Differential heating as a strategy for controlling the flow distribution in profile extrusion dies

This work presents a simple procedure for balancing the flow in extrusion dies. The method consists in using different temperatures on the different sides of the extrusion die surface, in this way altering the local viscosity of the polymer melt, and thus the melt flow distribution. The design methodology follows a numerical trial-and-error procedure (implemented in OpenFOAM (R)), which was assessed with an industrial case study (swimming pool cover profile). The results obtained show that the support of computational tools is an excellent design aid, and a much better alternative to the experimental trial-and-error procedure commonly used in industry.The authors would like to thank for the funding by FEDER through the COMPETE 2020 Programme, the National Funds through FCT-Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology under the project UID/CTM/50025/2013. L.L. Fends would also like to thank for the funding from FCT through the scholarship SFRH/BPD/100353/2014. The authors would also like to acknowledge the Minho University cluster under the project Search-ON2: Revitalization of HPC infrastructure of UMinho, (NORTE-07-0162-FEDER-000086), co-funded by the North Portugal Regional Operational Programme (ON.2-0 Novo Norte), under the National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF), through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)