength[MPa]
Elongation[]
Density[gcc]
Annealed SAE 1020 210000 410 35 786
W-200 degF SAE 1020 210000 720 6 786
Annealed 304 stainless
steel
200000 590 50 792
Aluminum 1100ndash0 70000 90 45 271
HDPE solid state
extruded
70000 480 3 097
HDPE melt extruded 10000 30 20ndash1000 096
A recent application o solid-state extrusion is the process developed by Synthetic
Hardwood Technologies Inc [107] This company has developed an expanded ori-
ented wood-filled polypropylene (EOW-PP) that is about 300 stronger than regular
PP The process is based on technology developed at Aluminum Company o Canada
Ltd (Alcan) in the early 1990s to solidstate extrude PP It involves ram extrusion
drawing o billets o PP just below the melting point with very high draw ratio and
high haul-off tension (about 3 MPa) to reeze-in the high level o orientation Alcan
did not pursue the technology and Symplastics Ltd licensed the patented process
this company started experimenting with adding small amounts o wood flour to the
PP However Symplastics ound the research and development too costly and sold
the patents and lab extrusion equipment to Frank Maine who set up SHW to com-
mercialize applications or the EOW-PP The key to the SHW process is that it com-
bines extrusion with drawing As the polymer is oriented the density drops about
50 rom about 1 g cc to 05 g cc The die drawing also allowed substantial in-creases in line speed rom about 0050 m min to about 9 m min The properties
achieved with EOW-PP are shown in Table 24 and compared to regular PP wood
and oriented PP
Solid-state extrusion has been practiced with coextrusion o different polymers [93]
Despite the large amount o research on solid-state extrusion and the outstanding
mechanical properties that can be obtained there does not seem to be much interest
in the polymer industry The main drawbacks o course are that solid-state extru-
sion is basically a discontinuous process it cannot be done on conventional polymer
processing equipment and very high pressures are required to achieve solid-stateextrusion Also one should keep in mind that very good mechanical properties can
be obtained by taking a profile (fiber film tube etc) produced by conventional con-
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983092983089
tinuous extrusion and exposing it to controlled deormation at a temperature below
the melting point This is a well-established technique in many extrusion operations
(fiber spinning film extrusion etc) and it can be done at a high rate This method
o producing extrudates with very good mechanical properties is likely to be more
cost-effective than solid-state extrusion It is possible that the die drawing processdeveloped by SHW can make solid-state extrusion more attractive commercially by
allowing large profiles to be processed at reasonable line speeds
Table 26 Mechanical Properties of PP Wood OPP and EOW-PP
Flexural strength [MPa] Flexural modulus [MPa]
Regular PP 50 1850
Wood 100 9000
Oriented PP 275 7600EOW-PP 140 7600
983090983092983090Multi Ram Extruder
As mentioned beore the main disadvantage o ram extruders is their intermittent
operation Several attempts have been made to overcome this problem by designing
multi-ram extruders that work together in such a way as to produce a continuousflow o material
Westover [94] designed a continuous ram extruder that combined our plunger-
cylinders Two plunger-cylinders were used or plasticating and two or pumping
An intricate shuttle valve connecting all the plunger cylinders provides continuous
extrusion
Another attempt to develop a continuous ram extruder was made by Yi and Fenner
[95] They designed a twin ram extruder with the cylinders in a V-configuration see
Fig 222The two rams discharge into a common barrel in which a plasticating shaf is rotat-
ing Thus solids conveying occurs in the two separate cylinders and plasticating
and melt conveying occurs in the annular region between the barrel and plasticat-
ing shaf The machine is able to extrude however the throughput uniormity is
poor The perormance could probably have been improved i the plasticating shaf
had been provided with a helical channel But o course then the machine would
have become a screw extruder with a ram-assisted eed This only goes to demon-
strate that it is ar rom easy to improve upon the simple screw extruder
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983092983090 983090Different Types of Extruders
Die Breaker plate
Plasticating shaft
Main
block
Feed cylinder
Figure 222 Twin ram extruder
983090983092983091 Appendix 983090983089
983090983092983091983089 Pumping Efficiency in Diskpack Extruder
The velocity profile between the moving walls is a parabolic unction when the fluid
is a Newtonian fluid see Section 621 and Fig 223
y
z H
Small pressure gradient
Medium pressure gradient
Large pressure gradient
Figure 983090983090983091
Velocity profiles between moving
walls
The velocity profile or a Newtonian fluid is
L8
PH
H
y41vv(y)
2
2
2
∆micro∆
minusminus= (1)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983092983091
where v is the velocity o the plates H the distance between the plates and μ the
viscosity o the fluid The flow rate can be ound by integrating v(y) over the width
and depth o the channel this yields
L12
PWHvWHV
3
∆micro∆minus=
bull
(2)
The first term on the right-hand side o the equalation is the drag flow term The
second term is the pressure flow term The ratio o pressure flow to drag flow is
termed the throttle ratio rd (see Section 7413)
r d =Lv12
PH2
∆micro
∆ (3)
The flow rate can now be written as
(4)
The shear stress at the wall is obtained rom
dv H∆Pτ = micro =dy
05H 2∆L
(5)
The power consumption in the channel is
Zch = PvHWLvW2 ∆=∆τ (6)
The energy efficiency or pressure generation is
V∆Pε = =1 minus r
d Zch
(7)
Equation 7 is not valid or rd = 0 because in this case both numerator and denomi-
nator become zero From Eq 7 it can be seen that when the machine is operated atlow rd values the pumping efficiency can become close to 100 This is considerably
better than the single screw extruder where the optimum pumping efficiency is 33
at a throttle ratio value o 033 (rd = 13)
References
1 J LeBras ldquoRubber Fundamentals o its Science and Technologyrdquo Chemical Publ Co
NY (1957)
2 W S Penn ldquoSynthetic Rubber Technology Volume Irdquo MacLaren amp Sons Ltd London(1960)
3 W J S Naunton ldquoThe Applied Science o Rubberrdquo Edward Arnold Ltd London (1961)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3437
983092983092 983090Different Types of Extruders
4 C M Blow ldquoRubber Technology and Manuacturerdquo Butterworth amp Co Ltd London
(1971)
5 F R Eirich (Ed) ldquoScience and Technology o Rubberrdquo Academic Press NY (1978)
6 C W Evans ldquoPowdered and Particulate Rubber Technologyrdquo Applied Science Publ Ltd
London (1978)
7 G Targiel et al 10 IKV-Kolloquium Aachen March 12ndash14 45 (1980)
8 A Kennaway Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 17 378ndash391 (1964)
9 G Menges and J P Lehnen Plastverarbeiter 20 1 31ndash39 (1969)
10 M Parshall and A J Saulino Rubber World 2 5 78ndash83 (1967)
11 S E Perlberg Rubber World 2 6 71ndash76 (1967)
12 H H Gohlisch Gummi Asbest Kunststoffe 25 9 834ndash835 (1972)
13 E Harms ldquoKautschuk-Extruder Aubau und Einsatz aus verahrenstechnischer Sichtrdquo
Krausskop-Verlag Mainz Bd 2 Buchreihe Kunststo983142echnik (1974)
14 G Schwarz Eur Rubber Journal Sept 28ndash32 (1977)
15 G Menges and E G Harms Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 25 10 469ndash475 (1972)
16 G Menges and E G Harms Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 27 5 187ndash193 (1974)
17 E G Harms Elastomerics 109 6 33ndash39 (1977)
18 E G Harms Eur Rubber Journal 6 23 (1978)
19 E G Harms Kunststoffe 69 1 32ndash33 (1979)
20 E G Harms Dissertation RWTH Aachen Germany (1981)21 S H Collins Plastics Compounding Nov Dec 29 (1982)
22 D Anders Kunststoffe 69 194ndash198 (1979)
23 D Gras and K Eise SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 21 386 (1975)
24 R F Westover SPE Journal 18 12 1473 (1962)
25 Lord Raleigh Philosophical Magazine 35 1ndash12 (1918)
26 German Patent DRP 1129681
27 British Patent BP 759354
28 U S Patent 3880564
29 U S Patent 4012477
30 J F Ingen Housz Plastverarbeiter 10 1 (1975)
31 U S Patent 4142805
32 U S Patent 4194841
33 U S Patent 4213709
34 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 25 193 (1979)
35 P Hold Z Tadmor and L Valsamis SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 25 205 (1979)
36 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis Plastics Engineering Nov 20ndash25 (1979)
37 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis Plastics Engineering Dec 30ndash38 (1979)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3537
References 983092983093
38 Z Tadmor et al The Diskpack Plastics Processor Farrel Publication Jan (1982)
39 L Valsamis AIChE Meeting Washington D C Oct (1983)
40 B Maxwell and A J Scalora Modern Plastics 37 107 Oct (1959)
41 U S Patent 3 046603
42 L L Blyler PhD thesis Princeton University NJ (1966)
43 H G Fritz Kunststo983142echnik 6 430 (1968)
44 H G Fritz PhD thesis Stuttgart University Germany (1971)
45 C W Macosko and J M Starita SPE Journal 27 30 (1971)
46 P A Good A J Schwartz and C W Macosko AIChE Journal 20 1 67 (1974)
47 V L Kocherov Y L Lukach E A Sporyagin and G V Vinogradov Polym Eng Sci 13
194 (1973)
48 J Berzen and G Braun Kunststoffe 69 2 62ndash66 (1979)49 R S Porter et al J Polym Sci 17 485ndash488 (1979)
50 C A Sperati Modern Plastics Encyclopedia McGraw-Hill NY (1983)
51 S S Schwartz and S H Goodman see Chapter 1 [36]
52 G R Snelling and J F Lontz J Appl Polym Sci 3 9 257ndash265 (1960)
53 D C F Couzens Plastics and Rubber Processing March 45ndash48 (1976)
54 P W Bridgman ldquoStudies in Large Plastic Flow and Fracturerdquo McGraw-Hill NY (1952)
55 H L D Push ldquoThe Mechanical Behavior o Materials Under Pressurerdquo Elsevier Amster-
dam (1970)56 H L D Push and A H Low J Inst Metals 93 201 (196565)
57 F Slack Mach Design Oct 7 61ndash64 (1982)
58 J H Southern and R S Porter J Appl Polym Sci 14 2305 (1970)
59 J H Southern and R S Porter J Macromol Sci Phys 3ndash4 541 (1970)
60 J H Southern N E Weeks and R S Porter Macromol Chem 162 19 (1972)
61 N J Capiati and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 13 1177 (1975)
62 R S Porter J H Southern and N E Weeks Polym Eng Sci 15 213 (1975)
63 A E Zachariades E S Sherman and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 17 255
(1979)
64 A E Zachariades and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 17 277 (1979)
65 B Parsons D Bretherton and B N Cole in Advances in MTDR 11th Int Con Proc
S A Tobias and F Koeningsberger (Eds) Pergamon Press London Vol B 1049 (1971)
66 G Capaccio and I M Ward Polymer 15 233 (1974)
67 A G Gibson I M Ward B N Cole and B Parsons J Mater Sci 9 1193ndash1196 (1974)
68 A G Gibson and I M Ward J Appl Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 16 2015ndash2030 (1978)
69 P S Hope and B Parsons Polym Eng Sci 20 589ndash600 (1980)
70 P S Hope I M Ward and A G Gibson J Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 18 1242ndash1256
(1980)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3637
983092983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
71 P S Hope A G Gibson B Parsons and I M Ward Polym Eng Sci 20 54ndash55 (1980)
72 B Parsons and I M Ward Plast Rubber Proc Appl 2 3 215ndash224 (1982)
73 K Imada T Yamamoto K Shigematsu and M Takayanagi J Mater Sci 6 537ndash546
(1971)
74 K Nakamura K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 2 71 (1972)
75 K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 2 89 (1973)
76 K Nakamura K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 3 23 (1974)
77 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Mater Sci 10 1105 (1975)
78 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Mater Sci 12 1477 (1977)
79 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Appl Polym Sci 23 2543ndash2554 (1979)
80 D M Bigg Polym Eng Sci 16 725 (1976)
81 D M Bigg M M Epstein R J Fiorentino and E G Smith Polym Eng Sci 18 908(1978)
82 D M Bigg and M M Epstein ldquoScience and Technology o Polymer Processingrdquo N S Suh
and N Sung (Eds) 897 MIT Press (1979)
83 D M Bigg M M Epstein R J Fiorentino and E G Smith J Appl Polym Sci 26 395ndash
409 (1981)
84 K D Pae and D R Mears J Polym Sci B-6 269 (1968)
85 K D Pae D R Mears and J A Sauer J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 6 773 (1968)
86 D R Mears K P Pae and J A Sauer J Appl Phys 40 11 4229ndash4237 (1969)
87 L A Davis and C A Pampillo J Appl Phys 42 12 4659ndash4666 (1971)
88 A Buckley and H A Long Polym Eng Sci 9 2 115ndash120 (1969)
89 L A Davis Polym Eng Sci 14 9 641ndash645 (1974)
90 R K Okine and N P Suh Polym Eng Sci 22 5 269ndash279 (1982)
91 J R Collier T Y T Tam J Newcome and N Dinos Polym Eng Sci 16 204ndash211 (1976)
92 J H Faupel and F E Fisher ldquoEngineering Designrdquo Wiley NY (1981)
93 A E Zachariades R Ball and R S Porter J Mater Sci 13 2671ndash2675 (1978)
94 R R Westover Modern Plastics March (1963) 95 B Yi and R T Fenner Plastics and Polymers Dec 224ndash228 (1975)
96 A Mekkaoui and L N Valsamis Polym Eng Sci 24 1260ndash1269 (1984)
97 H Rust Kunststoffe 73 342ndash346 (1983)
98 J Huszman Kunststoffe 73 3437ndash348 (1983)
99 J M McKelvey U Maire and F Haupt Chem Eng Sept 27 94ndash102 (1976)
100 K Schneider Kunststoffe 68 201ndash206 (1978)
101 W T Rice Plastic Technology 87ndash91 Feb (1980)
102 Harrel Corp ldquoMelt Pump Systems or Extrudersrdquo Product Description TDS-264 (1982)
103 J M McKelvey and W T Rice Chem Eng 90 2 89ndash94 (1983)
104 K Kaper K Eise and H Herrmann SPE ANTEC Chicago 161ndash163 (1983)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3737
References 983092983095
105 C L Woodworth SPE ANTEC New Orleans 122ndash126 (1984)
106 W A Kramer SPE ANTEC Washington D C 23ndash29 (1985)
107 J Schut ldquoDie Drawing Makes Plastic Steelrdquo Plastics Technology Online Article March
5 (2001)
108 VDI Conerence Extrusiontechnik 2006 ldquoDer Einschnecken-Extruder von Morgenrdquo VDI
Verlag GmbH Duumlsseldor (2006)
109 P Rieg ldquoLatest Developments in High-Speed Extrusionrdquo Plastic Extrusion Asia Con-
erence Bangkok Thailand March 17ndash18 (2008) also presented at Advances in Ex-
trusion Conerence New Orleans December 9ndash10 (2008)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 2537
983090983091 Disk Extruders 983091983093
Because o the more complex machine geometry the cost per unit throughput o the
diskpack is higher than or the conventional single screw extruder Thereore the
diskpack does not compete directly with single screw extruders
Applications or the diskpack are specialty polymer processing operations such as
polymerization post-reactor processing (devolatilization) continuous compound-
ing etc As such the diskpack competes mostly with twin screw extruders Pres-
ently twin screw extruders are usually the first choice when it comes to specialty
polymer processing operations
983090983091983090The Elastic Melt Extruder
The elastic melt extruder was developed in the late 1950s by Maxwell and Scalora[40 41] The extruder makes use o the viscoelastic in particular the elastic pro-
perties o polymer melts When a viscoelastic fluid is exposed to a shearing deor-
mation normal stresses will develop in the fluid that are not equal in all directions
as opposed to a purely viscous fluid In the elastic melt extruder the polymer is
sheared between two plates one stationary and one rotating see Fig 219
Hopper
Heaters
Solid polymer
Die
Extrudate
Polymer melt
Rotor
Solid polymerHopper
Heaters
Die
Extrudate
Polymer melt
Rotor
Figure 983090983089983097
The elastic melt extruder
As the polymer is sheared normal stresses will generate a centripetal pumping
action Thus the polymer can be extruded through the central opening in the sta-
tionary plate in a continuous ashion Because normal stresses generate the pump-
ing action this machine is sometimes reerred to as a normal stress extruderThis extruder is quite interesting rom a rheological point o view since it is prob-
ably the only extruder that utilizes the elasticity o the melt or its conveying Thus
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983091983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
several detailed experimental and theoretical studies have been devoted to the elas-
tic melt extruder [42ndash47]
The detailed study by Fritz [44] concluded that transport by normal stresses only
could be as much as two orders o magnitude lower than a corresponding system
with orced eed In addition substantial temperature gradients developed in the
polymer causing substantial degradation in high molecular weight polyolefins The
scant market acceptance o the elastic melt extruder would tend to confirm Fritzrsquos
conclusions
Several modifications have been proposed to improve the perormance o the elastic
melt extruder Fritz [43] suggested incorporation o spiral grooves to improve the
pressure generating capability essentially combining the elastic melt extruder and
the spiral disk extruder into one machine In Russia [47] several modifications
were made to the design o the elastic melt extruder One o those combined a screwextruder with the elastic melt extruder to eliminate the eeding and plasticating
problem Despite all o these activities the elastic melt extruder has not been able to
acquire a position o importance in the extrusion industry
983090983091983091Overview of Disk Extruders
Many attempts have been made in the past to come up with a continuous plasticat-
ing extruder o simple design that could perorm better than the single screw ex-truder It seems air to say that at this point in time no disk extruder has been able
to meet this goal The simple disk extruders do not perorm nearly as well as the
single screw extruder The more complex disk extruder such as the diskpack can
possibly outperorm the single screw extruder However this is at the expense o
design simplicity thus increasing the cost o the machine Disk extruders there-
ore have not been able to seriously challenge the position o the single screw
extruder This is not to say however that it is not possible or this to happen some
time in the uture But considering the long dominance o the single screw extruder
it is not probable that a new disk extruder will come along that can challenge the
single screw extruder
983090983092Ram Extruders
Ram or plunger extruders are simple in design rugged and discontinuous in their
mode o operation Ram extruders are essentially positive displacement devices and
are able to generate very high pressures Because o the intermittent operation o
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 2737
983090983092 Ram Extruders 983091983095
ram extruders they are ideally suited or cyclic processes such as injection molding
and blow molding In act the early molding machines were almost exclusively
equipped with ram extruders to supply the polymer melt to the mold Certain limita-
tions o the ram extruder have caused a switch to reciprocating screw extruders or
combinations o the two The two main limitations are
1 Limited melting capacity
2 Poor temperature uniormity o the polymer melt
Presently ram extruders are used in relatively small shot size molding machines
and certain specialty operations where use is made o the positive displacement
characteristics and the outstanding pressure generation capability There are basic-
ally two types o ram extruders single ram extruders and multi ram extruders
983090983092983089Single Ram Extruders
The single ram extruder is used in small general purpose molding machines but
also in some special polymer processing operations One such operation is the ex-
trusion o intractable polymers such as ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene
(UHMWPE) or polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) These polymers are not considered to
be melt processable on conventional melt processing equipment Teledynamik [48]
has built a ram injection-molding machine under a license rom Th Engel who
developed the prototype machine This machine is used to mold UHMWPE under
very high pressures The machine uses a reciprocating plunger that densifies the
cold incoming material with a pressure up to 300 MPa (about 44000 psi) The re-
quency o the ram can be adjusted continuously with a maximum o 250 strokes
minute The densified material is orced through heated channels into the heated
cylinder where final melting takes place The material is then injected into a mold
by a telescoping injection ram Pressures up to 100 MPa (about 14500 psi) occur
during the injection o the polymer into the mold
Another application is the extrusion o PTFE with again the primary ingredient orsuccessul extrusion being very high pressures Granular PTFE can be extruded at
slow rates in a ram extruder [49ndash51] The powder is compacted by the ram orced
into a die where the material is heated above the melting point and shaped into the
desired orm PTFE is ofen processed as a PTFE paste [52 53] This is small particle
size PTFE powder (about 02 mm) mixed with a processing aid such as naphta PTFE
paste can be extruded at room temperature or slightly above room temperature
Afer extrusion the processing aid is removed by heating the extrudate above its
volatilization temperature The extruded PTFE paste product may be sintered i the
application requires a more ully coalesced product
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983091983096 983090Different Types of Extruders
983090983092983089983089Solid State Extrusion
An extrusion technique that has slowly been gaining popularity is solid-state extru-
sion The polymer is orced through a die while it is below its melting point This
causes substantial deormation o the polymer in the die but since the polymer is in
the solid state a very effective molecular orientation takes place This orientation ismuch more effective than the one which occurs in conventional melt processing As
a result extraordinary mechanical properties can be obtained
Solid-state extrusion is a technique borrowed rom the metal industry where solid-
state extrusion has been used commercially since the late 1940s Bridgman [54]
was one o the first to do a systematic study on the effect o pressure on the mechan-
ical properties o metals He also studied polymers and ound that the glass tran-
sition temperature was raised by the application o pressure
There are two methods o solid-state extrusion one is direct solid-state extrusionthe other is hydrostatic extrusion In direct solid-state extrusion a pre-ormed solid
rod o material (a billet) is in direct contact with the plunger and the walls o the
extrusion die see Fig 220 The material is extruded as the ram is pushed towards
the die
Plunger
Billet
Barrel
DieExtrudate Figure 983090983090983088
Direct solid state extrusion
In hydrostatic extrusion the pressure required or extrusion is transmitted rom the
plunger to the billet through a lubricating liquid usually castor oil The billet must
be shaped to fit the die to prevent loss o fluid The hydrostatic fluid reduces the ric-
tion thereby reducing the extrusion pressure see Fig 221
In hydrostatic extrusion the pressure-generating device or the fluid does not neces-
