Split-flow stretching screw element and screw combination thereof
Technical Field
The invention relates to a polymer plasticizing and mixing device, in particular to a split-flow stretching screw element and a screw combination thereof.
Background
During the plasticization of the screw process, its conveying and distributive mixing capacity for the material can be controlled by appropriate choice of the type and geometry of the screw elements, most of the dispersive mixing taking place in the shear-flow dominated kneading blocks.
With the development of polymer material science, the traditional screw element mainly based on shearing cannot meet the processing requirement, and for some thermally unstable resins such as PVC, PPC and the like, excessive shearing can generate a large amount of viscous heat dissipation, so that the thermal degradation of a matrix can be possibly caused, and pure shearing is not beneficial to processing a blend with relatively high viscosity, so that the important problem of screw processing is how to ensure that the shearing heat is reduced while the mixing effect is improved.
In recent years, in order to introduce a stretching force field or generate a chaotic force field in polymer plasticizing processing equipment, a differential screw extrusion technology is presented, the chaotic force field is generated through the speed difference of two screws, a hollow screw is introduced into the stretching force field and an eccentric rotor extruder through a convergent-divergent runner in the hollow part of the screw, and volume stretching is realized through the periodical change of the volume of a rotor and the volume of a cavity of a stator to generate a stretching dominant flow field, and other novel processing equipment.
Disclosure of Invention
Aiming at the problems of poor mixing effect, temperature rise, complex structure and the like in the prior art, the invention provides a split-flow stretching screw element, which has the following technical scheme:
a split-flow stretching screw element is integrally a hollow columnar stretching block, a connecting hole is formed in the core of the stretching block, the connecting hole is used for being connected with a screw mandrel, a plurality of separation edges are arranged on the outer surface of the stretching block in parallel along the circumferential direction, the radial heights of the separation edges are consistent along the stretching block, stretching grooves are formed between the separation edges, gaps between the stretching grooves and the inner wall surface of a machine barrel form a stretching runner along the radial direction of the screw, and the stretching runner is a semi-convergent-divergent stretching runner with a narrow middle and wide two ends along the axial direction of the screw.
In the rotation process of the screw, the material flows through the stretching block and is divided into a plurality of material flows by the separating edges, the material flows are disturbed, so that the material is accelerated and homogenized, and a radial stretching flow passage formed by the stretching groove and the inner wall surface of the machine barrel generates a strong stretching force field effect, and the material flows are dispersed and converged to achieve an excellent distribution, dispersion and mixing effect.
Furthermore, an inclined side surface can be arranged at the top end of the separation edge, at the moment, a circumferential stretching flow channel can be formed between the top end of the separation edge with the inclined side surface and the inner wall of the machine barrel, so that materials are stretched and mixed in the original radial direction, are stretched and mixed in the circumferential direction, are subjected to strong stretching force fields in the radial direction and the circumferential direction, and are converged again. The materials are repeatedly split, stretched and converged to strengthen the distribution, dispersion, mixing and plasticizing effects in the processing process.
Further, the semi-convergent-divergent stretch flow passage includes a central convergent section L C, a first divergent section L 1 and a second divergent section L 2 at both ends, and an outer contour line forming the semi-convergent-divergent stretch flow passage is a straight line, wherein an inlet angle of the first divergent section L 1 is Φ 1, and an inlet angle of the second divergent section L 2 is Φ 2. The flow channel depth value corresponding to the converging section L C is Wc, the maximum flow channel depth value of the first diverging section L 1 and the second diverging section L 2 is Wu, the required Wu is larger than Wc, if a is the converging ratio, the larger the a=wu/Wc >1;a is, the larger the extrusion and stretching effect of the material passing through the converging-diverging flow channel is, the more the converging ratio is usually more than 2, the extrusion and stretching effect is more obvious, the converging ratio a and the inlet angle phi 1、Φ2 are optimized according to the screw specification and the material characteristics, and the best effect is achieved, wherein phi 1、Φ2 can be optimized between 0 DEG and 90 deg.
Preferably, the first diverging section L 1 and the second diverging section L 2 are symmetrically distributed on two sides of the converging section Lc, where the lengths of the first diverging section L 1 and the second diverging section L 2 are equal, and Φ 1=Φ2 is provided.
Optionally, the profile curve of the semi-convergent-divergent stretch flow passage along the axial section of the screw on one side close to the stretch groove is a semi-hyperbolic curve.
Further, the semi-hyperbola is defined by the equation x= ((z-L/2) 2 -Vc)/k, wherein L is the length of the stretching block, vc is the width of the narrowest part of the stretching runner along the axial section of the screw rod, z is the axial coordinate of a point on the inner wall surface of the machine barrel, x is the width of the stretching runner along the axial section of the screw rod corresponding to the point z, k is a constant, and the length L of the stretching block is changed according to the specification and the number of grooves of the screw rod.
