Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Coating Kinetics of Fluoropolymer Process Aids for Sharkskin Elimination: The Role of Domain Size

Published

Author(s)

D Bigio, Mathurin G. Meillon, S B. Kharchenko, David C. Morgan, Hui Zhou, S Oriani, C Macosko, Kalman D. Migler

Abstract

We study the ability of fluoropolymer based polymer processing aids (PPA) to eliminate surface melt fracture (sharkskin) during extrusion of polyethylene in relation to blend morphology (PPA droplet size) and processing conditions (shear rate). Under the conditions of a constant throughput we simultaneously monitor the die entrance pressure, the PPA coating thickness and the degree of fracture. The thickness of the fluoropolymer coating on the die surface is measured in-situ through frustrated total internal reflection. We find a substantial enhancement in the coating rate and the magnitude of the steady state coating thickness as well as the faster elimination of sharkskin upon increase of PPA droplet size. These results are consistent with recently developed models of the coating process.
Citation
Journal of Non-Newtonian Fluid Mechanics

Keywords

aid, coating, extrusion, polyethylene, processing, sharkskin, size

Citation

Bigio, D. , Meillon, M. , Kharchenko, S. , Morgan, D. , Zhou, H. , Oriani, S. , Macosko, C. and Migler, K. (2021), Coating Kinetics of Fluoropolymer Process Aids for Sharkskin Elimination: The Role of Domain Size, Journal of Non-Newtonian Fluid Mechanics (Accessed April 25, 2024)
Created October 12, 2021