Simulation and evaluation of compounding processes

Co-rotating twin-screw extruders are the most important types of machine for the compounding of plastics from the economics point of view. The term compounding is basically used to describe all processes that are needed to produce a plastic with a desired properly profile from the raw polymer. IN most processes found today, multi-component material systems are used. These may consist of polymer/filler combinations (compounds) or polymer/polymer combinations (blends). After presenting mathematical models to describe the behavior of binary systems a description is given of the melting profile of polymer/filler compounds. After this, models are presented that enable the degree of dispersion of compounding processes to be calculated. These models have been implemented in a software program for simulating the process characteristics of co-rotating twin-screw extruders. With the aid of this software, it is possible to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the process behavior of co-rotating twin-screw extruders. The processing unit can then be optimized on the basis of this analysis.