Temperature window effect and its application in extrusion of ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene

Abstract

Ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) was ram extruded using a temperature window effect. The extrusion pressure abruptly drops at a very narrow extrusion temperature window which is about 10°C higher than the theoretical melting point of orthorhombic polyethylene crystals under quiescent and equilibrium states. The correlation between extrusion pressure and parameters such as extrusion temperature, annealing condition, thermal history, piston velocity, L/D ratio of the die, and molecular weight of UHMWPE, was studied. The temperature window increases with molecular weight and is unaffected by thermal history and annealing. The stable extrusion pressure and the critical piston velocity decrease with the rise in the extrusion temperature. The flow resistance reversely depends on the L/D ratio of the die. This phenomenon is attributed to an extensional flow-induced chain alignment along the streamline, which results in the formation of a metastable mesophase with higher chain mobility.