One advantage of using a hyperbolic convergent channel is that a constant strain rate can be generated along the centerline of the hyperbola, i.e., axially of the half-channel, near the inner wall surface of the barrel. According to theoretical design, the parameters are variable, and different parameter combinations can be optimized to achieve the best effect according to actual processing requirements.
Furthermore, the number of the separation ribs is not less than 4, the rib thickness is 1 to 5 millimeters, and specific numerical values can be optimally designed according to the specification of the screw and the characteristics of the processed polymer materials.
Further, the length of the separation edges on the stretching block can be changed according to specific requirements and processing conditions, the part, provided with the separation edges, of the total length of the stretching block is called a stretching section, the part, provided with the separation edges, is not provided with the separation edges, is called a non-stretching section, and the stretching block comprises a stretching section and a non-stretching section. This is mainly the case in twin-screw or multi-screw processing. Preferably, the length of the stretch and the length of the non-stretch are equal.
In the double-screw machining, the stretching sections and the non-stretching sections of the stretching blocks arranged on the left screw and the right screw are staggered to ensure a certain meshing distance, so that the screw motion cannot interfere, and in the multi-screw machining, the stretching sections and the non-stretching sections of the stretching blocks arranged on the screws are staggered to ensure a certain meshing distance, so that the screw motion cannot interfere.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a screw assembly comprising the split stretch screw element of the present invention, comprising a screw conveying section and a number of stretch blocks mounted consecutively on the screw spindle of the screw, preferably 3. The plurality of stretching blocks are continuously arranged on the screw mandrel, and the materials are repeatedly split, stretched and converged, so that the mixing plasticizing and the distribution, dispersion and mixing effects are further enhanced.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a screw combination comprising the split stretch screw elements of the present invention comprising a reversing conveying element, a plurality of stretch blocks, a conveying element, a plurality of kneading blocks staggered at an angle of 90 ° and a plurality of kneading blocks staggered at an angle of 60 ° mounted in sequence on the screw shaft core, wherein the stretch blocks comprise a stretch section and a non-stretch section, and the reversing conveying element is located at the exit position of the mixing section of the screw.
It should be noted that the split stretch screw elements of the present invention can interface with conventional screws without disrupting their normal function or adding additional equipment systems or controls and are therefore suitable for extrusion or injection molding equipment that operate with screws, including single screw extruders, twin screw extruders, multi screw extruders, injection molding machines.
The invention has the following main outstanding beneficial effects:
1. The separating edges and the stretching grooves are arranged on the stretching blocks, and gaps between the stretching grooves and the inner wall surface of the machine barrel form stretching flow passages along the radial direction of the screw rod; and when the screw works, the materials are split, stretched and mixed by the action of stretching the flow channels along the circumferential direction and the radial direction of the screw, so that the mixing plasticizing and distributing and dispersing mixing effects in the polymer plasticizing processing process are enhanced.
2. The elongational flow mixing has the advantages of higher energy efficiency than shear flow, no limitation of viscosity ratio, temperature rise of elongational flow of only 1-3 ℃, and better dispersion and distributive mixing compared with shear flow.
3. The stretching block adopted by the invention can be used for a traditional screw system, does not need to add an additional equipment system or control to realize polymer extrusion processing or injection molding processing, is convenient to assemble and disassemble, and is suitable for various processing equipment.
Drawings
Fig. 1 is a schematic perspective view of an embodiment 1 of a split stretch screw element according to the present invention.
Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view of an embodiment 1 of a split stretch screw element of the present invention in an operative condition.
Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view of fig. 2 taken along the direction A-A.
Fig. 4 is a schematic perspective view of an embodiment 2 of a split stretch screw member of the present invention.
Fig. 5 is a cross-sectional view of an embodiment 2 of a split stretch screw member of the present invention in an operative condition. (the enlarged portion at the lower right corner shows the circumferentially stretched flow channel 8)
FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of one embodiment of a semi-converging-diverging stretch flow passage of the present invention.
FIG. 7 is a schematic view of another embodiment of a semi-converging-diverging stretch flow passage of the present invention.
FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the construction of example 3 of a split stretch screw element of the present invention for a twin screw.
Fig. 9 is a schematic view of a screw assembly 1 of one embodiment of a split stretch screw element of the present invention.
Fig. 10 is a schematic view of the structure of a screw assembly 2 of one embodiment of a split stretch screw element of the present invention.
