Polymer melt rheology and flow simulations applied to cast film extrusion die design: An industrial perspective

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Abstract
This article is an overview of the techniques used today in the area of rheology and flow simulation, on the industrial level, for cast film extrusion die design. This industry has made significant progress over the past three decades and die and feedblock design and optimization certainly have been instrumental in the overall improvement. Dies and coextrusion feedblocks are a critical aspect of the process due to the layering and forming function, which drive the final product economics and properties. Polymer melt rheology is a key aspect to consider when optimizing the flow patterns in the extrusion equipment. Not only is rheology critical for the flow channel design when aiming at obtaining a uniform flow distribution at the die exit, but also it is playing a major role in the thermal aspect of the flow due to the strong mechanical and thermal coupling. This coupling comes, on one hand, from the occurrence of viscous dissipation in the flow and on the other hand from the significant temperature dependency of melt viscosity. Viscous dissipation is due to relatively high melt viscosities and strain rates, especially with today’s processes which involve formidable extrusion speeds. The third aspect discussed in this paper is the complexity of residence time distribution in modern flow channels, which is evaluated with advanced three-dimensional flow simulation and particle tracking.

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