Study on the melting performance of single screw extruder with grooved melting zone and barr screw

• Published in: Journal of materials processing technology 2014-12, Vol.214 (12), p.2834-2842
• Main Authors: Jin, X.-M., Jia, M.-Y., Xue, P., Cai, J.-Ch, Pan, L., Yu, D.-Q.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Barr screw; Barrel plating; Barrels (extruders); Channels; Dimensionless analysis; Energy consumption; Grooved; Grooved melting zone; Melt starting point; Melting; Melting length; Melting model; Screws; Single screw extruders
• ISSN: 0924-0136
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jmatprotec.2014.06.022

•A melting mechanism for SSE with grooved melting zone (GMZ) was established.•Experiments on a new SSE platform with hydraulic-clamshell type barrels.•The melting efficiency was improved by introducing GMZ to SSE.•Heat convection and viscous dissipation are main melting heat for SEE with GMZ. A novel melting mechanism for single screw extruder with grooved melting zone and barr screw was established. The whole solid-plug, which came from the grooved feed zone, was ruptured and melted mainly by continuously changing the volume of the screw channels and the barrel grooves in the grooved melting zone. A new single screw extruder platform with hydraulic-clamshell type barrels was constructed to investigate the melting performance of different combinations of barrels and screws. The melting model was verified by experiments. Compared with conventional single screw extruder, the melting started earlier and the melting length was shorter in the single screw extruder with grooved melting zone. The melting efficiency was improved by the grooved melting zone and the melting stability was improved by the barr screw. The dimensionless analysis of energy indicates that the heat convection and viscous dissipation are the main melting heat sources for the single screw extruder with grooved melting zone.