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PROBLEM

4 inch diameter ( L/D=26 ) screw extruders are very common. Nominal


diameter is D=100mm. The compression ratio of such a screw is 2.5. This
means that the channel depth in the feed zone is 2.5 times larger than the
metering zone. The relative lengths of feed/transition/metering zones are
8/8/10. The channel depth in the metering zone is 5mm. The helix angle is
17.66o. The material extruded has melt density 780kg/m 3, viscosity at

10000 0.6 Pa s n
250oC

(power law exponent n=0.4), heat capacity

2300 J/(kg oC) and heat of fusion 200,000 J/kg. The polymer pellets enter
at 20oC and the product exits at 250 oC into a 8mm diameter (R=4mm)
and 480mm long die channel. The screw rotates at N=60RPM.
(a) Calculate the drag flow output.
(b) Output by taking into consideration the head pressure generated by
the die.
(c) Calculate the power for the motor assuming that it produces 100% of
the energy
needed to raise the melt temperature to 250 oC, to melt and pump the
polymer.
(d) Calculate the torque.
RECALL:

Po F V
Power

F Po / V
( force x velocity )

To F R
Torque

To

( force x radius ) then

Po
P
P
R o R o
V
2NR
2

where N is the speed of rotation.

Then after these calculations I want you to go backwards. That is, you

To F R
are going to start from calculation of torque,

, where

F A

Po F V o A V
(wall shear stress) x area and then calculate the power

Although the feed and compression sections has smaller diameter,


assume it is the same from feed to exit (L=26D). Assume that the radius

To A R H .
for the torque equation calculation is just (R-H), i.e.
(e) Calculate the power and torque from shear stress calculations
(f) Comment on the differences in the above calculations and what should
have to be
done to minimize the differences.

Solution:
(a) To calculate the drag flow output of the extruder we have

1
QD 2 D 2 HN sin cos
2

(1)

Since we have a square pitched screw (=17.66O) equation (1) can be


written as

QD 1.42 D 2 HN
(2)
and since the mass flow output is

m D QD
(3)
by substitution of equation (3) to equation (2) we have

m D 1.42 D 2 HN
(4)
2

and by substituting we have

m D 1.42 780

kg
60 1
kg m 2 m
3 2
2
3

100

10
m

10
m

0
.
05538
D
60
m3
m3 s

m D 0.05538

kg
kg
m D 199.37
s
hr

(b) To calculate the operating point of the extruder/die we must plot the
operating lines for the extruder and the die.
The calculation of the operating line of the extruder needs only two set

P, m D
of points

. The first point is for the maximum mass rate of flow,

where the pressure is zero as the die is absent, and the second point is for
the maximum possible pressure when the die is completely closed. To
calculate the maximum possible pressure the following formula is used

Pmax

6 D L N
2 tan

(5)

and the equivalent Newtonian viscosity is

n 1

V
m

n 1

DN
m

60 H

n 1

(6)

Substituting equation (6) to equation (5) we have

Pmax

6 D L N
DN

2
tan
60 H

n 1

(7)

and by making the proper substitutions to equation (7) we have

Pmax

60 1
s
1

1 3.1415 0.1m 60 s
60

10000
Pa

2
3

2
o
60 5 10 m
m tan 17.66

18.85 0.1m 10 0.1m

5 10
3

0. 6

Pmax 0.23 10 6 s 1 834 Pa s Pmax 198 10 6 Pa

This is based on the Newtonian constant viscosity assumption for a screw


length of 10D (the metering or pumping zone). Well, it is not perfect, but
not bad.
So for the operating line of the extruder we have the two reference points
which are (199.37 kg/hr, 0) and (0, 198 MPa).
To plot the operating line for the die the well known Hagen Poiseuille
formula is used for a power law fluid. The equation is the following

n
Q

3n 1

1 P
2m L

1
n

Rn

(8)

Now we calculate the volume flow rate of the melt for six values of
pressure which are at 0MPa, 10MPa, 20MPa, 30MPa, 40MPa and 50MPa. Of
course, for zero pressure drop from equation (8) we can see that the
volume flow rate is also zero. Calculating the flow for the pressure drop of
10MPa we have

10 10 6 Pa
0 .4
1


Q 3.415

1
3 0.4 1 2 10000 Pa s 0.480m

Q 1.29 10 5

m3
m3
Q 4.6 10 3
s
hr

1
0. 4

m 3.6
or

0.004m 0.4 3

kg
hr

Working the same way as above for the other values of the pressure drop
for the die we have the following table and after that the operating lines
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for the extruder and the die are plotted. Also, from the figure below we

m
can see that the approximate values for the operating point is

150 kg/hr and P = 40 MPa.

