Analysis of forming geometrical macrostructure in walls of extrusion products manufactured from polypropylene composite filled with CaCO₃

Tomasz Klepka, Jacek Nabiałek

Quarterly No. 3, 2011 pages 273-277

DOI:

keywords: composite of polypropylene with CaCO₃, geometrical macrostructure, rheological properties, computer simulation

abstract Extrusion products in the form of polymeric ducts are mainly manufactured in the process of single-screw extrusion, coextrusion and extrusion with the expansion of an extrudate wall under negative pressure in movable segments. Different methods of forming the extrusion product allow one to obtain products with solid, cellular or corrugated walls. In addition, in all the mentioned extrusion processes, it is possible to apply extra technological treatments enhancing a given quality which might be significant in terms of the function to be fulfilled by the product or conditions of its use. Products obtained in this manner from the material display special, extra properties enabling their application in the latest technological solutions. At the moment, the greatest technical progress has been observed in optical communications technologies and it is in this sector that duct-shaped extrusion products have been applied most widely. They are laid in special concrete conduit installations and subsequently, innerducts of smaller dimensions or directly teletechnical, power or optotelecommunication cables are installed inside them. Considering all this, it is required that the structures of modern extrusion products have good mechanical properties. Less resistance to motion during the introduction of cables into the interior part of the extrusion product can be obtained through the manufacture of its internal wall with a proper geometrical macrostructure in the form of special slide ribs. Until present, extrusion products in the form of such ducts have been manufactured from high density polyethylene (PE-HD), however, due to the need to obtain enhanced circumferential rigidity, other alternative polymeric materials, copolymers as well as calcium carbonate (CaCO₃) or talc (Mg₃(OH)₂Si₄O₁₀) filled composites have been pursued. The article presents the patterns of changes in the rheological properties of propylene composites with different CaCO₃ content during their flow through the channel gap in the extrusion die. Numerical analysis was conducted with the use of the finite element method (FEM) in the area between the core forming the slide ribs and a cylinder-shaped external wall. The material within the core area flows through a specific number of macro depths whose shape corresponds to the shape of the slide ribs which are manufactured in the inner surface of the extrusion product. The ratio of rib height to wall thickness was 1:8. The rheological sevenparameter Cross-WLF model was used to analyze changes in the shear rate and viscosity of the material in a given section of the extrusion die. The results for the filled polypropylene composite (PP + CaCO₃) were compared to the results obtained for a PE-HD without additives or fillers in the same processing conditions.