TheEXTRUDERTIMES

VOL.01 / ISSUE-03 MAY-JUNE 2006

IN THIS ISSUE:

Review:
SFV Elements R E V I E W -1
Fundamental Concepts of Compounding
Catalyst:
Barrel NEW
ReCap:
Extrudate Swell
SFV ELEMENTS
TO IMPROVE INTAKE CAPACITY AND BOOST OVERALL EFFICIENCY OF TSE
Brainstorm:
Maximum Torque Utilization
Question 4 You: Introduction: The earliest co-rotating twin-screw extruders had shallow flight depths
Side Feeder Ports and were designed to be run with a filled-up hopper, in the same way an injection-
molding machine or a single-screw extruder is run. As the technology progressed and
flight depths increased, it became necessary to adopt a different approach to get the
material into the extruder. This approach is now popularly called starve-feeding. In this
approach, an additional feeder is used to provide a steady flow of material to the
extruder. The hopper is no longer a vessel to hold material but simply a chamber through
This issue of ET is sponsored by
which material enters the extruder. In many cases, it can be seen that the extruder has a
STEER’s OUTL·NE
large capacity for accepting such feed. If controls are not exercised, such situations can
The Configuration Management Software
for Twin-Screw Extruders stall or break the mechanical parts and the electrical drive system. Therefore, the limiting
factor is the torque availability. While feeding polymers devoid of any other filler, the
material feed rate is generally a fraction (0.05 – 0.20) of the volumetric capacity of the
extruder. Since there is very limited material in many zones of the extruder, the extruder
is considered to be “Starving”.
There are now many applications where fillers are added at very high percentages. Most
applications with Talc or extremely fine Carbon are difficult to process because of severe
limitation in intake capacity of the main extruder or the side-feeder. While many applica-
tions are torque-limited, these specific applications become feed-limited. A new element
called the SFV element can be used to greatly improve the intake capacity while starve-
feeding. These find application especially in the deep-flighted, high-speed extruders,
which can handle feed-limited applications the best.

Visit: http://www.steerit.net/products/outline.html

A I M S A N D O B J EC T I V E S

• To share breakthroughs and happenings in the

Extruder Industry with special emphasis on Fig 1: RSE Fig 2: SKE Fig 3: SFV
Twin/Single Screw Extruders.
• To serve as an information sharing platform for What is the profile of the intake elements?
STUDENTS, ENGINEERS and COMPOUNDERS.
The profile of the intake zone elements has an important role in the conveying efficiency
• To generate triggers and encourage contributions
from scientists, technocrats and teaching and capacity. Traditionally, profiles in the feed zones may be Normal Bi-lobed Right-hand
community for new innovations. Screw Element (RSE) with spline bore with leads 1.0 to 1.5 times the diameter (Fig. 1).
Modified Right-hand Bilobed Elements called SchubKanten Element (SKE) have 20%
more free volume and provide corresponding improvement in capacity (Fig. 2).
Continued...

3 A special initiative of
C O N S U LTA N C Y S E R V I C E S , I N D I A
 TheEXTRUDERTIMES

NEW
SFV ELEMENTS
TO IMPROVE INTAKE CAPACITY AND BOOST OVERALL EFFICIENCY OF TSE

Continued...

STEER’s deep-flighted intake (SFV) elements (Fig. 3 patent pending) are specifically
designed to improve the conveying efficiency. At low screw speeds, these elements are
capable of compacting the material during conveying. Increase in intake capacity of
nearly 200% is achievable at RPM range of 150 – 900. The element responds to increase
in screw speed beyond this range in an unusual manner. With a 40 mm machine, it has
been experienced that increase in capacity was 300% of typical elements at 1100 RPM. Key advantages of SFV elements
It is expected that the element creates a partial vacuum and can suck in the material from
the hopper and compact it while conveying. • Converts feed-limited to torque-limited
utilizing the machine to a great extent
• Improves efficiency of processing by
lowering specific energy
300
• Side feeding can be avoided hence
reducing the equipment cost
200
OUTPUT (kg/hr)

OUTPUT (SFV)
100
OUTPUT (SKE)

0 OUTPUT (RSE)
0 300 600 900

SCREW SPEED (RPM)

Fig 4: Performance of STEER’s SFV

An experiment (Fig. 4) carried out with a premix of 50% Talc and 50% LLDPE granules
reached torque limit at 900 RPM. Increase in screw speed resulted in linear increase in
capacity. With a different formulation containing 40% Talc, the suction effect was
observed at 1100 RPM and a sudden raise in starve-feeding capacity limited only by the This article is contributed by Dr. Babu Padmanabhan,
torque capacity of the extruder. Managing Director and Founder of Steer Engineering.
He is a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Virginia
The SFV Elements are an integral part of some STEER TSEs, especially the OMEGA Polytechnic Institute and State University Blacksburg VA
Series of Extruders.

