Conjugate thermal simulation for sheet extrusion die

The thermal effects on manifold temperature uniformity and output flow uniformity are important for polymer extrusion die design. Lin and Jaluria (Lin and Jaluria, Polym. Eng. Sci., 37, 1582 (1997)) has carried out a numerical study on conjugate heat transfer for extrusion polymer flow under the assumption that the die body surface is in uniform temperature or heat transfer coefficient. In this study, we have solved the non‐uniform body surface temperature as part of the simulation solutions based on heat flux boundary conditions (including radiation and convection heat transfer). The body temperature is computed in conjugated with the melt polymer flow with non‐linear viscous shear heating effect. The relative tough thermal conditions are set to test uniformity of the temperature distribution on the manifold wall. We also give the results of the heat transfer effect on the flow velocity distribution. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 54:682–694, 2014. © 2013 Society of Plastics Engineers