Pressure drop (P)


for

Mass flow rate


(kg/hr)

the die (MPa)


0

10

3.6

20

20.5

30

56.6

40

116.4

50

203.1
Table 1.

Operating Lines
250
200
150

Mass Flow Rate (kg/hr)

100
50
0
0

50

100 150 200

Pressure (Mpa)

Figure 1.
(c) The power supplied by the motor is spent for raising the temperature
from Tin to Tout, melting the polymer and pumping the polymer. To calculate
the amount of the power the following formula is used

Po Q C p To ut Tin Q H f P Q
(9)

Po m D Q C p To ut Tin m D H f P

Po

m D

199.37 kg
J
199.37 kg
J
o
2300 o 250 20 C
2 105

3600 hr
kg C
3600 hr
kg

45 10 6 MPa

199.37 m 3
3600 780 hr

Po 29296 11076 3145 Po 43567W Po 43.57 kW Po 58.38 HP


Probably there would be 70% efficiency or so, which means that this
extruder would require

58.38

1
83.4 HP
0.70

motor.

(d) From heat transfer considerations we have

To F R To

Po
R To
V

To

PO

D 2H

N
60

D 2 H To

PO
N

60

43567W
To 13874 N m
60 1
3.1415 s
60

(e) To calculate the power from shear stress considerations we have

Po F V Po w Area VScr .Rotation

Po m w Area D 2 H
n

D 2H N
H
60

Po m

N
60

D 2 H Ls D 2 H

N
60
(10)

Ls should be the length along the helix (polymer dragged along helical
channel) so

Ls

L
26 D
26 0.1m
Ls
Ls
Ls 8.58m
sin
sin 17.65
0.30
(11)

Substituting to equation (10) and from equation (11) we have

3.1415 0.1 2 0.005 60


Po 10000
0.005
60

3.1415 0.1 2 0.005

0.4

3.1415 0.1 2 0.005 8.58

60
60

Po 10000 56.52 0.4 3.1415 0.09 8.58 3.1415 0.09

Po 34412W Po 34.4kW
To calculate now the torque we have

Po
P
34412
Po

D 2 H To o To
To 10959 N m
R To
N
N
60
V
D 2H

3.1415
60
60
60

To

(f) Actually the previous estimate is close to the estimate from heat
transfer considerations (43567 W). Of course it all depends on the stress
calculations. A sketch of the screw is shown in the following figure.

Figure 2.

A more accurate calculation would require determination of the


frictional heating generated in each of the regions of the screw. In the

metering zone this can be done by integrating the quantity

F V

over the

fluid volume. However, in the transition and feed zones we have a mixture
of solids and melt and it is virtually impossible to arrive at good estimates
of the stress developed.
In the present calculation we assumed that the stress generated by the
motor is the same throughout the screw and we calculate it at a distance
of H = 0.005m from the barrel wall at an assumed temperature of 250 oC
throughout.
Comments: The real extruder has a compression section as shown in the
figure below (Figure 3). In the compression section there would be some
pressure generation and the pressure profile would look like the one
showed in Figure 4.

Figure 3.

However, this cannot be calculated by unidimensional flow equations.


In the present simple calculations the pressure is supposed to grow
monotonically till the entrance to the die as it is shown in Figure 5. Of
course, the higher pressure results in a somewhat higher throughput, but
not that much. So, the previous estimate for the operating point should be
close to the actual throughput.

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If a grooved barrel extruder was used there would be significant


pressure rise in the solids conveying zone (in grooved barrel extruders
there is almost no compression. The compression ratio is about 1.2 to 1.0)
i.e. in the feed section the channel has about the same depth (5mm) as in
the metering (pumping) zone. The pressure levels could reach 100 200
MPa. The higher pressure would likely result in at least 50% higher output
than drag flow. However, this is difficult to calculate with simple
calculations.

Figure 4.

Figure 5.

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