Extrusion Troubleshooter

Extrusion is a "black-box" process. We can't see how are you affected inside an extruder, thus we
rely on instruments. We need to be sure that all sensors will work and readouts will be calibrated
correctly.
Single-screw extruders will be the most common machines found in plastics processing. Though
simple in function basically, they are at the mercy of many destabilizing elements that can bring
about out-of-spec product or a shutdown. When hassle strikes, you shall need a strategy for
identifying the complexities quickly. An essential part of that strategy is the troubleshooting
timeline. Here we'll explain what it really is and how it can be used to solve one common extrusion
problem-melt fracture in tube and profile extrusion.
Start with sensors
Prerequisites to effective troubleshooting include great machinery instrumentation, current and
historical process data, detailed feedstock data, complete maintenance data, and operators with an
excellent understanding of the extrusion process.
Extrusion is a "black-box" process. We can't see what goes on inside an extruder, so we depend on
instruments. We must make sure that all sensors are working and readouts happen to be calibrated
correctly.
They are the important method variables to monitor:
Melt pressure, about 100 times/sec typically.
Melt temperature every 1-10 sec with an immersion probe or every 1-10 millisec with an infrared
sensor.
Temperature of the feed casing (if it's water-cooled).
Barrel temperatures (a couple of sensors per zone).
Die temperatures (someone to 30 or even more sensors, based on die type).
Heater power found in kw.
Cooling power, measured as fan rpm in the event that air-cooled or water-temperature flow and
increase rate if water-cooled.
Screw speed.
Motor load in amps.
Line speed.
Finished-product dimensions.

Other process variables might be monitored in upstream devices such as dryers, blenders,
conveyors, and feeders-and in downstream devices like gear pumps, display screen changers,
calibrators, water troughs, laser gauges, pullers, and winders.
So as to solve extrusion problems, you have to understand the procedure. So operators not used to
extrusion should consider classes covering materials machinery and attributes features such as for
example instrumentation, controls, and screw and die design and style. Many extrusion operations,
on the other hand, rely generally on on-the-job training, though this is often minimal effective and, in
some respects, the most expensive approach. Improper procedure of an extruder by untrained
personnel can result in costly damage or even injuries.
Troubleshooting timeline
To understand why a process isn't behaving accurately, you have to compare current course
conditions to previous conditions when the problem didn't exist. Constructing a process timeline
helps recognize what changes in conditions upset the process.
The timeline requires records from periods of process stability through the true point once the
process upset was noticed. You'll need information of all process data-temperatures, pressures, and
dimensions. Be sure to list all events which could have affected the process (see Fig. 1), just like a
power outage, change of screw, or a new resin lot. Some probably important events are much less
obvious, such as construction in that certain section of the plant, changes in elements handling,
maintenance actions on the plant's drinking water system, or the beginning of a new operator.
Note that not all events have an instantaneous effect. There may be a considerable incubation time
prior to the effects of a noticeable transformation are noticeable, so it's important not to jump to
conclusions. It's also important to take up a timeline far more than enough back, several months
prior to the problem appeared even.
Stopping melt fracture
A troubleshooting timeline helped a tubing processor to isolate the foundation of a processing issue.
One extrusion line abruptly started making tubing with area roughness caused by melt fracture.
Melt fracture may take various appearances-slip-stay (or "bamboo"), palm-tree, spiral, or random
roughness (Fig. 2).
The timeline showed that the tube brand ran well for pretty much six months until the processor
switched to a new resin. The timeline as well showed a thermocouple had been changed-another
suspect. The thermocouple was examined for accuracy, and it turned out to be calibrated properly
and was reading temps accurately. That remaining the resin as the most likely culprit. It was a
metallocene-type polyolefin, which is commonly more vunerable to melt fracture since it maintains
higher viscosities at larger shear rates-i.e., it really is less shear-thinning.
In standard, melt fracture calls for stresses in the die and is resin-related often. It can be cured by
either material or mechanical means. In co extruder machine this case, the processor cannot change
the material.
Melt fracture can be eliminated or reduced by streamlining the die stream channel, reducing shear
stress in the land region, using a processing help, adding die-property heaters, operating above the
critical shear anxiety for melt fracture (known as "super extrusion"), or adding ultrasonic vibration-a
very little known but successful technique highly.

Streamlining the die's stream channel is always smart to quit melt fracture, nonetheless it adds cost.
For a high-volume product it makes sense to shell out for a fully streamlined die, but that could not
be worthwhile for a small-volume item.
Reducing shear pressure in the property region can be done by raising the die gap, reducing the
extrusion fee, increasing die-land heat, increasing melt temperature, or lowering melt viscosity.
Viscosity can be reduced with a process aid or lubricant. When 500 to 1000 ppm of fluoroelastomer
is certainly put into a polyolefin, it forms a coating on the die. This coating takes from 5 minutes to
over an hour to form anywhere.
Other common solutions to melt fracture are to install a heater to improve die-land temperature to
the main point where the shear stress drops below the important shear stress for melt fracture.
Residence time of melt in the die-land place is indeed short that temps there may be set relatively
great. HDPE, for example, which functions at about 400 can go through a die l, F and at575 F
without degrading. Die-land heaters can be retrofitted on the outside of the land section of a tubing
die.
A die-land heater can also reduce die-brain pressure and present up to 20% higher extrusion
throughputs while keeping good item appearance and dimensional tolerances.
Super-extrusion is a technique where shear stress in the die-land place is well above the critical
shear level for melt fracture. This is possible with HDPE and certain fluoropolymers (FEP and PFA
types), which exhibit another region of stable extrusion at bigger shear than in the area where melt
fracture appears (Fig. 3).
Ultrasonic vibration of the die with attached transducers also causes shear thinning of plastics
externally. Limited information is available on this technique, nonetheless it can reduce melt
viscosity by orders of magnitude when the price of deformation is increased enough. The plastic melt
coating at the die wall structure is most exposed to high-frequency deformation, resulting in a huge
drop in melt viscosity at the die wall structure. This reduces die-brain pressure, die swell, melt
fracture, and die-lip drool.
-Edited by Jan H. Schut
Chris Rauwendaal spent some time working in extrusion for nearly 30 years. He heads his individual
consulting company in Los Altos Hills, Calif., which provides screw and die process and designs
troubleshooting services.