Solid Conveying in Vane Extruder for Polymer

Processing: Effects on Pressure Establishment

Jin-Ping Qu,1,2 Gui-Zhen Zhang,1,2 Hui-Zhuo Chen,1,2 Xiao-Chun Yin,1,2 He-Zhi He1,2
1
The National Engineering Research Center of Novel Equipment for Polymer Processing, South China
University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, Guangdong, China

2
The Key Laboratory of Polymer Processing Engineering of Ministry of Education, South China University of
Technology, Guangzhou 510640, Guangdong, China

The pressure establishment in the solid conveying sec- based on shear ow where the solid materials are trans-
tion of a vane extruder was theoretically and experi- ported by frictional drag, which is dependent on the mate-
mentally studied in the present article. Based on the rial properties and on the friction between the materials
structural and conveying characteristics of the vane
extruder, a four-plate model was developed. The
and the parts, such as the screw and the barrel [1]. In
effects of the device geometry (eccentricity e and dis- addition, a long thermo-mechanical history is needed for
charge port b), the polymer properties (different materi- solid conveying completion based on frictional drag,
als), and the operating conditions (temperature and which entails high energy consumption. To overcome
rotating speed) on the pressure were also studied these disadvantages, Qu [2] designed a novel nonscrew
using a visual experimental device. The results showed equipment known as vane extruder for polymer process-
that the experimental data were highly consistent with
the theoretical data, which indicated that the theoreti-
ing, which was composed of a number of vane plasticat-
cal model was sensible. Considering the optimization ing and conveying units (VPCUs). A positive displace-
design of the device and its processing parameters, ment-type ow dominates the solid conveying mechanism
the eccentricity e and the discharge port b of the dis- of the vane extruder, and the solids are not only
charge bafe should be appropriately selected, and the compacted but also transported irrespective of the
setting temperature of the feeding section should be material properties, which can remarkably shorten
set to a low value. The rotating speed of the rotor had
no signicant inuence on the pressure establishment.
the thermo-mechanical history and improve suitability of
In addition, the thermo-mechanical history of the vane the materials [3].
extruder was shorter than that of the conventional In the solid conveying section, the solids are com-
screw extruder. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 00:000000, 2012. pacted and transported from bulk materials to a solid plug
2012 Society of Plastics Engineers to attain a certain solid conveying ratio, and the pressure
is simultaneously established. The pressure establishment
in the solid conveying section is benecial for proper
INTRODUCTION compaction of the solid plug, which can improve heat
transfer efciency and reduce solid conveying uctuation.
Most polymer processing instruments are based on
In the vane extruder, the bulk solids undergo forced com-
screws, such as screw extruder, screw injection molding
paction. However, on the analysis of the compaction and
machine, and so on. In general, screw-based plasticating
the pressure establishment process is very difcult. In par-
and conveying extruder can be divided into three func-
ticular, the particulate solid properties vary greatly during
tional zones: solid conveying, melting, and metering sec-
consolidation, and the variation is difcult to be described
tions. However, the screw solid conveying mechanism is
quantitatively and qualitatively. Moreover, the stress elds
can be obtained only in the limiting case of steady ow
Correspondence to: Jin-Ping Qu; e-mail: [email protected] or in a state of incipient ow when friction is fully mobi-
Contract grant sponsor: National Nature Science Foundation of China;
lized [1]. Considering these difculties, many researchers
contract grant numbers: 10872071, 50973035, 50903033.
Contract grant sponsor: Fundamental Research Funds for the Central have carried out encouraging experiments. Aimed at stress
Universities; contract grant number: NO.2011ZM0063. eld research, Long [4] presented the characteristic of the
Contract grant sponsor: National Key Technology R&D Program of ratio of axial to radial stresses in solid compaction.
China; contract grant numbers: 2009BAI84B05, 2009BAI84B06.
Schneider [5] completed the rst attempt to account for
DOI 10.1002/pen.23176
Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com). the nonisotropic nature of stress distribution in solid con-
V
C 2012 Society of Plastics Engineers veying mechanism; for polyethylene (PE), for example, a

