Impact of Die Materials on the Effect of New Polymer Processing Aids for Sharkskin Properties

Abstract

Flows of polymeric liquids undergo instabilities whose origins are quite different from those of Newtonian flows, due to their elastic character and the complexity of the fluid/solid boundary condition. One of these instabilities is well known as “shark-skin” which damages the surface appearance and properties of polymer extrudate while processing in blowmolding or piping, while it can be suppressed by employing various methods including coating the die surface and/or adding Polymer Processing Aid’s (PPA) to the polymer. In this article, the effect of various die materials on the properties of Polyethylene glycol (PEG) as a new type of PPA for suppressing the sharkskin phenomenon has been studied.