Alexander Hammer

When two compatible polymer melts are brought into contact, a diffuse interphase is formed that governs the adhesion between them. The degree of interdiffusion is defined mainly by the processing conditions and the physico‐chemical properties of the materials. Despite the great industrial relevance of co‐extrusion in manufacturing multilayer structures, little research has dealt with interdiffusion under these processing conditions, where polymer‐polymer interfaces are subject to shear load. In this work, procedures for investigating interdiffusion both under static and real co‐extrusion flow conditions were developed. Using various grades of poly(methyl methacrylate) and styrene‐ co ‐acrylonitrile copolymer, we studied both theoretically and experimentally the effects of interfacial contact time, temperature, material compatibility, and interfacial shear stress on interdiffusion. Spectroscopic analysis of the interfaces using confocal Raman microscopy showed that the general relationships between interdiffusion, time (Fick's law) and temperature (Arrhenius relationship) are identical under both static and co‐extrusion conditions. However, the interdiffusion rate is significantly higher under shear influence. Since the prediction of the interdiffusion process supports material selection and process design in multilayer manufacturing, a simple analytical model was developed to quantify the effects of aforementioned material properties and processing conditions on the apparent mutual interdiffusion coefficient.

In the co‐extrusion of plastics, pressure‐throughput behavior, layer distribution, and residence time are crucial parameters, modeling of which contributes to manufacturing high‐quality products at optimized process efficiency and significantly shortens development times for die systems. In previous work, we have presented symbolic regression models to predicting the (i) pressure‐throughput behavior, (ii) position of the interface, (iii) interfacial shear stress, (iv) ratio of volume flow rates, and (v) interfacial flow velocity for isothermal two‐layer co‐extrusion flows through rectangular ducts. These regression models are mathematically simple and capable of capturing the shear‐thinning nature of polymer melts without the need for numerical methods. Here, we present an experimental study validating the proposed models against co‐extrusion process data and comparing them to existing theories. To this end, a two‐layer co‐extrusion demonstration die instrumented with an optical coherence tomography sensor for detecting the interfacial position was used. To accurately set up and evaluate the die flows, the overall co‐extrusion process was represented by means of a digital process twin. Industrially relevant combinations of materials were tested under a wide range of processing conditions. Comparisons of pressure losses and interfacial positions to the predictions showed excellent agreement and the results outperformed the concept of representative viscosity.