POLYMER ENGINEERING AND SCIENCE-2012

 THEORETICAL MODEL
The structure schematic diagram of the vane extruder
is shown in Fig. 1. The vane extruder consists of a num-
ber of groups of VPCUs (ve in the diagram). One group
of VPCUs is composed of a stator, a rotor, four vanes,
and two bafes, which are used to feed and discharge the
materials. The rotor is eccentrically installed in the intra-
FIG. 1. Structure schematic diagram of the vane extruder. [Color gure cavity of the stator. The four vanes are installed in pairs
can be viewed in the online issue, which is available at wileyonline in the rectangular through hole of the rotor. The bottom
library.com.] surface of the paired vanes makes contact with each
constant radial-to-axial stress ratio of 0.4 was observed. other. When the rotor is rotating, the pair of vanes makes
Moreover, many researchers [614] have studied the bulk reciprocating movement through the radial rectangular
through hole of the rotor because of the action of the
solid material compaction of polymer. However, most of
inner surface of the stator. This action leads to the peri-
these studies neglected the importance of temperature in
odic changing of the volume constituted by the stator,
the compaction process. In 1990, Spalding and Hyun [15]
rotor, two adjacent vanes, and two bafes. The VPCU
designed a compaction testing cell to study the compac-
feeds materials from the front VPCU through the feed
tion behavior of resin and developed an empirical formula bafe when the volume increases, whereas it discharges
for the bulk density of solid polymer resins as a function materials to the next VPCU through the discharge bafe
of temperature and pressure. They proposed the pressure when the volume decreases. The process involves grind-
coefcient function Co, which was related to polymer ing, compressing, venting, and melting operations. Obvi-
properties, temperature, and geometry of the device. In ously, these operations do not take place sequentially but
1998, Prentice [16] studied the inuence of pressure on simultaneously. In the vane extruder, the discharge bafe
the bulk density of the polymer solid granules at different of the front VPCU is the feed bafe of the next one. In
temperatures with the addition of a vibration force eld. two adjacent VPCUs, the eccentric directions of the rotor
However, these numerous studies on the compaction of are opposite, i.e., in the second VPCU, the rotor is eccen-
bulk solid materials are mainly concentrated on the piston tric to the left and is eccentric to the right in the third
compaction testing cell rather than on the pressure estab- VPCU. In this way, the discharge outlet of the front
lishment of a specic device for polymer processing. The VPCU connects with the feeding inlet of the next VPCU
objective of the current study is to adopt these research to complete a continuous dynamic plasticating and con-
results to establish a theoretical model of pressure estab- veying process. Moreover, to reduce the discharge uctua-
lishment in the solid conveying section of the vane ex- tion, the locations of the vanes change to an angle of 458
truder. Moreover, the theoretical model is compared with in two adjacent VPCUs.
the experimental results to evaluate the inuence of the The solid conveying and compaction process takes
geometry, the operating conditions, and the polymer prop- place mainly in the rst VPCU of the vane extruder.
erties on the pressure establishment. In addition, the Therefore, the rst VPCU is considered as our research
effects on the pressure establishment are analyzed, and object. Based on the VPCU structure, the volume between
the ability of the vane extruder to shorten the thermo-me- the vanes will undergo periodic changes when the rotor
chanical history compared with the conventional screw rotates a cycle. When the volume increases, the VPCU is
extruder is explained. Finally, the optimization design of in a feed-material state, whereas when the volume
the device and the processing parameters are made by decreases, the solid materials are compacted and con-
studying the effects on the pressure establishment. veyed to the next VPCU. During the process, the pressure

FIG. 2. Solid compaction process with the rotor rotating in the rst VPCU.

