Extrusion Die Swell Simulation of Tire tread Compound using Phan Thien & Tanner (PTT) Model

Ashutosh A. Kudale1, Kinsuk Naskar1 , G. Karthick Raja2, P. Sankarganesh 2 , R. Rajesh Babu 2

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Rubber Technology Center, IIT Kharagpur Global R&D (CV), Apollo Tyres Ltd., Chennai

Ashutosh Kudale, A-311, LBS Hall of Residence, IIT Kharagpur, Kharagpur (WB)-721302

Contact: ashutosh.kudale@rediffmail.com +91-8101759200

Abstract Tire manufacturing involves mixing of raw materials such as rubber, carbon black, and chemicals followed by shaping of different specific components that are assembled and cured. Some of the important components like tire tread and sidewalls are exclusively produced by extrusion process in which the molten polymer is conveyed by a ram or a screw and the melt is then forced through a shaping die in a continuous process. In the extrusion of Polymers through die, it is a common observation that the dimension of the extrudate is bigger than that of the die. This phenomenon is termed as Die Swell or Extrudate Swell. The flow properties of the extrudate, including its morphology, depend on the deformation characteristics defined by the induced stresses. Rubbers are high molecular weight material having both viscous as well as elastic response (viscoelastic) to the applied strain and show a strong sheardependence and finite normal stresses in the direction of rectilinear flow. The final shape of the extrudate is determined by both die geometry and flow characteristics of the rubber compounds. Typically, a successful die design for viscoelastic material is achieved through much trial and run method which consumes lot of time and money. However, with the use of a fully three-dimensional finite element program, no. of runs in this iterative design approach can be greatly reduced. Commercial FEM software of ANSYS POLYFLOW has been utilized in the present study to predict the die swell phenomenon of tire tread compound. The numerical scheme of the tyre tread compound obeying a differential viscoelastic constitutive model of Phan Thien Tanner (PTT) is established. The rheological properties of tyre tread compound are obtained by Rubber process analyzer, Capillary Rheometer and Elongational viscometer. The data obtained is used to fit the material function in PTT model. The observed flow patterns (velocity profile, pressure contour and shear rate contour) of tread compound are discussed in detail to realize the complexity associated with the die swell phenomenon. The use of Inverse extrusion technique will provide the geometry of the die for required profile. The predicted die lip design closely matched with the actual die lip design which was obtained from trial & run methods hence establishing validity of the proposed numerical scheme. Introduction In tire manufacturing, the process of extrusion and co-extrusion is used to produce some major components like tread, side wall, inner liner etc. The extrudate must have minimum variation in dimensions. This variation is related to the increase in cross-sectional area of the extrudate (swell) after emerging from die exit. It can be seen that die swell is one of the most crucial factors which affects the cross-sectional dimensions and shapes of the extrudate in rubber extrusion process [1] [2]. The shape of extrudate depends on stresses and orientation induced during melt shaping. The phenomenon of die swell can be explained by elastic recovery. In the polymeric system, when at rest, the requirement of a minimum interfacial free-energy ensures practically spherical droplets i.e. these entropic forces determine the spherical shape to the molecule/chains [3]. During extrusion, as the material enter into the die or an orifice , the sudden change in dimension causes these spherical droplets to deform into ellipsoids which have their major axis tilted towards the direction of flow. Restoring forces are generated in these deformed microstructures which give rise to Normal stress components. The flow inside the die is very complex. This complexity arises due to Shear and Elongational forces acting on the fluid.

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(Eq. 1) where = Viscosity and = du/dt, shear rate However, the above expressions, when inserted into the equation of conservation of momentum, cannot predict viscoelastic effects such as normal stresses, stress relaxation or extrudate swell. Therefore a combination of models for an elastic solid and that of Newtonian fluid is required. Viscoelastic models must be expressed in three dimensions and in a proper mathematical frame of reference that moves and deforms with the fluid. The result is a very complicated expression involving dozens of derivatives. Several viscoelastic constitutive equations have been proposed in the past but none of them could exactly represent the material behavior accurately. Khan and Larson in 1987 [5] evaluated equations of Giesekus, Phan-Thien and Tanner, Johnson and Segalman, White and Metzner, Larson and Acierno et al. They concluded that viscoelastic model of Phan Thien & Tanner (PTT) was more suitable where converging or diverging flow exists. The objective of the present work is to study the rheological behavior of SBR compound (formulation given in Table 1) used for tire tread & simulate the flow near die exit to predict the swelling. The viscoelastic rheological properties of the compound are described by PTT constitutive model whose rheological parameters are obtained by fitting the model with the experimental curves obtained from Capillary Rheometer, RPA & ARES-EVF Viscometer.