sarily have to be in close proximity to the orming part o the machine The fluid canbe supplied to the extrusion device by high-pressure tubes
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983091983097
Plunger
Billet
Oil
Barrel
DieExtrudate Figure 983090983090983089
Hydrostatic solid state extrusion
Judging rom publications in the open literature most o the work on solid-state
extrusion o polymers is done at universities and research institutes It is possible
o course that some companies are working on solid-state extrusion but are keeping
the inormation proprietary A major research effort in solid-state extrusion has
been made at the University o Amherst Massachusetts [50ndash64] University o
Leeds England [65ndash72] Fyushu University Fukuoka Japan [73ndash76] Research
Institute or Polymers and Textiles Yokohama Japan [77ndash79] Battelle Columbus
Ohio [80ndash83] and Rutgers University New Brunswick New Jersey [84ndash86] As
mentioned earlier publications rom other sources are considerably less plentiul
[87ndash90] Efforts have also been made to achieve the same high degree o orientation
in a more or less conventional extrusion process by special die design and tempera-
ture control in the die region [91]
Table 25 shows a comparison o mechanical properties between steel aluminum
solid state extruded HDPE and HDPE extruded by conventional means
Table 25 clearly indicates that the mechanical properties o solid-state extruded
HDPE are much superior to the melt extruded HDPE In act the tensile strength o
solid-state extruded HDPE is about the same as carbon steel There are some other
interesting benefits associated with solidstate extrusion o polymers There is essen-
tially no die swell at high extrusion ratios (extrusion ratio is the ratio o the area in
the cylinder to the area in the die) Thus the dimensions o the extrudate closely
conorm to those o the die exit The surace o the extrudate produced by hydro-
static extrusion has a lower coefficient o riction than that o the un-oriented poly-
mer Above a certain extrusion ratio (about ten) polyethylene and polypropylene
become transparent Further solid-state extruded polymers maintain their ten-sile properties at elevated temperatures Polyethylene maintains its modulus up to
120degC when it is extruded in the solid state at a high extrusion ratio The thermal
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983092983088 983090Different Types of Extruders
conductivity in the extrusion direction is much higher than that o the un-oriented
polymer as much as 25 times higher The melting point o the solid-state extruded
polymer increases with the amount o orientation The melting point o HDPE can be
shifed to as high as 140degC
Table 25 Comparison of Mechanical Properties
Material Tensile modulus[MPa]
Tensile strength[MPa]
Elongation[]
Density[gcc]
Annealed SAE 1020 210000 410 35 786
W-200 degF SAE 1020 210000 720 6 786
Annealed 304 stainless
steel
200000 590 50 792
Aluminum 1100ndash0 70000 90 45 271
HDPE solid state
extruded
70000 480 3 097
HDPE melt extruded 10000 30 20ndash1000 096
A recent application o solid-state extrusion is the process developed by Synthetic
Hardwood Technologies Inc [107] This company has developed an expanded ori-
ented wood-filled polypropylene (EOW-PP) that is about 300 stronger than regular
PP The process is based on technology developed at Aluminum Company o Canada
Ltd (Alcan) in the early 1990s to solidstate extrude PP It involves ram extrusion
drawing o billets o PP just below the melting point with very high draw ratio and
high haul-off tension (about 3 MPa) to reeze-in the high level o orientation Alcan
did not pursue the technology and Symplastics Ltd licensed the patented process
this company started experimenting with adding small amounts o wood flour to the
PP However Symplastics ound the research and development too costly and sold
the patents and lab extrusion equipment to Frank Maine who set up SHW to com-
mercialize applications or the EOW-PP The key to the SHW process is that it com-
bines extrusion with drawing As the polymer is oriented the density drops about
50 rom about 1 g cc to 05 g cc The die drawing also allowed substantial in-creases in line speed rom about 0050 m min to about 9 m min The properties
achieved with EOW-PP are shown in Table 24 and compared to regular PP wood
and oriented PP
Solid-state extrusion has been practiced with coextrusion o different polymers [93]
Despite the large amount o research on solid-state extrusion and the outstanding
mechanical properties that can be obtained there does not seem to be much interest
in the polymer industry The main drawbacks o course are that solid-state extru-
sion is basically a discontinuous process it cannot be done on conventional polymer
processing equipment and very high pressures are required to achieve solid-stateextrusion Also one should keep in mind that very good mechanical properties can
be obtained by taking a profile (fiber film tube etc) produced by conventional con-
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983092983089
tinuous extrusion and exposing it to controlled deormation at a temperature below
the melting point This is a well-established technique in many extrusion operations
(fiber spinning film extrusion etc) and it can be done at a high rate This method
o producing extrudates with very good mechanical properties is likely to be more
cost-effective than solid-state extrusion It is possible that the die drawing processdeveloped by SHW can make solid-state extrusion more attractive commercially by
allowing large profiles to be processed at reasonable line speeds
Table 26 Mechanical Properties of PP Wood OPP and EOW-PP
Flexural strength [MPa] Flexural modulus [MPa]
Regular PP 50 1850
Wood 100 9000
Oriented PP 275 7600EOW-PP 140 7600
983090983092983090Multi Ram Extruder
As mentioned beore the main disadvantage o ram extruders is their intermittent
operation Several attempts have been made to overcome this problem by designing
multi-ram extruders that work together in such a way as to produce a continuousflow o material
Westover [94] designed a continuous ram extruder that combined our plunger-
cylinders Two plunger-cylinders were used or plasticating and two or pumping
An intricate shuttle valve connecting all the plunger cylinders provides continuous
extrusion
Another attempt to develop a continuous ram extruder was made by Yi and Fenner
[95] They designed a twin ram extruder with the cylinders in a V-configuration see
Fig 222The two rams discharge into a common barrel in which a plasticating shaf is rotat-
ing Thus solids conveying occurs in the two separate cylinders and plasticating
and melt conveying occurs in the annular region between the barrel and plasticat-
ing shaf The machine is able to extrude however the throughput uniormity is
poor The perormance could probably have been improved i the plasticating shaf
had been provided with a helical channel But o course then the machine would
have become a screw extruder with a ram-assisted eed This only goes to demon-
strate that it is ar rom easy to improve upon the simple screw extruder
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983092983090 983090Different Types of Extruders
Die Breaker plate
Plasticating shaft
Main
block
Feed cylinder
Figure 222 Twin ram extruder
983090983092983091 Appendix 983090983089
983090983092983091983089 Pumping Efficiency in Diskpack Extruder
The velocity profile between the moving walls is a parabolic unction when the fluid
is a Newtonian fluid see Section 621 and Fig 223
y
z H
Small pressure gradient
Medium pressure gradient
Large pressure gradient
Figure 983090983090983091
Velocity profiles between moving
walls
The velocity profile or a Newtonian fluid is
L8
PH
H
y41vv(y)
2
2
2
∆micro∆
minusminus= (1)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983092983091
where v is the velocity o the plates H the distance between the plates and μ the
viscosity o the fluid The flow rate can be ound by integrating v(y) over the width
and depth o the channel this yields
L12
PWHvWHV
3
∆micro∆minus=
bull
(2)
The first term on the right-hand side o the equalation is the drag flow term The
second term is the pressure flow term The ratio o pressure flow to drag flow is
termed the throttle ratio rd (see Section 7413)
r d =Lv12
PH2
∆micro
∆ (3)
The flow rate can now be written as
(4)
The shear stress at the wall is obtained rom
dv H∆Pτ = micro =dy
05H 2∆L
(5)
The power consumption in the channel is
Zch = PvHWLvW2 ∆=∆τ (6)
The energy efficiency or pressure generation is
V∆Pε = =1 minus r
d Zch
(7)
Equation 7 is not valid or rd = 0 because in this case both numerator and denomi-
nator become zero From Eq 7 it can be seen that when the machine is operated atlow rd values the pumping efficiency can become close to 100 This is considerably
better than the single screw extruder where the optimum pumping efficiency is 33
at a throttle ratio value o 033 (rd = 13)
References
1 J LeBras ldquoRubber Fundamentals o its Science and Technologyrdquo Chemical Publ Co
NY (1957)
2 W S Penn ldquoSynthetic Rubber Technology Volume Irdquo MacLaren amp Sons Ltd London(1960)
3 W J S Naunton ldquoThe Applied Science o Rubberrdquo Edward Arnold Ltd London (1961)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3437
983092983092 983090Different Types of Extruders
4 C M Blow ldquoRubber Technology and Manuacturerdquo Butterworth amp Co Ltd London
(1971)
5 F R Eirich (Ed) ldquoScience and Technology o Rubberrdquo Academic Press NY (1978)
6 C W Evans ldquoPowdered and Particulate Rubber Technologyrdquo Applied Science Publ Ltd
London (1978)
7 G Targiel et al 10 IKV-Kolloquium Aachen March 12ndash14 45 (1980)
8 A Kennaway Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 17 378ndash391 (1964)
9 G Menges and J P Lehnen Plastverarbeiter 20 1 31ndash39 (1969)
10 M Parshall and A J Saulino Rubber World 2 5 78ndash83 (1967)
11 S E Perlberg Rubber World 2 6 71ndash76 (1967)
12 H H Gohlisch Gummi Asbest Kunststoffe 25 9 834ndash835 (1972)
13 E Harms ldquoKautschuk-Extruder Aubau und Einsatz aus verahrenstechnischer Sichtrdquo
Krausskop-Verlag Mainz Bd 2 Buchreihe Kunststo983142echnik (1974)
14 G Schwarz Eur Rubber Journal Sept 28ndash32 (1977)
15 G Menges and E G Harms Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 25 10 469ndash475 (1972)
16 G Menges and E G Harms Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 27 5 187ndash193 (1974)
17 E G Harms Elastomerics 109 6 33ndash39 (1977)
18 E G Harms Eur Rubber Journal 6 23 (1978)
19 E G Harms Kunststoffe 69 1 32ndash33 (1979)
20 E G Harms Dissertation RWTH Aachen Germany (1981)21 S H Collins Plastics Compounding Nov Dec 29 (1982)
22 D Anders Kunststoffe 69 194ndash198 (1979)
23 D Gras and K Eise SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 21 386 (1975)
24 R F Westover SPE Journal 18 12 1473 (1962)
25 Lord Raleigh Philosophical Magazine 35 1ndash12 (1918)
26 German Patent DRP 1129681
27 British Patent BP 759354
28 U S Patent 3880564
29 U S Patent 4012477
30 J F Ingen Housz Plastverarbeiter 10 1 (1975)
31 U S Patent 4142805
32 U S Patent 4194841
33 U S Patent 4213709
34 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 25 193 (1979)
35 P Hold Z Tadmor and L Valsamis SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 25 205 (1979)
36 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis Plastics Engineering Nov 20ndash25 (1979)
37 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis Plastics Engineering Dec 30ndash38 (1979)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3537
References 983092983093
38 Z Tadmor et al The Diskpack Plastics Processor Farrel Publication Jan (1982)
39 L Valsamis AIChE Meeting Washington D C Oct (1983)
40 B Maxwell and A J Scalora Modern Plastics 37 107 Oct (1959)
41 U S Patent 3 046603
42 L L Blyler PhD thesis Princeton University NJ (1966)
43 H G Fritz Kunststo983142echnik 6 430 (1968)
44 H G Fritz PhD thesis Stuttgart University Germany (1971)
45 C W Macosko and J M Starita SPE Journal 27 30 (1971)
46 P A Good A J Schwartz and C W Macosko AIChE Journal 20 1 67 (1974)
47 V L Kocherov Y L Lukach E A Sporyagin and G V Vinogradov Polym Eng Sci 13
194 (1973)
48 J Berzen and G Braun Kunststoffe 69 2 62ndash66 (1979)49 R S Porter et al J Polym Sci 17 485ndash488 (1979)
50 C A Sperati Modern Plastics Encyclopedia McGraw-Hill NY (1983)
51 S S Schwartz and S H Goodman see Chapter 1 [36]
52 G R Snelling and J F Lontz J Appl Polym Sci 3 9 257ndash265 (1960)
53 D C F Couzens Plastics and Rubber Processing March 45ndash48 (1976)
54 P W Bridgman ldquoStudies in Large Plastic Flow and Fracturerdquo McGraw-Hill NY (1952)
55 H L D Push ldquoThe Mechanical Behavior o Materials Under Pressurerdquo Elsevier Amster-
dam (1970)56 H L D Push and A H Low J Inst Metals 93 201 (196565)
57 F Slack Mach Design Oct 7 61ndash64 (1982)
58 J H Southern and R S Porter J Appl Polym Sci 14 2305 (1970)
59 J H Southern and R S Porter J Macromol Sci Phys 3ndash4 541 (1970)
60 J H Southern N E Weeks and R S Porter Macromol Chem 162 19 (1972)
61 N J Capiati and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 13 1177 (1975)
62 R S Porter J H Southern and N E Weeks Polym Eng Sci 15 213 (1975)
63 A E Zachariades E S Sherman and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 17 255
(1979)
64 A E Zachariades and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 17 277 (1979)
65 B Parsons D Bretherton and B N Cole in Advances in MTDR 11th Int Con Proc
S A Tobias and F Koeningsberger (Eds) Pergamon Press London Vol B 1049 (1971)
66 G Capaccio and I M Ward Polymer 15 233 (1974)
67 A G Gibson I M Ward B N Cole and B Parsons J Mater Sci 9 1193ndash1196 (1974)
68 A G Gibson and I M Ward J Appl Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 16 2015ndash2030 (1978)
69 P S Hope and B Parsons Polym Eng Sci 20 589ndash600 (1980)
70 P S Hope I M Ward and A G Gibson J Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 18 1242ndash1256
(1980)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3637
983092983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
71 P S Hope A G Gibson B Parsons and I M Ward Polym Eng Sci 20 54ndash55 (1980)
72 B Parsons and I M Ward Plast Rubber Proc Appl 2 3 215ndash224 (1982)
73 K Imada T Yamamoto K Shigematsu and M Takayanagi J Mater Sci 6 537ndash546
(1971)
74 K Nakamura K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 2 71 (1972)
75 K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 2 89 (1973)
76 K Nakamura K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 3 23 (1974)
77 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Mater Sci 10 1105 (1975)
78 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Mater Sci 12 1477 (1977)
79 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Appl Polym Sci 23 2543ndash2554 (1979)
80 D M Bigg Polym Eng Sci 16 725 (1976)
81 D M Bigg M M Epstein R J Fiorentino and E G Smith Polym Eng Sci 18 908(1978)
82 D M Bigg and M M Epstein ldquoScience and Technology o Polymer Processingrdquo N S Suh
and N Sung (Eds) 897 MIT Press (1979)
83 D M Bigg M M Epstein R J Fiorentino and E G Smith J Appl Polym Sci 26 395ndash
409 (1981)
84 K D Pae and D R Mears J Polym Sci B-6 269 (1968)
85 K D Pae D R Mears and J A Sauer J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 6 773 (1968)
86 D R Mears K P Pae and J A Sauer J Appl Phys 40 11 4229ndash4237 (1969)
87 L A Davis and C A Pampillo J Appl Phys 42 12 4659ndash4666 (1971)
88 A Buckley and H A Long Polym Eng Sci 9 2 115ndash120 (1969)
89 L A Davis Polym Eng Sci 14 9 641ndash645 (1974)
90 R K Okine and N P Suh Polym Eng Sci 22 5 269ndash279 (1982)
91 J R Collier T Y T Tam J Newcome and N Dinos Polym Eng Sci 16 204ndash211 (1976)
92 J H Faupel and F E Fisher ldquoEngineering Designrdquo Wiley NY (1981)
93 A E Zachariades R Ball and R S Porter J Mater Sci 13 2671ndash2675 (1978)
94 R R Westover Modern Plastics March (1963) 95 B Yi and R T Fenner Plastics and Polymers Dec 224ndash228 (1975)
96 A Mekkaoui and L N Valsamis Polym Eng Sci 24 1260ndash1269 (1984)
97 H Rust Kunststoffe 73 342ndash346 (1983)
98 J Huszman Kunststoffe 73 3437ndash348 (1983)
99 J M McKelvey U Maire and F Haupt Chem Eng Sept 27 94ndash102 (1976)
100 K Schneider Kunststoffe 68 201ndash206 (1978)
101 W T Rice Plastic Technology 87ndash91 Feb (1980)
102 Harrel Corp ldquoMelt Pump Systems or Extrudersrdquo Product Description TDS-264 (1982)
103 J M McKelvey and W T Rice Chem Eng 90 2 89ndash94 (1983)
104 K Kaper K Eise and H Herrmann SPE ANTEC Chicago 161ndash163 (1983)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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References 983092983095
105 C L Woodworth SPE ANTEC New Orleans 122ndash126 (1984)
106 W A Kramer SPE ANTEC Washington D C 23ndash29 (1985)
107 J Schut ldquoDie Drawing Makes Plastic Steelrdquo Plastics Technology Online Article March
5 (2001)
108 VDI Conerence Extrusiontechnik 2006 ldquoDer Einschnecken-Extruder von Morgenrdquo VDI
Verlag GmbH Duumlsseldor (2006)
109 P Rieg ldquoLatest Developments in High-Speed Extrusionrdquo Plastic Extrusion Asia Con-
erence Bangkok Thailand March 17ndash18 (2008) also presented at Advances in Ex-
trusion Conerence New Orleans December 9ndash10 (2008)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983091983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
several detailed experimental and theoretical studies have been devoted to the elas-
tic melt extruder [42ndash47]
The detailed study by Fritz [44] concluded that transport by normal stresses only
could be as much as two orders o magnitude lower than a corresponding system
with orced eed In addition substantial temperature gradients developed in the
polymer causing substantial degradation in high molecular weight polyolefins The
scant market acceptance o the elastic melt extruder would tend to confirm Fritzrsquos
conclusions
Several modifications have been proposed to improve the perormance o the elastic
melt extruder Fritz [43] suggested incorporation o spiral grooves to improve the
pressure generating capability essentially combining the elastic melt extruder and
the spiral disk extruder into one machine In Russia [47] several modifications
were made to the design o the elastic melt extruder One o those combined a screwextruder with the elastic melt extruder to eliminate the eeding and plasticating
problem Despite all o these activities the elastic melt extruder has not been able to
acquire a position o importance in the extrusion industry
983090983091983091Overview of Disk Extruders
Many attempts have been made in the past to come up with a continuous plasticat-
ing extruder o simple design that could perorm better than the single screw ex-truder It seems air to say that at this point in time no disk extruder has been able
to meet this goal The simple disk extruders do not perorm nearly as well as the
single screw extruder The more complex disk extruder such as the diskpack can
possibly outperorm the single screw extruder However this is at the expense o
design simplicity thus increasing the cost o the machine Disk extruders there-
ore have not been able to seriously challenge the position o the single screw
extruder This is not to say however that it is not possible or this to happen some
time in the uture But considering the long dominance o the single screw extruder
it is not probable that a new disk extruder will come along that can challenge the
single screw extruder
983090983092Ram Extruders
Ram or plunger extruders are simple in design rugged and discontinuous in their
mode o operation Ram extruders are essentially positive displacement devices and
are able to generate very high pressures Because o the intermittent operation o
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983091983095
ram extruders they are ideally suited or cyclic processes such as injection molding
and blow molding In act the early molding machines were almost exclusively
equipped with ram extruders to supply the polymer melt to the mold Certain limita-
tions o the ram extruder have caused a switch to reciprocating screw extruders or
combinations o the two The two main limitations are
1 Limited melting capacity
2 Poor temperature uniormity o the polymer melt
Presently ram extruders are used in relatively small shot size molding machines
and certain specialty operations where use is made o the positive displacement
characteristics and the outstanding pressure generation capability There are basic-
ally two types o ram extruders single ram extruders and multi ram extruders
983090983092983089Single Ram Extruders
The single ram extruder is used in small general purpose molding machines but
also in some special polymer processing operations One such operation is the ex-
trusion o intractable polymers such as ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene
(UHMWPE) or polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) These polymers are not considered to
be melt processable on conventional melt processing equipment Teledynamik [48]
has built a ram injection-molding machine under a license rom Th Engel who
developed the prototype machine This machine is used to mold UHMWPE under
very high pressures The machine uses a reciprocating plunger that densifies the
cold incoming material with a pressure up to 300 MPa (about 44000 psi) The re-
quency o the ram can be adjusted continuously with a maximum o 250 strokes
minute The densified material is orced through heated channels into the heated
cylinder where final melting takes place The material is then injected into a mold
by a telescoping injection ram Pressures up to 100 MPa (about 14500 psi) occur
during the injection o the polymer into the mold
Another application is the extrusion o PTFE with again the primary ingredient orsuccessul extrusion being very high pressures Granular PTFE can be extruded at
slow rates in a ram extruder [49ndash51] The powder is compacted by the ram orced
into a die where the material is heated above the melting point and shaped into the
desired orm PTFE is ofen processed as a PTFE paste [52 53] This is small particle
size PTFE powder (about 02 mm) mixed with a processing aid such as naphta PTFE
paste can be extruded at room temperature or slightly above room temperature
Afer extrusion the processing aid is removed by heating the extrudate above its
volatilization temperature The extruded PTFE paste product may be sintered i the
application requires a more ully coalesced product
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983091983096 983090Different Types of Extruders
983090983092983089983089Solid State Extrusion
An extrusion technique that has slowly been gaining popularity is solid-state extru-
sion The polymer is orced through a die while it is below its melting point This
causes substantial deormation o the polymer in the die but since the polymer is in
the solid state a very effective molecular orientation takes place This orientation ismuch more effective than the one which occurs in conventional melt processing As
a result extraordinary mechanical properties can be obtained
Solid-state extrusion is a technique borrowed rom the metal industry where solid-
state extrusion has been used commercially since the late 1940s Bridgman [54]
was one o the first to do a systematic study on the effect o pressure on the mechan-
ical properties o metals He also studied polymers and ound that the glass tran-
sition temperature was raised by the application o pressure