2 POLYMER ENGINEERING AND SCIENCE-2012 DOI 10.1002/pen

FIG. 3. Schematic diagram of the expansion of the compaction pro-
cess.

is established in the VPCU during compaction of the

solid materials. Unlike the materials motion in the screw FIG. 5. Pressure distribution as a function of / and dimensionless dis-
tance x0 .
extruder in which the pressure establishment is along the
screw channel and the pressure is connected at distance z
from the location of the initial pressure p0 in the screw The four-plate model based on the structural and con-
axial direction, the pressure establishment is along the cir- veying characteristics of the VPCU is shown in Fig. 3.
cumferential rotation direction of the rotor in the vane ex- The circular motion of materials is expanded to a steady-
truder. Therefore, the pressure is characterized by the cir- state motion in the x-direction in the convergent wedge
cumferential rotating angle of the rotor. slot, as shown in Fig. 3b. As the rotor is rotating, BE will
The volume of the four cavities in the rst VPCU be a half of the circumference of the rotor when AB is
varies periodically, thus, only considering the pressure twice the eccentricity e, thus
establishment in one cavity is logical, as shown in Fig. 2.
The volume is largest when the rotor is rotating in the AB 2e 4e
position, as shown in Fig. 2a. When the rotating angle / tan y (1)
BE pd=2 pd
between the front and the horizontal position is equal to
a, the materials fully feed the volume of the VPCU. In the model solution process, some assumptions are
Angle a is related to the feeding method, the material made as followings: no leakage occurs in the closed space
properties, the rotating speed and so on. As shown in Fig. during the compaction process; a certain compressibility
2b, two vanes act on the materials. However, when the of the solid materials exists, and the materials make con-
rotor is rotating in the position shown in Fig. 2c, only one tact with each other; friction between the materials and
vane acts on the materials. Based on the conveying char- the inner surface of the stator only depends on the nor-
acteristics of the VPCU, the two vanes acting model is mal stress; friction between the rotor and the materials
referred as the four-plate model (two vanes, inner surface are ignored; the ratio of the normal to the axial stress is
of the stator and outer surface of the rotor), and the one set as a constant K; the density of the material, the axial
vane acting model is referred as the three-plate model stress and the normal stress are only related to the
(one vane, inner surface of the stator and outer surface of changes in the x-direction (circumferential); the effect of
the rotor). In the present article, only the four-plate model gravity and the inertia force on the materials are
is discussed because the major materials are discharged ignored.
into the second VPCU in the three-plate model. Based on the above assumptions, the force analysis on
the materials is shown in Fig. 4. In the four-plate model,
the moving parts are the rotor and the two vanes. In the

FIG. 4. Force analysis on the materials between the vanes. FIG. 6. Schematic diagram of the visual experimental device.

DOI 10.1002/pen POLYMER ENGINEERING AND SCIENCE-2012 3

FIG. 7. Photograph from the B direction and the structural schematic
diagram of the compaction system.

rotating process, the latter vane (AB) exerts a thrust force

on the materials and develops a pressure P in the x (cir-
cumferential) direction. According to these assumptions, it FIG. 8. Theoretical and experimental pressures as a function of angle
w (rad) with the materials LDPE.
will generate a pressure KP in the y (radial) direction.
The normal pressure on the materials at both sides to Eqs. 24 yield the following:
the microunit is
Px z  xl tan y  Px dPx z  x  dxl tan y
Fx Px
z  x
l
tan y (2) (8)
 Kfw Px ldx 0
Fx dFx Px dPx
z  x  dx
l
tan y (3)
Px z  xtanwy1
Kf

(9)
where l is the length of the vanes. P0 z
Fn is the component force of the pressure at the inner
surface of the stator to the microunit in the y-direction. According to the research results of Hyun and Spalding
[15], the relationship between the bulk density of the solid
Fn Fz K
Px
l
dx (4) material and the pressure is
lnrm  ra  lnrm  r
Fw is the friction force at the inner surface of the stator to P (10)
C0
the microunit in the x-direction.
C0 b0 b1  T b2  T 2 b3 =Tg  T (11)
Fw K
fw
Px
l
dx (5)

According to the geometric relations, z is where P is the pressure acting on the solid materials, rm
is the maximum bulk density at innitely high pressure
fd d p which is assumed as the solid-phase density of the mate-
z L f (6)
2 2 2

According to these assumptions, the materials are in

steady state, therefore, the column force balance equation is

Fx  Fx dFx  Fw 0 (7)

TABLE 1. The experimental programs of the factors.

