Analysing Melt Homogeneity in a Single-screw Plasticizing Unit of an Injection Moulding Machine by Means of CFD Methods

n polymer processing both the thermal homogeneity and the optical- mechanical homogeneity (mixing quality) of the polymer melt play a key role on the part quality. For most injection moulding applications mixing is performed in the single screw plasticizing unit of the injection moulding machine. Thus, the quality of the product is strongly dependent on the ability of the plasticizing unit to generate a homogeneous melt pool in the screw chamber. The principles of mixing in single screw extruders are described either by analytical (e.g. for the meteringzone) or numerical methods (e.g. for more complex mixing head geometries).