3D simulation of the fluted mixer element behavior

Abstract

In this work, two different fluted mixing elements have been investigated by 3D FEM analysis. It has been found that open fluted mixing element has lower temperature losses than closed fluted mixer which can be explained by the presence of the layer, which is slowly rotating very close to the barrel in the case of the open fluted mixing element. It also has been found that the shear stress in this isolation polymer melt layer is lower than 20 kPa, which may leads to polymer melt degradation. From the obtained theoretical data, it can be concluded that open fluted mixing element may behave much more differently than the closed fluted mixing element.