| Abstract: | In industrial coextrusion operations, multiple layers are frequently brought in contact with each other at different temperatures to “match” viscosities and to reduce interfacial instability. Here, a linear stability analysis of multilayer plane Poiseuille flow is carried out for real, specific polymer melts in terms of process parameters, such as temperatures and flow rates. However, heat transfer across the layers is neglected as a first approximation. Previously, it was observed that below a certain Reynolds number and above a certain relaxation time, the flow-rate ratio (or the depth ratio), above which the flow is stable to all wavelengths, can be estimated by the long-wavelength asymptotic analysis (1,3). The Reynolds numbers for the industrial flows are smaller, and the relaxation times are larger than the corresponding critical values by several orders of magnitude. Therefore, the critical stability parameters can be estimated in the present study for industrial cases using the asymptotic stability analysis at long wavelengths. Although a large number of earlier parametric studies of model fluids indicate the influence of various theological parameters, only the viscosity stratification plays an important role in the interfacial instability within the operating range of industrial coextrusion processes. |