Fig 1. Molecular Envelope before & after shear

But as soon as the material reaches to near-exit region, the rearrangement of velocity profile from Shear flow to Plug flow takes place causing the material to swell because of the generated restoring force. This particular phenomenon is termed as Die Swell.

Fig 2. Mechanism of die swell

The problem of die swell not only affects the product dimensions but also consumes lot of time to optimize the die design and eventually add on to the cost of production. This issue is even more complex for tire industry where component like tire tread involves coextrusions of different compounds having different viscoelastic properties. Therefore the prediction of die swell is of both, scientific & engineering interest [4] . While simulating, the major concern is to accurately represent the material behavior corresponding to applied conditions and parameters. Therefore a proper relation should be established between the physical quantities which are specific to a material. These are called as Constitutive equations. Rubber, being a viscoelastic material, shows very complex flow behavior. Its response to external stimuli (force or deformation) is non-linear, further complications are added with temperature and rate of deformation. A viscoelastic constitutive equation, in its simplest form, is a relation between stresses and strains (deformations) represented as Newtonian equation,

Experimental Material The material investigated in study is green SBR compound density 1.214 g/cc having following composition given in Table 1). A proper mixing sequence was followed to efficiently mix the compounds. The compounds were mixed in lab Banbury mixer having a fill factor of 0.75. The starting temperature was kept at 50C. Later on the temperature was maintained at 140-145 C to carry out proper silanization.

Governing Equations For viscoelastic flows, the total extra stress tensor is decomposed into a viscoelastic component T1 & a purely viscous component T2:

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Material Characterization a) Steady viscometric properties by Capillary Rheometer: Capillary Rheometer has always been considered a powerful tool to characterize polymer melts under real processing conditions. It characterizes the fluid over a broad range of shear rates at varied temperatures & measures apparent viscosity (resistance to flow) & shear thinning behavior of polymer melt. CEAST Smart Rheo Capillary Rheometer from USA is used for this work. ASTM D3835 or ISO 11443 standards can be referred for the methodology. Imposed shear rate range= 1 to 1000 s-1 Die L/D Ratio= 20:2 Test Temperature= 100C b) Oscillatory viscometric properties by Rubber Process Analyzer: Rubber has both a viscous and an elastic response to deformation. Measuring these properties of rubber will help to determine how it will behave in processing and to predict final product performance. The RPA 2000 from Alpha Technologies, an advanced dynamic mechanical rheological test instrument, measures both the elastic and viscous properties i.e. storage & loss moduli, G, G). ASTM D5289, D6204, D6601, D7605 are associated with RPA 2000 and can be referred for testing. Frequency sweep Frequency range= 0.03 to 48.33 Hz Strain Amplitude= 3 % (0.214 Arc) c) Elongational Viscosity by ARES-EVF Rheometer: (Eq. 4) Extensional flow refers to a type of deformation that involves the elongation, or stretching, of a viscous material as shown in figure. It is the dominant type of deformation in converging and squeezing flows that occur in typical polymer processing operations [8]. Characterization of Elongational flows is very important as it is very sensitive to molecular structure of the polymer being employed. ARES-EVF (Advanced Rheometric Expansion System Elongational Viscosity Fixture) Rheometer from TA instruments is used here.

Table 1. Compound formulation

T=T1+T2

(Eq.2)

T1 is computed differently for each type of viscoelastic model. T2 is optional but often recommended which is always computed from T2= 22D

(Eq. 3)

Where D= Rate-of-Deformation tensor & 2 is the viscosity factor for Newtonian (purely viscous) component of extra-stress tensor. The viscosity ratio r is defined as 2/ & the relation between 1 & 2 to is expressed as 1 = (1- r ) and 2 = r

The Phan Thien Tanner model is one of the most realistic differential viscoelastic models. It exhibits shear thinning & a non-quadratic first normal stress difference at a high shear rates. The PTT model computes T1 from:

(Eq. 5) and are the parameters that control the shear viscosity & Elongational behavior respectively [6]. In particular a non-zero value of leads to a bounded steady extensional viscosity.

