Simulating the Non-Isothermal Mixing of Polymer Blends Using the Boundary Element Method

In most polymer processes the quality of the final part stems back in great part to the mixing of the compound and the viscous heating that occurs during the process. To date, these processes have been simulated using the finite difference or finite element methods which rely on cumbersome remeshing techniques, restricting the analysis to sim ple geometries. However, mathematical manipulation of the governing equations results in boundary integrals, allowing the solution of complicated moving boundary problems without domain meshing. The resulting boundary element model and simulation results of the flow and heat transfer effects during mixing of polymer blends is presented in this arti cle. The results are in good agreement with experimental data and give insight to the com plex phenomena that take place during mixing processes.