Characterization of plasticizing process of single screw extruder with grooved melting zone

In order to improve the throughput and plasticizing capability of traditional single screw extruder (SSE), grooves at the inner surface of barrel were extended from the feeding zone to the melting zone of the extruder. However, the melting behavior and plasticizing quality of polymers in the grooved SSE can not be observed and measured intuitively because of the closed structure of the extruder. In this study, four types of detection techniques, including visualization technology, ultrasound testing, melt pressure on-line detecting and mechanical properties analysis, were developed to characterize the plasticizing capability of SSE with grooved melting zone. Four screws with different compression ratios were also utilized to investigate the plasticizing performance of SSE with grooved melting zone. The procedure conditions, such as barrel temperature and screw speed, were also analyzed. The experimental results showed that cooperating with an anti-compression ratio screw, SSE with grooved melting zone had a reasonable melt pressure, improved throughput and great plasticizing performance, which was very promising in the polymer processing industry.