Malvern accelerates polymer process development

Advanced simulation software from Compuplast and capillary rheometers from Malvern Instruments are said to enable polymer processors to cut development time and cost.

Malvern said its Rosand bench-top and floor-standing rheometers measure the flow properties of polymers with precision, providing a sound bases for the construction of truly representative process models.

Compuplast software is claimed to make it easy to use the data to simulate extrusion and other polymer processing operations, cutting the requirement for expensive, time-consuming pilot-scale trials.

As research costs spiral upwards, the replacement of experimental work with simulation studies becomes increasingly lucrative; however, constructing an appropriate model can be seen as a major hurdle.

Within this context, tools that provide accurate input data and simplify simulation are increasingly sought-after, producing savings that off-set the upfront costs of model development.

The Rosand range of capillary rheometers includes the RH2000 bench-top series and the RH-7 and 10 advanced floor-standing units for higher loading studies.

A digital drive is said to give all these instruments high performance in terms of speed control, accuracy and dynamic operating range.

Combined with twin bore configurations, these features allow the simultaneous determination of shear and extensional viscosity under processing conditions.

The rheometer hardware is supported by the latest Windows-based Flowmaster software, offering an extended range of rheological test types and experimental possibilities.

Compuplast solutions are said to allow accurate representation of the complete die or screw extrusion process, including cooling, with a suite of module options simplifying plant-specific model development.

An automatic checking feature builds in expert experience, highlighting to the user operating regimes that may be unsuccessful.

The resulting models are said to be valuable both for process development and full-scale optimisation.

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