The Rheological Properties of LDPE Nanocomposites per a Capillary Rheometer: An Experimental and Numerical Study

Abstract

Abstract Rheological properties are very significant in determining processing performance. The increase of only a few percent of nanoparticles by weight will result in substantial improvement in rheological properties. This work focuses on studies of shear viscosity, shear stress and pressure at a shear rate range of (3-1500) s−1 and temperature of 170 °C. The flow properties of low-density polyethylene melt and nanocomposite experimentally studied in a single-bore capillary rheometer with a length-to-diameter ratio of (10:1) and numerically using POLYFLOW-Ansys version 15.0 software based on the power-law model. The experimental results show that the viscosity of nanocomposites decreased while the shear stress increased with the shear rate increase. The pressure drop decreases with the shear rate increases for all additional ratios. The experimental and numerical studies of polymer nanocomposites in a capillary die, the shear viscosity, shear stress and pressure behaviour numerically reveal good agreement with the corresponding experimental results.