The conditions
The factors T (8C) e (mm) b (8) Materials n (rpm) The variables

1 e (mm) 100 40 LDPE 1 3-2.5-2-1.5-1

2 B (8) 120 3 LDPE 1 25-30-35-40
3 Materials 160 3 40 1 LDPE and GPPS
4 T (8C) 3 40 LDPE 1 100-120-140-160-180
5 n (rpm) 150 3 40 LDPE 1-10-20-30-40-50 FIG. 9. Effects of eccentricity on the pressure as a function of angle w
(rad) of the materials LDPE at 1008C.

4 POLYMER ENGINEERING AND SCIENCE-2012 DOI 10.1002/pen

 If Eq. 18 is meaningful, then
4a p
rm  r >0 (19)
4f p a

Thus

4ra a ra  rm p
f> (20)
4rm

Equation 20 demonstrates that the angle / has a mini-

mum value, and when / is closed to this value, the mate-
rials are maximally compacted.
Taking P0 into account, the pressure distribution in the
four-plate model is nally obtained, i.e.,
 
FIG. 10. Effects of eccentricity on the coefcient function C0 of the
lnrm  ra  ln rm  4fp
4ap
ra z  xtan
Kfw
y1
materials LDPE.
Px

C0 z
(21)
rial in this article, ra is the minimum bulk density at zero
pressure which is assumed as the bulk density at angle a, r is
d p
the actual density of the material, Co is the bulk density pres- z /
sure coefcient function, bo, b1, b2, and b3 are the coefcient 2 2
parameters of Co, T is the processing temperature, and Tg is 4e
the glass transition temperature of the materials. tan h
pd
When the volume is fully lled with materials at angle
a, it is calculated as The boundary conditions in Eq. 21 are
     
ad pd ad pd 4e 2ae pd
H1 tan y
e x 2 0;
2 4 2 4 pd p 4
(12)  
4qa a qa  qm p
ad 4e 2ae /2 ;a
H2
(13) 4qm
2 pd p
The theoretical results show that the pressure is
H1 H2 edl
Va Ll 4a p (14) related to the geometry (d and e), the operating conditions
2 8 (T and a) and the polymer properties (qm, qa, K, fw, and
Then, the mass is
4a p
ma ra Va ra eld (15)
8

Similarly,
edl
Vf 4f p (16)
8

During rotation, the density of the materials is always

changing. In the angle /, the average density is

ma 4a p
rf r (17)
Vf 4f p a

Substituting Eq. 10 to Eq. 17 yields

 
lnrm  ra  ln rm  4fp
4ap
ra
P0 (18) FIG. 11. Effects of the discharge port on the pressure as a function of
C0 angle w of the materials LDPE at 1208C.

DOI 10.1002/pen POLYMER ENGINEERING AND SCIENCE-2012 5

 EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES

Materials
The experiments used a low-density polyethylene
(LDPE) with qm 920 kg m23, qa 520 kg m23, and Tg
2138C, provided by China Petroleum & Chemical Cor-
poration, and a general purpose polystyrene (GPPS) with
qm 1040 kg m23, qa 530 kg m23 and Tg 1008C,
supplied by Hongkong Petroleum & Chemical Corporation.

