In-process measurements for reactive extrusion monitoring and control

Abstract

Process monitoring of reactive extrusion is often limited to pressure and temperature measurements at the die. These may be sensitive to fluctuations in the process, but provide limited information on the actual characteristics of the polymer system under manufacture. Consequently, in‐process measurement using spectroscopic and rheometric techniques, among others, are used to monitor the manufacture of several reactive systems. This approach helps minimize the time lag associated with collecting and preparing samples for measurements off‐line, may avoid submitting the sampled material to extra thermal cycles that might change its characteristics, and could support new process‐control paradigms. This chapter summarizes the developments of in‐line and on‐line measuring techniques relevant to reactive extrusion and presents some examples of applications