Stress development in plastic sheet extrusion

The development of flow‐induced stresses in extruded sheet made of polypropylene was analyzed. A theoretical model was developed to simulate velocity, temperature, and stress profiles for polymeric materials flowing inside a slit die. The output of this simulation was then used to compute temperature and stress profiles as the extrudate emerged from the die, cooled, and relaxed under no draw conditions. Simulated surface stresses and stress profile across the extruded sheet agreed well with the experimental data for the die temperature effect and the die gap effect at low draw ratios.