Extrusion Process Engineering and Troubleshooting

Overview

This seminar will cover die design from a materials properties point of view. Attendees will gain a good understanding of practical rheology and how to use it for efficient die design. Explaining why certain extrusion "phenomena" occur is a major theme of this seminar, and a number of industry-relevant case studies will be provided. This course is intended for anyone who is currently responsible for or interested in the design, performance, optimization or purchase of an extrusion die. Extrusion die designers, process engineers, technical service personnel, research and development personnel and those responsible for specifying and troubleshooting extrusion processes will obtain the most benefit from this course. Topics covered will be applicable to all areas of extrusion including pipe and tubing, film and sheet, wire and cable coating, blow molding and profile extrusion. Attendees will learn about the most important design criteria that go into good die designs and how to differentiate between good and bad designs.

Content

Material Properties

• Important rheological measurements (such as shear and elongational viscosity), what they mean, how they are obtained and how they can be used for die design.

The Extruder

• Since the extruder determines the quality of the melt that is delivered to a die, the die designer must understand how the extruder performance can affect the die performance. This part of the seminar will describe the functions of an extruder using a combination of theory and videos of experiments performed on glass window extruders.

Mono-Layer Dies

• Focus is on extrusion die requirements. Design parameters and criterion will be provided for a wide variety of processes and materials. Topics will include flat dies, spiral dies, pipe and tubing dies and coating dies. Video presentations of visualization experiments will be used to help explain the concepts.

Profile Dies: Design & Optimization

• Attendees will be shown a systematic and practical profile die design procedure using the COMPUPLAST® Cross Flow Minimization Method™ of profile die design.

Coextrusion

• An overview and explanation of the most common problems associated with coextrusion dies will be presented along with guidelines on how to avoid the problems or solve them when they occur.

"Hands-On" Simulation Training

• Attendees will use a "Virtual Extrusion Laboratory" to simulate and design a variety of extrusion dies. The effect of design variables, processing conditions and material changes will be demonstrated with emphasis on optimization and troubleshooting.