Die swell of polymer composites.

Die Swell of Complex Polymeric Systems

Description of Extrudate Swell for Polymer Nanocomposites

Extrudate swell is often observed to be weakened in nanocomposites compared to the pure polymer matrix. A theory quantifying this would be significant either for optimum processing or for understanding their viscoelasticity. A unified extrudate swell correlation with material properties and capillary parameters was suggested for polymer melt and their nanocomposites when considering the reservo...

Simulating Die Swell in the Context of Profile Extrusion

Plastics extrusion is a manufacturing process suitable for continuous profiles such as floor skirtings, window frames, and pipes. In industrial applications, extrusion is a large-scale process, financially attractive only for mass products. This is due to the time consuming and costly regulation of the extrusion process and especially, the design of an extrusion die which relies on running-in e...

Understanding the Links between Structure and Properties in Die Drawing Wood Powder Polymer Composites

Wood powder polypropylene composites (WPC) have been produced with 40wt% of a soft or a hard wood as filler. The die drawing process developed at the University of Leeds [1] has been used to produce oriented composites. Aspect ratios (Ar) for both wood powders were calculated by using a Sysmex image analyser. Prediction of the Young’s modulus of the oriented WCP was calculated using the Cox-Kre...

Polymer Microvascular Network Composites

Microvascular networks show promise for applications such as selfhealing, self-cooling, and structural damage sensing. Fluid-filled micro-scale channels have been investigated extensively in the field of microfluidics, but threedimensional networks in polymeric structural materials have been achieved only recently. The purpose of microvascular network integration is to provide a vehicle for the...