Modeling of peroxide initiated controlled degradation of polypropylene in a twin screw extruder

In this work, experimental and theoretical studies of the free-radical initiated molecular weight degradation of polypropylene in a modular self-wiping corotating twin screw extruder have been investigated. Our objective was to build a model that would be able to predict the evolution of the average molecular weight along the screws, in relation to the processing conditions and the geometry of the twin screw extruder. Modeling the process involves resolving interactions occurring between the various flow conditions encountered in the extruder, the kinetics of the reaction and the changes in viscosity with changes in molecular weight. We have studied the influence of operating parameters such as the initial peroxide concentration, the feed rate and the screw speed on the degradation reaction. Good agreement was found between theoretical results and experimental values obtained by size exclusion chromatography measurements.