Experimental Devices
A visual experimental device was designed to study
the solid conveying and compaction mechanism of the
FIG. 12. Effects of the properties of the materials (LDPE and PS) on vane extruder, as shown in Fig. 6. The equipment consists
pressure as a function of angle w at 1608C. of the driving and the compaction systems. When the
rotor is rotating, the torque sensor can measure the total
Tg). Two pressure distributions are presented in the angle torque of the rotor. The compaction system is composed
/ and in the distance x (x0 is the dimensionless distance of one group of VPCUs, and the eccentricity e between
characterized by the rotor diameter d), as shown in Fig. 5. the rotor and the stator can be adjusted from 0 to 3 mm.
The pressure on the solid materials increases sharply with To observe the compaction process, the VPCU bafe is
the reduction of /. When / reduces to 1 rad, the pressure made of quartz glass, and the discharge port is along the
is close to its limiting value, i.e., the density of the mate- circumferential direction of the rotor. Photographs of the
rials approaches to that of the solid particle. Simultane- compaction system were taken from the B direction, as
ously, the pressure increases slowly with the rising of x0 . shown in Fig. 7. The experimental phenomena can be
When the pressure is established, it exerts a torque to observed through the visualization window. In this
the rotor. M0 is the torque of P0 to the latter vane, and equipment, there are four stators with different angles of
ML is the torque of PL to the front one. The pressure is discharge port b (25, 30, 35, and 408), which can be
assumed to act on the center of the cantilever part of the accordingly installed to study the effects of different dis-
vanes. According to the torque calculation formula and charge ports on the pressure establishment. The length
ignoring the frictional torque, the relationships between of vane l is 35 mm, and the diameter of the rotor d in
the torque and the pressure are the device is 40 mm.
1
M0 dH1 H1 lPo (22)
2 Experimental Programs
1 As the motions of the four cavities were the same, one
ML dH2 H2 lPL (23)
2 cavity lled with materials was chosen to carry out the
experiments. Many factors affected the pressure establish-
The total torque on the rotor is ment, including the geometry of the device (eccentricity e
and discharge port b), the polymer properties (different
M M0  ML (24) materials) and the operating conditions (temperature and
rotating speed). In each experiment, one variable was var-
In the theoretical model, the pressure distribution of ied under the same conditions. The experimental pro-
the angle / is seen to be much larger than that of the grams with ve variables (eccentricity, discharge port, dif-
dimensionless distance x0 . Therefore, the pressure distribu- ferent materials, temperature, and rotating speed) were
tion in distance x can be ignored, and P0 can be consid- shown in Table 1. In Experiment no. 1, the variable was
ered as the average pressure of the materials at angle /. eccentricity, which changed from 1 to 3 mm. In Experi-
ment no. 2, the variable was the discharge port, which
2M varied from 258 to 408. In Experiment no. 3, the variable
PP0
(25)
p e
el d 4ae was the different materials, which were LDPE and GPPS.
In Experiment no. 4, the variable was the temperature,
According to Eq. 25, the pressure can be derived from which varied from 100 to 1808C, and in Experiment no.
the total torque M of the rotor. Therefore, the pressure 5, the variable was the rotating speed, which varied from
establishment in the rst VPCU can be studied by meas- 1 to 50 rpm. At the start of each experiment, lling the
uring the total torque M of the rotor. cavity full of materials up to the maximum volume was

6 POLYMER ENGINEERING AND SCIENCE-2012 DOI 10.1002/pen

 FIG. 13. Solid compaction process of the materials LDPE at 1008C.

necessary. Then, the experiments were started, and the In fact, the solid particle movement is merely a spatial
total torque of the rotor was recorded. Finally, according rearrangement of the materials, leading to the slow rising
to Eq. 25, the pressure was obtained as a function of the of the pressure. During the prepressure period, a relatively
angle w, dened as w 3/4p 2 /. dense material system is established, and few voids exist
between the polymer particles. In the compaction period,
the elastic deformation of the materials rst occurs near
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION the point of high stress, leading to the sharp rising of the
pressure. Upon further compression, plastic deformation
of the solid particles takes place, and some particles are
Theoretical and Experimental Pressure
even ruptured. At this condition, the pressure also
The comparison of the theoretically calculated pressure increases, although not sharply. Finally, the solid materi-
and the experimental pressure of the LDPE materials at a als are completely compacted. In other words, the pre-
temperature of 1008C is shown in Fig. 8. In the theoreti- pressure period is the no-deformation stage, and the com-
cal data, the parameters are as followings: C0 7.4 3 paction period is the elastic and plastic-deformation stage.
1028/Pa [17], K 0.4, fw 0.2, e 3 mm, d 40 mm, The results show that the theoretical model is rational and
l 35 mm, and a 3/4p rad. agrees with the experimental results. The comparison
It shows that the theoretical and experimental pressures between the theoretical and experimental results demon-
have the same trends, and the two curves are relatively strates that the vane extruder can establish high pressure
matched, especially with small angle w. According to this in short distance along the axial direction of the rotor (35
trend, the solid compaction process is divided into pre- mm of the experimental device). It can greatly reduce the
pressure period (w \ 0.17 rad) and compaction period (w solid conveying section in the vane extruder and shorten
[ 0.17 rad). In the prepressure period, the pressure is low the thermo-mechanical history compared with the conven-
and increases slowly. But in the compaction period, the tional screw extruder.
pressure is high and increases drastically. The changes in
the pressure in the two periods are related to the variation
Geometry of the Device
of the solid materials when the rotor is rotating. In the
prepressure period, the solid materials are loosely stacked The rotor eccentricity to the inner stator is one of the
in the cavity, and many voids exist between the materials. innovative designs in the vane extruder, as it allows the

