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Influence of die geometric structure on flow balance in complex hollow plastic profile extrusion

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Abstract

The unbalanced flow problem often occurs at die exit in the extrusion process of plastic profile, which directly influences the performance of final products. For the lack of corresponding theoretical basis, reasonable extrusion die design is still a difficult task, especially for the complex hollow profile. With the development of computational fluid dynamics theory, numerical method becomes an effective way to investigate the complex material forming problems. In the present study, a design strategy for complex hollow profile extrusion die was proposed based on the principles of flow balance. The mathematical model for three-dimensional non-isothermal polymer melt flow within complex extrusion die runner was developed based on the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) theory. The governing equations were deduced based on the finite volume method, and the pressure-velocity coupling problem was solved by using the Semi-Implicit Method for Pressure-Linked Equations (SIMPLE) algorithm. The Arrhenius equation was employed to involve the temperature dependence of material parameters. The flow characteristics of PVC polymer melts in the extrusion process of complex hollow profile were investigated. The distributions of principal field variables including flow velocity, melt temperature, and pressure drop were obtained. The effects of die geometric parameters on the velocity distribution uniformity were further analyzed, and a design strategy was proposed to achieve the flow balance in complex plastic profile extrusion process.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory for Liquid-Solid Structural Evolution and Processing of Materials, Ministry of Education, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, 250061, People’s Republic of China

    Yue Mu, Lianqiang Hang & Guoqun Zhao

  2. Engineering Research Center for Mould & Die Technologies, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, 250061, People’s Republic of China

    Yue Mu, Lianqiang Hang, Anbiao Chen & Guoqun Zhao

  3. Ningbo Institute of Industrial Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ningbo, Zhejiang, 315201, People’s Republic of China

    Dingding Xu

Authors
  1. Yue Mu
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  2. Lianqiang Hang
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  3. Anbiao Chen
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  4. Guoqun Zhao
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  5. Dingding Xu
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Correspondence to Yue Mu or Guoqun Zhao.

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Mu, Y., Hang, L., Chen, A. et al. Influence of die geometric structure on flow balance in complex hollow plastic profile extrusion. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 91, 1275–1287 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-016-9790-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-016-9790-y

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