There are two methods o solid-state extrusion one is direct solid-state extrusionthe other is hydrostatic extrusion In direct solid-state extrusion a pre-ormed solid
rod o material (a billet) is in direct contact with the plunger and the walls o the
extrusion die see Fig 220 The material is extruded as the ram is pushed towards
the die
Plunger
Billet
Barrel
DieExtrudate Figure 983090983090983088
Direct solid state extrusion
In hydrostatic extrusion the pressure required or extrusion is transmitted rom the
plunger to the billet through a lubricating liquid usually castor oil The billet must
be shaped to fit the die to prevent loss o fluid The hydrostatic fluid reduces the ric-
tion thereby reducing the extrusion pressure see Fig 221
In hydrostatic extrusion the pressure-generating device or the fluid does not neces-
sarily have to be in close proximity to the orming part o the machine The fluid canbe supplied to the extrusion device by high-pressure tubes
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983091983097
Plunger
Billet
Oil
Barrel
DieExtrudate Figure 983090983090983089
Hydrostatic solid state extrusion
Judging rom publications in the open literature most o the work on solid-state
extrusion o polymers is done at universities and research institutes It is possible
o course that some companies are working on solid-state extrusion but are keeping
the inormation proprietary A major research effort in solid-state extrusion has
been made at the University o Amherst Massachusetts [50ndash64] University o
Leeds England [65ndash72] Fyushu University Fukuoka Japan [73ndash76] Research
Institute or Polymers and Textiles Yokohama Japan [77ndash79] Battelle Columbus
Ohio [80ndash83] and Rutgers University New Brunswick New Jersey [84ndash86] As
mentioned earlier publications rom other sources are considerably less plentiul
[87ndash90] Efforts have also been made to achieve the same high degree o orientation
in a more or less conventional extrusion process by special die design and tempera-
ture control in the die region [91]
Table 25 shows a comparison o mechanical properties between steel aluminum
solid state extruded HDPE and HDPE extruded by conventional means
Table 25 clearly indicates that the mechanical properties o solid-state extruded
HDPE are much superior to the melt extruded HDPE In act the tensile strength o
solid-state extruded HDPE is about the same as carbon steel There are some other
interesting benefits associated with solidstate extrusion o polymers There is essen-
tially no die swell at high extrusion ratios (extrusion ratio is the ratio o the area in
the cylinder to the area in the die) Thus the dimensions o the extrudate closely
conorm to those o the die exit The surace o the extrudate produced by hydro-
static extrusion has a lower coefficient o riction than that o the un-oriented poly-
mer Above a certain extrusion ratio (about ten) polyethylene and polypropylene
become transparent Further solid-state extruded polymers maintain their ten-sile properties at elevated temperatures Polyethylene maintains its modulus up to
120degC when it is extruded in the solid state at a high extrusion ratio The thermal
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3037
983092983088 983090Different Types of Extruders
conductivity in the extrusion direction is much higher than that o the un-oriented
polymer as much as 25 times higher The melting point o the solid-state extruded
polymer increases with the amount o orientation The melting point o HDPE can be
shifed to as high as 140degC
Table 25 Comparison of Mechanical Properties
Material Tensile modulus[MPa]
Tensile strength[MPa]
Elongation[]
Density[gcc]
Annealed SAE 1020 210000 410 35 786
W-200 degF SAE 1020 210000 720 6 786
Annealed 304 stainless
steel
200000 590 50 792
Aluminum 1100ndash0 70000 90 45 271
HDPE solid state
extruded
70000 480 3 097
HDPE melt extruded 10000 30 20ndash1000 096
A recent application o solid-state extrusion is the process developed by Synthetic
Hardwood Technologies Inc [107] This company has developed an expanded ori-
ented wood-filled polypropylene (EOW-PP) that is about 300 stronger than regular
PP The process is based on technology developed at Aluminum Company o Canada
Ltd (Alcan) in the early 1990s to solidstate extrude PP It involves ram extrusion
drawing o billets o PP just below the melting point with very high draw ratio and
high haul-off tension (about 3 MPa) to reeze-in the high level o orientation Alcan
did not pursue the technology and Symplastics Ltd licensed the patented process
this company started experimenting with adding small amounts o wood flour to the
PP However Symplastics ound the research and development too costly and sold
the patents and lab extrusion equipment to Frank Maine who set up SHW to com-
mercialize applications or the EOW-PP The key to the SHW process is that it com-
bines extrusion with drawing As the polymer is oriented the density drops about
50 rom about 1 g cc to 05 g cc The die drawing also allowed substantial in-creases in line speed rom about 0050 m min to about 9 m min The properties
achieved with EOW-PP are shown in Table 24 and compared to regular PP wood
and oriented PP
Solid-state extrusion has been practiced with coextrusion o different polymers [93]
Despite the large amount o research on solid-state extrusion and the outstanding
mechanical properties that can be obtained there does not seem to be much interest
in the polymer industry The main drawbacks o course are that solid-state extru-
sion is basically a discontinuous process it cannot be done on conventional polymer
processing equipment and very high pressures are required to achieve solid-stateextrusion Also one should keep in mind that very good mechanical properties can
be obtained by taking a profile (fiber film tube etc) produced by conventional con-
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3137
983090983092 Ram Extruders 983092983089
tinuous extrusion and exposing it to controlled deormation at a temperature below
the melting point This is a well-established technique in many extrusion operations
(fiber spinning film extrusion etc) and it can be done at a high rate This method
o producing extrudates with very good mechanical properties is likely to be more
cost-effective than solid-state extrusion It is possible that the die drawing processdeveloped by SHW can make solid-state extrusion more attractive commercially by
allowing large profiles to be processed at reasonable line speeds
Table 26 Mechanical Properties of PP Wood OPP and EOW-PP
Flexural strength [MPa] Flexural modulus [MPa]
Regular PP 50 1850
Wood 100 9000
Oriented PP 275 7600EOW-PP 140 7600
983090983092983090Multi Ram Extruder
As mentioned beore the main disadvantage o ram extruders is their intermittent
operation Several attempts have been made to overcome this problem by designing
multi-ram extruders that work together in such a way as to produce a continuousflow o material
Westover [94] designed a continuous ram extruder that combined our plunger-
cylinders Two plunger-cylinders were used or plasticating and two or pumping
An intricate shuttle valve connecting all the plunger cylinders provides continuous
extrusion
Another attempt to develop a continuous ram extruder was made by Yi and Fenner
[95] They designed a twin ram extruder with the cylinders in a V-configuration see
Fig 222The two rams discharge into a common barrel in which a plasticating shaf is rotat-
ing Thus solids conveying occurs in the two separate cylinders and plasticating
and melt conveying occurs in the annular region between the barrel and plasticat-
ing shaf The machine is able to extrude however the throughput uniormity is
poor The perormance could probably have been improved i the plasticating shaf
had been provided with a helical channel But o course then the machine would
have become a screw extruder with a ram-assisted eed This only goes to demon-
strate that it is ar rom easy to improve upon the simple screw extruder
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3237
983092983090 983090Different Types of Extruders
Die Breaker plate
Plasticating shaft
Main
block
Feed cylinder
Figure 222 Twin ram extruder
983090983092983091 Appendix 983090983089
983090983092983091983089 Pumping Efficiency in Diskpack Extruder
The velocity profile between the moving walls is a parabolic unction when the fluid
is a Newtonian fluid see Section 621 and Fig 223
y
z H
Small pressure gradient
Medium pressure gradient
Large pressure gradient
Figure 983090983090983091
Velocity profiles between moving
walls
The velocity profile or a Newtonian fluid is
L8
PH
H
y41vv(y)
2
2
2
∆micro∆
minusminus= (1)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3337
983090983092 Ram Extruders 983092983091
where v is the velocity o the plates H the distance between the plates and μ the
viscosity o the fluid The flow rate can be ound by integrating v(y) over the width
and depth o the channel this yields
L12
PWHvWHV
3
∆micro∆minus=
bull
(2)
The first term on the right-hand side o the equalation is the drag flow term The
second term is the pressure flow term The ratio o pressure flow to drag flow is
termed the throttle ratio rd (see Section 7413)
r d =Lv12
PH2
∆micro
∆ (3)
The flow rate can now be written as
(4)
The shear stress at the wall is obtained rom
dv H∆Pτ = micro =dy
05H 2∆L
(5)
The power consumption in the channel is
Zch = PvHWLvW2 ∆=∆τ (6)
The energy efficiency or pressure generation is
V∆Pε = =1 minus r
d Zch
(7)
Equation 7 is not valid or rd = 0 because in this case both numerator and denomi-
nator become zero From Eq 7 it can be seen that when the machine is operated atlow rd values the pumping efficiency can become close to 100 This is considerably
better than the single screw extruder where the optimum pumping efficiency is 33
at a throttle ratio value o 033 (rd = 13)
References
1 J LeBras ldquoRubber Fundamentals o its Science and Technologyrdquo Chemical Publ Co
NY (1957)
2 W S Penn ldquoSynthetic Rubber Technology Volume Irdquo MacLaren amp Sons Ltd London(1960)
3 W J S Naunton ldquoThe Applied Science o Rubberrdquo Edward Arnold Ltd London (1961)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3437
983092983092 983090Different Types of Extruders
4 C M Blow ldquoRubber Technology and Manuacturerdquo Butterworth amp Co Ltd London
(1971)
5 F R Eirich (Ed) ldquoScience and Technology o Rubberrdquo Academic Press NY (1978)
6 C W Evans ldquoPowdered and Particulate Rubber Technologyrdquo Applied Science Publ Ltd
London (1978)
7 G Targiel et al 10 IKV-Kolloquium Aachen March 12ndash14 45 (1980)
8 A Kennaway Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 17 378ndash391 (1964)
9 G Menges and J P Lehnen Plastverarbeiter 20 1 31ndash39 (1969)
10 M Parshall and A J Saulino Rubber World 2 5 78ndash83 (1967)
11 S E Perlberg Rubber World 2 6 71ndash76 (1967)
12 H H Gohlisch Gummi Asbest Kunststoffe 25 9 834ndash835 (1972)
13 E Harms ldquoKautschuk-Extruder Aubau und Einsatz aus verahrenstechnischer Sichtrdquo
Krausskop-Verlag Mainz Bd 2 Buchreihe Kunststo983142echnik (1974)
14 G Schwarz Eur Rubber Journal Sept 28ndash32 (1977)
15 G Menges and E G Harms Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 25 10 469ndash475 (1972)
16 G Menges and E G Harms Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 27 5 187ndash193 (1974)
17 E G Harms Elastomerics 109 6 33ndash39 (1977)
18 E G Harms Eur Rubber Journal 6 23 (1978)
19 E G Harms Kunststoffe 69 1 32ndash33 (1979)
20 E G Harms Dissertation RWTH Aachen Germany (1981)21 S H Collins Plastics Compounding Nov Dec 29 (1982)
22 D Anders Kunststoffe 69 194ndash198 (1979)
23 D Gras and K Eise SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 21 386 (1975)
24 R F Westover SPE Journal 18 12 1473 (1962)
25 Lord Raleigh Philosophical Magazine 35 1ndash12 (1918)
26 German Patent DRP 1129681
27 British Patent BP 759354
28 U S Patent 3880564
29 U S Patent 4012477
30 J F Ingen Housz Plastverarbeiter 10 1 (1975)
31 U S Patent 4142805
32 U S Patent 4194841
33 U S Patent 4213709
34 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 25 193 (1979)
35 P Hold Z Tadmor and L Valsamis SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 25 205 (1979)
36 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis Plastics Engineering Nov 20ndash25 (1979)
37 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis Plastics Engineering Dec 30ndash38 (1979)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3537
References 983092983093
38 Z Tadmor et al The Diskpack Plastics Processor Farrel Publication Jan (1982)
39 L Valsamis AIChE Meeting Washington D C Oct (1983)
40 B Maxwell and A J Scalora Modern Plastics 37 107 Oct (1959)
41 U S Patent 3 046603
42 L L Blyler PhD thesis Princeton University NJ (1966)
43 H G Fritz Kunststo983142echnik 6 430 (1968)
44 H G Fritz PhD thesis Stuttgart University Germany (1971)
45 C W Macosko and J M Starita SPE Journal 27 30 (1971)
46 P A Good A J Schwartz and C W Macosko AIChE Journal 20 1 67 (1974)
47 V L Kocherov Y L Lukach E A Sporyagin and G V Vinogradov Polym Eng Sci 13
194 (1973)
48 J Berzen and G Braun Kunststoffe 69 2 62ndash66 (1979)49 R S Porter et al J Polym Sci 17 485ndash488 (1979)
50 C A Sperati Modern Plastics Encyclopedia McGraw-Hill NY (1983)
51 S S Schwartz and S H Goodman see Chapter 1 [36]
52 G R Snelling and J F Lontz J Appl Polym Sci 3 9 257ndash265 (1960)
53 D C F Couzens Plastics and Rubber Processing March 45ndash48 (1976)
54 P W Bridgman ldquoStudies in Large Plastic Flow and Fracturerdquo McGraw-Hill NY (1952)
55 H L D Push ldquoThe Mechanical Behavior o Materials Under Pressurerdquo Elsevier Amster-
dam (1970)56 H L D Push and A H Low J Inst Metals 93 201 (196565)
57 F Slack Mach Design Oct 7 61ndash64 (1982)
58 J H Southern and R S Porter J Appl Polym Sci 14 2305 (1970)
59 J H Southern and R S Porter J Macromol Sci Phys 3ndash4 541 (1970)
60 J H Southern N E Weeks and R S Porter Macromol Chem 162 19 (1972)
61 N J Capiati and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 13 1177 (1975)
62 R S Porter J H Southern and N E Weeks Polym Eng Sci 15 213 (1975)
63 A E Zachariades E S Sherman and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 17 255
(1979)
64 A E Zachariades and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 17 277 (1979)
65 B Parsons D Bretherton and B N Cole in Advances in MTDR 11th Int Con Proc
S A Tobias and F Koeningsberger (Eds) Pergamon Press London Vol B 1049 (1971)
66 G Capaccio and I M Ward Polymer 15 233 (1974)
67 A G Gibson I M Ward B N Cole and B Parsons J Mater Sci 9 1193ndash1196 (1974)
68 A G Gibson and I M Ward J Appl Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 16 2015ndash2030 (1978)
69 P S Hope and B Parsons Polym Eng Sci 20 589ndash600 (1980)
70 P S Hope I M Ward and A G Gibson J Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 18 1242ndash1256
(1980)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3637
983092983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
71 P S Hope A G Gibson B Parsons and I M Ward Polym Eng Sci 20 54ndash55 (1980)
72 B Parsons and I M Ward Plast Rubber Proc Appl 2 3 215ndash224 (1982)
73 K Imada T Yamamoto K Shigematsu and M Takayanagi J Mater Sci 6 537ndash546
(1971)
74 K Nakamura K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 2 71 (1972)
75 K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 2 89 (1973)
76 K Nakamura K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 3 23 (1974)
77 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Mater Sci 10 1105 (1975)
78 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Mater Sci 12 1477 (1977)
79 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Appl Polym Sci 23 2543ndash2554 (1979)
80 D M Bigg Polym Eng Sci 16 725 (1976)
81 D M Bigg M M Epstein R J Fiorentino and E G Smith Polym Eng Sci 18 908(1978)
82 D M Bigg and M M Epstein ldquoScience and Technology o Polymer Processingrdquo N S Suh
and N Sung (Eds) 897 MIT Press (1979)
83 D M Bigg M M Epstein R J Fiorentino and E G Smith J Appl Polym Sci 26 395ndash
409 (1981)
84 K D Pae and D R Mears J Polym Sci B-6 269 (1968)
85 K D Pae D R Mears and J A Sauer J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 6 773 (1968)
86 D R Mears K P Pae and J A Sauer J Appl Phys 40 11 4229ndash4237 (1969)
87 L A Davis and C A Pampillo J Appl Phys 42 12 4659ndash4666 (1971)
88 A Buckley and H A Long Polym Eng Sci 9 2 115ndash120 (1969)
89 L A Davis Polym Eng Sci 14 9 641ndash645 (1974)
90 R K Okine and N P Suh Polym Eng Sci 22 5 269ndash279 (1982)
91 J R Collier T Y T Tam J Newcome and N Dinos Polym Eng Sci 16 204ndash211 (1976)
92 J H Faupel and F E Fisher ldquoEngineering Designrdquo Wiley NY (1981)
93 A E Zachariades R Ball and R S Porter J Mater Sci 13 2671ndash2675 (1978)
94 R R Westover Modern Plastics March (1963) 95 B Yi and R T Fenner Plastics and Polymers Dec 224ndash228 (1975)
96 A Mekkaoui and L N Valsamis Polym Eng Sci 24 1260ndash1269 (1984)
97 H Rust Kunststoffe 73 342ndash346 (1983)
98 J Huszman Kunststoffe 73 3437ndash348 (1983)
99 J M McKelvey U Maire and F Haupt Chem Eng Sept 27 94ndash102 (1976)
100 K Schneider Kunststoffe 68 201ndash206 (1978)
101 W T Rice Plastic Technology 87ndash91 Feb (1980)
102 Harrel Corp ldquoMelt Pump Systems or Extrudersrdquo Product Description TDS-264 (1982)
103 J M McKelvey and W T Rice Chem Eng 90 2 89ndash94 (1983)
104 K Kaper K Eise and H Herrmann SPE ANTEC Chicago 161ndash163 (1983)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3737
References 983092983095
105 C L Woodworth SPE ANTEC New Orleans 122ndash126 (1984)
106 W A Kramer SPE ANTEC Washington D C 23ndash29 (1985)
107 J Schut ldquoDie Drawing Makes Plastic Steelrdquo Plastics Technology Online Article March
5 (2001)
108 VDI Conerence Extrusiontechnik 2006 ldquoDer Einschnecken-Extruder von Morgenrdquo VDI
Verlag GmbH Duumlsseldor (2006)
109 P Rieg ldquoLatest Developments in High-Speed Extrusionrdquo Plastic Extrusion Asia Con-
erence Bangkok Thailand March 17ndash18 (2008) also presented at Advances in Ex-
trusion Conerence New Orleans December 9ndash10 (2008)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 2737
983090983092 Ram Extruders 983091983095
ram extruders they are ideally suited or cyclic processes such as injection molding
and blow molding In act the early molding machines were almost exclusively
equipped with ram extruders to supply the polymer melt to the mold Certain limita-
tions o the ram extruder have caused a switch to reciprocating screw extruders or
combinations o the two The two main limitations are
1 Limited melting capacity
2 Poor temperature uniormity o the polymer melt
Presently ram extruders are used in relatively small shot size molding machines
and certain specialty operations where use is made o the positive displacement
characteristics and the outstanding pressure generation capability There are basic-
ally two types o ram extruders single ram extruders and multi ram extruders
983090983092983089Single Ram Extruders
The single ram extruder is used in small general purpose molding machines but
also in some special polymer processing operations One such operation is the ex-
trusion o intractable polymers such as ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene
(UHMWPE) or polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) These polymers are not considered to
be melt processable on conventional melt processing equipment Teledynamik [48]
has built a ram injection-molding machine under a license rom Th Engel who
developed the prototype machine This machine is used to mold UHMWPE under
very high pressures The machine uses a reciprocating plunger that densifies the
cold incoming material with a pressure up to 300 MPa (about 44000 psi) The re-
quency o the ram can be adjusted continuously with a maximum o 250 strokes
minute The densified material is orced through heated channels into the heated
cylinder where final melting takes place The material is then injected into a mold
by a telescoping injection ram Pressures up to 100 MPa (about 14500 psi) occur
during the injection o the polymer into the mold
Another application is the extrusion o PTFE with again the primary ingredient orsuccessul extrusion being very high pressures Granular PTFE can be extruded at
slow rates in a ram extruder [49ndash51] The powder is compacted by the ram orced
into a die where the material is heated above the melting point and shaped into the
desired orm PTFE is ofen processed as a PTFE paste [52 53] This is small particle
size PTFE powder (about 02 mm) mixed with a processing aid such as naphta PTFE
paste can be extruded at room temperature or slightly above room temperature
Afer extrusion the processing aid is removed by heating the extrudate above its
volatilization temperature The extruded PTFE paste product may be sintered i the
application requires a more ully coalesced product
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 2837
983091983096 983090Different Types of Extruders
983090983092983089983089Solid State Extrusion
An extrusion technique that has slowly been gaining popularity is solid-state extru-
sion The polymer is orced through a die while it is below its melting point This
causes substantial deormation o the polymer in the die but since the polymer is in
the solid state a very effective molecular orientation takes place This orientation ismuch more effective than the one which occurs in conventional melt processing As
a result extraordinary mechanical properties can be obtained
Solid-state extrusion is a technique borrowed rom the metal industry where solid-
state extrusion has been used commercially since the late 1940s Bridgman [54]
was one o the first to do a systematic study on the effect o pressure on the mechan-
ical properties o metals He also studied polymers and ound that the glass tran-
sition temperature was raised by the application o pressure
There are two methods o solid-state extrusion one is direct solid-state extrusionthe other is hydrostatic extrusion In direct solid-state extrusion a pre-ormed solid
rod o material (a billet) is in direct contact with the plunger and the walls o the
extrusion die see Fig 220 The material is extruded as the ram is pushed towards
the die
Plunger
Billet
Barrel
DieExtrudate Figure 983090983090983088
Direct solid state extrusion
In hydrostatic extrusion the pressure required or extrusion is transmitted rom the
plunger to the billet through a lubricating liquid usually castor oil The billet must
be shaped to fit the die to prevent loss o fluid The hydrostatic fluid reduces the ric-
tion thereby reducing the extrusion pressure see Fig 221
In hydrostatic extrusion the pressure-generating device or the fluid does not neces-
sarily have to be in close proximity to the orming part o the machine The fluid canbe supplied to the extrusion device by high-pressure tubes
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 2937
983090983092 Ram Extruders 983091983097
Plunger
Billet
Oil
Barrel
DieExtrudate Figure 983090983090983089
Hydrostatic solid state extrusion
Judging rom publications in the open literature most o the work on solid-state
extrusion o polymers is done at universities and research institutes It is possible
o course that some companies are working on solid-state extrusion but are keeping
the inormation proprietary A major research effort in solid-state extrusion has
