The flow and stability of co-extruded layers of different polymers in a forced assembly process is studied computationally to determine the extent of the stable process window and the types of instabilities that occur. Recent advances in layer-multiplying co-extrusion of incompatible polymers have made possible the fabrication of multilayered nanostructures with improved barrier, thermal and mechanical behavior. However, existing layering techniques are very sensitive to mismatches in viscosity and elasticity of the co-extruded polymers which often give rise to layer non-uniformity and flow instabilities, such as encapsulation. Simulations of the flows inside the feedblock and the successive multiplier dies of the multi-layering system are used to track the interface and predict instabilities and degrees of encapsulation as a function of process parameters, primarily the flow rates and rheology of the polymers. Encapsulation is found to be negligible in practice in the feedblock even for large viscosity contrasts and differences in elasticity between the two co-extruded polymers. Encapsulation or pinch-off of interfaces is more severe in the multiplier dies when there the rheologies of the polymers differ. A secondary flow due to the second normal stress differences for non-Newtonian fluids is primarily responsible for the encapsulation. A new multiplier design is proposed and simulated. The pressure drop in the proposed design is half that of the current design, which is useful for extruding highly elastic materials. Further, the degree of encapsulation is also reduced. The results of the simulations are validated with experimental measurements of pressure drop and flow visualization provided by research collaborators. / text
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UTEXAS/oai:repositories.lib.utexas.edu:2152/ETD-UT-2011-08-4232 |
| Date | 28 September 2011 |
| Creators | Chabert, Erwan |
| Source Sets | University of Texas |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | thesis |
| Format | application/pdf |
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