DOI 10.1002/pen POLYMER ENGINEERING AND SCIENCE-2012 7

FIG. 14. Effects of temperature on pressure establishment as a function FIG. 15. Effects of temperature on the coefcient function C0 of the
of w of the materials LDPE. materials LDPE at 1508C.

establishment of high pressure in the short mechanical

crucial for pressure establishment. In Experiment no. 2,
course. According to the theoretical analysis, the pressure
four different stators were used to study the effect of the
increases with the increase in eccentricity e. However,
discharge port. The four discharge port angles were 25,
when e increases to a certain value, the rate of incremental
30, 35, and 408. The inner surface of the stators at 30, 35,
pressure becomes smaller and smaller. Therefore, indis-
and 408 are smooth. However, the inner surface of the
criminately increasing the eccentricity e to enhance the
stator at 258 has a groove, and the solids can feed back to
pressure is not advisable in the equipment design process.
the front cavity through this groove, which can reduce the
In Experiment no. 1, through the visualization window,
peak value of the pressure, as shown in Fig. 11. The three
the compaction effects were not apparent when the eccen-
curves at 30, 35, and 408 indicate that the larger the dis-
tricity was small. Eccentricity has a signicant effect on
charge port is, the smaller the pressure becomes. In the
the pressure, as shown in Fig. 9. In the 00.17 rad stage,
vane extruder, the discharge direction is along the axial
the effects of eccentricity on the pressure are insignicant,
direction of the rotor, in contrast to the visual experimen-
and the pressure is very low. When the eccentricity
tal device where it was along the circumferential direction
reduces, the peak value decreases rapidly. In particular,
of the rotor. However, the discharge port on the bafe
when the eccentricity is 1 mm, a small peak is observed,
can also be designed according to this experiment. The
and the curve attens. When the eccentricity is 3 mm,
discharge port on the bafe should be larger than the lim-
the peak value of the pressure appears near the angle of
iting angle / 4qa a qa  qm p=4qm , where the solid
0.34 rad. Generally, the angle of the peak value is
materials are compacted to the maximum, otherwise the
reduced with the reduction in eccentricity because when
the eccentricity is small, the solid materials are not max-
imally compacted at the discharge port. The solid mate-
rials need to be further compacted into a smaller vol-
ume. Therefore, a delay in the peak value of the pres-
sure is experienced. According to the theoretical and
experimental research, in the actual design process, ec-
centricity should be suitably selected. If it is too small,
the compaction effects of the solid materials will be
undesirable, and if it is too large, the cantilever part of
the vanes will be too long and detrimental to the
strength of the vanes.
The coefcient function C0 is associated with the ge-
ometry of the equipment. The effects of eccentricity on
C0 are shown in Fig. 10. C0 decreases when eccentricity
increases, and when eccentricity is large, the decrease am-
plitude is not obvious. The results show that indiscrimin-
ately increasing of the eccentricity is not advisable.
In the vane extruder, the size and the location of the FIG. 16. Effects of rotating speed on the pressure as a function of w of
discharge port in the discharge plate in the rst VPCU are the materials LDPE at 1508C.

