Author(s)

P.J. Gramann, A.C. Rios & T.A. Osswald

Abstract

Twin screw extruders are common for mixing and compounding of different polymers and additives in the production of materials with enhanced properties. However, the flow field and resulting mixing that occurs inside these extruders is not well understood. For gaining a better understanding of the flow phenomena that takes place during these operations computer simulation can be used, but due to the complexity of the moving boundaries in the twin screw extruder this is not an easy task. Using the boundary element method (BEM); which is the method of choice for moving boundary problems [1]; the flow field, pressures, stress and strains can be computed at every time step. With this information, the quality of mixing can be quantitatively deter

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