Abstract
The Alberta Polymer Asymmetric Mixer (APAM, 2ml) and a mini-batch mixer (MBM, 3ml) built in our lab are used for polymer blends and nanocomposites processing. Before a new product is scaled up, the miniature mixers are usually used for polymer processing because they require small amount of material and can be flexibly designed [1-2]. The MBM is a scaled down version of the laboratory internal mixer with roller blades. Previous experimental study has shown that the APAM is effective in mixing polymer blends and nanocomposites [2]. Here we use CFD software, Polyflow 3.9 from Fluent Inc, to model transient non-isothermal processing of polystyrene in APAM and in MBM. The flow fields inside APAM and MBM were characterized using velocity profiles. The velocity profiles show the co-existence of shear flow, converging flow and recirculation. The temperature inside both mixers increased due to viscous dissipation. Thermal steady state was reached after 12s and 25s respectively for MBM and APAM. The melt temperature results from simulation were verified by experimental measurement in the MBM. Finally, the global mixing performance of the miniature mixers was quantified in terms of spatial distributions of shear rate and shear stress.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages | 391-395 |
| Number of pages | 5 |
| State | Published - 2005 |
| Externally published | Yes |
| Event | Society of Plastics Engineers Annual Technical Conference 2005, ANTEC 2005 - Boston, MA, United States Duration: 1 May 2005 → 5 May 2005 |
Conference
| Conference | Society of Plastics Engineers Annual Technical Conference 2005, ANTEC 2005 |
|---|---|
| Country/Territory | United States |
| City | Boston, MA |
| Period | 1/05/05 → 5/05/05 |
Keywords
- Heat transfer
- Mixing
- Non-isothermal
- Simulation