In the figure:
1 is a stretching block, 2 is a connecting hole, 3 is a separating edge, 4 is a stretching groove, 5 is a radial stretching runner, 6 is a screw mandrel, 7 is a machine barrel, 8 is a circumferential stretching runner, 9 is an inclined side surface, 10 is a screw, 11 is a stretching section, 12 is a non-stretching section, 61 is a reverse conveying element, 62 is a conveying element, 63 is a kneading block with an interleaving angle of 90 degrees, and 64 is a kneading block with an interleaving angle of 60 degrees.
Detailed Description
The invention will be described in further detail with reference to the drawings and the detailed description.
Fig. 1-3 show an embodiment 1 of a split-flow stretching screw element according to the invention, wherein fig. 1 is a schematic perspective view of the embodiment 1, the embodiment is a hollow columnar stretching block 1 as a whole, a plurality of separating ribs 3 are arranged on the outer surface of the stretching block 1 in parallel along the circumferential direction, the core of the stretching block 1 is a connecting hole 2 for connecting with a screw mandrel 6, fig. 2 shows a use state of the embodiment, and the stretching block 1 is filled into the screw mandrel 6 through the connecting hole 2 and then is filled into a machine barrel 7. The radial stretching flow channel 5 is formed by gaps between the stretching grooves 4 and the inner wall surface of the machine barrel 7, and the radial stretching flow channel 5 is a semi-convergent-divergent stretching flow channel with narrow middle and wide two ends along the axial direction of the screw.
Fig. 4 to 5 show an embodiment 2 of a split-flow stretching screw element according to the invention, wherein fig. 4 is a schematic perspective view, fig. 5 shows a use state of the embodiment, and an inclined side 9 is provided at the top end of the partition rib 3, and the stretching block 1 is inserted into the screw mandrel 6 through the connecting hole 2 and then into the cylinder 7. At this time, a gap between the top end of the separation rib 3 with the inclined side surface 9 and the inner wall of the machine barrel forms a circumferential stretching runner 8, (the lower right corner of fig. 5 shows the separation rib 3 and the circumferential stretching runner 8 in an enlarged manner) so that materials are subjected to not only original radial stretching mixing, but also circumferential stretching mixing at the same time, and the materials are subjected to repeated diversion stretching converging action, so that the distribution, dispersion mixing and plasticizing effects in the processing process are enhanced.
The semi-converging-diverging stretch flow passage may take a variety of forms, two examples of which are provided herein.
Fig. 6 is a cross-sectional view along the axial direction of the screw of an embodiment of a semi-converging-diverging stretch runner of a split stretch screw element of the present invention, comprising a central converging section L C, a first diverging section L 1 at both ends and a second diverging section L 2, wherein the outer contour forming the semi-converging-diverging stretch runner is a straight line, wherein the entrance angle of the first diverging section L 1 is Φ 1 and the entrance angle of the second diverging section L 2 is Φ 2. The flow channel depth value corresponding to the converging section L C is Wc, the maximum flow channel depth value of the first diverging section L 1 and the second diverging section L 2 is Wu, the required Wu is larger than Wc, if a is the converging ratio, the larger the a=wu/Wc >1;a is, the larger the extrusion and stretching effect of the material passing through the converging-diverging flow channel is, the more the converging ratio is usually more than 2, the extrusion and stretching effect is more obvious, the converging ratio a and the inlet angle phi 1、Φ2 are optimized according to the screw specification and the material characteristics, and the best effect is achieved, wherein phi 1、Φ2 can be optimized between 0 DEG and 90 deg.
Preferably, the first diverging section L 1 and the second diverging section L 2 are symmetrically distributed on two sides of the converging section Lc, where the lengths of the first diverging section L 1 and the second diverging section L 2 are equal, and Φ 1=Φ2 is provided.
Further, when the above semi-convergent-divergent stretch flow channel is selected, the contour line of the flow channel is a straight line, and rounded corners can be arranged at each folding point formed by the flow channel, so that the resistance of the material flow is reduced, and the material flow is prevented from being burnt due to excessively long stay time of the material flow.
FIG. 7 is an axial cross-sectional view of another embodiment of a semi-converging-diverging stretch flow passage of a split-flow stretch screw element according to the present invention, wherein the profile curve of the side of the cross-section of the screw along the axial direction near the stretch groove 4 is a semi-hyperbolic curve, further defined by the equation x= ((z-L/2) 2 -Vc)/k, wherein L is the length of the stretch block 1, vc is the width of the stretch flow passage along the narrowest point of the axial cross-section of the screw, z is the axial coordinate of the point on the inner wall surface of the barrel 7, x is the width of the stretch flow passage along the axial cross-section of the screw corresponding to the point z, k is a constant, and the length L of the stretch block varies according to the screw specification and the number of grooves.