8 POLYMER ENGINEERING AND SCIENCE-2012 DOI 10.1002/pen

vanes will be damaged. In addition, the discharge port peak value largely varies with different temperatures, and
should not be too large so that the pressure can be estab- the lower the temperature is, the higher the pressure
lished and the materials can be compacted. becomes. When the temperature is at 100 and 1208C, a
small peak follows the large peak because the high pres-
sure forces some solid particles to go into the front cavity
Polymer Properties through the gap between the vane and the inner surface
In Experiment no. 3, the pressure of the noncrystalline of the stator. Based on this experiment, in the actual pro-
GPPS material is higher than that of the semicrystalline cess, the temperature setting in the feeding section should
LDPE material, as shown in Fig. 12. k is the ratio of qm be low to compact the materials and establish pressure.
to qa, and the k of LDPE and GPPS are The temperature has a signicant effect on the compressi-
bility coefcient function C0, as shown in Fig. 15. C0
1040 increases rapidly with the rising of the temperature. Accord-
lPS 1:96 (26) ing to the experimental data, the compressibility coefcient
530
function C0 of the LDPE materials in the vane extruder is
920
lLDPE 1:74 (27)
530 C0 0:43  8:45  103 T 4:6  105 T 2 1=MPa (28)

According to the theoretical analysis, under the same Equations 11 and 28 yield bo 0.43 MPa21, b1
condition, the pressure decreases when k increases. How- 8.45 3 1023 (MPa21 8C21), b2 4.6 3 1025 (MPa21
ever, this result is contradictory to the experimental 8C22), and b3 0 (8C/MPa) in the vane extruder.
results, which could probably be due to the various mate- In Experiment no. 5, the effects of the rotating speed
rial properties that can affect the solid compaction pro- on the pressure establishment were studied. The results
cess, such as glass transition temperature Tg, melting are shown in Fig. 16. At low rotating speed (1 rpm), the
point Tm, and so on. Hyun and Spalding [15] suggested pressure is established at smaller rotating angle w of 0.2
that semicrystalline polymers with low Tg, such as PE, rad, whereas in high rotating speeds (20, 30, 40, and 50
can be easily compacted. Under the same experimental rpm), it is established in larger rotating angle of 0.35 rad.
conditions, Tg of the GPPS material is higher than that of At low rotating speeds (1 and 10 rpm), the peak value of
LDPE, therefore, the GPPS pressure is higher than that of the pressure increases with the rising of the rotating
LDPE. speed, but at higher speeds (30, 40, and 50 rpm), the peak
value remains invariant at 25 MPa. In addition, high
rotating speed can establish higher pressure than low
Operating Conditions
rotating speed because at low speed, the materials experi-
The changes of the LDPE materials at 1008C are shown ence long residence and heating course so that a low pres-
in Fig. 13. The square cavity near the condition of the maxi- sure is established. The results indicate that the rotating
mum volume is completely lled with LDPE materials in speed has no signicant inuence on pressure establish-
Fig. 13a. When the rotor is rotating, the volume becomes ment in high rotating speed in the actual process.
smaller, and the cloudiness of the materials is observed to
become transparent, as shown in Fig. 13b. Figure 13c
CONCLUSIONS
shows that when the volume further decreases, the materi-
als are completely transparent. Then, the materials are dis- The pressure establishment in the solid conveying section
charged, as shown in Fig. 13d. Interestingly, the discharged of the vane extruder has been analyzed using a convergent
materials are not signicantly different from the feeding wedge slot model. The analytical solution of the four-plate
materials. In general, the melting point Tm of LDPE is model was obtained according to some assumptions. The
approximately at 1101378C, and the materials do not vane extruder has been shown to establish a high pressure
become transparent at 1008C. This condition may be due to in the rst VPCU when the rotor rotates a cycle. The
the failure of the crystals in the materials under high pres- theoretical results show that the pressure establishment is
sure. However, the failure of crystals is reversible accord- related to the geometry, the operating conditions and the
ing to the phenomenon that no signicant difference exists polymer properties. Two pressure distributions exist for
between the discharge and feeding materials. angle / and the dimensionless distance x0 , showing that
In Experiment no. 4, the effects of temperature on the pressure increases sharply with the reduction of /
pressure establishment were studied. The results are and increases slowly with the rising of x0 .
showed in Fig. 14. In the initial period of 00.17 rad, the Experimental and theoretical research demonstrates that
effects of temperature on the pressure are not obvious, a higher pressure and shorter thermo-mechanical history
and the pressure is low, which corresponds to the prepres- are achieved due to the positive displacement-type convey-
sure period. In the second period of 0.170.34 rad, the ing characteristics of the vane extruder compared with the
pressure increases rapidly, and a peak value exists. The traditional screw extruder. The geometry of this device (ec-

