Ultrasonic in‐line monitoring of polymer extrusion

Abstract

In-line ultrasonic monitoring of polymer co-extrusion and twin-screw extrusion are presented. Co-extrusion of high density polyethylene (HDPE) and a thermoplastic elastomer based on polypropylene-EPDM (ethylene-propylene-diene monomer) has been investigated by ultrasonic sensors consisting of piezoelectric transducers and clad buffer rods. One extremity of the rod (probing end) was installed flush with the die surface so as not to disturb the material flow. The other end was air cooled in order to protect the transducer from excessive heating. This approach has been demonstrated to be quite convenient for monitoring and controlling industrial material processes: first, it can work at temperatures up to 1000°C; second, the clad buffer rod probing end can be machined to the same shape as those of commercial temperature and pressure sensors commonly used in the extrusion process. Therefore, no modifications are required for the installation in the original equipment. The information obtained includes the position of the interface between polymers and the stability of the process. The same ultrasonic probe has also been installed on a barrel of a twin-screw extruder. This study was performed using polyethylene and polystyrene. It has been verified that the ultrasonic sensor can be successfully operated along the extruder screw and that the ultrasound can give access to the material properties while the polymer is being processed. This means that the technique can be exploited to monitor and control in situ the characteristics of the polymer being transformed in operations typically performed on twinscrew extruders, such as compounding, visbreaking or reactive extrusion.

Melt compounding of different grades of polystyrene with organoclay. Part 1: Compounding and characterization

“…This technique was found useful in monitoring the melt compounding of polymer blends or filled systems (16,17). Ultrasonics have been used to determine the residence time and its distribution in extruders (18,19), to monitor stability of polymer coextrusion (20) and extrusion foaming (21). It was hoped, in the present study, to explore the utility of in-line ultrasound monitoring in the preparation of polystyrene/clay nanocomposites.…”

Real-time diagnosis of gas-assisted hot embossing process by ultrasound

“…A fabrication procedure of the HTUT by a sol gel spray technique is described in [24,25]. Figure 1a presented a sensor insert with the HTUT.…”

Reactive Processing of Thermoplastic Polymers: A Review of the Fundamental Aspects

“…On the other hand, ultrasonic probe was successfully used [374,375] for on-line process monitoring and Dogan et al [376] showed that this technique has the potential to be imple-mented for in-line polymer melt rheology measurements. Experimental results showed that the viscosity can be measured over nearly one decade of shear rate (1.6 -17 s -1 ) from the measurement of the velocity profile by ultrasonic velocimetry.…”