been made at the University o Amherst Massachusetts [50ndash64] University o
Leeds England [65ndash72] Fyushu University Fukuoka Japan [73ndash76] Research
Institute or Polymers and Textiles Yokohama Japan [77ndash79] Battelle Columbus
Ohio [80ndash83] and Rutgers University New Brunswick New Jersey [84ndash86] As
mentioned earlier publications rom other sources are considerably less plentiul
[87ndash90] Efforts have also been made to achieve the same high degree o orientation
in a more or less conventional extrusion process by special die design and tempera-
ture control in the die region [91]
Table 25 shows a comparison o mechanical properties between steel aluminum
solid state extruded HDPE and HDPE extruded by conventional means
Table 25 clearly indicates that the mechanical properties o solid-state extruded
HDPE are much superior to the melt extruded HDPE In act the tensile strength o
solid-state extruded HDPE is about the same as carbon steel There are some other
interesting benefits associated with solidstate extrusion o polymers There is essen-
tially no die swell at high extrusion ratios (extrusion ratio is the ratio o the area in
the cylinder to the area in the die) Thus the dimensions o the extrudate closely
conorm to those o the die exit The surace o the extrudate produced by hydro-
static extrusion has a lower coefficient o riction than that o the un-oriented poly-
mer Above a certain extrusion ratio (about ten) polyethylene and polypropylene
become transparent Further solid-state extruded polymers maintain their ten-sile properties at elevated temperatures Polyethylene maintains its modulus up to
120degC when it is extruded in the solid state at a high extrusion ratio The thermal
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3037
983092983088 983090Different Types of Extruders
conductivity in the extrusion direction is much higher than that o the un-oriented
polymer as much as 25 times higher The melting point o the solid-state extruded
polymer increases with the amount o orientation The melting point o HDPE can be
shifed to as high as 140degC
Table 25 Comparison of Mechanical Properties
Material Tensile modulus[MPa]
Tensile strength[MPa]
Elongation[]
Density[gcc]
Annealed SAE 1020 210000 410 35 786
W-200 degF SAE 1020 210000 720 6 786
Annealed 304 stainless
steel
200000 590 50 792
Aluminum 1100ndash0 70000 90 45 271
HDPE solid state
extruded
70000 480 3 097
HDPE melt extruded 10000 30 20ndash1000 096
A recent application o solid-state extrusion is the process developed by Synthetic
Hardwood Technologies Inc [107] This company has developed an expanded ori-
ented wood-filled polypropylene (EOW-PP) that is about 300 stronger than regular
PP The process is based on technology developed at Aluminum Company o Canada
Ltd (Alcan) in the early 1990s to solidstate extrude PP It involves ram extrusion
drawing o billets o PP just below the melting point with very high draw ratio and
high haul-off tension (about 3 MPa) to reeze-in the high level o orientation Alcan
did not pursue the technology and Symplastics Ltd licensed the patented process
this company started experimenting with adding small amounts o wood flour to the
PP However Symplastics ound the research and development too costly and sold
the patents and lab extrusion equipment to Frank Maine who set up SHW to com-
mercialize applications or the EOW-PP The key to the SHW process is that it com-
bines extrusion with drawing As the polymer is oriented the density drops about
50 rom about 1 g cc to 05 g cc The die drawing also allowed substantial in-creases in line speed rom about 0050 m min to about 9 m min The properties
achieved with EOW-PP are shown in Table 24 and compared to regular PP wood
and oriented PP
Solid-state extrusion has been practiced with coextrusion o different polymers [93]
Despite the large amount o research on solid-state extrusion and the outstanding
mechanical properties that can be obtained there does not seem to be much interest
in the polymer industry The main drawbacks o course are that solid-state extru-
sion is basically a discontinuous process it cannot be done on conventional polymer
processing equipment and very high pressures are required to achieve solid-stateextrusion Also one should keep in mind that very good mechanical properties can
be obtained by taking a profile (fiber film tube etc) produced by conventional con-
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3137
983090983092 Ram Extruders 983092983089
tinuous extrusion and exposing it to controlled deormation at a temperature below
the melting point This is a well-established technique in many extrusion operations
(fiber spinning film extrusion etc) and it can be done at a high rate This method
o producing extrudates with very good mechanical properties is likely to be more
cost-effective than solid-state extrusion It is possible that the die drawing processdeveloped by SHW can make solid-state extrusion more attractive commercially by
allowing large profiles to be processed at reasonable line speeds
Table 26 Mechanical Properties of PP Wood OPP and EOW-PP
Flexural strength [MPa] Flexural modulus [MPa]
Regular PP 50 1850
Wood 100 9000
Oriented PP 275 7600EOW-PP 140 7600
983090983092983090Multi Ram Extruder
As mentioned beore the main disadvantage o ram extruders is their intermittent
operation Several attempts have been made to overcome this problem by designing
multi-ram extruders that work together in such a way as to produce a continuousflow o material
Westover [94] designed a continuous ram extruder that combined our plunger-
cylinders Two plunger-cylinders were used or plasticating and two or pumping
An intricate shuttle valve connecting all the plunger cylinders provides continuous
extrusion
Another attempt to develop a continuous ram extruder was made by Yi and Fenner
[95] They designed a twin ram extruder with the cylinders in a V-configuration see
Fig 222The two rams discharge into a common barrel in which a plasticating shaf is rotat-
ing Thus solids conveying occurs in the two separate cylinders and plasticating
and melt conveying occurs in the annular region between the barrel and plasticat-
ing shaf The machine is able to extrude however the throughput uniormity is
poor The perormance could probably have been improved i the plasticating shaf
had been provided with a helical channel But o course then the machine would
have become a screw extruder with a ram-assisted eed This only goes to demon-
strate that it is ar rom easy to improve upon the simple screw extruder
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3237
983092983090 983090Different Types of Extruders
Die Breaker plate
Plasticating shaft
Main
block
Feed cylinder
Figure 222 Twin ram extruder
983090983092983091 Appendix 983090983089
983090983092983091983089 Pumping Efficiency in Diskpack Extruder
The velocity profile between the moving walls is a parabolic unction when the fluid
is a Newtonian fluid see Section 621 and Fig 223
y
z H
Small pressure gradient
Medium pressure gradient
Large pressure gradient
Figure 983090983090983091
Velocity profiles between moving
walls
The velocity profile or a Newtonian fluid is
L8
PH
H
y41vv(y)
2
2
2
∆micro∆
minusminus= (1)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3337
983090983092 Ram Extruders 983092983091
where v is the velocity o the plates H the distance between the plates and μ the
viscosity o the fluid The flow rate can be ound by integrating v(y) over the width
and depth o the channel this yields
L12
PWHvWHV
3
∆micro∆minus=
bull
(2)
The first term on the right-hand side o the equalation is the drag flow term The
second term is the pressure flow term The ratio o pressure flow to drag flow is
termed the throttle ratio rd (see Section 7413)
r d =Lv12
PH2
∆micro
∆ (3)
The flow rate can now be written as
(4)
The shear stress at the wall is obtained rom
dv H∆Pτ = micro =dy
05H 2∆L
(5)
The power consumption in the channel is
Zch = PvHWLvW2 ∆=∆τ (6)
The energy efficiency or pressure generation is
V∆Pε = =1 minus r
d Zch
(7)
Equation 7 is not valid or rd = 0 because in this case both numerator and denomi-
nator become zero From Eq 7 it can be seen that when the machine is operated atlow rd values the pumping efficiency can become close to 100 This is considerably
better than the single screw extruder where the optimum pumping efficiency is 33
at a throttle ratio value o 033 (rd = 13)
References
1 J LeBras ldquoRubber Fundamentals o its Science and Technologyrdquo Chemical Publ Co
NY (1957)
2 W S Penn ldquoSynthetic Rubber Technology Volume Irdquo MacLaren amp Sons Ltd London(1960)
3 W J S Naunton ldquoThe Applied Science o Rubberrdquo Edward Arnold Ltd London (1961)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3437
983092983092 983090Different Types of Extruders
4 C M Blow ldquoRubber Technology and Manuacturerdquo Butterworth amp Co Ltd London
(1971)
5 F R Eirich (Ed) ldquoScience and Technology o Rubberrdquo Academic Press NY (1978)
6 C W Evans ldquoPowdered and Particulate Rubber Technologyrdquo Applied Science Publ Ltd
London (1978)
7 G Targiel et al 10 IKV-Kolloquium Aachen March 12ndash14 45 (1980)
8 A Kennaway Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 17 378ndash391 (1964)
9 G Menges and J P Lehnen Plastverarbeiter 20 1 31ndash39 (1969)
10 M Parshall and A J Saulino Rubber World 2 5 78ndash83 (1967)
11 S E Perlberg Rubber World 2 6 71ndash76 (1967)
12 H H Gohlisch Gummi Asbest Kunststoffe 25 9 834ndash835 (1972)
13 E Harms ldquoKautschuk-Extruder Aubau und Einsatz aus verahrenstechnischer Sichtrdquo
Krausskop-Verlag Mainz Bd 2 Buchreihe Kunststo983142echnik (1974)
14 G Schwarz Eur Rubber Journal Sept 28ndash32 (1977)
15 G Menges and E G Harms Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 25 10 469ndash475 (1972)
16 G Menges and E G Harms Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 27 5 187ndash193 (1974)
17 E G Harms Elastomerics 109 6 33ndash39 (1977)
18 E G Harms Eur Rubber Journal 6 23 (1978)
19 E G Harms Kunststoffe 69 1 32ndash33 (1979)
20 E G Harms Dissertation RWTH Aachen Germany (1981)21 S H Collins Plastics Compounding Nov Dec 29 (1982)
22 D Anders Kunststoffe 69 194ndash198 (1979)
23 D Gras and K Eise SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 21 386 (1975)
24 R F Westover SPE Journal 18 12 1473 (1962)
25 Lord Raleigh Philosophical Magazine 35 1ndash12 (1918)
26 German Patent DRP 1129681
27 British Patent BP 759354
28 U S Patent 3880564
29 U S Patent 4012477
30 J F Ingen Housz Plastverarbeiter 10 1 (1975)
31 U S Patent 4142805
32 U S Patent 4194841
33 U S Patent 4213709
34 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 25 193 (1979)
35 P Hold Z Tadmor and L Valsamis SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 25 205 (1979)
36 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis Plastics Engineering Nov 20ndash25 (1979)
37 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis Plastics Engineering Dec 30ndash38 (1979)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3537
References 983092983093
38 Z Tadmor et al The Diskpack Plastics Processor Farrel Publication Jan (1982)
39 L Valsamis AIChE Meeting Washington D C Oct (1983)
40 B Maxwell and A J Scalora Modern Plastics 37 107 Oct (1959)
41 U S Patent 3 046603
42 L L Blyler PhD thesis Princeton University NJ (1966)
43 H G Fritz Kunststo983142echnik 6 430 (1968)
44 H G Fritz PhD thesis Stuttgart University Germany (1971)
45 C W Macosko and J M Starita SPE Journal 27 30 (1971)
46 P A Good A J Schwartz and C W Macosko AIChE Journal 20 1 67 (1974)
47 V L Kocherov Y L Lukach E A Sporyagin and G V Vinogradov Polym Eng Sci 13
194 (1973)
48 J Berzen and G Braun Kunststoffe 69 2 62ndash66 (1979)49 R S Porter et al J Polym Sci 17 485ndash488 (1979)
50 C A Sperati Modern Plastics Encyclopedia McGraw-Hill NY (1983)
51 S S Schwartz and S H Goodman see Chapter 1 [36]
52 G R Snelling and J F Lontz J Appl Polym Sci 3 9 257ndash265 (1960)
53 D C F Couzens Plastics and Rubber Processing March 45ndash48 (1976)
54 P W Bridgman ldquoStudies in Large Plastic Flow and Fracturerdquo McGraw-Hill NY (1952)
55 H L D Push ldquoThe Mechanical Behavior o Materials Under Pressurerdquo Elsevier Amster-
dam (1970)56 H L D Push and A H Low J Inst Metals 93 201 (196565)
57 F Slack Mach Design Oct 7 61ndash64 (1982)
58 J H Southern and R S Porter J Appl Polym Sci 14 2305 (1970)
59 J H Southern and R S Porter J Macromol Sci Phys 3ndash4 541 (1970)
60 J H Southern N E Weeks and R S Porter Macromol Chem 162 19 (1972)
61 N J Capiati and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 13 1177 (1975)
62 R S Porter J H Southern and N E Weeks Polym Eng Sci 15 213 (1975)
63 A E Zachariades E S Sherman and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 17 255
(1979)
64 A E Zachariades and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 17 277 (1979)
65 B Parsons D Bretherton and B N Cole in Advances in MTDR 11th Int Con Proc
S A Tobias and F Koeningsberger (Eds) Pergamon Press London Vol B 1049 (1971)
66 G Capaccio and I M Ward Polymer 15 233 (1974)
67 A G Gibson I M Ward B N Cole and B Parsons J Mater Sci 9 1193ndash1196 (1974)
68 A G Gibson and I M Ward J Appl Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 16 2015ndash2030 (1978)
69 P S Hope and B Parsons Polym Eng Sci 20 589ndash600 (1980)
70 P S Hope I M Ward and A G Gibson J Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 18 1242ndash1256
(1980)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3637
983092983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
71 P S Hope A G Gibson B Parsons and I M Ward Polym Eng Sci 20 54ndash55 (1980)
72 B Parsons and I M Ward Plast Rubber Proc Appl 2 3 215ndash224 (1982)
73 K Imada T Yamamoto K Shigematsu and M Takayanagi J Mater Sci 6 537ndash546
(1971)
74 K Nakamura K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 2 71 (1972)
75 K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 2 89 (1973)
76 K Nakamura K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 3 23 (1974)
77 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Mater Sci 10 1105 (1975)
78 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Mater Sci 12 1477 (1977)
79 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Appl Polym Sci 23 2543ndash2554 (1979)
80 D M Bigg Polym Eng Sci 16 725 (1976)
81 D M Bigg M M Epstein R J Fiorentino and E G Smith Polym Eng Sci 18 908(1978)
82 D M Bigg and M M Epstein ldquoScience and Technology o Polymer Processingrdquo N S Suh
and N Sung (Eds) 897 MIT Press (1979)
83 D M Bigg M M Epstein R J Fiorentino and E G Smith J Appl Polym Sci 26 395ndash
409 (1981)
84 K D Pae and D R Mears J Polym Sci B-6 269 (1968)
85 K D Pae D R Mears and J A Sauer J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 6 773 (1968)
86 D R Mears K P Pae and J A Sauer J Appl Phys 40 11 4229ndash4237 (1969)
87 L A Davis and C A Pampillo J Appl Phys 42 12 4659ndash4666 (1971)
88 A Buckley and H A Long Polym Eng Sci 9 2 115ndash120 (1969)
89 L A Davis Polym Eng Sci 14 9 641ndash645 (1974)
90 R K Okine and N P Suh Polym Eng Sci 22 5 269ndash279 (1982)
91 J R Collier T Y T Tam J Newcome and N Dinos Polym Eng Sci 16 204ndash211 (1976)
92 J H Faupel and F E Fisher ldquoEngineering Designrdquo Wiley NY (1981)
93 A E Zachariades R Ball and R S Porter J Mater Sci 13 2671ndash2675 (1978)
94 R R Westover Modern Plastics March (1963) 95 B Yi and R T Fenner Plastics and Polymers Dec 224ndash228 (1975)
96 A Mekkaoui and L N Valsamis Polym Eng Sci 24 1260ndash1269 (1984)
97 H Rust Kunststoffe 73 342ndash346 (1983)
98 J Huszman Kunststoffe 73 3437ndash348 (1983)
99 J M McKelvey U Maire and F Haupt Chem Eng Sept 27 94ndash102 (1976)
100 K Schneider Kunststoffe 68 201ndash206 (1978)
101 W T Rice Plastic Technology 87ndash91 Feb (1980)
102 Harrel Corp ldquoMelt Pump Systems or Extrudersrdquo Product Description TDS-264 (1982)
103 J M McKelvey and W T Rice Chem Eng 90 2 89ndash94 (1983)
104 K Kaper K Eise and H Herrmann SPE ANTEC Chicago 161ndash163 (1983)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3737
References 983092983095
105 C L Woodworth SPE ANTEC New Orleans 122ndash126 (1984)
106 W A Kramer SPE ANTEC Washington D C 23ndash29 (1985)
107 J Schut ldquoDie Drawing Makes Plastic Steelrdquo Plastics Technology Online Article March
5 (2001)
108 VDI Conerence Extrusiontechnik 2006 ldquoDer Einschnecken-Extruder von Morgenrdquo VDI
Verlag GmbH Duumlsseldor (2006)
109 P Rieg ldquoLatest Developments in High-Speed Extrusionrdquo Plastic Extrusion Asia Con-
erence Bangkok Thailand March 17ndash18 (2008) also presented at Advances in Ex-
trusion Conerence New Orleans December 9ndash10 (2008)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 2837
983091983096 983090Different Types of Extruders
983090983092983089983089Solid State Extrusion
An extrusion technique that has slowly been gaining popularity is solid-state extru-
sion The polymer is orced through a die while it is below its melting point This
causes substantial deormation o the polymer in the die but since the polymer is in
the solid state a very effective molecular orientation takes place This orientation ismuch more effective than the one which occurs in conventional melt processing As
a result extraordinary mechanical properties can be obtained
Solid-state extrusion is a technique borrowed rom the metal industry where solid-
state extrusion has been used commercially since the late 1940s Bridgman [54]
was one o the first to do a systematic study on the effect o pressure on the mechan-
ical properties o metals He also studied polymers and ound that the glass tran-
sition temperature was raised by the application o pressure
There are two methods o solid-state extrusion one is direct solid-state extrusionthe other is hydrostatic extrusion In direct solid-state extrusion a pre-ormed solid
rod o material (a billet) is in direct contact with the plunger and the walls o the
extrusion die see Fig 220 The material is extruded as the ram is pushed towards
the die
Plunger
Billet
Barrel
DieExtrudate Figure 983090983090983088
Direct solid state extrusion
In hydrostatic extrusion the pressure required or extrusion is transmitted rom the
plunger to the billet through a lubricating liquid usually castor oil The billet must
be shaped to fit the die to prevent loss o fluid The hydrostatic fluid reduces the ric-
tion thereby reducing the extrusion pressure see Fig 221
In hydrostatic extrusion the pressure-generating device or the fluid does not neces-
sarily have to be in close proximity to the orming part o the machine The fluid canbe supplied to the extrusion device by high-pressure tubes
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983091983097
Plunger
Billet
Oil
Barrel
DieExtrudate Figure 983090983090983089
Hydrostatic solid state extrusion
Judging rom publications in the open literature most o the work on solid-state
extrusion o polymers is done at universities and research institutes It is possible
o course that some companies are working on solid-state extrusion but are keeping
the inormation proprietary A major research effort in solid-state extrusion has
been made at the University o Amherst Massachusetts [50ndash64] University o
Leeds England [65ndash72] Fyushu University Fukuoka Japan [73ndash76] Research
Institute or Polymers and Textiles Yokohama Japan [77ndash79] Battelle Columbus
Ohio [80ndash83] and Rutgers University New Brunswick New Jersey [84ndash86] As
mentioned earlier publications rom other sources are considerably less plentiul
[87ndash90] Efforts have also been made to achieve the same high degree o orientation
in a more or less conventional extrusion process by special die design and tempera-
ture control in the die region [91]
Table 25 shows a comparison o mechanical properties between steel aluminum
solid state extruded HDPE and HDPE extruded by conventional means
Table 25 clearly indicates that the mechanical properties o solid-state extruded
HDPE are much superior to the melt extruded HDPE In act the tensile strength o
solid-state extruded HDPE is about the same as carbon steel There are some other
interesting benefits associated with solidstate extrusion o polymers There is essen-
tially no die swell at high extrusion ratios (extrusion ratio is the ratio o the area in
the cylinder to the area in the die) Thus the dimensions o the extrudate closely
conorm to those o the die exit The surace o the extrudate produced by hydro-
static extrusion has a lower coefficient o riction than that o the un-oriented poly-
mer Above a certain extrusion ratio (about ten) polyethylene and polypropylene
become transparent Further solid-state extruded polymers maintain their ten-sile properties at elevated temperatures Polyethylene maintains its modulus up to
120degC when it is extruded in the solid state at a high extrusion ratio The thermal
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3037
983092983088 983090Different Types of Extruders
conductivity in the extrusion direction is much higher than that o the un-oriented
polymer as much as 25 times higher The melting point o the solid-state extruded
polymer increases with the amount o orientation The melting point o HDPE can be
shifed to as high as 140degC
Table 25 Comparison of Mechanical Properties
Material Tensile modulus[MPa]
Tensile strength[MPa]
Elongation[]
Density[gcc]
Annealed SAE 1020 210000 410 35 786
W-200 degF SAE 1020 210000 720 6 786
Annealed 304 stainless
steel
200000 590 50 792
Aluminum 1100ndash0 70000 90 45 271
HDPE solid state
extruded
70000 480 3 097
HDPE melt extruded 10000 30 20ndash1000 096
A recent application o solid-state extrusion is the process developed by Synthetic
Hardwood Technologies Inc [107] This company has developed an expanded ori-
ented wood-filled polypropylene (EOW-PP) that is about 300 stronger than regular
PP The process is based on technology developed at Aluminum Company o Canada
Ltd (Alcan) in the early 1990s to solidstate extrude PP It involves ram extrusion
drawing o billets o PP just below the melting point with very high draw ratio and
high haul-off tension (about 3 MPa) to reeze-in the high level o orientation Alcan
did not pursue the technology and Symplastics Ltd licensed the patented process
this company started experimenting with adding small amounts o wood flour to the
PP However Symplastics ound the research and development too costly and sold
the patents and lab extrusion equipment to Frank Maine who set up SHW to com-
mercialize applications or the EOW-PP The key to the SHW process is that it com-
bines extrusion with drawing As the polymer is oriented the density drops about
50 rom about 1 g cc to 05 g cc The die drawing also allowed substantial in-creases in line speed rom about 0050 m min to about 9 m min The properties
achieved with EOW-PP are shown in Table 24 and compared to regular PP wood
and oriented PP
Solid-state extrusion has been practiced with coextrusion o different polymers [93]
Despite the large amount o research on solid-state extrusion and the outstanding
mechanical properties that can be obtained there does not seem to be much interest
in the polymer industry The main drawbacks o course are that solid-state extru-
sion is basically a discontinuous process it cannot be done on conventional polymer
processing equipment and very high pressures are required to achieve solid-stateextrusion Also one should keep in mind that very good mechanical properties can
