Rheological properties of glass bead-filled low-density polyethylene composite melts in capillary extrusion

The melt flow of glass bead-filled low-density polyethylene composites in extrusion have been observed by using a capillary rheometer to investigate the effects of temperature, shear rate, and filler content on the rheological properties of the melts. The results show that the melt shear flow obeys a power law, and the dependence of the apparent shear viscosity, eta(app), on temperature is in accord with an Arrhenius equation. At the same temperature and shear rate, eta(app) increases slightly with increasing the volume fraction of glass beads, but the flow behavior index decreases with increasing filler content. In addition, the first normal stress difference of the melts linearly increases with increasing wall shear stress. Good agreement is shown with the N-1 calculated with the equation presented in this article and the pressured data from the sample melts. (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.