CATALYST Through this column ET will cover briefly

relevant information on key components that
goes into an extruder

Barrel
The processing section of an extruder primarily consists of a set of barrels and the screw.
Conveying, mixing, kneading, melting, metering, etc. take place in the processing
section.
In a twin-screw extruder, two intersecting cylindrical bores in the shape of “8” form the
core of the barrel. The barrel houses the screw. It also serves as the primary heat transfer
medium in the process. It has to resist wear, overcome the process pressures, and oppose
screw torque.
Barrels are normally rectangular or cylindrical steel blocks with a flange at the feed-end
for mounting to the gearbox and another flange at the discharge end for mounting to
the adjacent barrel flange or the die system. The flanges will have through or threaded
holes for mounting purpose. In most cases high alloy steel liners are used as the core of
the barrel to resist wear and corrosion.
Courtesy: Mr A Vishwanathan, Director R&D, Steer Engineering
 R E V I E W -2

FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS OF COMPOUNDING

DISPERSIVE AND DISTRIBUTIVE MIXING The first part of this article “The Art of Compounding Thermoplastics” was carried out in ET2

Living with contradictions is, in fact, an inherent part of the art of Compounding. The
very basic case of MIXING, is a process of Compounding two or more different materials.
There are two types of mixing processes namely, Dispersive Mixing and Distributive
DISPERSIVE DISTRIBUTIVE Mixing.
MIXING MIXING
Dispersive mixing is the reduction in the size of the agglomerate such as pigments, ideally
to the size of the primary particles and get uniformly distributed.
Distributive mixing is the uniform distribution of the agglomerated pigment particle,
distribution does not reduce the size of the additional component, it increases the
interfacial area between the polymer matrix and the dispersed phase.
DISTRIBUTIVE
Distribution may occur without causing dispersion and dispersion usually causes distribu-
MIXING
tion. The perfect example of compounding is the preparation of bread dough, used in
everyday life. It has all the essentials of a good compounding process. This process serves
as a model for all the compounding processes.
HOMOGENOUS For that matter, quite a few compounding extruders, very similar to the ones used for
MIXTURE plastics are being used in the food processing industry, too.
The following equations define torque, shear rate and shear stress

EQUATION 1 Torque ∞ (Power) ÷ (Screw RPM)

3.1415 × Screw Ø × Screw RPM

EQUATION 2 Shear Rate (sec -1) =
Effective Channel Depth × 60

EQUATION 3 Shear Stress = Viscosity × Shear Rate

Equation (2) forms the heart of the process.

Substituting Equations (1) and (2) in (3), we get

"Not everything that counts can be counted,

Screw Ø × Power × Viscosity
and not everything that can be counted counts" EQUATION 4 Shear Stress ∞
- Albert Einstein Effective Channel Depth × Torque

Effective channel depth is the actual depth of the material that fills the screw flight. It is
a variable that is dependent upon other parameters like feed, RPM, etc. In Eq (2) this
R|E|C|A|P| ET enables recapitulating few
definitions and technical terms
parameter is the most important in deciding shear rate of the material. Most importantly,
the feed rate and screw RPM are set (and hence torque) to optimum levels. This case is
with respect to extruders and
compounds seen while processing fragile materials like glass fibers.
The conclusions drawn from the above equations are as follows:
Extrudate Swell
• Effective channel depth is directly proportional to the feed rate and inversely propor
Whenever a polymer melt emerges from a die, tional to the screw RPM
the diameter or thickness is larger than the
• Shear rate is directly proportional to screw RPM and inversely proportional to feed rate
diameter (or gap) of the die. At usual produc-
tion throughputs, diameter or thickness ratios • Shear is inversely proportional to torque
range from 1.20—1.40 for PVC to 1.50—2.00 • Torque is directly proportional to effective channel depth
for commercial grade polyethylenes and are
much more for some polymers containing a
high-molecular-weight tail. It is an indication
of the polymer elasticity. The more elastic
polymers give larger swell. Pulling the extru- This article is contributed by Dr. Pradeep Bakshi. Pradeep is an Independent
date reduces the swell, and extrudates can be Consultant in the field of Plastics Compounding, based in Vadodara, India.
drawn down to diameters (or thicknesses) He is a PhD from Plastics Division, University Department of Chemical
much smaller than the die diameter or gap. Technology, Mumbai and I. Eng., AMIM from Institute of Materials, UK.
Fellow of the Indian Plastics Institute.
source: SPE

MAY-JUNE 2006 | VOL.01 / ISSUE- 03

 TheEXTRUDERTIMES
Brainstorm Reader's Queries on Extruders, Elements,
Polymer-Compounding etc are answered
by ET's Expert Group
QUA LIT Y PRIORITIES

SPEED - how time-critical is this?

