THE DIFFERENT CAPILLARY-FLOW REGIMES OF ENTANGLED POLYDIMETHYLSILOXANE POLYMERS - MACROSCOPIC SLIP AT THE WALL, HYSTERESIS AND CORK FLOW

Polymers, melted at room temperature, have been extruded through capillary dies using either a controlled pressure system or an automatic capillary rheometer in which the rate of flow is controlled. When the polymer is highly entangled, macroscopic slip is observed at the wall. However, flow curves differ: for controlled pressure conditions, slip appears simultaneously with a sudden increase in the rate of flow, an dflow curves exhibit a hysteretic regime. For controlled flow conditions, slip is accompanied by oscillations of the rate of flow and pressure head around a mean value, as a result of polymer compressibility. The succession and evolution of the different flow defects are clearly identified. As the flow regime increases, scratches appear first. Then, beyond a critical value of wall shear stress in the exit region, cracks are formed just at the exit of the capillary die. These cracks are accompanied by the formation of "rings", which are more easily observed as the molecular weight increases. At high flow rates, when macroscopic slip appears at the wall, the aspect of the extrudate depends on the system used. For controlled pressure conditions, the polymer is ejected in the form of an opaque, irregular jet, where swelling is quasi-non-existent. For controlled flow conditions, cork flow is observed. At higher flow regimes the extrudate becomes chaotic. The existence of a master curve was also shown for variations in average velocity vs. wall stress, during flow with macroscopic slip at the wall. It is important to note that this curve represents the sliding friction properties of the polymer under consideration. © 1990.