be obtained by taking a profile (fiber film tube etc) produced by conventional con-
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
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983090983092 Ram Extruders 983092983089
tinuous extrusion and exposing it to controlled deormation at a temperature below
the melting point This is a well-established technique in many extrusion operations
(fiber spinning film extrusion etc) and it can be done at a high rate This method
o producing extrudates with very good mechanical properties is likely to be more
cost-effective than solid-state extrusion It is possible that the die drawing processdeveloped by SHW can make solid-state extrusion more attractive commercially by
allowing large profiles to be processed at reasonable line speeds
Table 26 Mechanical Properties of PP Wood OPP and EOW-PP
Flexural strength [MPa] Flexural modulus [MPa]
Regular PP 50 1850
Wood 100 9000
Oriented PP 275 7600EOW-PP 140 7600
983090983092983090Multi Ram Extruder
As mentioned beore the main disadvantage o ram extruders is their intermittent
operation Several attempts have been made to overcome this problem by designing
multi-ram extruders that work together in such a way as to produce a continuousflow o material
Westover [94] designed a continuous ram extruder that combined our plunger-
cylinders Two plunger-cylinders were used or plasticating and two or pumping
An intricate shuttle valve connecting all the plunger cylinders provides continuous
extrusion
Another attempt to develop a continuous ram extruder was made by Yi and Fenner
[95] They designed a twin ram extruder with the cylinders in a V-configuration see
Fig 222The two rams discharge into a common barrel in which a plasticating shaf is rotat-
ing Thus solids conveying occurs in the two separate cylinders and plasticating
and melt conveying occurs in the annular region between the barrel and plasticat-
ing shaf The machine is able to extrude however the throughput uniormity is
poor The perormance could probably have been improved i the plasticating shaf
had been provided with a helical channel But o course then the machine would
have become a screw extruder with a ram-assisted eed This only goes to demon-
strate that it is ar rom easy to improve upon the simple screw extruder
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3237
983092983090 983090Different Types of Extruders
Die Breaker plate
Plasticating shaft
Main
block
Feed cylinder
Figure 222 Twin ram extruder
983090983092983091 Appendix 983090983089
983090983092983091983089 Pumping Efficiency in Diskpack Extruder
The velocity profile between the moving walls is a parabolic unction when the fluid
is a Newtonian fluid see Section 621 and Fig 223
y
z H
Small pressure gradient
Medium pressure gradient
Large pressure gradient
Figure 983090983090983091
Velocity profiles between moving
walls
The velocity profile or a Newtonian fluid is
L8
PH
H
y41vv(y)
2
2
2
∆micro∆
minusminus= (1)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3337
983090983092 Ram Extruders 983092983091
where v is the velocity o the plates H the distance between the plates and μ the
viscosity o the fluid The flow rate can be ound by integrating v(y) over the width
and depth o the channel this yields
L12
PWHvWHV
3
∆micro∆minus=
bull
(2)
The first term on the right-hand side o the equalation is the drag flow term The
second term is the pressure flow term The ratio o pressure flow to drag flow is
termed the throttle ratio rd (see Section 7413)
r d =Lv12
PH2
∆micro
∆ (3)
The flow rate can now be written as
(4)
The shear stress at the wall is obtained rom
dv H∆Pτ = micro =dy
05H 2∆L
(5)
The power consumption in the channel is
Zch = PvHWLvW2 ∆=∆τ (6)
The energy efficiency or pressure generation is
V∆Pε = =1 minus r
d Zch
(7)
Equation 7 is not valid or rd = 0 because in this case both numerator and denomi-
nator become zero From Eq 7 it can be seen that when the machine is operated atlow rd values the pumping efficiency can become close to 100 This is considerably
better than the single screw extruder where the optimum pumping efficiency is 33
at a throttle ratio value o 033 (rd = 13)
References
1 J LeBras ldquoRubber Fundamentals o its Science and Technologyrdquo Chemical Publ Co
NY (1957)
2 W S Penn ldquoSynthetic Rubber Technology Volume Irdquo MacLaren amp Sons Ltd London(1960)
3 W J S Naunton ldquoThe Applied Science o Rubberrdquo Edward Arnold Ltd London (1961)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3437
983092983092 983090Different Types of Extruders
4 C M Blow ldquoRubber Technology and Manuacturerdquo Butterworth amp Co Ltd London
(1971)
5 F R Eirich (Ed) ldquoScience and Technology o Rubberrdquo Academic Press NY (1978)
6 C W Evans ldquoPowdered and Particulate Rubber Technologyrdquo Applied Science Publ Ltd
London (1978)
7 G Targiel et al 10 IKV-Kolloquium Aachen March 12ndash14 45 (1980)
8 A Kennaway Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 17 378ndash391 (1964)
9 G Menges and J P Lehnen Plastverarbeiter 20 1 31ndash39 (1969)
10 M Parshall and A J Saulino Rubber World 2 5 78ndash83 (1967)
11 S E Perlberg Rubber World 2 6 71ndash76 (1967)
12 H H Gohlisch Gummi Asbest Kunststoffe 25 9 834ndash835 (1972)
13 E Harms ldquoKautschuk-Extruder Aubau und Einsatz aus verahrenstechnischer Sichtrdquo
Krausskop-Verlag Mainz Bd 2 Buchreihe Kunststo983142echnik (1974)
14 G Schwarz Eur Rubber Journal Sept 28ndash32 (1977)
15 G Menges and E G Harms Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 25 10 469ndash475 (1972)
16 G Menges and E G Harms Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 27 5 187ndash193 (1974)
17 E G Harms Elastomerics 109 6 33ndash39 (1977)
18 E G Harms Eur Rubber Journal 6 23 (1978)
19 E G Harms Kunststoffe 69 1 32ndash33 (1979)
20 E G Harms Dissertation RWTH Aachen Germany (1981)21 S H Collins Plastics Compounding Nov Dec 29 (1982)
22 D Anders Kunststoffe 69 194ndash198 (1979)
23 D Gras and K Eise SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 21 386 (1975)
24 R F Westover SPE Journal 18 12 1473 (1962)
25 Lord Raleigh Philosophical Magazine 35 1ndash12 (1918)
26 German Patent DRP 1129681
27 British Patent BP 759354
28 U S Patent 3880564
29 U S Patent 4012477
30 J F Ingen Housz Plastverarbeiter 10 1 (1975)
31 U S Patent 4142805
32 U S Patent 4194841
33 U S Patent 4213709
34 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 25 193 (1979)
35 P Hold Z Tadmor and L Valsamis SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 25 205 (1979)
36 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis Plastics Engineering Nov 20ndash25 (1979)
37 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis Plastics Engineering Dec 30ndash38 (1979)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3537
References 983092983093
38 Z Tadmor et al The Diskpack Plastics Processor Farrel Publication Jan (1982)
39 L Valsamis AIChE Meeting Washington D C Oct (1983)
40 B Maxwell and A J Scalora Modern Plastics 37 107 Oct (1959)
41 U S Patent 3 046603
42 L L Blyler PhD thesis Princeton University NJ (1966)
43 H G Fritz Kunststo983142echnik 6 430 (1968)
44 H G Fritz PhD thesis Stuttgart University Germany (1971)
45 C W Macosko and J M Starita SPE Journal 27 30 (1971)
46 P A Good A J Schwartz and C W Macosko AIChE Journal 20 1 67 (1974)
47 V L Kocherov Y L Lukach E A Sporyagin and G V Vinogradov Polym Eng Sci 13
194 (1973)
48 J Berzen and G Braun Kunststoffe 69 2 62ndash66 (1979)49 R S Porter et al J Polym Sci 17 485ndash488 (1979)
50 C A Sperati Modern Plastics Encyclopedia McGraw-Hill NY (1983)
51 S S Schwartz and S H Goodman see Chapter 1 [36]
52 G R Snelling and J F Lontz J Appl Polym Sci 3 9 257ndash265 (1960)
53 D C F Couzens Plastics and Rubber Processing March 45ndash48 (1976)
54 P W Bridgman ldquoStudies in Large Plastic Flow and Fracturerdquo McGraw-Hill NY (1952)
55 H L D Push ldquoThe Mechanical Behavior o Materials Under Pressurerdquo Elsevier Amster-
dam (1970)56 H L D Push and A H Low J Inst Metals 93 201 (196565)
57 F Slack Mach Design Oct 7 61ndash64 (1982)
58 J H Southern and R S Porter J Appl Polym Sci 14 2305 (1970)
59 J H Southern and R S Porter J Macromol Sci Phys 3ndash4 541 (1970)
60 J H Southern N E Weeks and R S Porter Macromol Chem 162 19 (1972)
61 N J Capiati and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 13 1177 (1975)
62 R S Porter J H Southern and N E Weeks Polym Eng Sci 15 213 (1975)
63 A E Zachariades E S Sherman and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 17 255
(1979)
64 A E Zachariades and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 17 277 (1979)
65 B Parsons D Bretherton and B N Cole in Advances in MTDR 11th Int Con Proc
S A Tobias and F Koeningsberger (Eds) Pergamon Press London Vol B 1049 (1971)
66 G Capaccio and I M Ward Polymer 15 233 (1974)
67 A G Gibson I M Ward B N Cole and B Parsons J Mater Sci 9 1193ndash1196 (1974)
68 A G Gibson and I M Ward J Appl Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 16 2015ndash2030 (1978)
69 P S Hope and B Parsons Polym Eng Sci 20 589ndash600 (1980)
70 P S Hope I M Ward and A G Gibson J Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 18 1242ndash1256
(1980)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3637
983092983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
71 P S Hope A G Gibson B Parsons and I M Ward Polym Eng Sci 20 54ndash55 (1980)
72 B Parsons and I M Ward Plast Rubber Proc Appl 2 3 215ndash224 (1982)
73 K Imada T Yamamoto K Shigematsu and M Takayanagi J Mater Sci 6 537ndash546
(1971)
74 K Nakamura K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 2 71 (1972)
75 K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 2 89 (1973)
76 K Nakamura K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 3 23 (1974)
77 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Mater Sci 10 1105 (1975)
78 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Mater Sci 12 1477 (1977)
79 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Appl Polym Sci 23 2543ndash2554 (1979)
80 D M Bigg Polym Eng Sci 16 725 (1976)
81 D M Bigg M M Epstein R J Fiorentino and E G Smith Polym Eng Sci 18 908(1978)
82 D M Bigg and M M Epstein ldquoScience and Technology o Polymer Processingrdquo N S Suh
and N Sung (Eds) 897 MIT Press (1979)
83 D M Bigg M M Epstein R J Fiorentino and E G Smith J Appl Polym Sci 26 395ndash
409 (1981)
84 K D Pae and D R Mears J Polym Sci B-6 269 (1968)
85 K D Pae D R Mears and J A Sauer J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 6 773 (1968)
86 D R Mears K P Pae and J A Sauer J Appl Phys 40 11 4229ndash4237 (1969)
87 L A Davis and C A Pampillo J Appl Phys 42 12 4659ndash4666 (1971)
88 A Buckley and H A Long Polym Eng Sci 9 2 115ndash120 (1969)
89 L A Davis Polym Eng Sci 14 9 641ndash645 (1974)
90 R K Okine and N P Suh Polym Eng Sci 22 5 269ndash279 (1982)
91 J R Collier T Y T Tam J Newcome and N Dinos Polym Eng Sci 16 204ndash211 (1976)
92 J H Faupel and F E Fisher ldquoEngineering Designrdquo Wiley NY (1981)
93 A E Zachariades R Ball and R S Porter J Mater Sci 13 2671ndash2675 (1978)
94 R R Westover Modern Plastics March (1963) 95 B Yi and R T Fenner Plastics and Polymers Dec 224ndash228 (1975)
96 A Mekkaoui and L N Valsamis Polym Eng Sci 24 1260ndash1269 (1984)
97 H Rust Kunststoffe 73 342ndash346 (1983)
98 J Huszman Kunststoffe 73 3437ndash348 (1983)
99 J M McKelvey U Maire and F Haupt Chem Eng Sept 27 94ndash102 (1976)
100 K Schneider Kunststoffe 68 201ndash206 (1978)
101 W T Rice Plastic Technology 87ndash91 Feb (1980)
102 Harrel Corp ldquoMelt Pump Systems or Extrudersrdquo Product Description TDS-264 (1982)
103 J M McKelvey and W T Rice Chem Eng 90 2 89ndash94 (1983)
104 K Kaper K Eise and H Herrmann SPE ANTEC Chicago 161ndash163 (1983)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3737
References 983092983095
105 C L Woodworth SPE ANTEC New Orleans 122ndash126 (1984)
106 W A Kramer SPE ANTEC Washington D C 23ndash29 (1985)
107 J Schut ldquoDie Drawing Makes Plastic Steelrdquo Plastics Technology Online Article March
5 (2001)
108 VDI Conerence Extrusiontechnik 2006 ldquoDer Einschnecken-Extruder von Morgenrdquo VDI
Verlag GmbH Duumlsseldor (2006)
109 P Rieg ldquoLatest Developments in High-Speed Extrusionrdquo Plastic Extrusion Asia Con-
erence Bangkok Thailand March 17ndash18 (2008) also presented at Advances in Ex-
trusion Conerence New Orleans December 9ndash10 (2008)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 2937
983090983092 Ram Extruders 983091983097
Plunger
Billet
Oil
Barrel
DieExtrudate Figure 983090983090983089
Hydrostatic solid state extrusion
Judging rom publications in the open literature most o the work on solid-state
extrusion o polymers is done at universities and research institutes It is possible
o course that some companies are working on solid-state extrusion but are keeping
the inormation proprietary A major research effort in solid-state extrusion has
been made at the University o Amherst Massachusetts [50ndash64] University o
Leeds England [65ndash72] Fyushu University Fukuoka Japan [73ndash76] Research
Institute or Polymers and Textiles Yokohama Japan [77ndash79] Battelle Columbus
Ohio [80ndash83] and Rutgers University New Brunswick New Jersey [84ndash86] As
mentioned earlier publications rom other sources are considerably less plentiul
[87ndash90] Efforts have also been made to achieve the same high degree o orientation
in a more or less conventional extrusion process by special die design and tempera-
ture control in the die region [91]
Table 25 shows a comparison o mechanical properties between steel aluminum
solid state extruded HDPE and HDPE extruded by conventional means
Table 25 clearly indicates that the mechanical properties o solid-state extruded
HDPE are much superior to the melt extruded HDPE In act the tensile strength o
solid-state extruded HDPE is about the same as carbon steel There are some other
interesting benefits associated with solidstate extrusion o polymers There is essen-
tially no die swell at high extrusion ratios (extrusion ratio is the ratio o the area in
the cylinder to the area in the die) Thus the dimensions o the extrudate closely
conorm to those o the die exit The surace o the extrudate produced by hydro-
static extrusion has a lower coefficient o riction than that o the un-oriented poly-
mer Above a certain extrusion ratio (about ten) polyethylene and polypropylene
become transparent Further solid-state extruded polymers maintain their ten-sile properties at elevated temperatures Polyethylene maintains its modulus up to
120degC when it is extruded in the solid state at a high extrusion ratio The thermal
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3037
983092983088 983090Different Types of Extruders
conductivity in the extrusion direction is much higher than that o the un-oriented
polymer as much as 25 times higher The melting point o the solid-state extruded
polymer increases with the amount o orientation The melting point o HDPE can be
shifed to as high as 140degC
Table 25 Comparison of Mechanical Properties
Material Tensile modulus[MPa]
Tensile strength[MPa]
Elongation[]
Density[gcc]
Annealed SAE 1020 210000 410 35 786
W-200 degF SAE 1020 210000 720 6 786
Annealed 304 stainless
steel
200000 590 50 792
Aluminum 1100ndash0 70000 90 45 271
HDPE solid state
extruded
70000 480 3 097
HDPE melt extruded 10000 30 20ndash1000 096
A recent application o solid-state extrusion is the process developed by Synthetic
Hardwood Technologies Inc [107] This company has developed an expanded ori-
ented wood-filled polypropylene (EOW-PP) that is about 300 stronger than regular
PP The process is based on technology developed at Aluminum Company o Canada
Ltd (Alcan) in the early 1990s to solidstate extrude PP It involves ram extrusion
drawing o billets o PP just below the melting point with very high draw ratio and
high haul-off tension (about 3 MPa) to reeze-in the high level o orientation Alcan
did not pursue the technology and Symplastics Ltd licensed the patented process
this company started experimenting with adding small amounts o wood flour to the
PP However Symplastics ound the research and development too costly and sold
the patents and lab extrusion equipment to Frank Maine who set up SHW to com-
mercialize applications or the EOW-PP The key to the SHW process is that it com-
bines extrusion with drawing As the polymer is oriented the density drops about
50 rom about 1 g cc to 05 g cc The die drawing also allowed substantial in-creases in line speed rom about 0050 m min to about 9 m min The properties
achieved with EOW-PP are shown in Table 24 and compared to regular PP wood
and oriented PP
Solid-state extrusion has been practiced with coextrusion o different polymers [93]
Despite the large amount o research on solid-state extrusion and the outstanding
mechanical properties that can be obtained there does not seem to be much interest
in the polymer industry The main drawbacks o course are that solid-state extru-
sion is basically a discontinuous process it cannot be done on conventional polymer
processing equipment and very high pressures are required to achieve solid-stateextrusion Also one should keep in mind that very good mechanical properties can
be obtained by taking a profile (fiber film tube etc) produced by conventional con-
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3137
983090983092 Ram Extruders 983092983089
tinuous extrusion and exposing it to controlled deormation at a temperature below
the melting point This is a well-established technique in many extrusion operations
(fiber spinning film extrusion etc) and it can be done at a high rate This method
o producing extrudates with very good mechanical properties is likely to be more
cost-effective than solid-state extrusion It is possible that the die drawing processdeveloped by SHW can make solid-state extrusion more attractive commercially by
allowing large profiles to be processed at reasonable line speeds
Table 26 Mechanical Properties of PP Wood OPP and EOW-PP
Flexural strength [MPa] Flexural modulus [MPa]
Regular PP 50 1850
Wood 100 9000
Oriented PP 275 7600EOW-PP 140 7600
983090983092983090Multi Ram Extruder
As mentioned beore the main disadvantage o ram extruders is their intermittent
operation Several attempts have been made to overcome this problem by designing
multi-ram extruders that work together in such a way as to produce a continuousflow o material
Westover [94] designed a continuous ram extruder that combined our plunger-
cylinders Two plunger-cylinders were used or plasticating and two or pumping
An intricate shuttle valve connecting all the plunger cylinders provides continuous
extrusion
Another attempt to develop a continuous ram extruder was made by Yi and Fenner
[95] They designed a twin ram extruder with the cylinders in a V-configuration see
Fig 222The two rams discharge into a common barrel in which a plasticating shaf is rotat-
ing Thus solids conveying occurs in the two separate cylinders and plasticating
and melt conveying occurs in the annular region between the barrel and plasticat-
ing shaf The machine is able to extrude however the throughput uniormity is
poor The perormance could probably have been improved i the plasticating shaf
had been provided with a helical channel But o course then the machine would
have become a screw extruder with a ram-assisted eed This only goes to demon-
strate that it is ar rom easy to improve upon the simple screw extruder
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3237
983092983090 983090Different Types of Extruders
Die Breaker plate
Plasticating shaft
Main
block
Feed cylinder
Figure 222 Twin ram extruder
983090983092983091 Appendix 983090983089
983090983092983091983089 Pumping Efficiency in Diskpack Extruder
The velocity profile between the moving walls is a parabolic unction when the fluid
is a Newtonian fluid see Section 621 and Fig 223
y
z H
Small pressure gradient
Medium pressure gradient
Large pressure gradient
Figure 983090983090983091
Velocity profiles between moving
walls
The velocity profile or a Newtonian fluid is
L8
PH
H
y41vv(y)
2
2
2
∆micro∆
minusminus= (1)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3337
983090983092 Ram Extruders 983092983091
where v is the velocity o the plates H the distance between the plates and μ the
viscosity o the fluid The flow rate can be ound by integrating v(y) over the width
and depth o the channel this yields
L12
PWHvWHV
3
∆micro∆minus=
bull
(2)
The first term on the right-hand side o the equalation is the drag flow term The
second term is the pressure flow term The ratio o pressure flow to drag flow is
termed the throttle ratio rd (see Section 7413)
r d =Lv12
PH2
∆micro
∆ (3)
The flow rate can now be written as
(4)
The shear stress at the wall is obtained rom
dv H∆Pτ = micro =dy
05H 2∆L
(5)
The power consumption in the channel is
Zch = PvHWLvW2 ∆=∆τ (6)
The energy efficiency or pressure generation is
V∆Pε = =1 minus r
d Zch
(7)
Equation 7 is not valid or rd = 0 because in this case both numerator and denomi-
nator become zero From Eq 7 it can be seen that when the machine is operated atlow rd values the pumping efficiency can become close to 100 This is considerably
better than the single screw extruder where the optimum pumping efficiency is 33
at a throttle ratio value o 033 (rd = 13)
References
1 J LeBras ldquoRubber Fundamentals o its Science and Technologyrdquo Chemical Publ Co
NY (1957)
2 W S Penn ldquoSynthetic Rubber Technology Volume Irdquo MacLaren amp Sons Ltd London(1960)
3 W J S Naunton ldquoThe Applied Science o Rubberrdquo Edward Arnold Ltd London (1961)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3437
983092983092 983090Different Types of Extruders
4 C M Blow ldquoRubber Technology and Manuacturerdquo Butterworth amp Co Ltd London
(1971)
5 F R Eirich (Ed) ldquoScience and Technology o Rubberrdquo Academic Press NY (1978)
6 C W Evans ldquoPowdered and Particulate Rubber Technologyrdquo Applied Science Publ Ltd
London (1978)
7 G Targiel et al 10 IKV-Kolloquium Aachen March 12ndash14 45 (1980)
8 A Kennaway Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 17 378ndash391 (1964)
9 G Menges and J P Lehnen Plastverarbeiter 20 1 31ndash39 (1969)
10 M Parshall and A J Saulino Rubber World 2 5 78ndash83 (1967)
11 S E Perlberg Rubber World 2 6 71ndash76 (1967)
12 H H Gohlisch Gummi Asbest Kunststoffe 25 9 834ndash835 (1972)
13 E Harms ldquoKautschuk-Extruder Aubau und Einsatz aus verahrenstechnischer Sichtrdquo
Krausskop-Verlag Mainz Bd 2 Buchreihe Kunststo983142echnik (1974)
14 G Schwarz Eur Rubber Journal Sept 28ndash32 (1977)
15 G Menges and E G Harms Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 25 10 469ndash475 (1972)
16 G Menges and E G Harms Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 27 5 187ndash193 (1974)
17 E G Harms Elastomerics 109 6 33ndash39 (1977)
18 E G Harms Eur Rubber Journal 6 23 (1978)
19 E G Harms Kunststoffe 69 1 32ndash33 (1979)
20 E G Harms Dissertation RWTH Aachen Germany (1981)21 S H Collins Plastics Compounding Nov Dec 29 (1982)
22 D Anders Kunststoffe 69 194ndash198 (1979)
23 D Gras and K Eise SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 21 386 (1975)
24 R F Westover SPE Journal 18 12 1473 (1962)
25 Lord Raleigh Philosophical Magazine 35 1ndash12 (1918)
26 German Patent DRP 1129681
27 British Patent BP 759354
28 U S Patent 3880564
29 U S Patent 4012477