PERSONAL TOUCH - how important is it to manage What are the factors influencing the maximum torque utilization in co-rotating
the customer's state of mind? twin-screw extruder?
ACCURACY - how important is precision, confor- - Rajendra Prasad, Bangalore
mance to specifications, safety, security, informa-
tion clarity, and error prevention? To utilize the machine, the extruder has to be fed with sufficient quantity of material.
COOPERATION - how important is it to dovetail There are a few factors that affect the utilization of an extruder to its full extent. These
with another person's task or with what the can be divided into restrictions at the Upstream (material cannot be fed), Mid-stream
customer is doing? (material comes out through the vent) and Down-stream (required die/screen pressure
ECONOMY - how important is it to minimize the
for material to exit)
resource cost involved? In general, the higher the torque utilization in the extruder, the more efficient is the
“SPACE” is the acronym for the above. It may not process. At any given screw speed, if the applications is run at the maximum available
completely cover all aspects, but helps focus torque, this means that full available motor power is being utilized. In co-rotating twin-
energies. screw extruders that are controlled by torque, full motor power is available at the
- Karl Albrecht maximum screw speed.
1. Variation in Feeding - Material is fed into the extruder using an additional feeder. In
the case of most volumetric feeders and some gravimetric feeders, this feeding is not at
a steady rate. This leads to variation in the torque levels in the machine. It is necessary to
set the feed such that the maximum value will not trip the machine. If the variation is
high (10%), then the machine will be under utilized.
2. Feed-limitation - There are certain materials that will easily flood the extruder hopper.
Since the entry of material is limited, this restricts the torque utilization.
How many side-feeder ports can be 3. Availability of side-feeders - In many cases, feed-limitation can be overcome by the
configured in a 40 L/D Co-rotating use of side-feeders utilizing the full capacity of the machine. However, many extruders
Twin-screw Extruder? do not have additional side-feeders causing limitations in usage of the machine.
The best answer will be published in subsequent ET
with name and photograph of the reader. Readers
4. Leakage from the Vent / Metering capacity - In many applications, the leakage at
are INVITED to send-in their answers with/without the vent restricts utilization of the machine. Proper choice of inserts and design of screw
drawings/pictures/illustrations to configuration are important aspects to avoid leakage at the die.
[email protected]
5. High Die-head Pressure - Extruders are built to withstand a certain die-head
The answers have to be precise and directed to the pressure. The pressure increases with usage of screens. Certain highly viscous materials
question. Should be a minimum of 75 words and develop high die head pressure limiting the output of the extruder.
not to exceed 250 words.
Any research paper relevant to the question are to - Babu Padmanabhan on behalf of ET expert panel.
be sent as attachment, to serve as a reference For further queries on the subject you may write to: [email protected].
material.
The ET expert panel, would SELECT the most Brainstorm invites questions - Readers and practitioners may send their questions to
appropriate answer. ET's decision is final and no ET. The questions must state clearly the background of the problem / issue. Selected
correspondence will be entertained. The Winner's
questions with answers will appear in subsequent issues of ET. Please send your
answer will be published in the subsequent issues
of ET. The participant to send full name and address questions to [email protected]
particulars, along with the Answers.

NPE2006
LAST DATE to receive the entry is
Friday, June 30 2006.

VISIT STEER STALL AT

Technical Contributions Most Welcome! BOOTH NO. 7247 | JUNE 19-23, 2006 NPE Society of the Plastics Industry Inc.
Mc Cormick Place, Chicago, IL USA
ET solicits editorial contributions by way of
case studies associated with unique applica-
tions and extruder technology project /
All rights reserved: Reproduction without prior permission of the publisher is expressly prohibited. The publisher
products. The article/contributions may be makes every effort to ensure that the ET’s contents are correct. However, we accept no responsibility for any
adaptations to a new technology, break- errors or omissions and accept no responsibility for any loss or damage caused as an effect thereof. The opinions
expressed by experts are their own and in no way reflect that of the publisher.
throughs or process or anything interesting.
Printed and Published by: ET editorial coordinator KSRam on behalf of STEER CONSULTANCY SERVICES, 290, 4th
Please send your contributions to main, 4th phase, Peenya Ind. Area, Bangalore - 560 058, India.
[email protected] [email protected]

FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY

Published by
C O N S U LTA N C Y S E R V I C E S , I N D I A