Extrusion behavior of filled polymeric systems exhibiting an apparent yield stress

An investigation was undertaken to study the extrusion behavior of composite systems. A compound made up of approximately 50 percent ceramic particulates by volume dispersed in a high molecular weight thermoplastic polymer was characterized by measuring the shear viscosity on an Instron capillary viscometer. The experimental data indicated that the ceramic composite exhibited an apparent yield stress. As a result, an expression that was previously shown to provide flexibility for describing a yield stress at low rates of deformation could explain the viscosity of the ceramic composite. The expression was then applied to the flow analysis of both a “rod” and a “slit” die in an extrusion process, and the derived equations adequately correlated experimental volumetric flow rate us. Pressure drop data obtained on a laboratory extruder.