Polymer extrusion is an important but an energy intensive method of processing polymeric materials. The rapid increase in demand of polymeric products has forced manufactures to rethink their processing efficiencies to manufacture good quality products with low‐unit‐cost. Here, analyzing the operational conditions has become a key strategy to achieve both energy and thermal efficiencies simultaneously. This study aims to explore the effects of polymers' rheology on the energy consumption and melt thermal quality (ie, a thermally homogeneous melt flow in both radial and axil directions) of extruders. Six commodity grades of polymers (LDPE, LLDPE, PP, PET, PS, and PMMA) were processed at different conditions in two types of continuous screw extruders. Total power, motor power, and melt temperature profiles were analyzed in an industrial scale single‐screw extruder. Moreover, the active power (AP), mass throughput, torque, and power factor were measured in a laboratory scale twin‐screw extruder. The results confirmed that the specific energy consumption for both single and twin screw extruders tends to decrease with the processing speed. However, this action deteriorates the thermal stability of the melt regardless the nature of the polymer. Rheological characterization results showed that the viscosity of LDPE and PS exhibited a normal shear thinning behavior. However, PMMA presented a shear thickening behavior at moderate‐to‐high shear rates, indicating the possible formation of entanglements. Overall, the findings of this work confirm that the materials' rheology has an appreciable correlation with the energy consumption in polymer extrusion and also most of the findings are in agreement with the previously reported investigations. Therefore, further research should be useful for identifying possible correlations between key process parameters and hence to further understand the processing behavior for wide range of machines, polymers, and operating conditions.

中文翻译：

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材料流变性对聚合物挤出过程能耗和熔体热质量的影响

聚合物挤出是加工聚合物材料的重要但耗能的方法。聚合物产品需求的快速增长迫使制造商重新考虑其加工效率，从而以较低的单位成本生产出高质量的产品。在这里，分析运行条件已成为同时实现能源效率和热效率的关键策略。这项研究旨在探讨聚合物流变学对挤出机的能量消耗和熔体热质量（即，沿径向和轴向的热均质熔体流动）的影响。在两种类型的连续螺杆挤出机中，在不同条件下加工了六种商品等级的聚合物（LDPE，LLDPE，PP，PET，PS和PMMA）。总功率，电机功率，在工业规模的单螺杆挤出机中分析熔体温度曲线。此外，在实验室规模的双螺杆挤出机中测量了有功功率（AP），质量通过量，扭矩和功率因数。结果证实，单螺杆挤出机和双螺杆挤出机的单位能耗都随着加工速度的降低而降低。但是，不管聚合物的性质如何，这种作用都会使熔体的热稳定性变差。流变学表征结果表明，LDPE和PS的粘度表现出正常的剪切稀化行为。但是，PMMA在中高剪切速率下表现出剪切增稠行为，表明可能形成缠结。总体而言，这项工作的结果证实了材料的 流变学与聚合物挤出中的能量消耗具有明显的相关性，并且大多数发现与先前报道的研究一致。因此，进一步的研究对于识别关键工艺参数之间可能的相关性，从而进一步了解各种机器，聚合物和操作条件的加工行为应该是有用的。