DOI 10.1002/pen POLYMER ENGINEERING AND SCIENCE-2012 9

centricity e and discharge port b), the polymer properties M0, ML The torques of P0 to the later vane and
(different materials) and the operating conditions (tempera- PL to the front vane (N m21)
ture and rotating speed) exert a signicant effect on pres- V The volume between the adjacent vanes
sure establishment. The research also indicates that in the (m)
design process of device optimization and its processing pa- x The distance between the later vane and
rameters, the eccentricity e and the discharge port of the the innitesimal element (m)
discharge bafe should be appropriately selected, and the x0 The dimensionless distance x character-
feeding section temperature should be set to a low value. ized by the rotor diameter d, namely, x0
Finally, in the actual process, the rotating speed has been x/d
shown to have no signicant inuence on the pressure z The distance between the later vane and
establishment under high rotating speed. the apex of convergence (m)
e The eccentricity between the stator and
the rotor (m)
NOMENCLATURE d The dimensionless eccentricity e charac-
terized by the rotor diameter d, namely,
/ The angle between the front vane and the d e/d
horizontal position when the rotor is rotat- y The convergence angle of the wedge
ing (rad) model (rad)
a The angle equal to / when the cavity is k The ratio of the solid-phase density to the
full of the materials (rad) bulk density of the material
/m The angle / when the materials is com- qa, qm, q The bulk density of material, the solid-
pacted to the most (rad) phase density of the material and the
w The rotating angle (rad), dened as w actual density of the material (kg m23)
3/4p 2 / Tg The glass transition temperature of the
l The length of the vane (m) materials (8C)
C0 The bulk density pressure coefcient T The processing temperature (8C)
function (MPa21)
b o, b 1, b 2, b 3 The coefcient parameters of C0
d The diameter of the rotor (m) REFERENCES
Fn The component force of the pressure at
the inner surface of the stator to the 1. Z. Tadmor and C.G. Gogos, Principles of Polymer Process-
microunit in the y-direction (N) ing, Wiley, New Jersey, 473 (2006).
Fw The friction force at the inner surface of 2. J.P. Qu, China Patent, 200810026054.X (2008).
the stator to the microunit in the x-direc- 3. J.P. Qu, Eng. Sci., 9, 58 (2010).
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Fx The normal pressure on the materials to 5. M. Finston, J. Appl. Mech., 18, 12 (1951).
the microunit in the x-direction (N)
6. M.A. Cannon, MS thesis, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Fz The component force of the pressure at (1980).
the surface of the rotor to the microunit in 7. N.M. Smith and J. Parnaby, Polym. Eng. Sci., 20, 830
the y-direction (N) (1980).
fw The friction coefcient between the stator
8. R.J. Crawford and D. Paul, J. Mater. Sci., 14, 2693 (1979).
and the materials
9. S. Derezinski, J. Plast. Film Sheet., 4, 298 (1988).
H1, H2 The extended height of the later vane and
10. S. Derezinski, J. Plast. Film Sheet., 5, 271 (1989).
the front vane (m)
K The ratio between the stress of the y 11. T.E. Fahey, J. Macromol. Sci Phys., B20, 319 (1981).
direction and x direction 12. T.E. Fahey, J. Vinyl Technol., 4, 115 (1982).
L The distance between the adjacent vanes (m) 13. K. Schneider, Kunststojfe, 59, 97 (1969).
n The rotating speed (rpm) 14. R.J. Crawford, Polym. Eng. Sci., 22, 300 (1982).
P The pressure acting on the materials 15. K.S. Hyun and M.A. Spalding, Polym. Eng. Sci., 30, 571
(MPa) (1990).
P0 PL , Px The pressure acting on the materials in the 16. D.Q. Qiu and P. Prentice, Adv. Polym. Tech., 17, 23 (1998).
location of the later vane, the front vane 17. J.P. Qu, Polymer Dynamic Processing Theory and Technol-
and x (MPa) ogy, Science Press, Beijing (2005).

10 POLYMER ENGINEERING AND SCIENCE-2012 DOI 10.1002/pen