Fig 3. Elongational Viscosity Fixture (EVF)

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Transient Uniaxial Extensional viscosity test has been carried out at constant Hencky strain rate of 0.1s-1, 1 s-1, 10 s-1 at 100 C. Computational Analysis
Import/Draw the Geometry using CAD tool Modify the Mesh

BS2 BS1

BS5

BS4 BS3

Identify & Mesh the domain

Fig 4. Boundary Conditions

Setup physical model, material & domain properties, boundary conditions

Specify Remeshing technique, Solver method & Evolution parameters

Modify the Remeshing technique, solver method and/or evolution parameters

N N

BS1: Inflow of material (Volumetric flow rate) BS2: Zero Wall Velocity (Vn=Vs=0) BS3: Free Surface BS4: On the Conveyor (Vn=Fs=0) BS5: Outflow

Examine the result Table 2. Program Structure of Computational Analysis

Modulus/Viscosity

Compute & Monitor the solution convergence

Converged

ANSYS POLYFLOW is a finite-element computational fluid dynamics (CFD) program designed primarily for simulating applications where viscous & viscoelastic flows plays an important role. The program structure of PolyFlow is given in Table2 Elongational Viscosity

Shear Rate/Frequency Fig 5(a). Curve fitting for Shear Viscosity, Storage Modulus & Loss Modulus

i) Meshed Geometry & Boundary Conditions: The geometry was made with the help of PolyFlow module called Design Modeler & was meshed using hybrid elements (Automatic Meshing).

ii) Material Modeling & Fitting: The nonlinear viscoelastic parameters in the equation can be obtained by fitting the experimental results according to the nonlinear regression method as shown in figure

Fig 5(b). Curve Fitting for Elongational Viscosity

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Time (s)

The extracted coefficients are Viscosity (Visc) = 5.18 E+05 Relaxation Time () = 3.16 E+00 Epsilon () = 6.12 E-03 Xi () = 7.6 E-01 Results & Discussion Numerical simulation has the potential to important interior details of the extrusion such as velocity, shear stress, and pressure the region of interest, which were not visualize experimentally. Shear Rate Contours uncover process, fields in able to

Fig 6(c) Cross sectional view of Die lip& Extrudate

The swelling effect can be observed in the extrudate as shown in fig 6 (c). Velocity Contours

(a)

(a)

(b) Fig 6(a) & (b). Local shear rate distribution

Fig 6 (a) & (b) shows shear rate contours at different regions of tread profile. It can be seen that shear rate at wall vary considerably in the die land region. The maximum shear rate is observed in the wider openings or thick sections of the die. In contrast, corners of the die wall shows very low shear rates that implies slow movement of polymer across the region [10]. Elastic recovery in thick sections is larger than that of in corners hence swell is more pronounced.

(b) Fig 7(a) Velocity distribution (b) Velocity Streamlines near die exit

In fig 7 (a) it can be observed that velocity value is very low or nearly zero along the die wall (as expected) because of higher shear stress suffered by the material at die wall. Complex die geometry results into strongly unbalanced velocity profile [11]. It is revealed that velocity through thin slit regions is slower than that across wider regions. It is interesting to note that extrudate is severely shrinked at the corners. It can be postulated that due to the subtended angle at the corners, the

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corresponding velocity vectors immediately deflects towards the centre line after emerging from die lip. Pressure Distribution The obtained simulated results for Pressure distributions shows steady decrease of pressure in the die region mainly due to frictional force induced by the flowing particles rubbing along the die wall [7]. The steady decrease in pressure implies that there exists no re-circulating zones within the die & that die is well stream-lined.

Fig 9 (a) & (b) shows the results obtained from inverse extrusion technique. Validation of Results The obtained results should be validated in order to establish the scientific evidence that the process is capable of consistently delivering proper results. If the technique or simulation is unable to provide valid representations of the actual system, any conclusions derived from the model or simulation are likely to be erroneous and may result in poor decisions being made which may ultimately lead to loss of time & money. The simulation performance (Predicted die lip design) is compared with the existing actual design in order to find the validity of results obtained.

