Numerical simulation of axial LDPE polymer flow in an extrusion die

A numerical study using the finite element method was carried out to determine the rheological characteristics of the LDPE (Lower density Polyethylene) polymer in extrusion through a simple and axisymmetric matrix. This polymer is considered a generalized Newtonian fluid that follows Cross law. The numerical simulation was carried out using POLYFLOW software developed by the firm ANSYS, this calculation code is based on the finite element method, it is specially designed for polymer flows.The Polyflow software requires the GAMBIT code as a preprocessor for finite element meshing. The calculation parameters provided by the Polyflow code are velocity, shear rate, pressure and viscosity. These results are of paramount importance for the design and optimization of the matrix geometry. This study shows clearly that the increase in the outlet diameter of the matrix makes uniform extrusion characteristics