Effect of geometric scale on the extrudate swell of plastic micro-tubes

Abstract

In this study, the effect of geometric scale on the extrudate swell of plastic micro-tubes was numerically studied by using the finite element method. The four geometric models with same inner diameter but different wall thicknesses were used. Under the same boundary conditions, material parameters, and numerical algorithms, the extrudate swells and flow field distributions of two plastic micro-tubes were obtained. Study results show that the extrudate swell effect of plastic micro-tubes increase with the decreasing of geometric scale. Finally, the mechanisms of the geometric scale on the extrudate swell for the plastic micro-tubes were analyzed.