Dispersive and Distributive Mixing Characterization in Extrusion Equipment

Mixing is a key step in almost every polymer processing operation. The traditional methodology for improving machinery performance has relied more on users' experience and trial and error experiments. Recently, the fast development of advanced computing resources has enabled the use of numerical modeling as an alternative and more efficient approach in studying the influence of design and processing conditions on equipment mixing performance. In this work using numerical simulations we record the flow history of a number of tracers in the equipment and use them in conjunction with dispersion kinetics models to evaluate minor component size and concentration distributions.