Abstract
Three-dimensional numerical simulation of isothermal/nonisothermal coextrusion process of two immiscible polymers through a rectangular channel has been done using the finite element method. The encapsulation phenomenon with the less viscous layer encapsulating the more viscous layer was investigated with the generalized Newtonian fluids. The interface position around the symmetric plane obtained by numerical simulation nearly coincided with the one observed in experiments, but the degree of encapsulation was less than the one observed experimentally. Open boundary condition method was found to be applied to the simulation of nonisothermal coextrusion process, however, the results are not far from those using the fully developed boundary condition, because the temperature development along the downstream direction is very slow in the case of convection dominated flow. When the inlet velocity is increased, the interface profile does not change in isothermal flow, while it moves upward in nonisothermal situation. The degree of encapsulation decreases along the downstream direction in nonisothermal flow. When the inlet temperature increases compared to the wall temperature, the outlet interface moves downward and the degree of encapsulation increases. The difference of degree of encapsulation between the simulation and the experiments seems to arise from the viscoelastic effect of the materials. It was concluded that the nonisothermal effect alone does not explain the complex coextrusion process and the viscoelastic effect needs to be considered.
