Overview This popular, international short course has been developed to help train extrusion process personnel and equipment designers on the intricacies of polymer flow within extrusion equipment. The emphasis is on understanding polymer flow behaviour (rheology) and how it relates to the extrusion process. The concepts are presented in a very practical manner and re-enforced through many “case study” style examples. The short course also includes a lab portion where the concepts presented will be re-enforced on physical equipment and with state-of-the-art simulation. Upon completing this seminar, the attendees will have a good understanding of practical polymer rheology and how to apply CAE methods towards the analysis, design or troubleshooting of any extrusion process.
This course is intended for anyone who is currently (or training to become) responsible for the design or performance of an extrusion process. Extrusion process engineers, technical service personnel, screw and die designers, research and development personnel and particularly, those responsible for troubleshooting extrusion processes will obtain the most benefit from the information presented.
What You Will Learn
This seminar will show attendees how to properly evaluate
and analyze extrusion equipment using sound engineering principles.
Process Engineers will learn how to properly analyze and troubleshoot
their equipment in order to optimize performance. Designers will learn
about the most important design criteria that should be used for extrusion
equipment. Attendees will also get a good appreciation about the types of CAE tools available for
extrusion.
The seminar will introduce practical rheology (polymer
flow behaviour) in a clear and straightforward manner as it applies to the
process operations that will be presented. The focus is on the rheological
characteristics of the polymers that are most important to the
understanding of the extrusion process and to the design of the equipment.
After this seminar, the attendees will be better qualified to select
materials and to differentiate between equipment design, which can be a
big benefit during future product development or equipment specification
and selection.
Some Comments from past short course participants:
"This course was so useful for my job. These are the
types of courses we need more of. This was money well spent."
"I believe this was the most interesting, well
organized, and valuable internal course I've had the pleasure of
attending. Thanks"
"Excellent instructor. Well-organized course."
"Very well organized, very practical. Better than the
previous Rheology course I took!"
"One of the best courses I have attended in years.
Application of Rheology was very practical in this course."
"I really enjoyed this course. It was very relevant
and provided a lot of useful information and insight. The speakers
were excellent!"
"Very good! I learned a lot about "real
world" applications of rheology for PE."
"Found course very useful, liked that it was very
application related (I.e. extruder, dies, screw) and that there
were many real world (practical)examples given. Presentation
slides were excellent. Windowed extruderslides very useful."
Course Outline
Day 0: Monday April 12 , 2010
Hotel check In
6 - 8 pm reception
Join us for an informal "meet and greet" at the hotel.
The attendees will learn about the most important rheological measurements (such as shear viscosity), what they mean, how they
are obtained and, most importantly, how they affect the extrusion process.
Attendees will be shown how to use the Compuplast®
Materials module to fit viscosity data to models and then use the
data for calculations. The attendees will also be shown how to use the
Compuplast® ExtrusionCalculator™to perform many useful calculations and analyze and troubleshoot a wide
variety of extrusion equipment.
This part of the seminar will introduce the attendees to a Kayness Capillary rheometer and demonstrate how rheology data is obtained. Then the attendees will see how the rheology data is fitted to appropriate viscosity models to be used for engineering calculations.
This part of the seminar will describe the functions and
the requirements of a single screw extruder using both a combination of
theory and videos of experiments performed on glass window extruders.
The main principles of operation are reviewed and design parameters and
variations are explained, from a CAE point of view.
This part of the seminar will describe the functions and the requirements of an extruder using both a combination of theory and videos of experiments performed on glass window extruders. The main principles of operation are reviewed and design parameters explained from a CAE point of view. The extruder simulation software will be used to re-enforce the theory presented and to demonstrate the effect of screw design, operating conditions and material changes on melt quality.
Screen Changers, Adaptors and Melt (Gear) Pump Technology:
Screen changers and adaptors are relatively common and simple devices yet
they are often an overlooked sources of trouble if not properly sized or
maintained. The operation of a Melt
(Gear) pump will also be described along with how it can be incorporated into an
extrusion process to improve efficiency.
