Effect of viscoelasticity in the film‐blowing process

Numerical simulations have been undertaken for the film‐blowing process of viscoelastic fluids under different operating conditions. Viscoelasticity is described by an integral constitutive equation of the K‐BKZ type with a spectrum of relaxation times, which can fit the experimental data well for the shear and extensional viscosities and the normal stresses measured in shear flow. Nonisothermal conditions are considered by applying the Morland–Lee hypothesis, which incorporates the appropriate shift factor and pseudotime into the constitutive equation. The momentum and energy equations are expressed in the machine direction only by using a quasi‐one‐dimensional approach introduced earlier by Pearson and Petrie. The resulting system of differential equations is solved using the finite element method and the Newton‐Raphson iterative scheme. The method of solution was first checked against the Newtonian and Maxwell results for various film characteristics given earlier. The simulations are compared with available experimental data and previous simulations in terms of film shape, velocity, stresses, and temperature. The present results show that the existing modeling of force balances is inadequate for quantitative agreement with the experimental studies. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2007