Flow Patterns in Elastomers and Their Carbon Black Compounds during Extrusion through Dies

A basic study of flow patterns in elastomers in the entrance region of a die has been carried out for various gum elastomers including emulsion and solution butadiene—styrene copolymers, polybutadiene, and natural rubber. All exhibit streamline flow into the entrance with the exception of a cold mastication degraded natural rubber which gave evidence of vortices in corners. A study of a die with a sharp diverging region showed dead spaces for all the elastomers. Carbon black compounds all exhibited converging streamline flow in a 180° entrance angle die and stagnant regions in the sharply diverging die. Evidence based on marker motions has been presented for slip in elastomer compounds in the entrance region.