30 J F Ingen Housz Plastverarbeiter 10 1 (1975)
31 U S Patent 4142805
32 U S Patent 4194841
33 U S Patent 4213709
34 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 25 193 (1979)
35 P Hold Z Tadmor and L Valsamis SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 25 205 (1979)
36 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis Plastics Engineering Nov 20ndash25 (1979)
37 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis Plastics Engineering Dec 30ndash38 (1979)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3537
References 983092983093
38 Z Tadmor et al The Diskpack Plastics Processor Farrel Publication Jan (1982)
39 L Valsamis AIChE Meeting Washington D C Oct (1983)
40 B Maxwell and A J Scalora Modern Plastics 37 107 Oct (1959)
41 U S Patent 3 046603
42 L L Blyler PhD thesis Princeton University NJ (1966)
43 H G Fritz Kunststo983142echnik 6 430 (1968)
44 H G Fritz PhD thesis Stuttgart University Germany (1971)
45 C W Macosko and J M Starita SPE Journal 27 30 (1971)
46 P A Good A J Schwartz and C W Macosko AIChE Journal 20 1 67 (1974)
47 V L Kocherov Y L Lukach E A Sporyagin and G V Vinogradov Polym Eng Sci 13
194 (1973)
48 J Berzen and G Braun Kunststoffe 69 2 62ndash66 (1979)49 R S Porter et al J Polym Sci 17 485ndash488 (1979)
50 C A Sperati Modern Plastics Encyclopedia McGraw-Hill NY (1983)
51 S S Schwartz and S H Goodman see Chapter 1 [36]
52 G R Snelling and J F Lontz J Appl Polym Sci 3 9 257ndash265 (1960)
53 D C F Couzens Plastics and Rubber Processing March 45ndash48 (1976)
54 P W Bridgman ldquoStudies in Large Plastic Flow and Fracturerdquo McGraw-Hill NY (1952)
55 H L D Push ldquoThe Mechanical Behavior o Materials Under Pressurerdquo Elsevier Amster-
dam (1970)56 H L D Push and A H Low J Inst Metals 93 201 (196565)
57 F Slack Mach Design Oct 7 61ndash64 (1982)
58 J H Southern and R S Porter J Appl Polym Sci 14 2305 (1970)
59 J H Southern and R S Porter J Macromol Sci Phys 3ndash4 541 (1970)
60 J H Southern N E Weeks and R S Porter Macromol Chem 162 19 (1972)
61 N J Capiati and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 13 1177 (1975)
62 R S Porter J H Southern and N E Weeks Polym Eng Sci 15 213 (1975)
63 A E Zachariades E S Sherman and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 17 255
(1979)
64 A E Zachariades and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 17 277 (1979)
65 B Parsons D Bretherton and B N Cole in Advances in MTDR 11th Int Con Proc
S A Tobias and F Koeningsberger (Eds) Pergamon Press London Vol B 1049 (1971)
66 G Capaccio and I M Ward Polymer 15 233 (1974)
67 A G Gibson I M Ward B N Cole and B Parsons J Mater Sci 9 1193ndash1196 (1974)
68 A G Gibson and I M Ward J Appl Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 16 2015ndash2030 (1978)
69 P S Hope and B Parsons Polym Eng Sci 20 589ndash600 (1980)
70 P S Hope I M Ward and A G Gibson J Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 18 1242ndash1256
(1980)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3637
983092983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
71 P S Hope A G Gibson B Parsons and I M Ward Polym Eng Sci 20 54ndash55 (1980)
72 B Parsons and I M Ward Plast Rubber Proc Appl 2 3 215ndash224 (1982)
73 K Imada T Yamamoto K Shigematsu and M Takayanagi J Mater Sci 6 537ndash546
(1971)
74 K Nakamura K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 2 71 (1972)
75 K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 2 89 (1973)
76 K Nakamura K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 3 23 (1974)
77 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Mater Sci 10 1105 (1975)
78 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Mater Sci 12 1477 (1977)
79 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Appl Polym Sci 23 2543ndash2554 (1979)
80 D M Bigg Polym Eng Sci 16 725 (1976)
81 D M Bigg M M Epstein R J Fiorentino and E G Smith Polym Eng Sci 18 908(1978)
82 D M Bigg and M M Epstein ldquoScience and Technology o Polymer Processingrdquo N S Suh
and N Sung (Eds) 897 MIT Press (1979)
83 D M Bigg M M Epstein R J Fiorentino and E G Smith J Appl Polym Sci 26 395ndash
409 (1981)
84 K D Pae and D R Mears J Polym Sci B-6 269 (1968)
85 K D Pae D R Mears and J A Sauer J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 6 773 (1968)
86 D R Mears K P Pae and J A Sauer J Appl Phys 40 11 4229ndash4237 (1969)
87 L A Davis and C A Pampillo J Appl Phys 42 12 4659ndash4666 (1971)
88 A Buckley and H A Long Polym Eng Sci 9 2 115ndash120 (1969)
89 L A Davis Polym Eng Sci 14 9 641ndash645 (1974)
90 R K Okine and N P Suh Polym Eng Sci 22 5 269ndash279 (1982)
91 J R Collier T Y T Tam J Newcome and N Dinos Polym Eng Sci 16 204ndash211 (1976)
92 J H Faupel and F E Fisher ldquoEngineering Designrdquo Wiley NY (1981)
93 A E Zachariades R Ball and R S Porter J Mater Sci 13 2671ndash2675 (1978)
94 R R Westover Modern Plastics March (1963) 95 B Yi and R T Fenner Plastics and Polymers Dec 224ndash228 (1975)
96 A Mekkaoui and L N Valsamis Polym Eng Sci 24 1260ndash1269 (1984)
97 H Rust Kunststoffe 73 342ndash346 (1983)
98 J Huszman Kunststoffe 73 3437ndash348 (1983)
99 J M McKelvey U Maire and F Haupt Chem Eng Sept 27 94ndash102 (1976)
100 K Schneider Kunststoffe 68 201ndash206 (1978)
101 W T Rice Plastic Technology 87ndash91 Feb (1980)
102 Harrel Corp ldquoMelt Pump Systems or Extrudersrdquo Product Description TDS-264 (1982)
103 J M McKelvey and W T Rice Chem Eng 90 2 89ndash94 (1983)
104 K Kaper K Eise and H Herrmann SPE ANTEC Chicago 161ndash163 (1983)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3737
References 983092983095
105 C L Woodworth SPE ANTEC New Orleans 122ndash126 (1984)
106 W A Kramer SPE ANTEC Washington D C 23ndash29 (1985)
107 J Schut ldquoDie Drawing Makes Plastic Steelrdquo Plastics Technology Online Article March
5 (2001)
108 VDI Conerence Extrusiontechnik 2006 ldquoDer Einschnecken-Extruder von Morgenrdquo VDI
Verlag GmbH Duumlsseldor (2006)
109 P Rieg ldquoLatest Developments in High-Speed Extrusionrdquo Plastic Extrusion Asia Con-
erence Bangkok Thailand March 17ndash18 (2008) also presented at Advances in Ex-
trusion Conerence New Orleans December 9ndash10 (2008)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3037
983092983088 983090Different Types of Extruders
conductivity in the extrusion direction is much higher than that o the un-oriented
polymer as much as 25 times higher The melting point o the solid-state extruded
polymer increases with the amount o orientation The melting point o HDPE can be
shifed to as high as 140degC
Table 25 Comparison of Mechanical Properties
Material Tensile modulus[MPa]
Tensile strength[MPa]
Elongation[]
Density[gcc]
Annealed SAE 1020 210000 410 35 786
W-200 degF SAE 1020 210000 720 6 786
Annealed 304 stainless
steel
200000 590 50 792
Aluminum 1100ndash0 70000 90 45 271
HDPE solid state
extruded
70000 480 3 097
HDPE melt extruded 10000 30 20ndash1000 096
A recent application o solid-state extrusion is the process developed by Synthetic
Hardwood Technologies Inc [107] This company has developed an expanded ori-
ented wood-filled polypropylene (EOW-PP) that is about 300 stronger than regular
PP The process is based on technology developed at Aluminum Company o Canada
Ltd (Alcan) in the early 1990s to solidstate extrude PP It involves ram extrusion
drawing o billets o PP just below the melting point with very high draw ratio and
high haul-off tension (about 3 MPa) to reeze-in the high level o orientation Alcan
did not pursue the technology and Symplastics Ltd licensed the patented process
this company started experimenting with adding small amounts o wood flour to the
PP However Symplastics ound the research and development too costly and sold
the patents and lab extrusion equipment to Frank Maine who set up SHW to com-
mercialize applications or the EOW-PP The key to the SHW process is that it com-
bines extrusion with drawing As the polymer is oriented the density drops about
50 rom about 1 g cc to 05 g cc The die drawing also allowed substantial in-creases in line speed rom about 0050 m min to about 9 m min The properties
achieved with EOW-PP are shown in Table 24 and compared to regular PP wood
and oriented PP
Solid-state extrusion has been practiced with coextrusion o different polymers [93]
Despite the large amount o research on solid-state extrusion and the outstanding
mechanical properties that can be obtained there does not seem to be much interest
in the polymer industry The main drawbacks o course are that solid-state extru-
sion is basically a discontinuous process it cannot be done on conventional polymer
processing equipment and very high pressures are required to achieve solid-stateextrusion Also one should keep in mind that very good mechanical properties can
be obtained by taking a profile (fiber film tube etc) produced by conventional con-
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3137
983090983092 Ram Extruders 983092983089
tinuous extrusion and exposing it to controlled deormation at a temperature below
the melting point This is a well-established technique in many extrusion operations
(fiber spinning film extrusion etc) and it can be done at a high rate This method
o producing extrudates with very good mechanical properties is likely to be more
cost-effective than solid-state extrusion It is possible that the die drawing processdeveloped by SHW can make solid-state extrusion more attractive commercially by
allowing large profiles to be processed at reasonable line speeds
Table 26 Mechanical Properties of PP Wood OPP and EOW-PP
Flexural strength [MPa] Flexural modulus [MPa]
Regular PP 50 1850
Wood 100 9000
Oriented PP 275 7600EOW-PP 140 7600
983090983092983090Multi Ram Extruder
As mentioned beore the main disadvantage o ram extruders is their intermittent
operation Several attempts have been made to overcome this problem by designing
multi-ram extruders that work together in such a way as to produce a continuousflow o material
Westover [94] designed a continuous ram extruder that combined our plunger-
cylinders Two plunger-cylinders were used or plasticating and two or pumping
An intricate shuttle valve connecting all the plunger cylinders provides continuous
extrusion
Another attempt to develop a continuous ram extruder was made by Yi and Fenner
[95] They designed a twin ram extruder with the cylinders in a V-configuration see
Fig 222The two rams discharge into a common barrel in which a plasticating shaf is rotat-
ing Thus solids conveying occurs in the two separate cylinders and plasticating
and melt conveying occurs in the annular region between the barrel and plasticat-
ing shaf The machine is able to extrude however the throughput uniormity is
poor The perormance could probably have been improved i the plasticating shaf
had been provided with a helical channel But o course then the machine would
have become a screw extruder with a ram-assisted eed This only goes to demon-
strate that it is ar rom easy to improve upon the simple screw extruder
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3237
983092983090 983090Different Types of Extruders
Die Breaker plate
Plasticating shaft
Main
block
Feed cylinder
Figure 222 Twin ram extruder
983090983092983091 Appendix 983090983089
983090983092983091983089 Pumping Efficiency in Diskpack Extruder
The velocity profile between the moving walls is a parabolic unction when the fluid
is a Newtonian fluid see Section 621 and Fig 223
y
z H
Small pressure gradient
Medium pressure gradient
Large pressure gradient
Figure 983090983090983091
Velocity profiles between moving
walls
The velocity profile or a Newtonian fluid is
L8
PH
H
y41vv(y)
2
2
2
∆micro∆
minusminus= (1)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3337
983090983092 Ram Extruders 983092983091
where v is the velocity o the plates H the distance between the plates and μ the
viscosity o the fluid The flow rate can be ound by integrating v(y) over the width
and depth o the channel this yields
L12
PWHvWHV
3
∆micro∆minus=
bull
(2)
The first term on the right-hand side o the equalation is the drag flow term The
second term is the pressure flow term The ratio o pressure flow to drag flow is
termed the throttle ratio rd (see Section 7413)
r d =Lv12
PH2
∆micro
∆ (3)
The flow rate can now be written as
(4)
The shear stress at the wall is obtained rom
dv H∆Pτ = micro =dy
05H 2∆L
(5)
The power consumption in the channel is
Zch = PvHWLvW2 ∆=∆τ (6)
The energy efficiency or pressure generation is
V∆Pε = =1 minus r
d Zch
(7)
Equation 7 is not valid or rd = 0 because in this case both numerator and denomi-
nator become zero From Eq 7 it can be seen that when the machine is operated atlow rd values the pumping efficiency can become close to 100 This is considerably
better than the single screw extruder where the optimum pumping efficiency is 33
at a throttle ratio value o 033 (rd = 13)
References
1 J LeBras ldquoRubber Fundamentals o its Science and Technologyrdquo Chemical Publ Co
NY (1957)
2 W S Penn ldquoSynthetic Rubber Technology Volume Irdquo MacLaren amp Sons Ltd London(1960)
3 W J S Naunton ldquoThe Applied Science o Rubberrdquo Edward Arnold Ltd London (1961)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3437
983092983092 983090Different Types of Extruders
4 C M Blow ldquoRubber Technology and Manuacturerdquo Butterworth amp Co Ltd London
(1971)
5 F R Eirich (Ed) ldquoScience and Technology o Rubberrdquo Academic Press NY (1978)
6 C W Evans ldquoPowdered and Particulate Rubber Technologyrdquo Applied Science Publ Ltd
London (1978)
7 G Targiel et al 10 IKV-Kolloquium Aachen March 12ndash14 45 (1980)
8 A Kennaway Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 17 378ndash391 (1964)
9 G Menges and J P Lehnen Plastverarbeiter 20 1 31ndash39 (1969)
10 M Parshall and A J Saulino Rubber World 2 5 78ndash83 (1967)
11 S E Perlberg Rubber World 2 6 71ndash76 (1967)
12 H H Gohlisch Gummi Asbest Kunststoffe 25 9 834ndash835 (1972)
13 E Harms ldquoKautschuk-Extruder Aubau und Einsatz aus verahrenstechnischer Sichtrdquo
Krausskop-Verlag Mainz Bd 2 Buchreihe Kunststo983142echnik (1974)
14 G Schwarz Eur Rubber Journal Sept 28ndash32 (1977)
15 G Menges and E G Harms Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 25 10 469ndash475 (1972)
16 G Menges and E G Harms Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 27 5 187ndash193 (1974)
17 E G Harms Elastomerics 109 6 33ndash39 (1977)
18 E G Harms Eur Rubber Journal 6 23 (1978)
19 E G Harms Kunststoffe 69 1 32ndash33 (1979)
20 E G Harms Dissertation RWTH Aachen Germany (1981)21 S H Collins Plastics Compounding Nov Dec 29 (1982)
22 D Anders Kunststoffe 69 194ndash198 (1979)
23 D Gras and K Eise SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 21 386 (1975)
24 R F Westover SPE Journal 18 12 1473 (1962)
25 Lord Raleigh Philosophical Magazine 35 1ndash12 (1918)
26 German Patent DRP 1129681
27 British Patent BP 759354
28 U S Patent 3880564
29 U S Patent 4012477
30 J F Ingen Housz Plastverarbeiter 10 1 (1975)
31 U S Patent 4142805
32 U S Patent 4194841
33 U S Patent 4213709
34 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 25 193 (1979)
35 P Hold Z Tadmor and L Valsamis SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 25 205 (1979)
36 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis Plastics Engineering Nov 20ndash25 (1979)
37 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis Plastics Engineering Dec 30ndash38 (1979)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3537
References 983092983093
38 Z Tadmor et al The Diskpack Plastics Processor Farrel Publication Jan (1982)
39 L Valsamis AIChE Meeting Washington D C Oct (1983)
40 B Maxwell and A J Scalora Modern Plastics 37 107 Oct (1959)
41 U S Patent 3 046603
42 L L Blyler PhD thesis Princeton University NJ (1966)
43 H G Fritz Kunststo983142echnik 6 430 (1968)
44 H G Fritz PhD thesis Stuttgart University Germany (1971)
45 C W Macosko and J M Starita SPE Journal 27 30 (1971)
46 P A Good A J Schwartz and C W Macosko AIChE Journal 20 1 67 (1974)
47 V L Kocherov Y L Lukach E A Sporyagin and G V Vinogradov Polym Eng Sci 13
194 (1973)
48 J Berzen and G Braun Kunststoffe 69 2 62ndash66 (1979)49 R S Porter et al J Polym Sci 17 485ndash488 (1979)
50 C A Sperati Modern Plastics Encyclopedia McGraw-Hill NY (1983)
51 S S Schwartz and S H Goodman see Chapter 1 [36]
52 G R Snelling and J F Lontz J Appl Polym Sci 3 9 257ndash265 (1960)
53 D C F Couzens Plastics and Rubber Processing March 45ndash48 (1976)
54 P W Bridgman ldquoStudies in Large Plastic Flow and Fracturerdquo McGraw-Hill NY (1952)
55 H L D Push ldquoThe Mechanical Behavior o Materials Under Pressurerdquo Elsevier Amster-
dam (1970)56 H L D Push and A H Low J Inst Metals 93 201 (196565)
57 F Slack Mach Design Oct 7 61ndash64 (1982)
58 J H Southern and R S Porter J Appl Polym Sci 14 2305 (1970)
59 J H Southern and R S Porter J Macromol Sci Phys 3ndash4 541 (1970)
60 J H Southern N E Weeks and R S Porter Macromol Chem 162 19 (1972)
61 N J Capiati and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 13 1177 (1975)
62 R S Porter J H Southern and N E Weeks Polym Eng Sci 15 213 (1975)
63 A E Zachariades E S Sherman and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 17 255
(1979)
64 A E Zachariades and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 17 277 (1979)
65 B Parsons D Bretherton and B N Cole in Advances in MTDR 11th Int Con Proc
S A Tobias and F Koeningsberger (Eds) Pergamon Press London Vol B 1049 (1971)
66 G Capaccio and I M Ward Polymer 15 233 (1974)
67 A G Gibson I M Ward B N Cole and B Parsons J Mater Sci 9 1193ndash1196 (1974)
68 A G Gibson and I M Ward J Appl Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 16 2015ndash2030 (1978)
69 P S Hope and B Parsons Polym Eng Sci 20 589ndash600 (1980)
70 P S Hope I M Ward and A G Gibson J Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 18 1242ndash1256
(1980)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3637
983092983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
71 P S Hope A G Gibson B Parsons and I M Ward Polym Eng Sci 20 54ndash55 (1980)
72 B Parsons and I M Ward Plast Rubber Proc Appl 2 3 215ndash224 (1982)
73 K Imada T Yamamoto K Shigematsu and M Takayanagi J Mater Sci 6 537ndash546
(1971)
74 K Nakamura K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 2 71 (1972)
75 K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 2 89 (1973)
76 K Nakamura K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 3 23 (1974)
77 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Mater Sci 10 1105 (1975)
78 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Mater Sci 12 1477 (1977)
79 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Appl Polym Sci 23 2543ndash2554 (1979)
80 D M Bigg Polym Eng Sci 16 725 (1976)
81 D M Bigg M M Epstein R J Fiorentino and E G Smith Polym Eng Sci 18 908(1978)
82 D M Bigg and M M Epstein ldquoScience and Technology o Polymer Processingrdquo N S Suh
and N Sung (Eds) 897 MIT Press (1979)
83 D M Bigg M M Epstein R J Fiorentino and E G Smith J Appl Polym Sci 26 395ndash
409 (1981)
84 K D Pae and D R Mears J Polym Sci B-6 269 (1968)
85 K D Pae D R Mears and J A Sauer J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 6 773 (1968)
86 D R Mears K P Pae and J A Sauer J Appl Phys 40 11 4229ndash4237 (1969)
87 L A Davis and C A Pampillo J Appl Phys 42 12 4659ndash4666 (1971)
88 A Buckley and H A Long Polym Eng Sci 9 2 115ndash120 (1969)
89 L A Davis Polym Eng Sci 14 9 641ndash645 (1974)
90 R K Okine and N P Suh Polym Eng Sci 22 5 269ndash279 (1982)
91 J R Collier T Y T Tam J Newcome and N Dinos Polym Eng Sci 16 204ndash211 (1976)
92 J H Faupel and F E Fisher ldquoEngineering Designrdquo Wiley NY (1981)
93 A E Zachariades R Ball and R S Porter J Mater Sci 13 2671ndash2675 (1978)
94 R R Westover Modern Plastics March (1963) 95 B Yi and R T Fenner Plastics and Polymers Dec 224ndash228 (1975)
96 A Mekkaoui and L N Valsamis Polym Eng Sci 24 1260ndash1269 (1984)
97 H Rust Kunststoffe 73 342ndash346 (1983)
98 J Huszman Kunststoffe 73 3437ndash348 (1983)
99 J M McKelvey U Maire and F Haupt Chem Eng Sept 27 94ndash102 (1976)
100 K Schneider Kunststoffe 68 201ndash206 (1978)
101 W T Rice Plastic Technology 87ndash91 Feb (1980)
102 Harrel Corp ldquoMelt Pump Systems or Extrudersrdquo Product Description TDS-264 (1982)
103 J M McKelvey and W T Rice Chem Eng 90 2 89ndash94 (1983)
104 K Kaper K Eise and H Herrmann SPE ANTEC Chicago 161ndash163 (1983)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3737
References 983092983095
105 C L Woodworth SPE ANTEC New Orleans 122ndash126 (1984)
106 W A Kramer SPE ANTEC Washington D C 23ndash29 (1985)
107 J Schut ldquoDie Drawing Makes Plastic Steelrdquo Plastics Technology Online Article March
5 (2001)
108 VDI Conerence Extrusiontechnik 2006 ldquoDer Einschnecken-Extruder von Morgenrdquo VDI
Verlag GmbH Duumlsseldor (2006)
109 P Rieg ldquoLatest Developments in High-Speed Extrusionrdquo Plastic Extrusion Asia Con-
erence Bangkok Thailand March 17ndash18 (2008) also presented at Advances in Ex-
trusion Conerence New Orleans December 9ndash10 (2008)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3137
983090983092 Ram Extruders 983092983089
tinuous extrusion and exposing it to controlled deormation at a temperature below
the melting point This is a well-established technique in many extrusion operations
(fiber spinning film extrusion etc) and it can be done at a high rate This method
o producing extrudates with very good mechanical properties is likely to be more
cost-effective than solid-state extrusion It is possible that the die drawing processdeveloped by SHW can make solid-state extrusion more attractive commercially by
allowing large profiles to be processed at reasonable line speeds
Table 26 Mechanical Properties of PP Wood OPP and EOW-PP
Flexural strength [MPa] Flexural modulus [MPa]
Regular PP 50 1850
Wood 100 9000
Oriented PP 275 7600EOW-PP 140 7600
983090983092983090Multi Ram Extruder
As mentioned beore the main disadvantage o ram extruders is their intermittent
operation Several attempts have been made to overcome this problem by designing
multi-ram extruders that work together in such a way as to produce a continuousflow o material
Westover [94] designed a continuous ram extruder that combined our plunger-
cylinders Two plunger-cylinders were used or plasticating and two or pumping
An intricate shuttle valve connecting all the plunger cylinders provides continuous
extrusion
Another attempt to develop a continuous ram extruder was made by Yi and Fenner
[95] They designed a twin ram extruder with the cylinders in a V-configuration see
Fig 222The two rams discharge into a common barrel in which a plasticating shaf is rotat-
ing Thus solids conveying occurs in the two separate cylinders and plasticating
and melt conveying occurs in the annular region between the barrel and plasticat-
ing shaf The machine is able to extrude however the throughput uniormity is
poor The perormance could probably have been improved i the plasticating shaf
had been provided with a helical channel But o course then the machine would
have become a screw extruder with a ram-assisted eed This only goes to demon-
strate that it is ar rom easy to improve upon the simple screw extruder
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3237
983092983090 983090Different Types of Extruders
Die Breaker plate
Plasticating shaft
Main
block
Feed cylinder
