Solid bed melting in single screw extruders: An alternative first order mechanism

This paper discusses our initial attempt to model the results presented at ANTEC 2003 which demonstrated that for most of the literature data on solid bed melting careful reanalysis indicates that the solid bed consumption is dominated by melting in the thickness not the cross channel direction. A first order model for the melting is presented which focuses on the melting dynamics in the bed thickness direction. A similar analysis would be necessary for the cross channel direction but is beyond the scope of this paper due to space constraints. The model combines the concepts developed by Tadmor in his classical work with the ideas developed in this laboratory focused on the importance of using the velocities based on the screw rotating.