Fig 8. Pressure contours

Inverse Extrusion

Fig 10 Comparative Analysis of Predicted & Actual die lip design

Fig 10 shows the comparative analysis of the predicted & actual die lip design. It is evident from the figure that the two sets of data closely resemble to each other & the simulation scheme can be called as valid. The predicted designs cannot be considered as accurate as there exists some discrepancies. The main reason for these deviations might be the complexity associated with the system.
(a)

Conclusions In the present work, viscoelastic flow characteristics & swell phenomenon of compounded rubber flowing through tread profile extrusion die was studied by using numerical simulation technology to optimize the die design process and related parameters. The viscoelastic behavior of the compounded rubber was represented by using single mode differential viscoelastic model of Phan Thien Tanner (PTT) & required rheological input parameters were extracted by fitting the material functions obtained from Capillary Rheometer, Rubber Process Analyzer & Elongational Viscometer.

Die lip design for the required profile can be predicted with the help of Inverse Extrusion technique. In this, remeshing is given to the subdomain which forms die region.

(b)

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 DEVSS-SU (Discrete Elastic Viscous Split StressStreamwise-Upwinding) with SAFT (Streamwise Approximation for Tensors) Interpolation scheme was implemented for prediction of viscoelastic flow & swell behavior and to reduce the computational cost. The velocity components, pressure & shear rate field throughout the solution domain was obtained for tread profile channel & both the redistribution of flow velocity and the release of flow stress were found to be responsible for the swell phenomenon. Investigation of flow indicated absence of any re-circulating region inside the die. Complex geometry of the tread profile showed die imbalancing resulting into uneven swelling over the extrudate [7]. Die lip design for the required profile was predicted using Inverse Extrusion Technique and was compared with the actual design obtained via trail & run methods. The predicted data showed close resemblance with the actual design but because of complex nature of the system & lack of realistic processing conditions some discrepancies were evident This is a preliminary investigation on the viscoelastic flow and swell phenomenon of polymer melt, a further optimization of practical processing conditions and die design in tread profile extrusion will be considered in a future study.

Uniaxial Extensions John Wiley and Sons, Journal of Rheology, 31(3), 207-234 (1987). 5. Nhan Phan Thien and Roger I. Tanner, A New Constitutive Equation Derived From Network Theory, Journal of NonNewtonian Fluid Mechanics, 2 353-365 (1977). Yue Mu, Finite-Element Simulation of Polymer Flow and Extrudate Swell through Hollow Profile Extrusion Die with the Multimode Differential Viscoelastic Model Advances in Polymer Technology, Vol. 00 , 119 (2011). Gareth McKinley and Tamarapu Sridhar, Filament Stretching Rheometry of Complex fluids, Annu. Rev. Fluid Mech. 34:375 415 (2002). Joachim Meissner, Basic Parameters, Melt Rheology, Processing And End-Use Properties Of Three Similar Low Density Polyethylene Samples, Buttersworth, International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (1988). T. Tran-Cong, N.Phan Thien, Die design by a boundary element method, Journal of Non-Newtonian Fluid Mechanics, Volume 30, Issue 1,2, October (1988), Pg. 37-46.

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10. Rauwendal Chris, Polymer Extrusion, 4th Revised Edition, Carl Hanser Verlag, (1994). Pg. 352-354.

Acknowledgement References 1. Chang Dae Han, Rheology and Processing of Polymeric Materials Volume 1 Polymer Rheology, Oxford University Press (2007), 15-125, 163-198. Bird, Armstrong and Hassager, Dynamics of Polymer Liquid Volume 1 Fluid Mechanics, Wiley Interscience Publications (1987), 255-275. C Sirisinha, A Review on extrudate swells in polymers, J.Sci.Soc. Thailand 23 (1997) 259-280. S A. Khan and R. G. Larson, Comparison of Simple Constitutive Equations for Polymer Melts in Shear and Biaxial and 1) Mr. P.K. Mohamed, Chief Adviser, Research & Technology, Apollo Tyres Ltd., Global R & D (CV), Chennai, India. 2) Dr. Arup Kumar Chandra, Head, Raw Material & Compounding, Apollo Tyres Ltd., Global R & D (CV), Chennai, India. 3) Mr. S.K.P. Amarnath, Head, Research, PVRD, Apollo-Vredestein B.V., Enschede, the Netherlands. 4) Dr. Ashish Lele, Scientist, Chemical Engineering. & Process Development, National Chemical Laboratory, Pune, India.

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