One advantage of using the hyperbolic convergent channel is that a constant strain rate can be generated along the centerline of the hyperbola, i.e., axially of the half-channel, near the inner wall surface of the barrel. According to theoretical design, the parameters are variable, and different parameter combinations can be optimized to achieve the best effect according to actual processing requirements.
In general, the length of the stretching block depends on the screw specification and the number of grooves, the number of the separation ribs 3 is not less than 4, and the rib thickness is 1 to 5 mm. These parameters may be varied and are designed and optimized according to the specific screw specifications and processing requirements.
Fig. 8 shows a perspective view of an embodiment 3 of a split-flow stretching screw element according to the present invention, in which the stretching block 1 comprises two stretching segments 11 and non-stretching segments 12, wherein the stretching segments 11 are provided with separating ribs 3 and stretching grooves 4, and the non-stretching segments 12 are hollow cylinders without separating ribs 3 and stretching grooves 4. The lengths of the stretch 11 and non-stretch 12 may be equal. In order to ensure a circumferential meshing gap between left and right screws, the stretching sections 11 and the non-stretching sections 12 of the left and right screws are staggered when the screws are in operation, and a certain axial meshing distance is ensured, so that the screw movement cannot interfere. Likewise, the drawing block of example 3 can also be used in a multi-screw extruder.
The stretching block 1 of the present invention can be adapted to different screw combinations by incorporating different screws and screw elements, two combinations being provided herein.
Fig. 9 shows a screw assembly 1 comprising split-flow stretching screw elements according to the invention, comprising a screw conveying section 10 and a stretching block 1 according to example 2, the top end of the stretching block 1 having a diagonal side, wherein the stretching block 1 is mounted on a screw mandrel 6 in series, the material flowing through the stretching block 1 being divided into a plurality of streams by dividing ribs 3, the pressure from the extruder being fed forward forcing the material through the stretching grooves 4 and the semi-converging-diverging flow paths formed by the inner wall surfaces of the barrel to radial stretching flow paths, while the top end of the dividing rib 3 with diagonal side and the inner wall surfaces of the barrel 7 are subjected to a strong stretching force field in radial and circumferential directions during rotation of the screw to form stretching flow paths along the screw circumference, and then merging again. The materials are repeatedly split, stretched and converged to strengthen the distribution, dispersion, mixing and plasticizing effects in the processing process. Of course, the stretching blocks 1 in the present embodiment combination may be selected as the stretching blocks in example 1, and the number of stretching blocks 1 may be not limited to three, for example, 2 to 4 may be selected.
Fig. 10 shows another screw combination 2 comprising split stretch screw elements of the present invention, comprising a counter-conveying element 61 mounted in sequence to the screw shaft core, a plurality of stretch blocks 1, a conveying element 62, a plurality of kneading blocks 63 staggered at 90 ° and a plurality of kneading blocks 64 staggered at 60 °, wherein the stretch blocks 1 comprise a stretch section 11 and a non-stretch section 12, the counter-conveying element 61 being located at the exit point of the mixing section of the screw.
The material is fed through the hopper into the extruder barrel and is conveyed forward by the screw rotation, while the material is still in a solid state, and although the plastic in contact with the inner wall of barrel 7 near the end has approached or reached the sticking temperature due to intense frictional heating, the solid particle surface begins to be tacky, but melting still does not begin. Through repeated shearing and mixing of the kneading blocks 64 with the staggering angle of 60 degrees and the kneading blocks 63 with the staggering angle of 90 degrees, the materials bear larger friction shearing and barrel heat transfer, are fully melted and plasticized, the solid particles are basically melted, at the moment, the materials are in a fluid state and are conveyed into a mixing section through the conveying element 62, the fluid is subjected to repeated split-flow stretching and converging action of the split-flow stretching screw element, the sizes of all components are further refined and uniform, and the mixing plasticizing and distribution-dispersion mixing effect is enhanced. The reverse conveying element 61 positioned at the outlet of the mixing section can form back pressure, ensure enough pressure to enable the fluid to fill the stretching flow passage, increase the residence distribution time of particles in the split stretching screw element and strengthen the stretching mixing effect.
Similarly, in the present screw combination embodiment, the number of stretching blocks and the number and types of kneading blocks can be optimally selected according to the specific requirements of the screw processing.
The above-mentioned examples are only for the convenience of explanation and description of the preferred embodiments of the present invention and the working principles, and in fact, the embodiments of the present invention are not limited by the above-mentioned examples, and any other changes, modifications, substitutions, combinations, and simplifications made without departing from the spirit and principles of the present invention should be equivalent substitution, and are included in the scope of the present invention.