Figure 222 Twin ram extruder
983090983092983091 Appendix 983090983089
983090983092983091983089 Pumping Efficiency in Diskpack Extruder
The velocity profile between the moving walls is a parabolic unction when the fluid
is a Newtonian fluid see Section 621 and Fig 223
y
z H
Small pressure gradient
Medium pressure gradient
Large pressure gradient
Figure 983090983090983091
Velocity profiles between moving
walls
The velocity profile or a Newtonian fluid is
L8
PH
H
y41vv(y)
2
2
2
∆micro∆
minusminus= (1)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3337
983090983092 Ram Extruders 983092983091
where v is the velocity o the plates H the distance between the plates and μ the
viscosity o the fluid The flow rate can be ound by integrating v(y) over the width
and depth o the channel this yields
L12
PWHvWHV
3
∆micro∆minus=
bull
(2)
The first term on the right-hand side o the equalation is the drag flow term The
second term is the pressure flow term The ratio o pressure flow to drag flow is
termed the throttle ratio rd (see Section 7413)
r d =Lv12
PH2
∆micro
∆ (3)
The flow rate can now be written as
(4)
The shear stress at the wall is obtained rom
dv H∆Pτ = micro =dy
05H 2∆L
(5)
The power consumption in the channel is
Zch = PvHWLvW2 ∆=∆τ (6)
The energy efficiency or pressure generation is
V∆Pε = =1 minus r
d Zch
(7)
Equation 7 is not valid or rd = 0 because in this case both numerator and denomi-
nator become zero From Eq 7 it can be seen that when the machine is operated atlow rd values the pumping efficiency can become close to 100 This is considerably
better than the single screw extruder where the optimum pumping efficiency is 33
at a throttle ratio value o 033 (rd = 13)
References
1 J LeBras ldquoRubber Fundamentals o its Science and Technologyrdquo Chemical Publ Co
NY (1957)
2 W S Penn ldquoSynthetic Rubber Technology Volume Irdquo MacLaren amp Sons Ltd London(1960)
3 W J S Naunton ldquoThe Applied Science o Rubberrdquo Edward Arnold Ltd London (1961)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3437
983092983092 983090Different Types of Extruders
4 C M Blow ldquoRubber Technology and Manuacturerdquo Butterworth amp Co Ltd London
(1971)
5 F R Eirich (Ed) ldquoScience and Technology o Rubberrdquo Academic Press NY (1978)
6 C W Evans ldquoPowdered and Particulate Rubber Technologyrdquo Applied Science Publ Ltd
London (1978)
7 G Targiel et al 10 IKV-Kolloquium Aachen March 12ndash14 45 (1980)
8 A Kennaway Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 17 378ndash391 (1964)
9 G Menges and J P Lehnen Plastverarbeiter 20 1 31ndash39 (1969)
10 M Parshall and A J Saulino Rubber World 2 5 78ndash83 (1967)
11 S E Perlberg Rubber World 2 6 71ndash76 (1967)
12 H H Gohlisch Gummi Asbest Kunststoffe 25 9 834ndash835 (1972)
13 E Harms ldquoKautschuk-Extruder Aubau und Einsatz aus verahrenstechnischer Sichtrdquo
Krausskop-Verlag Mainz Bd 2 Buchreihe Kunststo983142echnik (1974)
14 G Schwarz Eur Rubber Journal Sept 28ndash32 (1977)
15 G Menges and E G Harms Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 25 10 469ndash475 (1972)
16 G Menges and E G Harms Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 27 5 187ndash193 (1974)
17 E G Harms Elastomerics 109 6 33ndash39 (1977)
18 E G Harms Eur Rubber Journal 6 23 (1978)
19 E G Harms Kunststoffe 69 1 32ndash33 (1979)
20 E G Harms Dissertation RWTH Aachen Germany (1981)21 S H Collins Plastics Compounding Nov Dec 29 (1982)
22 D Anders Kunststoffe 69 194ndash198 (1979)
23 D Gras and K Eise SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 21 386 (1975)
24 R F Westover SPE Journal 18 12 1473 (1962)
25 Lord Raleigh Philosophical Magazine 35 1ndash12 (1918)
26 German Patent DRP 1129681
27 British Patent BP 759354
28 U S Patent 3880564
29 U S Patent 4012477
30 J F Ingen Housz Plastverarbeiter 10 1 (1975)
31 U S Patent 4142805
32 U S Patent 4194841
33 U S Patent 4213709
34 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 25 193 (1979)
35 P Hold Z Tadmor and L Valsamis SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 25 205 (1979)
36 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis Plastics Engineering Nov 20ndash25 (1979)
37 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis Plastics Engineering Dec 30ndash38 (1979)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3537
References 983092983093
38 Z Tadmor et al The Diskpack Plastics Processor Farrel Publication Jan (1982)
39 L Valsamis AIChE Meeting Washington D C Oct (1983)
40 B Maxwell and A J Scalora Modern Plastics 37 107 Oct (1959)
41 U S Patent 3 046603
42 L L Blyler PhD thesis Princeton University NJ (1966)
43 H G Fritz Kunststo983142echnik 6 430 (1968)
44 H G Fritz PhD thesis Stuttgart University Germany (1971)
45 C W Macosko and J M Starita SPE Journal 27 30 (1971)
46 P A Good A J Schwartz and C W Macosko AIChE Journal 20 1 67 (1974)
47 V L Kocherov Y L Lukach E A Sporyagin and G V Vinogradov Polym Eng Sci 13
194 (1973)
48 J Berzen and G Braun Kunststoffe 69 2 62ndash66 (1979)49 R S Porter et al J Polym Sci 17 485ndash488 (1979)
50 C A Sperati Modern Plastics Encyclopedia McGraw-Hill NY (1983)
51 S S Schwartz and S H Goodman see Chapter 1 [36]
52 G R Snelling and J F Lontz J Appl Polym Sci 3 9 257ndash265 (1960)
53 D C F Couzens Plastics and Rubber Processing March 45ndash48 (1976)
54 P W Bridgman ldquoStudies in Large Plastic Flow and Fracturerdquo McGraw-Hill NY (1952)
55 H L D Push ldquoThe Mechanical Behavior o Materials Under Pressurerdquo Elsevier Amster-
dam (1970)56 H L D Push and A H Low J Inst Metals 93 201 (196565)
57 F Slack Mach Design Oct 7 61ndash64 (1982)
58 J H Southern and R S Porter J Appl Polym Sci 14 2305 (1970)
59 J H Southern and R S Porter J Macromol Sci Phys 3ndash4 541 (1970)
60 J H Southern N E Weeks and R S Porter Macromol Chem 162 19 (1972)
61 N J Capiati and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 13 1177 (1975)
62 R S Porter J H Southern and N E Weeks Polym Eng Sci 15 213 (1975)
63 A E Zachariades E S Sherman and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 17 255
(1979)
64 A E Zachariades and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 17 277 (1979)
65 B Parsons D Bretherton and B N Cole in Advances in MTDR 11th Int Con Proc
S A Tobias and F Koeningsberger (Eds) Pergamon Press London Vol B 1049 (1971)
66 G Capaccio and I M Ward Polymer 15 233 (1974)
67 A G Gibson I M Ward B N Cole and B Parsons J Mater Sci 9 1193ndash1196 (1974)
68 A G Gibson and I M Ward J Appl Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 16 2015ndash2030 (1978)
69 P S Hope and B Parsons Polym Eng Sci 20 589ndash600 (1980)
70 P S Hope I M Ward and A G Gibson J Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 18 1242ndash1256
(1980)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3637
983092983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
71 P S Hope A G Gibson B Parsons and I M Ward Polym Eng Sci 20 54ndash55 (1980)
72 B Parsons and I M Ward Plast Rubber Proc Appl 2 3 215ndash224 (1982)
73 K Imada T Yamamoto K Shigematsu and M Takayanagi J Mater Sci 6 537ndash546
(1971)
74 K Nakamura K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 2 71 (1972)
75 K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 2 89 (1973)
76 K Nakamura K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 3 23 (1974)
77 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Mater Sci 10 1105 (1975)
78 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Mater Sci 12 1477 (1977)
79 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Appl Polym Sci 23 2543ndash2554 (1979)
80 D M Bigg Polym Eng Sci 16 725 (1976)
81 D M Bigg M M Epstein R J Fiorentino and E G Smith Polym Eng Sci 18 908(1978)
82 D M Bigg and M M Epstein ldquoScience and Technology o Polymer Processingrdquo N S Suh
and N Sung (Eds) 897 MIT Press (1979)
83 D M Bigg M M Epstein R J Fiorentino and E G Smith J Appl Polym Sci 26 395ndash
409 (1981)
84 K D Pae and D R Mears J Polym Sci B-6 269 (1968)
85 K D Pae D R Mears and J A Sauer J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 6 773 (1968)
86 D R Mears K P Pae and J A Sauer J Appl Phys 40 11 4229ndash4237 (1969)
87 L A Davis and C A Pampillo J Appl Phys 42 12 4659ndash4666 (1971)
88 A Buckley and H A Long Polym Eng Sci 9 2 115ndash120 (1969)
89 L A Davis Polym Eng Sci 14 9 641ndash645 (1974)
90 R K Okine and N P Suh Polym Eng Sci 22 5 269ndash279 (1982)
91 J R Collier T Y T Tam J Newcome and N Dinos Polym Eng Sci 16 204ndash211 (1976)
92 J H Faupel and F E Fisher ldquoEngineering Designrdquo Wiley NY (1981)
93 A E Zachariades R Ball and R S Porter J Mater Sci 13 2671ndash2675 (1978)
94 R R Westover Modern Plastics March (1963) 95 B Yi and R T Fenner Plastics and Polymers Dec 224ndash228 (1975)
96 A Mekkaoui and L N Valsamis Polym Eng Sci 24 1260ndash1269 (1984)
97 H Rust Kunststoffe 73 342ndash346 (1983)
98 J Huszman Kunststoffe 73 3437ndash348 (1983)
99 J M McKelvey U Maire and F Haupt Chem Eng Sept 27 94ndash102 (1976)
100 K Schneider Kunststoffe 68 201ndash206 (1978)
101 W T Rice Plastic Technology 87ndash91 Feb (1980)
102 Harrel Corp ldquoMelt Pump Systems or Extrudersrdquo Product Description TDS-264 (1982)
103 J M McKelvey and W T Rice Chem Eng 90 2 89ndash94 (1983)
104 K Kaper K Eise and H Herrmann SPE ANTEC Chicago 161ndash163 (1983)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3737
References 983092983095
105 C L Woodworth SPE ANTEC New Orleans 122ndash126 (1984)
106 W A Kramer SPE ANTEC Washington D C 23ndash29 (1985)
107 J Schut ldquoDie Drawing Makes Plastic Steelrdquo Plastics Technology Online Article March
5 (2001)
108 VDI Conerence Extrusiontechnik 2006 ldquoDer Einschnecken-Extruder von Morgenrdquo VDI
Verlag GmbH Duumlsseldor (2006)
109 P Rieg ldquoLatest Developments in High-Speed Extrusionrdquo Plastic Extrusion Asia Con-
erence Bangkok Thailand March 17ndash18 (2008) also presented at Advances in Ex-
trusion Conerence New Orleans December 9ndash10 (2008)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3237
983092983090 983090Different Types of Extruders
Die Breaker plate
Plasticating shaft
Main
block
Feed cylinder
Figure 222 Twin ram extruder
983090983092983091 Appendix 983090983089
983090983092983091983089 Pumping Efficiency in Diskpack Extruder
The velocity profile between the moving walls is a parabolic unction when the fluid
is a Newtonian fluid see Section 621 and Fig 223
y
z H
Small pressure gradient
Medium pressure gradient
Large pressure gradient
Figure 983090983090983091
Velocity profiles between moving
walls
The velocity profile or a Newtonian fluid is
L8
PH
H
y41vv(y)
2
2
2
∆micro∆
minusminus= (1)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3337
983090983092 Ram Extruders 983092983091
where v is the velocity o the plates H the distance between the plates and μ the
viscosity o the fluid The flow rate can be ound by integrating v(y) over the width
and depth o the channel this yields
L12
PWHvWHV
3
∆micro∆minus=
bull
(2)
The first term on the right-hand side o the equalation is the drag flow term The
second term is the pressure flow term The ratio o pressure flow to drag flow is
termed the throttle ratio rd (see Section 7413)
r d =Lv12
PH2
∆micro
∆ (3)
The flow rate can now be written as
(4)
The shear stress at the wall is obtained rom
dv H∆Pτ = micro =dy
05H 2∆L
(5)
The power consumption in the channel is
Zch = PvHWLvW2 ∆=∆τ (6)
The energy efficiency or pressure generation is
V∆Pε = =1 minus r
d Zch
(7)
Equation 7 is not valid or rd = 0 because in this case both numerator and denomi-
nator become zero From Eq 7 it can be seen that when the machine is operated atlow rd values the pumping efficiency can become close to 100 This is considerably
better than the single screw extruder where the optimum pumping efficiency is 33
at a throttle ratio value o 033 (rd = 13)
References
1 J LeBras ldquoRubber Fundamentals o its Science and Technologyrdquo Chemical Publ Co
NY (1957)
2 W S Penn ldquoSynthetic Rubber Technology Volume Irdquo MacLaren amp Sons Ltd London(1960)
3 W J S Naunton ldquoThe Applied Science o Rubberrdquo Edward Arnold Ltd London (1961)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3437
983092983092 983090Different Types of Extruders
4 C M Blow ldquoRubber Technology and Manuacturerdquo Butterworth amp Co Ltd London
(1971)
5 F R Eirich (Ed) ldquoScience and Technology o Rubberrdquo Academic Press NY (1978)
6 C W Evans ldquoPowdered and Particulate Rubber Technologyrdquo Applied Science Publ Ltd
London (1978)
7 G Targiel et al 10 IKV-Kolloquium Aachen March 12ndash14 45 (1980)
8 A Kennaway Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 17 378ndash391 (1964)
9 G Menges and J P Lehnen Plastverarbeiter 20 1 31ndash39 (1969)
10 M Parshall and A J Saulino Rubber World 2 5 78ndash83 (1967)
11 S E Perlberg Rubber World 2 6 71ndash76 (1967)
12 H H Gohlisch Gummi Asbest Kunststoffe 25 9 834ndash835 (1972)
13 E Harms ldquoKautschuk-Extruder Aubau und Einsatz aus verahrenstechnischer Sichtrdquo
Krausskop-Verlag Mainz Bd 2 Buchreihe Kunststo983142echnik (1974)
14 G Schwarz Eur Rubber Journal Sept 28ndash32 (1977)
15 G Menges and E G Harms Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 25 10 469ndash475 (1972)
16 G Menges and E G Harms Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 27 5 187ndash193 (1974)
17 E G Harms Elastomerics 109 6 33ndash39 (1977)
18 E G Harms Eur Rubber Journal 6 23 (1978)
19 E G Harms Kunststoffe 69 1 32ndash33 (1979)
20 E G Harms Dissertation RWTH Aachen Germany (1981)21 S H Collins Plastics Compounding Nov Dec 29 (1982)
22 D Anders Kunststoffe 69 194ndash198 (1979)
23 D Gras and K Eise SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 21 386 (1975)
24 R F Westover SPE Journal 18 12 1473 (1962)
25 Lord Raleigh Philosophical Magazine 35 1ndash12 (1918)
26 German Patent DRP 1129681
27 British Patent BP 759354
28 U S Patent 3880564
29 U S Patent 4012477
30 J F Ingen Housz Plastverarbeiter 10 1 (1975)
31 U S Patent 4142805
32 U S Patent 4194841
33 U S Patent 4213709
34 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 25 193 (1979)
35 P Hold Z Tadmor and L Valsamis SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 25 205 (1979)
36 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis Plastics Engineering Nov 20ndash25 (1979)
37 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis Plastics Engineering Dec 30ndash38 (1979)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3537
References 983092983093
38 Z Tadmor et al The Diskpack Plastics Processor Farrel Publication Jan (1982)
39 L Valsamis AIChE Meeting Washington D C Oct (1983)
40 B Maxwell and A J Scalora Modern Plastics 37 107 Oct (1959)
41 U S Patent 3 046603
42 L L Blyler PhD thesis Princeton University NJ (1966)
43 H G Fritz Kunststo983142echnik 6 430 (1968)
44 H G Fritz PhD thesis Stuttgart University Germany (1971)
45 C W Macosko and J M Starita SPE Journal 27 30 (1971)
46 P A Good A J Schwartz and C W Macosko AIChE Journal 20 1 67 (1974)
47 V L Kocherov Y L Lukach E A Sporyagin and G V Vinogradov Polym Eng Sci 13
194 (1973)
48 J Berzen and G Braun Kunststoffe 69 2 62ndash66 (1979)49 R S Porter et al J Polym Sci 17 485ndash488 (1979)
50 C A Sperati Modern Plastics Encyclopedia McGraw-Hill NY (1983)
51 S S Schwartz and S H Goodman see Chapter 1 [36]
52 G R Snelling and J F Lontz J Appl Polym Sci 3 9 257ndash265 (1960)
53 D C F Couzens Plastics and Rubber Processing March 45ndash48 (1976)
54 P W Bridgman ldquoStudies in Large Plastic Flow and Fracturerdquo McGraw-Hill NY (1952)
55 H L D Push ldquoThe Mechanical Behavior o Materials Under Pressurerdquo Elsevier Amster-
dam (1970)56 H L D Push and A H Low J Inst Metals 93 201 (196565)
57 F Slack Mach Design Oct 7 61ndash64 (1982)
58 J H Southern and R S Porter J Appl Polym Sci 14 2305 (1970)
59 J H Southern and R S Porter J Macromol Sci Phys 3ndash4 541 (1970)
60 J H Southern N E Weeks and R S Porter Macromol Chem 162 19 (1972)
61 N J Capiati and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 13 1177 (1975)
62 R S Porter J H Southern and N E Weeks Polym Eng Sci 15 213 (1975)
63 A E Zachariades E S Sherman and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 17 255
(1979)
64 A E Zachariades and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 17 277 (1979)
65 B Parsons D Bretherton and B N Cole in Advances in MTDR 11th Int Con Proc
S A Tobias and F Koeningsberger (Eds) Pergamon Press London Vol B 1049 (1971)
66 G Capaccio and I M Ward Polymer 15 233 (1974)
67 A G Gibson I M Ward B N Cole and B Parsons J Mater Sci 9 1193ndash1196 (1974)
68 A G Gibson and I M Ward J Appl Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 16 2015ndash2030 (1978)
69 P S Hope and B Parsons Polym Eng Sci 20 589ndash600 (1980)
70 P S Hope I M Ward and A G Gibson J Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 18 1242ndash1256
(1980)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3637
983092983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
71 P S Hope A G Gibson B Parsons and I M Ward Polym Eng Sci 20 54ndash55 (1980)
72 B Parsons and I M Ward Plast Rubber Proc Appl 2 3 215ndash224 (1982)
73 K Imada T Yamamoto K Shigematsu and M Takayanagi J Mater Sci 6 537ndash546
(1971)
74 K Nakamura K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 2 71 (1972)
75 K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 2 89 (1973)
76 K Nakamura K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 3 23 (1974)
77 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Mater Sci 10 1105 (1975)
78 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Mater Sci 12 1477 (1977)
79 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Appl Polym Sci 23 2543ndash2554 (1979)
80 D M Bigg Polym Eng Sci 16 725 (1976)
81 D M Bigg M M Epstein R J Fiorentino and E G Smith Polym Eng Sci 18 908(1978)
82 D M Bigg and M M Epstein ldquoScience and Technology o Polymer Processingrdquo N S Suh
and N Sung (Eds) 897 MIT Press (1979)
83 D M Bigg M M Epstein R J Fiorentino and E G Smith J Appl Polym Sci 26 395ndash
409 (1981)
84 K D Pae and D R Mears J Polym Sci B-6 269 (1968)
85 K D Pae D R Mears and J A Sauer J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 6 773 (1968)
86 D R Mears K P Pae and J A Sauer J Appl Phys 40 11 4229ndash4237 (1969)
87 L A Davis and C A Pampillo J Appl Phys 42 12 4659ndash4666 (1971)
88 A Buckley and H A Long Polym Eng Sci 9 2 115ndash120 (1969)
89 L A Davis Polym Eng Sci 14 9 641ndash645 (1974)
90 R K Okine and N P Suh Polym Eng Sci 22 5 269ndash279 (1982)
91 J R Collier T Y T Tam J Newcome and N Dinos Polym Eng Sci 16 204ndash211 (1976)
92 J H Faupel and F E Fisher ldquoEngineering Designrdquo Wiley NY (1981)
93 A E Zachariades R Ball and R S Porter J Mater Sci 13 2671ndash2675 (1978)
94 R R Westover Modern Plastics March (1963) 95 B Yi and R T Fenner Plastics and Polymers Dec 224ndash228 (1975)
96 A Mekkaoui and L N Valsamis Polym Eng Sci 24 1260ndash1269 (1984)
97 H Rust Kunststoffe 73 342ndash346 (1983)
98 J Huszman Kunststoffe 73 3437ndash348 (1983)
99 J M McKelvey U Maire and F Haupt Chem Eng Sept 27 94ndash102 (1976)
100 K Schneider Kunststoffe 68 201ndash206 (1978)
101 W T Rice Plastic Technology 87ndash91 Feb (1980)
102 Harrel Corp ldquoMelt Pump Systems or Extrudersrdquo Product Description TDS-264 (1982)
103 J M McKelvey and W T Rice Chem Eng 90 2 89ndash94 (1983)
104 K Kaper K Eise and H Herrmann SPE ANTEC Chicago 161ndash163 (1983)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3737
References 983092983095
105 C L Woodworth SPE ANTEC New Orleans 122ndash126 (1984)
106 W A Kramer SPE ANTEC Washington D C 23ndash29 (1985)
107 J Schut ldquoDie Drawing Makes Plastic Steelrdquo Plastics Technology Online Article March
5 (2001)
108 VDI Conerence Extrusiontechnik 2006 ldquoDer Einschnecken-Extruder von Morgenrdquo VDI
Verlag GmbH Duumlsseldor (2006)
109 P Rieg ldquoLatest Developments in High-Speed Extrusionrdquo Plastic Extrusion Asia Con-
erence Bangkok Thailand March 17ndash18 (2008) also presented at Advances in Ex-
trusion Conerence New Orleans December 9ndash10 (2008)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3337
983090983092 Ram Extruders 983092983091
where v is the velocity o the plates H the distance between the plates and μ the
viscosity o the fluid The flow rate can be ound by integrating v(y) over the width
and depth o the channel this yields
L12
PWHvWHV
3
∆micro∆minus=
bull
(2)
The first term on the right-hand side o the equalation is the drag flow term The
second term is the pressure flow term The ratio o pressure flow to drag flow is
termed the throttle ratio rd (see Section 7413)
r d =Lv12
PH2
∆micro
∆ (3)
The flow rate can now be written as
(4)
The shear stress at the wall is obtained rom
dv H∆Pτ = micro =dy
05H 2∆L
(5)
The power consumption in the channel is
Zch = PvHWLvW2 ∆=∆τ (6)
The energy efficiency or pressure generation is
V∆Pε = =1 minus r
d Zch
(7)
Equation 7 is not valid or rd = 0 because in this case both numerator and denomi-
nator become zero From Eq 7 it can be seen that when the machine is operated atlow rd values the pumping efficiency can become close to 100 This is considerably
better than the single screw extruder where the optimum pumping efficiency is 33
at a throttle ratio value o 033 (rd = 13)
References
1 J LeBras ldquoRubber Fundamentals o its Science and Technologyrdquo Chemical Publ Co
NY (1957)
2 W S Penn ldquoSynthetic Rubber Technology Volume Irdquo MacLaren amp Sons Ltd London(1960)
3 W J S Naunton ldquoThe Applied Science o Rubberrdquo Edward Arnold Ltd London (1961)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3437
983092983092 983090Different Types of Extruders
4 C M Blow ldquoRubber Technology and Manuacturerdquo Butterworth amp Co Ltd London
(1971)
5 F R Eirich (Ed) ldquoScience and Technology o Rubberrdquo Academic Press NY (1978)
6 C W Evans ldquoPowdered and Particulate Rubber Technologyrdquo Applied Science Publ Ltd
London (1978)
7 G Targiel et al 10 IKV-Kolloquium Aachen March 12ndash14 45 (1980)
8 A Kennaway Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 17 378ndash391 (1964)
9 G Menges and J P Lehnen Plastverarbeiter 20 1 31ndash39 (1969)
10 M Parshall and A J Saulino Rubber World 2 5 78ndash83 (1967)
11 S E Perlberg Rubber World 2 6 71ndash76 (1967)
12 H H Gohlisch Gummi Asbest Kunststoffe 25 9 834ndash835 (1972)
13 E Harms ldquoKautschuk-Extruder Aubau und Einsatz aus verahrenstechnischer Sichtrdquo
Krausskop-Verlag Mainz Bd 2 Buchreihe Kunststo983142echnik (1974)
14 G Schwarz Eur Rubber Journal Sept 28ndash32 (1977)
15 G Menges and E G Harms Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 25 10 469ndash475 (1972)
16 G Menges and E G Harms Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 27 5 187ndash193 (1974)
17 E G Harms Elastomerics 109 6 33ndash39 (1977)
18 E G Harms Eur Rubber Journal 6 23 (1978)
19 E G Harms Kunststoffe 69 1 32ndash33 (1979)
20 E G Harms Dissertation RWTH Aachen Germany (1981)21 S H Collins Plastics Compounding Nov Dec 29 (1982)
22 D Anders Kunststoffe 69 194ndash198 (1979)
23 D Gras and K Eise SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 21 386 (1975)
24 R F Westover SPE Journal 18 12 1473 (1962)
25 Lord Raleigh Philosophical Magazine 35 1ndash12 (1918)
26 German Patent DRP 1129681
27 British Patent BP 759354
28 U S Patent 3880564
29 U S Patent 4012477
30 J F Ingen Housz Plastverarbeiter 10 1 (1975)
31 U S Patent 4142805
32 U S Patent 4194841
33 U S Patent 4213709