Day
2 Afternoon:
New Extrusion Screw Technology:
Today, processors are forced to maximize their production in order to stay competitive in the global marketplace. Just as the quality of extrusion products have become more demanding the development of the extrusion screw technology has also become more challenging for the extrusion process. Modern screw design developments have proven highly effective to further provide; improved product quality, increase throughput capacity, better color mixing and lower melt temperatures. This presentation will discuss some of the new opportunities available to the plastics industry.
Extrusion Line Demonstration:
The afternoon session will
re-enforce many of the concepts presented in the morning session on a
commercial size extruder. A "trial" will be preformed on a production size equipment, a 3.5” x 24:1 L/D extruder with a
melt pump and pelletizer. Techniques for performance analysis melt temperature measurement and general troubleshooting will be demonstrated. Screw Manufacturing Tour
The attendees will be given a tour of the Xaloy manufacturing facilities during which attendees will be able to see the complete manufacturing process of feedscrews used in the extrusion process.
The price for the Short Course is US$900 per person. There is a
discount for 2 to 4 or more people from the same company.
The price includes all course materials, lunch, refreshment breaks and a welcome reception on the
evening before the seminar.
The registration fee also includes a special 1-year trial license of the
COMPUPLAST Extrusion Calculator so that attendees can apply their knowledge to
their work immediately upon completing this course. This is a $1000
value.
The short course will be held at the Xaloy Training Center in New
Castle, PA. The address
is:
Xaloy Training Center
1399 County Line Road
New Castle, PA 16107
Tel: 724-656-5600
Hotel: (Please make reservations directly)
Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites
(Sharon-Hermitage)
3060 Spangler Rd
West Middlesex, PA USA 16159
+1 724 982 4600
To ensure maximum benefit, registration will be limited so book early.
Registration and payment must be received by March 29, 2010. After this date there is no refund but substitutions are accepted.
IMake payment by check or money order to: COMPUPLAST
and send to:
Compuplast International Inc.
300 International Dr., Suite100 - PMB#10035, Williamsville NY 14221
Dr. Jiri (George) Vlcek has over 25 years of experience in the plastics and rubber industry. Early in his career he worked at the Plastics and Rubber Institute in the Czech Republic, where he was responsible for the design of extrusion screws and dies for a variety of extrusion processes. He was also responsible for studying the rheological behavior of many different polymers and applying this to the design of the equipment. In 1990 he co-founded Compuplast International Inc. and began supplying the industry with 'state-of-the-art' extrusion simulation software for CAE.
Dr. John Perdikoulias is a Professional Engineer with over 20 years of “hands on” experience in the extrusion industry. Before joining Compuplast International Inc., John was responsible for research and development with respect to screw and die design for
a major OEM. He has designed numerous screws and over 200 dies for the tubular (blown) film process including the first commercially available 8 and 9 layer dies in the world. John has also designed numerous dies for pipe, tubing, blow molding, coating and profile applications.
Mr. Timothy W. Womer, CPlasT , is the Global
Corporate Technical Advisor for Xaloy, Inc, and was the 2006-2007
President of the Society of Plastics Engineers. He is also a member of
the Plastics Pioneers Association and serves on the SPI Educational
Committee.
Tim is a recognized authority in plastics technology and machinery with
a career spanning over 30 years; and also having worked for other
companies like Spirex Corporation, Conair Group and NRM Corporation.
Tim has designed over 8,000 screws that have been used in all areas of
single-screw plasticizing such as extrusion, blow/injection molding.
Numerous patents have been issued for his inventions of screws, mixers,
processes and other products. He also has extensive knowledge and
experience in heat transfer rolls used in the plastic sheet and paper
laminating fields.
Over 90% of past attendees have reported that they would recommend
Compuplast seminars to their associates.