New Generation of Extruders with Active Grooved Feed Section and Rotational Barrel Segment

Abstract

Since 2017, as part of the Horizon 2020 Program, an international research and training project entitled "Research and development of new generation extruders for processing composite and nanocomposite materials" with the acronym NEWEX has been implemented. As part of the research, a new, activated plasticizing system of the extruder was developed, with an active grooved feed section (AGFS), a rotational barrel segment (RBS) and a special screw (SS) structurally adapted to the changed cylinder geometry. From several designed solutions of each of the above-mentioned vital elements of the extruder, three were selected and their 3D models were made using known incremental methods. Then, using proprietary software, computer simulations of the operation of the obtained plasticizing systems were carried out. On this basis, the optimal plasticizing system was selected and made in metal. The investigations were carried out on: output, melt temperature at die exist (Tmelt), mechanical power consumption (Power), length of screw required for melting (Lmelting), viscous dissipation, the pressure (P), the solids (X/W), the maximum temperature in the solids (Ts max) and the barrel temperature imposed (TBarrel) along the extruder. This paper presents a research methodology leading to a new generation extruder, equipped with several innovative elements that have not been used in such processing machines so far.