Abstract
Rubber compounds have high viscoelastic property. One of the viscoelastic behaviors during profile extrusion is the swelling of extrudate. In this study, die swells of rubber compounds at the capillary die have been investigated through experiment and computer simulation. Experiments and simulations have been performed using fluidity tester and commercial CFD code, Polyflow respectively. Die swells of rubber compounds in a capillary die were predicted using non-linear differential viscoelastic model, Phan-Thien-Tanner(PTT) model for various relaxation times and relaxation modes. The results of simulation were compared with the experiments. Pressure and velocity distribution, and circulation flows at the comer of capillary die have been investigated through computer simulation. It is concluded that the PTT model successfully represented the amount of the die swell of rubber compounds for various relaxation times at different modes.