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Jim Frankland President
Extruder Alignment: Important, but Only Half the Equation
The other half? Aligning and supporting downstream equipment. Here are best practices.
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Understanding Viscosity in Extrusion
Both the power-law coefficient and the consistency index must be considered to calculate viscosity.
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Cooling the Feed Throat and Screw: How Much Water Do You Need?
It’s one of the biggest quandaries in extrusion, as there is little or nothing published to give operators some guidance. So let’s try to shed some light on this trial-and-error process.
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Barrier Screws: Not All Are Created Equal
Let’s take a deep dive into parallel and crossing types and see where each fit in.
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Why Barrel Temperatures Have a Small Effect on Melt Temperature
Extruders are not like ovens. Tweaking barrel-temperature profiles will not influence melt temperature all that much. Here’s why.
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Simple Scale-Up Calculations for Melting
You can avoid complicated melting equations when designing or evaluating a screw by using simpler methods that can save time and provide good results.
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Unraveling the Complexity of Single-Screw Scale-Up
Variables such as shear rates, melting rate, residence time and conductive heating are all influenced in the scale-up.
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Telltale Signs of Screw Wear
Determining the cause of wear is the first step in eliminating it.
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Extrusion: Head Pressure and Output Stability
Use drag- and pressure-flow equations to analyze fluctuating output.
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How to Estimate and Control Head Pressure
You rightfully worry about melt temperature, but don’t overlook head pressure, because the two are closely linked and will influence line performance.
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Extrusion: A Simple Way to Evaluate Your Screw Performance, Part 2
A hand-held calculator and some basic equations can help determine whether your screw is up to snuff.
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Extrusion: A Simple Way to Evaluate Extruder Screws
While there’s lots of data that influences screw design, processors usually don’t have access to it. So instead, try calculating drag flow to see if your screw is working properly.
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