ABSTRACT
This chapter describes various laboratory techniques for testing, characterizing, and projecting polymer performance in industrial-scale processing equipment. It addresses techniques employed in and examples drawn from the handling of elastomers, the general concepts are readily extended to all types of polymers. The term processability refers to the relative ease with which neat or compounded polymers can be handled in production operations and equipment. The end-user manufacturer is concerned with the processing quality or processability of the polymer-based article and is sensitive to factors that may affect the material’s behavior and variability during the various manufacturing stages. The importance of processability testing is that it provides a basis for projecting polymer behavior in commercial operations. With most conventional processability testers, testing is done at shear rates far below actual conditions. In addition to capillary flow, the problem of elongational or extensional flow is of importance to processability testing.