34 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 25 193 (1979)
35 P Hold Z Tadmor and L Valsamis SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 25 205 (1979)
36 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis Plastics Engineering Nov 20ndash25 (1979)
37 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis Plastics Engineering Dec 30ndash38 (1979)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3537
References 983092983093
38 Z Tadmor et al The Diskpack Plastics Processor Farrel Publication Jan (1982)
39 L Valsamis AIChE Meeting Washington D C Oct (1983)
40 B Maxwell and A J Scalora Modern Plastics 37 107 Oct (1959)
41 U S Patent 3 046603
42 L L Blyler PhD thesis Princeton University NJ (1966)
43 H G Fritz Kunststo983142echnik 6 430 (1968)
44 H G Fritz PhD thesis Stuttgart University Germany (1971)
45 C W Macosko and J M Starita SPE Journal 27 30 (1971)
46 P A Good A J Schwartz and C W Macosko AIChE Journal 20 1 67 (1974)
47 V L Kocherov Y L Lukach E A Sporyagin and G V Vinogradov Polym Eng Sci 13
194 (1973)
48 J Berzen and G Braun Kunststoffe 69 2 62ndash66 (1979)49 R S Porter et al J Polym Sci 17 485ndash488 (1979)
50 C A Sperati Modern Plastics Encyclopedia McGraw-Hill NY (1983)
51 S S Schwartz and S H Goodman see Chapter 1 [36]
52 G R Snelling and J F Lontz J Appl Polym Sci 3 9 257ndash265 (1960)
53 D C F Couzens Plastics and Rubber Processing March 45ndash48 (1976)
54 P W Bridgman ldquoStudies in Large Plastic Flow and Fracturerdquo McGraw-Hill NY (1952)
55 H L D Push ldquoThe Mechanical Behavior o Materials Under Pressurerdquo Elsevier Amster-
dam (1970)56 H L D Push and A H Low J Inst Metals 93 201 (196565)
57 F Slack Mach Design Oct 7 61ndash64 (1982)
58 J H Southern and R S Porter J Appl Polym Sci 14 2305 (1970)
59 J H Southern and R S Porter J Macromol Sci Phys 3ndash4 541 (1970)
60 J H Southern N E Weeks and R S Porter Macromol Chem 162 19 (1972)
61 N J Capiati and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 13 1177 (1975)
62 R S Porter J H Southern and N E Weeks Polym Eng Sci 15 213 (1975)
63 A E Zachariades E S Sherman and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 17 255
(1979)
64 A E Zachariades and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 17 277 (1979)
65 B Parsons D Bretherton and B N Cole in Advances in MTDR 11th Int Con Proc
S A Tobias and F Koeningsberger (Eds) Pergamon Press London Vol B 1049 (1971)
66 G Capaccio and I M Ward Polymer 15 233 (1974)
67 A G Gibson I M Ward B N Cole and B Parsons J Mater Sci 9 1193ndash1196 (1974)
68 A G Gibson and I M Ward J Appl Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 16 2015ndash2030 (1978)
69 P S Hope and B Parsons Polym Eng Sci 20 589ndash600 (1980)
70 P S Hope I M Ward and A G Gibson J Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 18 1242ndash1256
(1980)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3637
983092983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
71 P S Hope A G Gibson B Parsons and I M Ward Polym Eng Sci 20 54ndash55 (1980)
72 B Parsons and I M Ward Plast Rubber Proc Appl 2 3 215ndash224 (1982)
73 K Imada T Yamamoto K Shigematsu and M Takayanagi J Mater Sci 6 537ndash546
(1971)
74 K Nakamura K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 2 71 (1972)
75 K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 2 89 (1973)
76 K Nakamura K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 3 23 (1974)
77 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Mater Sci 10 1105 (1975)
78 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Mater Sci 12 1477 (1977)
79 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Appl Polym Sci 23 2543ndash2554 (1979)
80 D M Bigg Polym Eng Sci 16 725 (1976)
81 D M Bigg M M Epstein R J Fiorentino and E G Smith Polym Eng Sci 18 908(1978)
82 D M Bigg and M M Epstein ldquoScience and Technology o Polymer Processingrdquo N S Suh
and N Sung (Eds) 897 MIT Press (1979)
83 D M Bigg M M Epstein R J Fiorentino and E G Smith J Appl Polym Sci 26 395ndash
409 (1981)
84 K D Pae and D R Mears J Polym Sci B-6 269 (1968)
85 K D Pae D R Mears and J A Sauer J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 6 773 (1968)
86 D R Mears K P Pae and J A Sauer J Appl Phys 40 11 4229ndash4237 (1969)
87 L A Davis and C A Pampillo J Appl Phys 42 12 4659ndash4666 (1971)
88 A Buckley and H A Long Polym Eng Sci 9 2 115ndash120 (1969)
89 L A Davis Polym Eng Sci 14 9 641ndash645 (1974)
90 R K Okine and N P Suh Polym Eng Sci 22 5 269ndash279 (1982)
91 J R Collier T Y T Tam J Newcome and N Dinos Polym Eng Sci 16 204ndash211 (1976)
92 J H Faupel and F E Fisher ldquoEngineering Designrdquo Wiley NY (1981)
93 A E Zachariades R Ball and R S Porter J Mater Sci 13 2671ndash2675 (1978)
94 R R Westover Modern Plastics March (1963) 95 B Yi and R T Fenner Plastics and Polymers Dec 224ndash228 (1975)
96 A Mekkaoui and L N Valsamis Polym Eng Sci 24 1260ndash1269 (1984)
97 H Rust Kunststoffe 73 342ndash346 (1983)
98 J Huszman Kunststoffe 73 3437ndash348 (1983)
99 J M McKelvey U Maire and F Haupt Chem Eng Sept 27 94ndash102 (1976)
100 K Schneider Kunststoffe 68 201ndash206 (1978)
101 W T Rice Plastic Technology 87ndash91 Feb (1980)
102 Harrel Corp ldquoMelt Pump Systems or Extrudersrdquo Product Description TDS-264 (1982)
103 J M McKelvey and W T Rice Chem Eng 90 2 89ndash94 (1983)
104 K Kaper K Eise and H Herrmann SPE ANTEC Chicago 161ndash163 (1983)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3737
References 983092983095
105 C L Woodworth SPE ANTEC New Orleans 122ndash126 (1984)
106 W A Kramer SPE ANTEC Washington D C 23ndash29 (1985)
107 J Schut ldquoDie Drawing Makes Plastic Steelrdquo Plastics Technology Online Article March
5 (2001)
108 VDI Conerence Extrusiontechnik 2006 ldquoDer Einschnecken-Extruder von Morgenrdquo VDI
Verlag GmbH Duumlsseldor (2006)
109 P Rieg ldquoLatest Developments in High-Speed Extrusionrdquo Plastic Extrusion Asia Con-
erence Bangkok Thailand March 17ndash18 (2008) also presented at Advances in Ex-
trusion Conerence New Orleans December 9ndash10 (2008)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3437
983092983092 983090Different Types of Extruders
4 C M Blow ldquoRubber Technology and Manuacturerdquo Butterworth amp Co Ltd London
(1971)
5 F R Eirich (Ed) ldquoScience and Technology o Rubberrdquo Academic Press NY (1978)
6 C W Evans ldquoPowdered and Particulate Rubber Technologyrdquo Applied Science Publ Ltd
London (1978)
7 G Targiel et al 10 IKV-Kolloquium Aachen March 12ndash14 45 (1980)
8 A Kennaway Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 17 378ndash391 (1964)
9 G Menges and J P Lehnen Plastverarbeiter 20 1 31ndash39 (1969)
10 M Parshall and A J Saulino Rubber World 2 5 78ndash83 (1967)
11 S E Perlberg Rubber World 2 6 71ndash76 (1967)
12 H H Gohlisch Gummi Asbest Kunststoffe 25 9 834ndash835 (1972)
13 E Harms ldquoKautschuk-Extruder Aubau und Einsatz aus verahrenstechnischer Sichtrdquo
Krausskop-Verlag Mainz Bd 2 Buchreihe Kunststo983142echnik (1974)
14 G Schwarz Eur Rubber Journal Sept 28ndash32 (1977)
15 G Menges and E G Harms Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 25 10 469ndash475 (1972)
16 G Menges and E G Harms Kautschuk und Gummi Kunststoffe 27 5 187ndash193 (1974)
17 E G Harms Elastomerics 109 6 33ndash39 (1977)
18 E G Harms Eur Rubber Journal 6 23 (1978)
19 E G Harms Kunststoffe 69 1 32ndash33 (1979)
20 E G Harms Dissertation RWTH Aachen Germany (1981)21 S H Collins Plastics Compounding Nov Dec 29 (1982)
22 D Anders Kunststoffe 69 194ndash198 (1979)
23 D Gras and K Eise SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 21 386 (1975)
24 R F Westover SPE Journal 18 12 1473 (1962)
25 Lord Raleigh Philosophical Magazine 35 1ndash12 (1918)
26 German Patent DRP 1129681
27 British Patent BP 759354
28 U S Patent 3880564
29 U S Patent 4012477
30 J F Ingen Housz Plastverarbeiter 10 1 (1975)
31 U S Patent 4142805
32 U S Patent 4194841
33 U S Patent 4213709
34 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 25 193 (1979)
35 P Hold Z Tadmor and L Valsamis SPE Tech Papers (ANTEC) 25 205 (1979)
36 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis Plastics Engineering Nov 20ndash25 (1979)
37 Z Tadmor P Hold and L Valsamis Plastics Engineering Dec 30ndash38 (1979)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3537
References 983092983093
38 Z Tadmor et al The Diskpack Plastics Processor Farrel Publication Jan (1982)
39 L Valsamis AIChE Meeting Washington D C Oct (1983)
40 B Maxwell and A J Scalora Modern Plastics 37 107 Oct (1959)
41 U S Patent 3 046603
42 L L Blyler PhD thesis Princeton University NJ (1966)
43 H G Fritz Kunststo983142echnik 6 430 (1968)
44 H G Fritz PhD thesis Stuttgart University Germany (1971)
45 C W Macosko and J M Starita SPE Journal 27 30 (1971)
46 P A Good A J Schwartz and C W Macosko AIChE Journal 20 1 67 (1974)
47 V L Kocherov Y L Lukach E A Sporyagin and G V Vinogradov Polym Eng Sci 13
194 (1973)
48 J Berzen and G Braun Kunststoffe 69 2 62ndash66 (1979)49 R S Porter et al J Polym Sci 17 485ndash488 (1979)
50 C A Sperati Modern Plastics Encyclopedia McGraw-Hill NY (1983)
51 S S Schwartz and S H Goodman see Chapter 1 [36]
52 G R Snelling and J F Lontz J Appl Polym Sci 3 9 257ndash265 (1960)
53 D C F Couzens Plastics and Rubber Processing March 45ndash48 (1976)
54 P W Bridgman ldquoStudies in Large Plastic Flow and Fracturerdquo McGraw-Hill NY (1952)
55 H L D Push ldquoThe Mechanical Behavior o Materials Under Pressurerdquo Elsevier Amster-
dam (1970)56 H L D Push and A H Low J Inst Metals 93 201 (196565)
57 F Slack Mach Design Oct 7 61ndash64 (1982)
58 J H Southern and R S Porter J Appl Polym Sci 14 2305 (1970)
59 J H Southern and R S Porter J Macromol Sci Phys 3ndash4 541 (1970)
60 J H Southern N E Weeks and R S Porter Macromol Chem 162 19 (1972)
61 N J Capiati and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 13 1177 (1975)
62 R S Porter J H Southern and N E Weeks Polym Eng Sci 15 213 (1975)
63 A E Zachariades E S Sherman and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 17 255
(1979)
64 A E Zachariades and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 17 277 (1979)
65 B Parsons D Bretherton and B N Cole in Advances in MTDR 11th Int Con Proc
S A Tobias and F Koeningsberger (Eds) Pergamon Press London Vol B 1049 (1971)
66 G Capaccio and I M Ward Polymer 15 233 (1974)
67 A G Gibson I M Ward B N Cole and B Parsons J Mater Sci 9 1193ndash1196 (1974)
68 A G Gibson and I M Ward J Appl Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 16 2015ndash2030 (1978)
69 P S Hope and B Parsons Polym Eng Sci 20 589ndash600 (1980)
70 P S Hope I M Ward and A G Gibson J Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 18 1242ndash1256
(1980)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3637
983092983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
71 P S Hope A G Gibson B Parsons and I M Ward Polym Eng Sci 20 54ndash55 (1980)
72 B Parsons and I M Ward Plast Rubber Proc Appl 2 3 215ndash224 (1982)
73 K Imada T Yamamoto K Shigematsu and M Takayanagi J Mater Sci 6 537ndash546
(1971)
74 K Nakamura K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 2 71 (1972)
75 K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 2 89 (1973)
76 K Nakamura K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 3 23 (1974)
77 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Mater Sci 10 1105 (1975)
78 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Mater Sci 12 1477 (1977)
79 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Appl Polym Sci 23 2543ndash2554 (1979)
80 D M Bigg Polym Eng Sci 16 725 (1976)
81 D M Bigg M M Epstein R J Fiorentino and E G Smith Polym Eng Sci 18 908(1978)
82 D M Bigg and M M Epstein ldquoScience and Technology o Polymer Processingrdquo N S Suh
and N Sung (Eds) 897 MIT Press (1979)
83 D M Bigg M M Epstein R J Fiorentino and E G Smith J Appl Polym Sci 26 395ndash
409 (1981)
84 K D Pae and D R Mears J Polym Sci B-6 269 (1968)
85 K D Pae D R Mears and J A Sauer J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 6 773 (1968)
86 D R Mears K P Pae and J A Sauer J Appl Phys 40 11 4229ndash4237 (1969)
87 L A Davis and C A Pampillo J Appl Phys 42 12 4659ndash4666 (1971)
88 A Buckley and H A Long Polym Eng Sci 9 2 115ndash120 (1969)
89 L A Davis Polym Eng Sci 14 9 641ndash645 (1974)
90 R K Okine and N P Suh Polym Eng Sci 22 5 269ndash279 (1982)
91 J R Collier T Y T Tam J Newcome and N Dinos Polym Eng Sci 16 204ndash211 (1976)
92 J H Faupel and F E Fisher ldquoEngineering Designrdquo Wiley NY (1981)
93 A E Zachariades R Ball and R S Porter J Mater Sci 13 2671ndash2675 (1978)
94 R R Westover Modern Plastics March (1963) 95 B Yi and R T Fenner Plastics and Polymers Dec 224ndash228 (1975)
96 A Mekkaoui and L N Valsamis Polym Eng Sci 24 1260ndash1269 (1984)
97 H Rust Kunststoffe 73 342ndash346 (1983)
98 J Huszman Kunststoffe 73 3437ndash348 (1983)
99 J M McKelvey U Maire and F Haupt Chem Eng Sept 27 94ndash102 (1976)
100 K Schneider Kunststoffe 68 201ndash206 (1978)
101 W T Rice Plastic Technology 87ndash91 Feb (1980)
102 Harrel Corp ldquoMelt Pump Systems or Extrudersrdquo Product Description TDS-264 (1982)
103 J M McKelvey and W T Rice Chem Eng 90 2 89ndash94 (1983)
104 K Kaper K Eise and H Herrmann SPE ANTEC Chicago 161ndash163 (1983)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3737
References 983092983095
105 C L Woodworth SPE ANTEC New Orleans 122ndash126 (1984)
106 W A Kramer SPE ANTEC Washington D C 23ndash29 (1985)
107 J Schut ldquoDie Drawing Makes Plastic Steelrdquo Plastics Technology Online Article March
5 (2001)
108 VDI Conerence Extrusiontechnik 2006 ldquoDer Einschnecken-Extruder von Morgenrdquo VDI
Verlag GmbH Duumlsseldor (2006)
109 P Rieg ldquoLatest Developments in High-Speed Extrusionrdquo Plastic Extrusion Asia Con-
erence Bangkok Thailand March 17ndash18 (2008) also presented at Advances in Ex-
trusion Conerence New Orleans December 9ndash10 (2008)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3537
References 983092983093
38 Z Tadmor et al The Diskpack Plastics Processor Farrel Publication Jan (1982)
39 L Valsamis AIChE Meeting Washington D C Oct (1983)
40 B Maxwell and A J Scalora Modern Plastics 37 107 Oct (1959)
41 U S Patent 3 046603
42 L L Blyler PhD thesis Princeton University NJ (1966)
43 H G Fritz Kunststo983142echnik 6 430 (1968)
44 H G Fritz PhD thesis Stuttgart University Germany (1971)
45 C W Macosko and J M Starita SPE Journal 27 30 (1971)
46 P A Good A J Schwartz and C W Macosko AIChE Journal 20 1 67 (1974)
47 V L Kocherov Y L Lukach E A Sporyagin and G V Vinogradov Polym Eng Sci 13
194 (1973)
48 J Berzen and G Braun Kunststoffe 69 2 62ndash66 (1979)49 R S Porter et al J Polym Sci 17 485ndash488 (1979)
50 C A Sperati Modern Plastics Encyclopedia McGraw-Hill NY (1983)
51 S S Schwartz and S H Goodman see Chapter 1 [36]
52 G R Snelling and J F Lontz J Appl Polym Sci 3 9 257ndash265 (1960)
53 D C F Couzens Plastics and Rubber Processing March 45ndash48 (1976)
54 P W Bridgman ldquoStudies in Large Plastic Flow and Fracturerdquo McGraw-Hill NY (1952)
55 H L D Push ldquoThe Mechanical Behavior o Materials Under Pressurerdquo Elsevier Amster-
dam (1970)56 H L D Push and A H Low J Inst Metals 93 201 (196565)
57 F Slack Mach Design Oct 7 61ndash64 (1982)
58 J H Southern and R S Porter J Appl Polym Sci 14 2305 (1970)
59 J H Southern and R S Porter J Macromol Sci Phys 3ndash4 541 (1970)
60 J H Southern N E Weeks and R S Porter Macromol Chem 162 19 (1972)
61 N J Capiati and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 13 1177 (1975)
62 R S Porter J H Southern and N E Weeks Polym Eng Sci 15 213 (1975)
63 A E Zachariades E S Sherman and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 17 255
(1979)
64 A E Zachariades and R S Porter J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 17 277 (1979)
65 B Parsons D Bretherton and B N Cole in Advances in MTDR 11th Int Con Proc
S A Tobias and F Koeningsberger (Eds) Pergamon Press London Vol B 1049 (1971)
66 G Capaccio and I M Ward Polymer 15 233 (1974)
67 A G Gibson I M Ward B N Cole and B Parsons J Mater Sci 9 1193ndash1196 (1974)
68 A G Gibson and I M Ward J Appl Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 16 2015ndash2030 (1978)
69 P S Hope and B Parsons Polym Eng Sci 20 589ndash600 (1980)
70 P S Hope I M Ward and A G Gibson J Polym Sci Polym Phys Ed 18 1242ndash1256
(1980)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3637
983092983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
71 P S Hope A G Gibson B Parsons and I M Ward Polym Eng Sci 20 54ndash55 (1980)
72 B Parsons and I M Ward Plast Rubber Proc Appl 2 3 215ndash224 (1982)
73 K Imada T Yamamoto K Shigematsu and M Takayanagi J Mater Sci 6 537ndash546
(1971)
74 K Nakamura K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 2 71 (1972)
75 K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 2 89 (1973)
76 K Nakamura K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 3 23 (1974)
77 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Mater Sci 10 1105 (1975)
78 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Mater Sci 12 1477 (1977)
79 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Appl Polym Sci 23 2543ndash2554 (1979)
80 D M Bigg Polym Eng Sci 16 725 (1976)
81 D M Bigg M M Epstein R J Fiorentino and E G Smith Polym Eng Sci 18 908(1978)
82 D M Bigg and M M Epstein ldquoScience and Technology o Polymer Processingrdquo N S Suh
and N Sung (Eds) 897 MIT Press (1979)
83 D M Bigg M M Epstein R J Fiorentino and E G Smith J Appl Polym Sci 26 395ndash
409 (1981)
84 K D Pae and D R Mears J Polym Sci B-6 269 (1968)
85 K D Pae D R Mears and J A Sauer J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 6 773 (1968)
86 D R Mears K P Pae and J A Sauer J Appl Phys 40 11 4229ndash4237 (1969)
87 L A Davis and C A Pampillo J Appl Phys 42 12 4659ndash4666 (1971)
88 A Buckley and H A Long Polym Eng Sci 9 2 115ndash120 (1969)
89 L A Davis Polym Eng Sci 14 9 641ndash645 (1974)
90 R K Okine and N P Suh Polym Eng Sci 22 5 269ndash279 (1982)
91 J R Collier T Y T Tam J Newcome and N Dinos Polym Eng Sci 16 204ndash211 (1976)
92 J H Faupel and F E Fisher ldquoEngineering Designrdquo Wiley NY (1981)
93 A E Zachariades R Ball and R S Porter J Mater Sci 13 2671ndash2675 (1978)
94 R R Westover Modern Plastics March (1963) 95 B Yi and R T Fenner Plastics and Polymers Dec 224ndash228 (1975)
96 A Mekkaoui and L N Valsamis Polym Eng Sci 24 1260ndash1269 (1984)
97 H Rust Kunststoffe 73 342ndash346 (1983)
98 J Huszman Kunststoffe 73 3437ndash348 (1983)
99 J M McKelvey U Maire and F Haupt Chem Eng Sept 27 94ndash102 (1976)
100 K Schneider Kunststoffe 68 201ndash206 (1978)
101 W T Rice Plastic Technology 87ndash91 Feb (1980)
102 Harrel Corp ldquoMelt Pump Systems or Extrudersrdquo Product Description TDS-264 (1982)
103 J M McKelvey and W T Rice Chem Eng 90 2 89ndash94 (1983)
104 K Kaper K Eise and H Herrmann SPE ANTEC Chicago 161ndash163 (1983)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3737
References 983092983095
105 C L Woodworth SPE ANTEC New Orleans 122ndash126 (1984)
106 W A Kramer SPE ANTEC Washington D C 23ndash29 (1985)
107 J Schut ldquoDie Drawing Makes Plastic Steelrdquo Plastics Technology Online Article March
5 (2001)
108 VDI Conerence Extrusiontechnik 2006 ldquoDer Einschnecken-Extruder von Morgenrdquo VDI
Verlag GmbH Duumlsseldor (2006)
109 P Rieg ldquoLatest Developments in High-Speed Extrusionrdquo Plastic Extrusion Asia Con-
erence Bangkok Thailand March 17ndash18 (2008) also presented at Advances in Ex-
trusion Conerence New Orleans December 9ndash10 (2008)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3637
983092983094 983090Different Types of Extruders
71 P S Hope A G Gibson B Parsons and I M Ward Polym Eng Sci 20 54ndash55 (1980)
72 B Parsons and I M Ward Plast Rubber Proc Appl 2 3 215ndash224 (1982)
73 K Imada T Yamamoto K Shigematsu and M Takayanagi J Mater Sci 6 537ndash546
(1971)
74 K Nakamura K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 2 71 (1972)
75 K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 2 89 (1973)
76 K Nakamura K Imada and M Takayanagi Int J Polym Mater 3 23 (1974)
77 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Mater Sci 10 1105 (1975)
78 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Mater Sci 12 1477 (1977)
79 K Nakayama and H Kanetsuna J Appl Polym Sci 23 2543ndash2554 (1979)
80 D M Bigg Polym Eng Sci 16 725 (1976)
81 D M Bigg M M Epstein R J Fiorentino and E G Smith Polym Eng Sci 18 908(1978)
82 D M Bigg and M M Epstein ldquoScience and Technology o Polymer Processingrdquo N S Suh
and N Sung (Eds) 897 MIT Press (1979)
83 D M Bigg M M Epstein R J Fiorentino and E G Smith J Appl Polym Sci 26 395ndash
409 (1981)
84 K D Pae and D R Mears J Polym Sci B-6 269 (1968)
85 K D Pae D R Mears and J A Sauer J Polym Sci Polym Lett Ed 6 773 (1968)
86 D R Mears K P Pae and J A Sauer J Appl Phys 40 11 4229ndash4237 (1969)
87 L A Davis and C A Pampillo J Appl Phys 42 12 4659ndash4666 (1971)
88 A Buckley and H A Long Polym Eng Sci 9 2 115ndash120 (1969)
89 L A Davis Polym Eng Sci 14 9 641ndash645 (1974)
90 R K Okine and N P Suh Polym Eng Sci 22 5 269ndash279 (1982)
91 J R Collier T Y T Tam J Newcome and N Dinos Polym Eng Sci 16 204ndash211 (1976)
92 J H Faupel and F E Fisher ldquoEngineering Designrdquo Wiley NY (1981)
93 A E Zachariades R Ball and R S Porter J Mater Sci 13 2671ndash2675 (1978)
94 R R Westover Modern Plastics March (1963) 95 B Yi and R T Fenner Plastics and Polymers Dec 224ndash228 (1975)
96 A Mekkaoui and L N Valsamis Polym Eng Sci 24 1260ndash1269 (1984)
97 H Rust Kunststoffe 73 342ndash346 (1983)
98 J Huszman Kunststoffe 73 3437ndash348 (1983)
99 J M McKelvey U Maire and F Haupt Chem Eng Sept 27 94ndash102 (1976)
100 K Schneider Kunststoffe 68 201ndash206 (1978)
101 W T Rice Plastic Technology 87ndash91 Feb (1980)
102 Harrel Corp ldquoMelt Pump Systems or Extrudersrdquo Product Description TDS-264 (1982)
103 J M McKelvey and W T Rice Chem Eng 90 2 89ndash94 (1983)
104 K Kaper K Eise and H Herrmann SPE ANTEC Chicago 161ndash163 (1983)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3737
References 983092983095
105 C L Woodworth SPE ANTEC New Orleans 122ndash126 (1984)
106 W A Kramer SPE ANTEC Washington D C 23ndash29 (1985)
107 J Schut ldquoDie Drawing Makes Plastic Steelrdquo Plastics Technology Online Article March
5 (2001)
108 VDI Conerence Extrusiontechnik 2006 ldquoDer Einschnecken-Extruder von Morgenrdquo VDI
Verlag GmbH Duumlsseldor (2006)
109 P Rieg ldquoLatest Developments in High-Speed Extrusionrdquo Plastic Extrusion Asia Con-
erence Bangkok Thailand March 17ndash18 (2008) also presented at Advances in Ex-
trusion Conerence New Orleans December 9ndash10 (2008)
7252019 Chap 2 Different Types of Extruders
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullchap-2-different-types-of-extruders 3737
References 983092983095
105 C L Woodworth SPE ANTEC New Orleans 122ndash126 (1984)
106 W A Kramer SPE ANTEC Washington D C 23ndash29 (1985)
107 J Schut ldquoDie Drawing Makes Plastic Steelrdquo Plastics Technology Online Article March
5 (2001)
108 VDI Conerence Extrusiontechnik 2006 ldquoDer Einschnecken-Extruder von Morgenrdquo VDI
Verlag GmbH Duumlsseldor (2006)
109 P Rieg ldquoLatest Developments in High-Speed Extrusionrdquo Plastic Extrusion Asia Con-
erence Bangkok Thailand March 17ndash18 (2008) also presented at Advances in Ex-
trusion Conerence New Orleans December 9ndash10 (2008)