Abstract
The production rate of polymer fibers by extrusion is usually limited by the appearance of a series of instabilities (“melt fracture”) that lead to unwanted undulations of the surface. We present both qualitative and quantitative experimental evidence that—in addition to previously known polymer-specific scenarios—there is an intrinsic route towards melt fracture type phenomena: a nonlinear (“subcritical”) instability of viscoelastic Poiseuille flow.
- Received 13 February 2002
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.90.114502
©2003 American Physical Society